evening. Let's turn in our Bibles to 2nd Peter chapter 3, 2nd Peter chapter 3 and we'll look at the last three verses in this book, 2nd Peter chapter 3. I'd like to make a special prayer request for Brother Wehmeyer, Brother Wehmeyer is 80 some years old and I think he's 81 and he has some health issues but nevertheless he has his ups and he has his downs and when he's up he's really up. But anyway he is involved in a church planting work now and we want to really be in much in prayer for Brother Wehmeyer and that effort. Let's stand together if you're able to stand tonight The reading of God's word. And before we read, let's pray. And I want to preach on this subject, resting the scriptures. And if I had a subtitle, it'd be trifling with truth. And this is what Peter is addressing here in this passage. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we come to you tonight and we thank you for this beautiful day that you've given to us. And it's a nice evening to come out to your house. Lord, we're thankful for all that you have given us in terms of a place to worship and the fellowship that we have, the work that we have to do. And we pray that you would open our hearts and pray for this young man that the pastors mentioned, for his spiritual guidance and direction. Pray that you would convict him. We pray for Brother Waymire tonight, for his health and his strength. and that you'll give him the energy and the direction that he needs and the work that he's involved with and his wife too. And we pray that you'd bless each member of this congregation. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Now looking at verse 16, you know, yeah, verse 16. as also, well I'm kind of disjointed there, look at verse 14, wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless, and to count that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Please be seated. I want us to think about this passage of scripture. The more I read the Bible these days, the more contemporary that it sounds. What they were dealing with 2,000 years ago are things that we're still dealing with. But we're dealing with them in our day. in a much more intense way, in a much more pronounced way, these problems and evils that have come into the world and these exhortations of 2,000 years ago and more are as relevant, if it's possible, more relevant than they've ever been well than they've ever been. But I want us to look at what Paul is talking about here. And basically what he's talking about and what the Word of God is giving us here in this passage is it's dealing with the matter of truth. We had a wonderful lesson on truth this past Sunday. I missed this one on. I was out of town for the lesson prior to that. But I think truth is something that needs more attention today than it's ever had. And I want you to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 59. I may bring this passage up again later. But I want to underscore what I just said with these verses, because I think this is right where we are. When you read this book of Isaiah, and you read on in Jeremiah and so on, those were times that the nation was in great, terrible distress. And the spiritual situation didn't seem like it could get any darker than it was. And the problem was that focus was not on the outside world, not on the pagans of their day, but on the people of God and how they were paying attention to truth, the appreciation they had for truth. the value that they placed upon truth, how much they wanted to be and how much they were absorbed in truth, and how much they were willing to apply the truth. And in all of those areas, in Isaiah's day, as it is in our own day, truth was very, very much neglected. And God had his spirit put it this way, in his word. He says in verse 14, And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. In other words, those who stand for truth come under attack. Those who stand for the truth in our day, as it was in Isaiah's, are made the objects of suspicion. And then the Bible goes on and says that these people make themselves a prey, but this is the way it always is. The same as it was then, the Lord saw it. The Lord knew what was going on and it displeased him that there was no judgment. Now there's no reason not to have any righteous judgment as long as we have a Bible. is our soul, one of the things that struck me the clearest when I needed it most in my early Christian life was just this saying that was so common, this pronouncement, this position that was made so clear in the old Baptist churches that I grew up in and was around was this statement that the Bible, the Bible, the word of God is our sole authority. for faith, and not only what we claim to believe, but the Bible is our sole authority for faith and for practice. Not only what we pronounce and publish in our doctrinal statement, but what we stand for. as a people. And in Isaiah's day, this was something that was very much fallen by the wayside and how terrible that the Bible says truth had fallen in the street. And that's the way it is in the day we live, brethren. And it shouldn't come as any shock or any surprise because we're living in increasingly evil times. That's nothing to be morbid about, but it's something that we need to be very realistic about. It's something that has been, we've been warned about and told about and prepared for, hopefully, in the scripture all of our Christian lives. And so here All of these many centuries later, the Apostle Peter is dealing as he is inspired by the Holy Spirit to write these things down with the same matter, the matter of truth and how important it is to take a stand for truth and never, never, never to trifle with the truth. The only hope for our country is a return to truth. The only hope for this society we're in, the only hope for churches that are stampeding in the wrong direction today, is a return to God's truth, a commitment to plain old truth. that is clearly revealed to us in the Word of God. And so, this is what Peter is dealing with, and he deals with it in these last three verses. He really underscores and emphasizes this when he speaks about those who are resting the Scripture. He talks about resters of Scripture. In other words, twisters. of scripture, abusers of scripture, merchandisers of the scripture. And he speaks of it in three different ways that I see in these verses. Number one, you notice the wickedness that is involved with it. Now, beloved, we live in a day, and I remember this, beginning in my very, very early days as a Christian, when people began, I'm sure it was happening long before I realized it, when people were latching on to words and they were calling things like adultery affairs, and they were calling drunkenness and all kinds of pornography and all of that, they were calling that simply an addiction, In other words, these were humanistic, carnal substitutes for sin. Sin is still sin. You can put any kind of label on it you want to put on it, but it is still sin today as much as it ever was sin. But words are powerful things, and the devil uses words. And here he's been using these replacement words, these modifications, these adulterations, this watering down. in using terms like this that have literally rocked God's people to sleep concerning things like sin and the difference between right and wrong. And this is what Peter is dealing with here. He deals with the wickedness of this. He deals with the resting that is involved here. And then he closes with a warning, a warning that also, as is always true of God, in his word, a warning that holds out instruction and exhortation, helpful exhortation for us. Now, solutions. God never presents a problem without giving us the solution to it, and he does here. Now, let's follow along in these verses. And notice first what's said in terms of wickedness. This is sheer wickedness. You can't get any more wicked than trifling with the Word of God. In fact, the Bible in the last verse, and this is something that's been forgotten, all the multiplicity of the different versions of the Bible, playing fast and loose with the Holy Scripture, and replacing words here and there and everywhere that people will take God's Word and replace it with their own words. And the Bible says there is a terrible, terrible judgment awaiting those who do such things. Because to fool with God's Word, to mess with God's Word, to misinterpret and to misinform in terms of God's word is a horrible, and this word's used in our scripture, is a horrible, damnable sin. And so, the wickedness. Now notice in verse 16, the Bible's speaking here of opportunity. The opportunity that is involved whenever God's word is abused. Number one, it says here things, talks about things in which are some things hard to be understood. Now there's the opportunity. You know what the great opportunity for the devil is in an individual life, in a church, in a society? The greatest opportunity that the devil has is when people do not understand his word. Where there is, where truth, is either absent or it's misapplied, there's a misinformation concerning truth. But Peter is talking here in terms of this wickedness, the opportunity that is presented by it, whenever these things, he says there are some things hard to be understood. Now that's just a reality. There are things in the Bible that are hard to be understood. Some things are easy to understand. You know what I've found out in all my years as a preacher? I've found out that it's not the things that are hard to be understood really that trouble people. It's the things that are easy to understand. The easier they are to understand, the bigger the problem many people have with them. But this is talking about things that really are hard to be understood. Milk is easier to ingest and digest than meat. And if a person has nothing but a diet of milk, if they only have the spiritual capacity to receive milk, then of course things, hard things are going to be hard for them to understand. Now you notice that Peter refers to the writings of the Apostle Paul. And I'm just almost sure if I had to take a guess that he is referring to scriptures such as the book of Romans, which is not the easiest book in the Bible to understand. It's very profound. It's a very wonderful and rich book. but it's not the easiest passages of Scripture to understand. And these and others are passages that Paul wrote, books that Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit that were hard to understand. Some other things that were probably hard for people to understand in that day, as they're hard for people to understand in this day, is things that pertain to eschatology. The last things, things that are coming, future things. There's all kinds of debate and confusion and different approaches and opinions and uncertainties in many people's minds about different nuances of things that are to come. Eschatology. In fact, in the previous chapter, Peter has been writing about that. He's been writing about the coming of the Lord and all the things that'll surround that. And these are things that are hard to understand. He follows that up just in the verses preceding our text with some real definite words about holiness, the importance of holiness. And he says, seeing that all of these things shall come to pass, What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? And there are certain things about God's demands concerning holiness that are not that easy for some people to understand. So things hard to be understood is just dealing with a reality. But what's the reason for it? Why are some things so hard for some people to understand? Well, the difficulty in understanding the hard things in the Bible can be attributed to a number of things. I just want to mention one or two. Number one, many times people have difficulty in understanding because of a lack of skill. In other words, they have a hard time digging in because they're not very skillful at digging into the scripture. In other words, it requires work. It requires work that a lot of people are not willing to put in into the task at hand. In Hebrews, it speaks of that in chapter 5 and in verse 13, where it talks about the milk of the word and the meat of the word. And listen to what he says here. He says, everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he's a babe. Now, spiritually speaking, a person may be a babe in Christ and on a milk diet and have been on one for 40 years. It's not talking about age here, it's talking about a Christian who has never gotten to the place where they're skillful in understanding the Word of God. So sometimes the difficulty can be attributed to a lack of skill. And just like everything else, you know what contributes to a person getting more and more skill at a thing? Practice. People who read their Bibles a lot and ponder their Bibles a lot are going to develop a lot more skill in the Word of God than people who are lackadaisical about reading and pondering the Word of God. But here's another reason. Sometimes the difficulty in understanding things that are in the Bible is due to a lack of submission. Stubborn people, Christians who are stubborn and self-willed, have a lot harder time getting it from the Word of God, when it comes to the Word of God, than people who approach the Word of God in a spirit of submission and humility and dependence upon God's Word. In other words, they're hungry for it. They're hungry for it and interested in it, as an infant is for milk, as a man is for meat. And this is what Jeremiah was talking about when he said, your word, I think it was Jeremiah, is my necessary food. I've got to have it. And so with that understanding, it's what Jesus was talking about in the Beatitudes when he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be fed. In other words, the poor in spirit is the person who is absolutely aware of how dependent he is on God and dependent he is on the Word of God. So he doesn't come to the Word of God in his Bible reading or listening to sermons with an attitude of resistance. But he comes with a hungry heart. She comes with an eagerness to get something that's going to help them that day and the next day and the rest of their life to live as pleasing and acceptable a life as they can in the sight of God. Submission. Many people are not able to understand the Word of God. You wonder about it. You wonder today when you see so many who name the name of Christ and you know that they know what's in the word of God, but they act, maybe they do understand it, but they act like they don't understand it. They act like they don't understand. What the simplest of commandments are. They say one thing, they spout off one thing concerning their belief in a truth. They're under their recognition of a truth, their awareness of a truth, but they act as though they don't understand it. You know what? A lot of people don't understand. They don't understand about the word of God is that they're supposed to obey it. Not just, not just learn it, but obey it. And so the difficulty some people have may be because they just are counter to this teaching in James 1 and 21, receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. Now, before a person can be saved, a lost person can be saved. And this is not talking to a lost person. But before a lost person can be saved, they have to have a contrite heart. They have to have a submissive spirit before they can listen to the word of God and believe unto salvation. They can't come with any pride or hardness or reluctance or resistance or anything like that or self-will in order to be saved. But after we get saved, our lives can only be saved from this wicked generation to the extent that we receive the Word of God. And we can only receive the Word of God in a positive, proactive, effectual way when we come to it and under it with a meek spirit and a hungry heart for the Word of God. Matthew Henry said this, He said, we must seek for knowledge and labor to get understanding in hopes that it shall be given us from above while we are diligent in using proper means to attain it. The proper means are our reading of the Word of God and our public attendance upon the Word of God. That's part of the proper means. Here's another reason some people find the things in the Bible hard to understand. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this one because it's so, so important, so real. In 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, the Bible says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit. He may hear them, but he doesn't really receive them. Of the Spirit of God, why not? For they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Who is a natural man? A natural man is a lost man. It's an unsaved man or a woman. They can't receive the Word of God. They can listen to it. They can amen it. They can sing it. But they're never really going to take it into their heart and incorporate it into their life because they don't have the wherewithal to do that. They can't receive the things of the spirit because they themselves have never been born of the spirit. So these are just some reasons that show why it's hard for some people to understand the word of God. I noticed something else. The Bible talks in verse 16, it goes on and says this, it says that they are unlearned and unstable. Hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable rest. They rest them, they rest the scripture, they mess around with it, they fool around with it, They want to do all kinds of tricks with the scripture. And these are words right here, unlearned and unstable, that describe, in our day, unprecedented numbers of preachers. I'm not going to stop with preachers, but these are the facts. These words, unlearned and unstable, in all of their different connotations, apply more today, I'm sure, to preachers, people that the world would classify as the clergy, people who are standing in pulpits, unlearned and unstable. You know why that's true? I want to hurry up and throw this in. because hands are laid so suddenly upon men today who announce that they've been called to the ministry. And what the Bible says about that is completely disregarded as never before by so many people. And the numbers are unprecedented. And so the unlearned and unstable here in this case, these are people who take advantage of new Christians and people who are ungrounded in the faith. They latch on to them and they make them followers of themselves and codependents and so on and so forth. And they rest the scriptures in order to do that. Preachers that I'm talking about right now are those who take, and there's always been preachers like this. There's always been people like this. They date all the way back to King Jehoiakim. But we have so many preachers today who take Jehoiakim's penknife to whatever scripture stands in the way of their agenda. Now they have no reserve about it, there's no reluctance about it, but they will take Jehoiakim's penknife to whatever scripture stands in their way. You can read about that in Jeremiah 36, verse 23 specifically. I'll give you an example of that. In the last month or two, I've talked to several different preachers who have brought this up themselves. In fact, one today, a different pastor. I'll give you a classic example. This idea, and one of the best, one of the best preachers I know made this statement. And he's not the only one I've heard make it just in the last few months. But he said, we don't have deacons. He said, there are just too much problems involved with having deacons. Let me just tell you the absurdity of that. The office of deacon is the New Testament church office. You know who the founder of the New Testament church is? Jesus Christ. I think he knows more about what a church needs than anybody living on planet earth today. But this is a way of thinking that has subverted the minds of many of the best otherwise preachers that are around today. It's not up to any preacher to decide whether or not a New Testament church ought to have deacons if they're qualified, if they're scripturally qualified. Neither is it up to any preacher to decide what those qualifications are and what they're not. That's in the scripture and that applies to preachers too, but we have pastors and deacons being ordained wholesale who do not meet the qualifications of the Word of God and churches that profess, I'm saying profess, to believe the Bible, accept the Bible, claim the Bible as their sole rule of faith and practice. Just let all of that happen. Now something is wrong there. Something's wrong when we've gotten to the place where you don't have people who will stand up and say, but wait a minute, this is what the Bible says. But this is the day in which we're living. In Acts chapter 20 and in verse 29, Paul said this, he said, I know that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Somebody, you know how sometimes you'll get link sent to you on, you can't keep up with them, on email. And I got this link, some of you probably have seen it, probably Brother Mike has seen it and Brother Jed and others of you, but it's called Ministry Watch. And the Ministry Watch is, it's an organization that just keeps up with all of the bad happenings. all across the country where the ministry is concerned. Right now they're really down on the Southern Baptist Convention, and they've sure got a lot of problems. But in that ministry watch, it talked about a national poll where people are alarmed at how easily that Not just the mainline denominations, but the aforeknown most conservative religious, most conservative churches in America now are just letting things, we would say, letting things go by. Just letting things just go by, whether it's doctrinal or whatever that it might be. And it keeps up with pastors who have gone astray. And you know what? Two or three times I have just almost blocked it because it's so dismal. But it's stating facts, undeniable facts about what is going on in the gospel ministry all over America today. It's exactly what Paul was talking about. Grievous wolves entering in, not sparing the flock for the sake of what? For the sake of their own self-interest, for the sake of their own agenda, of whatever it might be. In Matthew 7 and 15, Jesus spoke to them as those who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. They're one thing in the pulpit and another thing outside of the pulpit. Now, we've been warned about this, beloved. I spent years, everywhere I've been, 50 years, warning people about what the Bible says about the ministry and about the times that are coming upon us. And so here, you have these opportunists who are involved with the abuse of God's word, resting it for their own purposes. And then, and I've already touched on this, but these words Here, unlearned and unstable also describe unprecedented members of people. In other words, the congregations who are sitting in pews all across this country. Now, I want to say real quick that this is not a gloom and doom sermon, but it's a necessary sermon. We live in times when Paul had these same times. He said, it's now high time to awake out of sleep. For now is your judgment nearer than when you first believed. And so these days are days that call for constant wake-up calls along these lines. We're living, when we talk about the people in general, you know, years ago, 37 years ago, I went and preached revival. I think I preached three or four in a particular church, a country church. It was a good church. We had so many people saved in those meetings and baptized and joined the church. And I mean, it was just old-fashioned preaching, nothing fancy, just the old preaching, old singing, praying, shouting. And it was a wonderful place to be. I visited that church not too long ago. And the first thing that I noticed was introduced was the worship band and the praise team. And some of the old timers were still there. We recognized each other, glad to see each other, talked about old times. But it was a completely different church in so many ways. I was talking to Brother Waymeyer on the phone today. And this is a conversation that comes up a lot. You know, when I was young, I used to think, I hope I never, when I'm an old preacher, I hope I'm never one that just, you know, everything's bad, nothing's good now. Who's going to save the day? There's nobody left. I said, I hope I never become that way. And I don't think I have. But the fact is, we are living in hard times where God's people are concerned and where those who are supposed to be providing spiritual leadership are concerned. We need to be very concerned about that. Preachers need to, you know, God's people are exhorted to make their calling and election sure, and preachers need to keep their calling and election sure. Because there's a warning in the Bible that we'll have the greater judgment. The greater judgment. I've always been a little bit like a famous World War II soldier, somebody asked him, said, how could you have performed all of these courageous feats? How could you have continued to stand in times of battle? And he said, I was too big a coward to run away. That's probably been my greatest strength, is being too afraid of what God would do if I became unfaithful to him. The Bible says, be not many masters, for we'll give the greater account. There's going to be a special reckoning for preachers, and there'll be a real reckoning for those who knew the truth, but did it not. And so we're living, beloved, we really need to recognize the severity of this. We're living in an antinomian. and in an apostate age. Antinomianism has about taken over. You know, I was thinking about that what I said a while ago about being an older preacher and not wanting to be negative. The other day I was reading about Elijah. You remember Elijah and he got out from under the juniper tree and went and hid in the cave for a while. And when God spoke to him, Elijah said, I'm the only one. I have to smile when I read that. He said, I'm the only one that's left that's faithful to you. And God said, no, you're not. I've got 7,000. And I'm thankful for the preachers and the people who represent the faithful 7,000 or such that are in America today. And I'm thankful for this, little is much when God is in it. Amen. Victories are not won where God is concerned based upon the numbers. And it's required in stewards simply that they be found faithful. But in Jeremiah 31, the Bible says, and this takes in both groups, the prophets prophesy falsely. You ever been, I have, I've been in meetings and somebody will say something that's completely off the wall and false and unbiblical and people will amen. I mean, they'll get excited about it. They don't even know what they're doing. It's a knee jerk reaction, really. In Jeremiah's day, God said the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means. In other words, they're going to hang on to that rule by any means possible. And my people love to have it so. My people are fine with it. They love it. And then God says this, and what will you do in the end thereof? What will we all do when we stand before God and give an account for our lives? So this is talking about people who rest the scripture and that's what we're going to look at now. But we're in such a place now that only these days that we're living in could give such widespread popularity to something like this. Anybody heard of the flat earthers? I'll know you have if you're smiling. In Baptist churches, in independent Baptist churches, there are people who believe and preach a flat earth. I was in a conference, preaching in a conference, and at lunchtime I went in and sat down at a table, and when I sat down there they were talking about I thought it was a joke. I wanted to get in on the joke. I wanted to know what they were talking about. They weren't joking. One man was really making a case, he thought, for the flat earth. The others were just listening to him and enjoying the entertainment, I guess. But there are a lot of people, believe it, they even get on the websites and talk about a flat earth. These are people who, and it's amazing to see how they rest the scriptures to talk about a flat earth. I know a girl that said when she was confronted by a preacher about the flat earth and she said, well, my Bible says, talks about the earth in terms of being a sphere, a circle. And she said, I've never seen a circle with corners. It's not easy to refute. from the Word of God, but it's one of the clearest examples of how far people can get away from the truth. And those who are unlearned and unstable can rest it and allow it to be rested. So a rester of the Word of God, you know who the first rester of the Word of God was? Twister and Turner of the Word of God? Satan. He was resting the Scripture in the Garden of Eden in the Old Testament. When you get into the New Testament, he's resting the Scripture in the wilderness and the temptation of Jesus. And it's just a characteristic of conscious resters of Scripture. And there are conscious resters. I mean, they know what they're doing. They know they're twisting and misrepresenting Scripture. But it's a characteristic of them that just like the devil, they're liars, and they're counterfeits, and they're absorbed with their own self-interest, and they're completely, really unconcerned about anyone else's interest but what serves their own. Now in verse 16, he talks about this practice. He says, these abusers of the word of God wrest the scripture. I've already said it, but it means to twist it, to try to make things fit where they don't naturally fit. It means to force, it's like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. And people like this, this kind of practice is seen where people take liberties in pulpits and in pews, they take liberties the liberties that some people are willing to take, and the lies that some people in pulpits and in pews are willing to tell. I've listened to people lie in the pulpit, knew they were lying, they knew they were lying, I knew they were lying, everybody else knew they were lying, but it didn't faze them a bit. There are lies that people are just willing to tell. No lie too big, nothing too shocking or embarrassing or anything. So this is what the practice involves, this twisting and turning misapplication of scripture. And then in verse 16 he goes on and says that they do the same with other scriptures. In other words, they have no limits. There's no limits to how much they'll twist this scripture if it serves their purpose or if they got some lame brain idea in their head that they want to enforce. There's no limit. In other words, they're very froward. Now the word froward means difficult to deal with and contrary. Let me just tell you what I found out. You can't talk to people like that. People who rest the scripture deliberately, you cannot talk to them. They're the kind of people Paul was talking about when he said, pray that God will deliver me from unreasonable men. There's no talking to people who are bound and determined to rest the scripture. They're froward in that regard. And they do it because they're fearless. They have no fear of God. We live in a day like I have never seen in my life where people have no fear of God. Not just outside the church, but in it too. So many. And I'm comforted, I'm strengthened, I'm encouraged by all the people I know who aren't that way. But so many have no fear of God. They're resters of scriptures, and by the way, I've been asked this question, if I had a $5 bill for every time I've been asked this question in my life, I'd have plenty of money. The question is, where did all these denominations come from? Where did they all come from? Where did the mainline denominations, the Protestant denomination, Pentecostal denomination, the Catholic denomination, where did they all come from? Where did all these cults come from? They came from people who were wresters of scripture. They remind me of people who use the hunt and peck method in typing. They already have an idea of what they want to believe and then they hunt and peck through scripture to find supporting verses or snatches of verses that they can rest to support their position. These resters of scripture also explain why so many churches have and will get sick and die. It's when the scripture is rested and the people, you might imagine, love to have it so. And so there's a warning here, something to be avoided. He says in verse 16, talking about destruction, He says these wresters of scripture do it to their own destruction. I think this especially and specifically applies to people who are just deliberately knowingly wresting the scripture. But he talks about destruction and he tells us that this is something we want to avoid. We want to avoid this kind of destruction and we want to avoid Not only this destruction, but we want to avoid, this is the collateral damage that happens so many times. We want to avoid the deception that's involved with those who rest scripture. I'm not making anything up. It's all right here in this passage of scripture in these three verses. And he tells us that one thing we for sure want to avoid is being deceived. Two things. He says we want to avoid being deceived. He talks about the seduction for which we can fall. People are falling in churches, are falling for so many things that they never fell for before, but they're falling for them now. In verse 17, he says, you therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked. In other words, you just fall for all of this comes along. Somebody comes along, they got some charisma, they're a glad hander, they're everybody's buddy, they're entertaining, any number of things. and people just fall for it, fall for whatever is put forth. Then he says there's something else, he says there's a steadfastness for which we can fall, from which I mean, from which we can fall. There's steadfastness from which, a seduction for which we can fall and a steadfastness from which we can fall. You know all the verses there are that tell us to continue to be unmovable and steadfast, especially in these days. You know what most churches are doing? They're loosening up. They're loosening up on their principles. They're loosening up on everything they've ever been taught and practiced. And they can start loosening up in real quick fashion. And that's happening today. And this is what the warning is all about here when he says, talks about, be careful, be aware that you avoid falling from your own steadfastness. We need that warning. Those of us who think, you know, the Bible says be careful lest when you think you stand, you fall. The temptations of this day are so powerful. The demonic forces of deception are so powerful today that even the most steadfast Christian men and women can slip and fall and fall away from their steadfastness. And then there's something to which we have to give our attention. Number one, in verse 18, he says, you want to avoid all of this. falling for the lines of the resters of scripture, getting in goose step with the resters of scripture. If you want to avoid that, if you want to avoid falling from your own steadfastness, where the time will come that your children will look at you and say, whatever happened to mom and dad? Whatever happened to brother and so-and-so and sister so-and-so? They used to really be steadfast for these things. Now it seems like they don't care a bit. Well, we don't want that to happen. And if we don't want any of these things to happen, then Peter says this in verse 18. He says, grow in grace. Keep growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Number one, admonition. Number one, in terms of antidote to all of this bad stuff, grow in grace. Growth, growth, growth, spiritually growing. Not giving in, not giving up, not giving over to the spirit of this age, but continuing to grow and grow and grow. You know what the second antidote involves in verse 18? He goes on and says, to him be glory both now and forever. The second antidote involves the glory of Jesus Christ. You know what brings glory to the Lord? One of the greatest things in bringing glory to God is being steadfast and unmovable for his truth, being people who are valiant for truth. This is not a smorgasbord. The New Testament church is not a smorgasbord where you pick and choose what truth you're going to stand for and support. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. When you stand for any truth, you're standing for Jesus. When you go against or you hang your head and grunt and try to be passive and noncommittal and neutral where truth is concerned, you're going against the Lord Jesus. You say, that sounds awfully strong and direct. What Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is the word that was made flesh. And this is the word that we have in print today. I like to read Matthew, Henry. I always have. I want to close with just, I mean it when I say close this time. I haven't said it before in this sermon, but I am going to close with this, this reading. And I want you to listen carefully. He said, those who have heard and learned of the Father are best secured from misunderstanding and misapplying any part of the Word of God. And when there is a divine power to establish as well as to instruct men to divine truth, a divine power, remember that phrase, persons are effectually secured from falling into error. That divine power is the power of the Holy Spirit. who is pleased by truth and who is grieved by lies. He's the spirit of truth. When Paul was writing the Corinthians, he said something that got a hold of me 47 years ago when I read this. It says, the law killeth. In other words, you can preach the greatest sermon anybody ever prepared. In the flesh, the Bible says the law killeth, the letter killeth, the letter killeth. Just the letter alone killeth. It has the potential to blight and to freeze and to kill even though it's the truth. But the spirit maketh alive. That's the priceless ingredient. the Spirit of God in the ministry and the work of a New Testament church. Matthew Henry went on and he said this. He said, how great a blessing this is when we learn by observing what is the pernicious consequence of the errors that ignorant and unstable men fall into, even their own destruction. Errors in particular concerning the holiness and justice of God are the utter ruin of multitudes of men. Let us therefore earnestly pray for the Spirit of God to instruct us in the truth, that we may know it as it is in Jesus and have our hearts established with grace, that we may stand firm and unshaken even in the most stormy places. That's where we are today, beloved. Stand firm and unshaken even in the most stormy places when others are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. See how important truth is. I know you all know that it's important. But we need to have our pure minds stirred up. It's easy in anything in life. It's easy to let slip the most important things in your life. People can, by inattention, let slip their relationships with family. They can let slip the convictions and principles of a lifetime that they've held to. They can just let them slip if they're not careful. And a church is not immune. to letting the truths of God's word slip. Don't ever let anybody play fast and loose with the truth. I want to tell you right now there is no excuse. I've said this all my life. I've said it here countless times. There's no excuse for us as long as we have a Bible to let any kind of truth, knowingly let any truth be rested in this place, not in the school room, not in the sunny school room, not in the pulpit, not on the parking lot during the devotional, not here in this building, not in the song service. I'm thankful for conscientious song leaders like Brother Jed. You know, we... Somebody in New York used to say, You talk about something so good, so nice, and you say, you know what I'm talking about. But then there's the hair in the sandwich. Some of these great hymns, every now and then we'll find a little hair. But you don't have to sing that verse. We don't have to. And we don't have to just act like it doesn't matter, because it does matter. Whether it's said, whether it's sung, It matters, truth matters. Always has, does. That's all it's time for.