2 Peter 3, and we'll read verses 15 and 16. And account 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. And may God bless his word to us this morning. In recent days and weeks, there's been some furor over some prominent pastors in America, one of them by the name of Andy Stanley, a megachurch pastor, the son of Charles Stanley, a well-known Southern Baptist. And this Andy Stanley, who's been really deviating from scriptural Christianity for a long time, promoting this free grace idea that God is not concerned with your lifestyle or your sin, that you have this grace and you can live as you please. Well, now he's taken the next logical step, which is the affirming of sodomy, or as they call it, LGBT, and all these these terms are used, but scripturally it's sodomy. And he actually said, this Andy Stanley, that LGBT individuals who go to church have more faith than a lot of you, which he said to his congregation. He said a gay person who still wants to attend church after the way the church has treated the gay community He says, I'm telling you, they have more faith than I do. They have more faith than a lot of you. A gay person who knows, you know what? I may not be accepted here, but I'm going to try it anyway. Have you ever done that as a straight person? Where do you go that you're not sure you're going to be accepted and you go over and over and over? Andy Stanley said. He acknowledged that there were verses in the Bible that condemned homosexuality, but then added, oh my goodness, a gay man or woman who wants to worship their heavenly father, who did not answer the cry of their heart when they were 12 and 13 and 14 and 15, God said, no, and they still love God. We have some things to learn from a group of men and women who love Jesus that much and want to worship with us. I know the verses, I know the clobber passages, right? We've got to figure this out. And you know what? I think you are. And so you get the idea. He's more or less holding up the Sodomite as an example for other Christians to follow. This is how twisted and perverted modern day Christianity has become. What does God say about sodomy? Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination. God says it's detestable. And here's this man saying, no, these are people, these sodomites, we should look up to them. We should try and emulate them and their faith. Okay, this is what you call a wolf in sheep's clothing. This is a false teacher, and this is the very type of person that Peter is warning about in his second epistle. We are seeing increasing apostasy in our generation. People who once seemed to stand for the truth are now capitulating to the world. And second, Peter deals with the problem of false teachers infiltrating the church and spreading their errors. We saw that particularly in chapter two. He said, there'll be false teachers in that first verse among you. And so even as first Peter was about attacks from without, persecution and opposition from outside the church, well, second Peter is about error from within, false teachers rising up within the flock to turn them away from the truth. And so his warnings in 2 Peter are much needed today as error runs rampant among churches. And so in this third chapter you'll notice that he deals a lot with the second coming of Jesus Christ. And here we have a particular type of false teacher and they're called scoffers in verse 3. In the last days they rise up and their scoffing is about the promise of Christ's coming in verse 4. And they say, you know, he's not really coming back and they view the delay of Christ's coming as evidence that he is not coming at all. that there will be no judgment, and that the world will simply continue in its present state. All things just continue as they always have, and they always will. And this idea that God is going to directly intervene in this world and judge the world, they scoff at it, but they forget. And they're willfully ignorant, in fact, that God actually has intervened in the past. He destroyed the world with a flood, and they're also ignorant that God will destroy this world in the future by fire. And so this is the answer that Peter gives to the scoffers, how he refutes them. And he shows that God's view of time is altogether different to man's, and that the delay of Christ's return is a demonstration of God's mercy and long-suffering, giving space to sinners to repent. And we saw that in the last few weeks, and how that the Lord is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, in verse 9. And so this is the truth about it, and so this answers the scoffers. And then we saw last week knowing that this world will soon come to an end and will be replaced with an entirely new world, it should provoke us to prepare for that world, and we do that by walking in godliness, being obedient to God and preparing ourselves for that world, the new world where there's no more sin, that wherein dwells righteousness, and that's what we look to and we should be living for. Now, In verse 14, you see at the start of the verse, sorry, not verse 14, verse 15, you see the opening of the verse there, an account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. And so this is actually more or less repeating what was being said there in verse 9. But he says you need to account something. The word account means to deeply consider and to regard something. And so you need to really think about this truth and meditate upon this truth. and it will shape your thinking and your lives. And in fact that word, that verb for account, it's an imperative. That means it's a command. This is a command from the scripture. You need to account something, what? That the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. We often read the scriptures and we take it in a little bit and we think about it for a while But do we really account, do we really regard and meditate upon truths and let them sink in, not just on the surface of our minds but in the depth of our hearts so we can account it and then it becomes a part of our being and then starts to shape our lives. We need to do more accounting of the scripture and regarding of the scripture. There's a lack of that today. And what's the point? Well, far from God having a lack of regard for mankind, his delay shows his love for mankind because the long-suffering of our Lord is what? Salvation. His long-suffering equals salvation. How does that work? Well, it's salvation because it graciously gives time for sinners to repent. That's salvation. He doesn't just judge us and send us to hell immediately. No, he gives us space and he's patient. And we sin and we might reject the gospel, but what a merciful God. He doesn't just send us to hell. And then it leads to salvation. It's salvation because it allows the believer time and opportunity to progress in sanctification as well. There's a present tense salvation, which is sanctification. And so we can think of it that way. God's long suffering towards us is salvation even as we are believers and we grow in grace. But how wonderful that God is long suffering to all of us. to us would, even to wicked sinners, and he'd give space to repent. I was reading about John Bunyan, and you're probably familiar with some of his life story. He wasn't saved in his younger days, and he went the way of the world for many years, and he relates in his biography, his autobiography, about different incidents in his life and how closely came to death at numerous instances. At one stage, as a young man, as a youngster, he fell into a creek and then he fell out of a boat into the River Ouse and he was saved from drowning. He said, you know, I could have died and gone to hell at that moment. At one stage he was travelling between towns and an adder, a snake crossed his path. He stunned it with a stick, forced open its mouth and with his fingers plucked out its tongue, which he supposed to be the sting, this boy playing with an adder's mouth. And he said about this, by which act had God not been merciful unto me, I might by my desperateness have brought myself to my end. That's a long-suffering of God. Long-suffering with our stupidity and putting ourselves at foolish risks, especially as young people. Then when the Civil War was on, And he was a soldier in the parliamentary army. And he was drawn to go to the siege of Leicester. And when he was ready to go out to battle, he says, one offered to go in his stead. And Bunyan says, when I consented, he took my place. And coming to the siege, as he stood sentinel, he was shot in the head with a musket ball and died. That's where he should have been. And his substitute was killed. And he was 17 years old. And he said about this, here were judgments and mercy, but neither of them did awaken my soul to righteousness, wherefore I sinned still and grew more and more rebellious against God and careless of my own salvation. And yet he still rebelled against God, but God was what? Long-suffering. And in due time, grace abounded to, as he calls himself, the chief of sinners. And we have the fruits of that in Pilgrim Progress and others of his writing. And we could all testify of how God has been gracious to us over the years. And he didn't just strike us down and how he persevered and he allowed us to, and he gave us time to repent. Yet what effect should that have on us? It should humble us to think about God's long-suffering being salvation. And we should say, as Paul said in Romans 11.33, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. We should marvel at the wisdom of God and the mercy of God and his long-suffering to us would. It should also cause us to trust in God more. God's got it under control. And his timeframe is not our timeframe. His long suffering is salvation. That's how we should think. God doesn't make mistakes. He's in control. He oversees all these things. And his plan is being carried out. And it's always right on time. We should never doubt him. We should trust him. It should cause us to persevere faithfully as we wait for his coming in his timing. And you think, well, why doesn't Jesus come back? Even so, come, Lord Jesus, and it turns from a desire, it turns into a demand, Jesus, come back and deliver us from this situation. But no, we shouldn't need to be patient. He'll come in his timing. His long-suffering is salvation. and we should simply wait for him to come. And because so often we can get impatient, we could be, you think of the children of Israel, and they came out of Egypt, and they're in the wilderness, and they're waiting for Moses to come back down from the mount, and they should have been patient. But what did they do? They said, you know, he's not coming back. Let us make gods. And next thing, they make these gods and they're worshipping idols. and we should not follow that example. We should be patient and wait for his timing. It should also promote the same patience in us towards sinners. What's he saying here? God is long-suffering and patient towards sinners. How should I be towards those sinners around me? I should be long-suffering and patient. Are we always that way? Not always. We're not God-like in that regard. We should have the heart of God towards sinners that he has. And yes, they reject our presentation of the gospel to them. And they even blaspheme and they mock our faith. What should we do? We should be patient and long-suffering, even as God was towards us. And so we need that heart of God in these areas. We need to account the long-suffering of God in salvation. And then as we come to the remainder of verse 15 and 16, which we're looking at now, Peter refers to the inspired writings of the apostle Paul and the rest of the scriptures. And so the focus here comes to the writings of the scriptures. And one of the recurring themes in 2 Peter is the centrality of the scriptures to the believer. Peter is focused on the Word of God. Way back in the first chapter, you see in chapter one, verse four, he says, What's that? It's the promises of the scripture. He says, believer, all these things are happening in the world, but you know what? God has given these promises that you can plant your life upon. You can stake your soul upon. And he points the saints to the Word of God, the promises of scripture. You see that there in chapter 1, verse 4. And then as he goes through that first chapter, he says in verse 16, we don't follow cunningly devised fables. And that's what men creates. No. But rather than follow these cunningly devised fables, We trust in verse 19 the more sure word of prophecy. This is sure. This is steadfast. This isn't the words of men. This is the words of God. Why is it the word of God? Verse 21. The prophecy did not come in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. He says this book, the words of the prophecy, they aren't the words of men, they're the words of God given by the Holy Ghost. Every single one of them, you can trust them. You see his focus on the scriptures? And when you come to chapter 2, talking about the false prophets there, He makes a lot of references to the Old Testament, historical events and accounts in the Old Testament, whether it's Noah, whether it's Sodom and Gomorrah, whether it's Balaam and all those things. And he's pointing back to the scriptures. That's his foundation. And then you come to chapter three. In verse two, he talks about the be mindful of the words which are spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of the apostles of the Lord and Savior. What's he talking about? The word of God. You see his focus. It always comes back to the scriptures. And so the centrality of the scriptures, I would say this. It is impossible to hold the scriptures with too high a regard. It is impossible to hold the scriptures with too high regard. Do we ever need to be careful we don't esteem the words of God too highly, that we don't sort of make an idol out of the scriptures? I don't think that's ever been a problem for any person ever. Our problem is lightly esteeming them, not having them in high enough regard because in Psalm 138 verse two, it says this, thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. How magnified is the name of God? It's the most magnified thing in the universe. And it says, God has magnified his word above all thy name. We should magnify it also. And so that's how it should be in our lives. Yet from the beginning, Satan has sought to remove from men the foundation of faith in the Word of God, whether by destroying it outright and trying to just wipe it off the face of the earth, or corrupting it. And we see that in different ways. Liberal theology, textual criticism, casting doubt that whether we really have the preserved words of God. Modern versions, they cast doubt on the Word of God. and just casting down on the scriptures generally. This is what Satan has been doing and is doing today. Sin and error in a church begins by departing from the centrality of scripture and replacing it with something else. Any church that departs from truth and from righteousness, they've departed from the word of God and they've brought something else in place. Catholicism. Catholicism has put the scripture over here and has replaced it with tradition. Tradition is the main thing, and the scripture has to submit to tradition, the church tradition, you see. Orthodoxy, Greek orthodoxy, replaces scripture with the liturgy. That's their foundation. That's what they rely upon. Pentecostalism replaces scripture with experiences. Well, I felt this and God spoke to me and I had this experience. Well, it doesn't matter what the Bible says, this is what happened to me and I've had people say that. You know, I received this word, and God gave me this word, as if they were receiving direct revelation from God. I don't really care what you think you heard from God. What did God say in the word of God, in the Scriptures, in black and white? See, they replaced Scripture with their experiences. The cults replaced Scripture with extra-biblical teachings, and so they have the Bible, a lot of them. But then they'll have their other book. They'll have the Book of Mormon, or they'll have the writings of Ellen White, or they'll have these extra writings of man which replace the scripture, you see. Liberal churches replace scripture with man's opinions and all these things. You see how every time it's removing the scripture and replacing it, that's where they depart. And so that's why in a true church, it's the pulpit that takes the central place in a true church. You'll see other churches, they'll have an altar, that's the centrality in the Catholic Church, it's the altar. You'll see other churches, they'll have the drum kit and the electric guitar, that's the centrality of what the church is about. No, the pulpit, where the word of God is read, where it's expounded, that should be the centrepiece of the church. And that's what we seek to do. And I would also say this, in a lot of churches where there's a pulpit, It's merely just there for appearance. And maybe the scripture is read or a portion of the scripture is read, but then the Bible is set aside and man's opinions come forth. It's not scriptural preaching. What we seek to do here, what biblical preaching does, is to bring forth what the Word of God says and set forth the meaning from it, not to force our opinions upon the Word of God. You see, now as we come to these two verses, we'll consider the great unity throughout the scriptures, the difficulties in understanding them, and the misuse of them by unbelievers. So the first point we'll consider is there is consistency in the scriptures. Now this is the second part of verse 15. Now he talks about there, even as our beloved brother Paul, our beloved brother Paul. Now this is something worth thinking about for a few minutes. You have Peter and you have Paul, and what different people they were. You think of their different backgrounds they had. And how, you know, what's Peter? He was really an uneducated fisherman. And he was, you know, a rough, burly man. And he was a fisherman. And you think of his impulsiveness. And even as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he'd just blurt things out. And he'd just step out into this. And the impulsiveness of Peter. And you think of that fisherman's background. And then you come to Paul, this well-educated man. I mean, he was just highly educated. And he was brought up and trained at the feet of Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee. He was quite the opposite of Peter there. Highly intellectual, able to speak well before crowds and different things, and a great debater in different things. These two very different men, and yet they're both used by God in the work of God in the Church of God. I think that's an example for us. The Lord's Church needs Peters and the Lord's Church needs Pauls as well. with their diverse and different backgrounds, their different skills and gifts. And God just hasn't got one type of person that he uses in the church, he uses all types of different people, different gifts, diversity of gifts, but the one spirit in the one body. And so you see the two different characters of Peter and Paul, and Peter refers to him. You think about the relationship that these two men had. A very interesting study to go through the course of their relationship. And I'll just go through this quickly. If you want to turn to Galatians chapter 1, you can see that Paul himself relates about his encounter with Peter, or a couple of encounters, in fact. Now, Paul was converted. You know about that in Acts chapter 9. But he says here in Galatians chapter 1 verse 15, Galatians 1.15, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years, and so three years had passed, he was converted, he didn't even go to the apostles straight away. You think, why? He's been converted. He's a Christian now. Why didn't he go straight up? No, the Lord had different plans for him. He went into Arabia and, you know, going out into, you know, really the desert. And what happened there? The Lord instructed him. The Lord himself, the Lord Jesus instructed Paul and gave him these direct revelations. A very special person, this Apostle Paul. But he did go up after three years. He went to Jerusalem, it says there in verse 18. And so he's gone up to Jerusalem and he says, I need to see Peter and I'm going to see him not just for a day, but for 15 days. You just imagine what the things they talked about and just the back and forth that would have gone on between these two men. And Paul, giving his testimony, said, this is what happened to me. I was going to Damascus. I was going to destroy every last one of you. But the Lord, he revealed himself to me and his grace was bestowed upon me. And I believed and he's changed me. And now I don't want to persecute the church. I want to build up the church. I serve Jesus Christ. He's my Lord. And this is, you know, just giving that testimony. Just imagine Peter beholding this. What was Peter's response? Well, all we get here is in verse 24, the last verse of Galatians 1. Well, verse 23, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed and they, including Peter, glorified God in me. And so, what's Peter's response? Glory to God. Glory to God for God's grace upon the last person we ever would have thought would be a Christian. And now here's one of us, and he's an apostle. And they said, glory to God. And I just love the way it's worded there. They didn't glorify Paul. They didn't glorify Paul. No, they glorified God in Paul. It was all glory to God through what he had done in the apostle. And so you see that first meeting there. 14 years later they met at the Jerusalem council and that's in Acts chapter 15 and you know we won't refer to that you know that what happened there there were the Judaizers who are saying you need to if you're a Christian you need to keep the law of Moses you need to be circumcised to be saved And this created a great problem in the church, and they had to get their heads together, they sought the will of God, and they defended the doctrine of justification by faith without works. And they came down very clearly on that, and Peter and Paul were working together on that one. And then, at the same time, Peter and the other apostles publicly received Paul into the fellowship of the church and commissioned him and Barnabas to take the gospel to the Gentiles. In Galatians, if you're still there, Galatians 2 verse 1. So this is talking about that same time. Then 14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus also with me, and went up by revelation, and communicated unto them the gospel, that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them, which are of reputation, lest by any means I should run in vain, or I should run, or had run in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised." And then, yeah, it goes on there. and just talks about his going up to Jerusalem, verse 7. The same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. So it seemed the way God had worked it out, Peter was the apostle to the Jews and Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Just how God had divided the things. And verse 9, And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the heathen. And they, under the circumcision, only they would that we should remember the poor and the same which I also was forward to do. And so they said, Paul, we're extending the right hand of fellowship. You're one of us, and we believe the Holy Spirit wants you to go with Barnabas out to the heathen and to go on your missionary journeys and so forth. There's the next stage. Everything seems to be going pretty well between Peter and Paul to this point, right? But then you see Galatians 2 and verse 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, these Jews came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, dissembling is hypocrisy, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. Peter was influential. When Peter made a choice, often others would follow him. He was just that type of character. But anyway, verse 14, Why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, etc. And so he rebukes him. And it's a public rebuke. And moreover, Paul writes by inspiration and records this so that we are still talking about Paul's rebuke of Peter publicly 2,000 years later. Now, how's Peter going to respond to that? I mean, that was a real blow. That's humbling to have a public rebuke from Paul. He might have resented Paul for a number of reasons. He might have resented Paul for being this latecomer to this apostleship. I mean, Peter was there from the beginning. He was with Christ for about three years, receiving teaching, seeing the miracles, and here comes Paul long after, and now he's one of these apostles, and he thinks he can boss me around? You know, that's how a lot of people would have responded in the flesh, right? He might have resented Paul for that public rebuke. Why didn't he just do it privately? I mean, why did he have to? How embarrassing for me. I'm going to hold that against him. I'm going to resent that and I'm going to be bitter towards Paul. And a lot of people would do that, even professing Christians who've got that carnality within them and who are operating in the flesh. But no, Peter harboured no bitterness or animosity towards Paul, but rather he esteemed him as what back in 2 Peter? Our beloved brother. He could have just said there in 2 Peter, even as Paul. Or even as our brother, Paul, where he says, no, our beloved brother, I love him. I love Paul. He's a beloved brother. And he's a brother. In fact, we're both brethren because we're both children of God. And you see that response to rebuke. What an example to us, how Peter responded to that rebuke. In Proverbs 9, verse 8, it says, Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. You ever reprove someone and they hate your guts and they just never want to talk to you again and they hold it against you? What does that prove? It proves they're a scorner because they hate you. But the next part of Proverbs 9 verse 8 says, Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. What's Peter showing? He's showing he's a wise man because he loves Paul even though he was rebuked by him. And to tell you what, we can learn a lesson from Paul. There's times we need to rebuke a brother. And it's not pleasant. But we can learn from Peter how to receive rebuke. And just to say, you know what, I was wrong. I needed that. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. And just to receive that and to take that correction and to get things right. and love that one who gives the rebuke because they're doing it for our good. Well, so what an interesting relationship between these two. But here, Peter is holding up Paul as our beloved brother. But then he refers to the writings, the inspired writings of Paul. He says, according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you. And so the Apostle Peter here confirms the truth of his message by referencing the writings of Paul, which are in complete harmony with Peter's. So Peter said all these things, but you know what? Paul said the same thing. That's what he's saying. It's not just me saying this as if I'm something different. No, Paul said the same things. We're on the same page here. Now Paul is said to have written those same things to believers, as he says there, he's written unto you those, and so what is he talking about? Is he talking about a certain letter that Paul addressed to these same believers who were scattered around, you know, that we read about at the opening of 1 Peter? I think it's more in the sense of his writings generally. In all his epistles, it talks about in verse 16, which those epistles of Paul were often just addressed to a certain church or churches or a certain individual, Timothy or Titus. They were distributed and read among all the churches as they are today. Just like today, well, that letter was written to the church at Corinth, but we read it and we are benefited by it as well. And so I think he's just talking generally about Paul's writings. And I think it's fair to assume that when Paul would write a letter to a church, and he knew he was writing by inspiration, he wouldn't just send it to that church, he'd send it especially to the apostles. And I think Peter would have had in his possession most, if not all, of Paul's writings. And he had those inspired writings and he's referencing them here. And you can see how they were being distributed even in the early days of the New Testament being written. So Paul wrote the same truths about the second coming as Peter, this is the theme here in chapter 3, as well as the truth that God's goodness and forbearance and longsuffering leads to repentance. So just in the context here, what's Peter been talking about? Well, the longsuffering of God is salvation. Paul said the same thing in Romans 2 verse 4, the goodness of God leads thee to repentance. See, it's just the same message, different people. And so we need to realize that, because some people say, well, you know, there was a certain message Paul had, and then there's a certain message Peter had, and it's sort of, there was progressive revelation through New Testament, and it's called hyper-dispensationalism. And so they divide acts up, and they say, yeah, there was salvation this way, and then it was sort of a Jewish form of salvation, and then, no, it's a unified message. We need to be careful about dissecting and dividing scripture where it should not be divided. All right, same gospel, same doctrine, and the doctrines of the Godhead, of the Trinity, the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, the doctrine of sanctification, of spiritual warfare, of warnings against apostasy and false teachers and the return of Christ, they all are in harmony. You know, the Bible contains 66 books. written over about 1600 years, over by about 40 different authors. I mean, you think, you know, what a diverse book, but it's one book, and it's all a unified whole. Why is it unified? Because, you know, you think of all the different authors, all the different time, all the different things. Why? Because ultimately it's one author, the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, it's one author, and so therefore, obviously it's going to be unified. He inspired every word of this book, and it's just a marvellous miracle that he could use these different people, even use their styles. We know Paul has a certain style and used a certain language, John has his own style, Peter has his own style, and yet the Holy Spirit used even their styles, and yet every word, every syllable, every letter is given by the Holy Ghost. Now he says there in verse 15, Paul, according to the wisdom given unto him. And so that's how Paul wrote that it was divine wisdom that was given unto him. And that tells us something about wisdom. Divine wisdom is not something we develop from within ourselves. But it is the gift of God. See, only God can give wisdom. And if we want wisdom, we have to get it from God. James 1 verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom, that's me, and that's you if you're honest, let him what? Ask of God. That giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. God gives wisdom through our humble prayers for it. God also gives wisdom through wise companions and counsel. In Proverbs 13 verse 20, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise. And so it's still God giving the wisdom, but we get around wise people and God uses them as instruments to impart wisdom to us. God gives wisdom through our fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And God gives wisdom through his word. In Psalm 19, verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. And so this is how we come to the word of God and we seek God and we say, God, open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of thy law. And he will give us that wisdom through the word of God. But Paul was given wisdom and I believe Paul and the other writers of scripture understood that they were writing by inspiration because there's a theory out there that says, you know, they were just writing letters and just thinking, you know, I'm going to write this and that and they sent off a letter and next thing, People decide, oh, this is actually inspired by God, and they didn't realise it. No, I don't believe that. I believe Paul, when he wrote, understood that God was writing through him. And different times you can see that in his writings. You see that in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 10 to 13. We won't read that, but he talks about the Spirit of God how he received the spirit, which is of God, and so forth, which things also we speak. And Peter also and others, and so they understood that God was inspiring them to write the scripture. And so here's Paul, he's got this wisdom, and he's writing things. Now, you notice there, moving down in verse 16, there's a little phrase there, they're resting the Scriptures as they do also the other Scriptures. So he's talking about these people resting and twisting the Scriptures, or actually twisting the writings of Paul as they do the other Scriptures. So what is that saying? Paul's epistles are put in the same category as other scriptures, showing that Peter regarded Paul's writings as inspired scripture. So this is a very important verse to say, well, how, why would we think that the letters that Paul wrote are inspired and they are scripture? Peter himself said, no, they are scripture, just like other scriptures. Okay, so that's an important verse. If you ever come across someone who says, you know, did Paul really write scripture? Yep, Peter said so. OK, so. We need to be very careful and we need to be aware of those who put more weight to some parts of the scripture and less to others. For instance, someone says, oh, the gospels, and especially whether you have the red words in the gospels, there's more inspiration in them than, say, the things that Paul wrote, those letters that he wrote to Corinth or Galatians or whatever. And I've actually had someone say this to me when I was debating about a teaching, and he said, well, Jesus trumps Paul. As if to say, well, the words of Jesus have more weight than the words of Paul. And see, that's a dangerous place to be. What he's saying is he doesn't regard some parts of the Bible as being inspired or at the same level of inspiration. And that's just a downward path. If you're rejecting parts of the scripture, soon you'll reject the whole thing. But is that true or is that even possible? What did Paul say in 2 Timothy 3 in verse 16? All scripture is given by inspiration of God. So if it's scripture, And these 66 books of the Bible are scripture. All of it is given by inspiration of God, whether it's recorded in the Gospels, or in the Epistles, or Revelation, or Genesis, any book of the Bible, it's all given by inspiration of God, and it all has that same weight. All right, so we need to be careful about that. So we see, first of all, there is consistency in the scriptures. And then we'll see, secondly, there are complexities in the scriptures. Because he says there in verse 16, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood. There's some hard things to be understood in the scriptures. So let me just make a few points about that so we don't misunderstand it. Some parts of scripture are hard to understand, but not all. Because he says there's some things, some things. He doesn't say all things in the scripture are hard to understand, but he says there's some things are hard to understand. Now there's something that's called the doctrine of perspicuity, which is clarity. It means simply that the Bible is an open and plain book. It's not a hidden shadowy book, it is a clear book. In Psalm 119 verse 105 it says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It says in Psalm 119 verse 130, the entrance of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the simple. So even the simple can understand the words of God. The doctrines of the gospel are simple and straightforward, easily understood by those willing to receive them. The gospel message is so simple, isn't it? That Christ died for our sins, he was buried, he rose again the third day, and if we repent and put our trust in him, he will forgive us our sins, and he will justify us, and he will grant us eternal life. What a simple message that is understandable by those who are willing to understand. But in contrast to this milk, now those gospel doctrines are called milk, there is the strong meat of the word that requires much divine light and diligent study to comprehend. Hebrews 5, 13 and 14 talks about the contrast between milk and the strong meat. And the strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, it says, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. And so you've got those milk doctrines, but then there's some meat doctrines, which takes some real understanding. You think about the doctrines of God's sovereignty and human responsibility, election and free will. Those are some deep doctrines. Those can be hard to be understood. You think of the doctrines concerning the Trinity and the Godhead and how there is one God in three persons. And you know, is that easily understood? It can be hard to be understood. What about doctrines of prophecy? And how is this going to happen? And we read Revelation and we read about these things that are going to happen. Some of them can be hard to be understood. What about the nature of the eternal state? What is heaven going to be really like? And what is it going to be like when the new heaven and new earth are going on forever? Well, we understand some things, but there's a lot hard to be understood about these things. And so we know that there's doctrines. They're deep and hard to be understood. But you know what, it should comfort us when we encounter difficult portions and doctrines of the scriptures, that even the Apostle Peter confessed that there are some hard things to understand in the Bible. Even Peter said that. And if there are things hard for him, there's going to be some things hard for me. And if someone says, yeah, I understand all the stuff in the Bible, all the doctrines, then you're talking to someone who knows nothing, and they don't know themselves. Because we need to admit there's some hard things. Now, I'd also say while some parts of scripture are hard to understand, they are not impossible to understand, all right? Because there's another way of thinking, some say, you've heard people say this, oh, there's so many interpretations in the Bible, and there's so many different ideas, you can't really understand what it says. You've had people say that to you. Well, that excuse is mostly used by those who do understand it but choose not to obey it. It's an excuse. They know the simple truths, but they say, yeah, it's too hard to understand. I'm just going to ignore it. It's just made up. It's not true. Mark Twain put it this way. It ain't those parts of the Bibles I can't understand that bother me. It's the parts I do understand. And that's what bothers most people. But God gave us the Bible that we might understand it. And so all parts of the Bible can be understood. They can be understood. It's not impossible, but they can be hard to be understood. And it requires study, it requires all these things. We require God's illumination to understand anything of the inspired word. It's a revelation of God. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14, So if we're to understand anything in the Bible, it requires God and the Holy Spirit, who's the author of scripture, to give us the understanding of these things. So therefore we should pray when we come to the Bible. Psalm 119 verse 18, and that God would enable us to understand these things. But the fact is, there's some hard things to be understood. The writings of Paul, particularly that Peter says, there's some things hard to be understood. And so there's some complexities in the scriptures. We need to realize that. But then thirdly, there are corruptors of the scriptures. which they that are unlearned and unstable rest. So what are these people? Well, they're unlearned first of all. That word for unlearned, it doesn't mean a lack of intelligence or even a lack of knowledge, but a lack of training in the word to interpret it correctly. Their ignorance is a willful ignorance and a rejection of the truth. You know, there's people, and these people are around today, they possess the truth. They have Bibles. In fact, they may study the Bible, and they study it intellectually, and yet they receive not the love of the truth. And that's, if they don't love the truth, if they just study it as any other book, and they just seek to get knowledge from it, they will not receive the truth. and they are therefore unlearned in God's sight. They do not approach the Bible with the desire to hear what God says, but to use and abuse it for their personal advantage. This is what these people do. They come to the Bible, they say, I'm going to pervert this, I'm going to corrupt it for my own advantage, to give myself power over people, to give myself wealth and position. They're resting in the scriptures. But so they're unstable, or sorry, they're unlearned, but they're also unstable. The word for unstable, it's an unsteady person who's not established, and they're not steadfast in their souls. You see that same word is used in chapter two and verse 14, beguiling unstable souls, they deceive unstable souls. So while the true believer is to be disciplined in self-denial and obedience to Christ, this person is subverted, Titus 3 verse 11, led by their lusts, and they use the scriptures and religion as a means of gratifying their lusts. That's the type of person that we're talking about here. They're unlearned, they're unstable, and they therefore rest the scriptures. It shows the importance of spiritual maturity and scriptural training for those who are shepherds over God's flock. That's one of the requirements. A bishop is to be apt to teach. A bishop is to be not a novice, 1 Timothy 3 verse 6, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. That's why a bishop or a pastor is also called an elder. There's spiritual maturity there. But these people, no, they're unlearned, they're unstable. And what do they do? They rest the scriptures. That word rest means to twist, to wrench, to distort. And it was used in the process of torture, where limbs would be dislocated. They're torturing the scriptures. They're tearing at limb from limb. And the Apostle Paul, he experienced this resting of even his own words by his enemies. They accused him of encouraging people to continue in sin. You see that in Romans 3 verse 8, they are slandering him. But Satan is the chief wrestler of the Scriptures. He did that back in the Garden of Eden. You read about that in Genesis 3. Just perverting the Scriptures, casting down the Word of God. You see that in the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. And he even used the Word of God in Matthew 4, verse 6 and 7. He said unto the Lord Jesus, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, He had the scripture behind him, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up. He's quoting from Psalm 91 there, tempting the Lord Jesus. And but the Lord Jesus refused and he used the word of God properly. And so we know the devil does this. We know his people do this. The Pharisees, they misused the scripture to justify their wicked behavior. They had this thing called Corban where they could get out of honoring their parents by saying, you know, it's a gift. It's a gift. And so on there. And so these false teachers, they rest the scriptures. They don't handle it the way it should be handled. They don't use the proper rules of Bible interpretation. They come with a preconceived idea and they force it into the scripture. It's called eisegesis, reading something into the word, instead of exegesis, taking it out of the word and drawing from the word of God. And we see that all the time. People just using a proof text, a single verse out of context. And they pervert the whole meaning of the scripture. We need to be careful of these people who rest the scriptures. People who deny the literal creation week. They say, no, well, it is ages and different things. That's resting the scriptures. Allegorizing of the word of God. Finding meaning that's not there, and on and on. We see it everywhere. But it says, you see at the end of verse 16, they do this unto their own destruction. They don't realise it, but they think, I'm doing this for my own personal benefit. I'm going to make myself better, but they're actually destroying themselves by what they're doing with the scriptures. And Peter talks a lot about destruction and damnation and perdition, the same word there. And what ultimately is it? It's damnation. They're going to send themselves to hell by arresting the scriptures. And there's some solemn warnings in the Bible for those who pervert the word of God, who take away from it and who add to it. In Proverbs 30 verse 5 and 6, every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. That's a solemn warning. We've got to be careful we don't add to the word of God. and Revelation 22, 18 and 19. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. Someone would dare add to or take away from God's words and rest the scriptures, God will take away their part from heaven and he'll send them to hell. They do it to their own destruction. What a solemn warning, a solemn warning. Now, John Chrysostom, he said a long time ago, the lack of scriptural knowledge is the source of all evils in the church. The lack of scriptural knowledge is a source of all evils in the church. And that's true for a church, that's true for our own lives. If you're going to guard yourself against evil, against error, and against sin, you need to have a firm knowledge of the scriptures. Not just coming to church and hearing a sermon, it's daily study of the Word of God. Let me ask you, can you say that the Bible is at the centre of your life, which you turn to for guidance continually? Or is it just something you have a casual relationship with? That it's just something, you know, I've got other interests and I've got other priorities. The Bible, I still turn to it occasionally. But is it the centrepiece of your life? Let me ask you, what do you do when you come to a teaching of the scripture that goes against your thinking or behavior? That'll come up all the time. And you read something in the scripture and you think, you know what? Something in my life is not lined up with the Bible. What do you do? You've got a choice then. One choice is to rest the scriptures and say, you know what? I don't think it actually means that. That doesn't apply to me in this age. Or that word sort of means something different. And besides, all these other Christians, they're doing the same thing. We rest the scriptures. And they make the scriptures agree with themselves. But then there's another option. It's to conform my life with what the Bible says, regardless of the cost. And often there is a cost. I might have to give something up. I might have to offend some people. I might have to receive some ridicule of the world if I'm gonna conform my life to this book. But which one is it gonna be? We don't wanna be these people who rest the scriptures. It's to their own destruction. But if we conform our lives to the word of God, yes, it will cost us, but it will bring the blessing of God upon us, both in this world and the next. Amen, let us pray.