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The Book of
2nd Peter: Message Forty One
By Dr. Michael Guido, D.D.
A little girl hurried
home from Sunday School and weighed herself. "Why did you weigh
yourself again," asked the mother, "when you just weighed
before you went to Sunday School?" "Because,"
answered the girl, "I just gave my heart to Jesus, and I wanted
to see how much I weighed without it. And, mother, I weigh just the
same." Giving your heart to Jesus makes no difference in your
weight, but it does in your ways. Let's turn to think on salvation.2nd
Peter 3:15 and
Mark the plan. To have salvation,
you must be willing to be changed...in your aim and attitude, your
conversation and conduct. Look at Zaachaeus. He was a deceitful and
dishonest tax collector. But he was saved, and he became a generous
and godly disciple. Look at Peter. He was a hot-headed and hard
swearing fisherman, unstable and undependable. But he was saved, and
he became a holy and humble fisher of men, rocklike and reliable.
William Carey, the father of the modern missionary movement, once
said, "O that God would make the gospel successful among these
sinners. That would undoubtably make them honest men, and I fear
nothing else ever will." To be saved means to be delivered from
wickedness as well as from wrath, from the power of sin as well as
the punishment of sin. If you're not willing to give up your sins
and your sinning, you can't be saved. If you haven't been changed,
you haven't been converted. If you haven't experienced a rightabout
turn in your daily walk, you haven't repented. "Oh," but
you say, "I thought that salvation comforts and cheers!"
It does, but first it confronts you with your sins, and then it
convicts you, and then changes you. Then there comes the comfort and
the cheer.
Mark the patience, for that's seen
in the expression, "the longsuffering of our Lord." For He
has not appointed us to wrath, but to receive salvation. In order
that you may obtain salvation, He has given you more time to be
saved. Now time is a precious thing. It's so precious that it's
given out in small quantities...just a second, then another second,
and another. But the seconds turn into minutes, and the minutes into
hours, and the hours into days, and the days into weeks, and the
weeks into months, and the months into years. And you have lived a
number of years, and you're not saved. Some of you have more years
behind you than you have before you. You can't relive the month or
the minute just passed. Neither can you be certain that you'll live
the minute that's just ahead. Therefore if you're to be saved, you
must be saved now. For the Bible says, "Now is the accepted
time." Not next year, not next week, not the next day, not the
next minute, but now. Is there a desire in your heart to be saved?
Now is the time!
Still unsaved?
After all the Spirit's pleading,
after all God's tender leading;
After all of Calvary's cross to
redeem your soul from loss:
While His love and grace abound,
can it be that you are found
Still unsaved? Still unsaved?
Still unsaved?
Will you still refuse His pardon?
Still in sin your conscience harden?
Still reject till death o'ertake
you? Then when every hope forsakes you,
Dare you face your God at last,
when your every chance is passed,
Still unsaved? Still unsaved?
Still unsaved?
Sinner, stop, and look before you,
See the storm clouds gathering
o'er you;
Ere they burst in judgment on you
And in endless woe o'erwhelm you,
To the cross of Jesus fly, lest
forever you will cry -
Still unsaved! Still unsaved!
Mark the profit. Salvation gives
you a better way to live. Should there be no heaven or
hell, living the life of the saved
is better than living the life of the unsaved. It's healthier and
happier, cleaner and cheerier. It's more peaceful and more
profitable. You'll feel better, live longer, save more, and die
happier. For salvation also gives you a better way to die. It's a
fearful thing to die unsaved, and to go to that furnace of fire,
where there's torture and torment, weeping and wailing for ever and
ever. But if you're saved, death loses its sting and the grave its
victory. Angels come down from heaven and carry you to be with the
Lord, where there's no more war, wrath or want, where there's no
more weariness, weakness or wickedness. But the greatest joy that
will come to your heart won't be to behold the mansions but the
Master.
Mark the present. You may receive
salvation without wealth or health, without fame or a great name,
without learning or big earnings. The Bible says, "The gift of
God is eternal life." But one of two things you must do: you
must either receive salvation or you must reject salvation.
Consciously or unconsciously you're doing one or the other. To
reject salvation is to perish. Take the Savior and be saved now!
copyright 2000 Guido
Evangelistic Association
All Scripture
verses are quoted from the New King James Version..
Click here to go to the next Scripture Study on the book of Second
Peter from the Sower.
This series of
messages on the Books of the Bible were originally
written for broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program,
"The Sower." They are collected and
reprinted here for your enjoyment and spiritual
edification.
