To
view all of the free 2 Peter Bible Study Material written by Dr. Michael Guido, select the page number from
the menu on the left.
The Book of
2 Peter: Message Thirty Two
By Dr. Michael Guido, D.D.
Four prisoners
escaped from the Federal Prison at Mount Lemmon, Arizona. One was an
18-year-old fellow who had a bulldog tattooed on his upper right arm
with the words "BORN TO GO TO HELL." But no one was born
to go there, for it's written in 2nd Peter 3:9, "The
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance." So
think with me on some of the pickets to perdition.
The first picket you'll have to
overcome, if you perish, is the Scriptures. The Bible is between
your soul and sin, and it's between your life and the lake of fire.
You can't get far in your badness without finding the Bible in your
way. It warns you of sin and its sequence, of hell and its
horribleness; and it woos you to Jesus and His joy, to heaven and
its happiness. Yes, the Bible always stands in the way of the
sinner. It's one picket you'll have to overcome if you perish. The
Bible makes you uncomfortable in sin. A missionary went into a
village in India. There he sold a copy of the Bible to a dishonest
dealer who accepted bribes and bore false witness in court. The next
day, however, he hurried to the missionary and said, "Take it
back. It talks against me. It reproves everyone who's on the wrong
path. Take it, and give me back my money." Men and women will
give you many reasons why they don't like the Bible. But if you
should run down their excuses, you'll find that the reason why they
dislike the Bible is because of their disobedience or dishonesty.
They hate the Bible because it makes it hard on them to sin.
The second picket you'll have to
overcome, if you perish, is the saved. Many are the Christians who
have warned you of death and its despair, the grave and its
gruesomeness. They have wept over your wickedness, and they have
prayed for you and pleaded with you. It may be that some of you are
alive today, and have another opportunity to be saved, because of
the prayers of your husband or wife, your father or mother. As a
young man left his home, his Christian mother and said to him,
"Son, you're going to live in a wicked city. But I want you to
remember this: every night at 9 o'clock I'll be kneeling by the
bedside and praying for you." He went to the city and he wasted
his substance in riotous living, forgetting all about his godly
mother and her prayers. One night, with a godless gang, he went into
a den of iniquity. Just as he was about to commit an awful sin the
clock on the wall chimed out nine times. He turned from that sin and
his sinful companions and walked out the door. When they called him
to come back, he said softly, "Mother;" and away he went
to his mother and her God. If you perish it's because you've torn
down the picket of the saved.
The third picket you'll have to
overcome, if you perish, is the sermons. Many have been the times
you've heard it thundered from the pulpits, "Prepare to meet
thy God!" Many have been the times you've heard it whispered
over the microphone, "Come to Christ!" And a great number
of you have repented and received the Savior. God has used sermons
to save souls. Oh, I know there are some who say that sermons are a
waste of time and talent. But they're wrong. A sermon based on the
Bible is never wasted. God sometimes uses it immediately on
delivery, and other times, years after it's preached. A 10-year-old
boy heard a sermon on the text, "If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed." That boy didn't receive the
Lord as his Savior. Eighty-six years later, when he was ninety-six
years old, as he was sitting in a rocking chair he thought on that
text, and he said to himself, "That preacher said, 'If any man
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.' I don't love
the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm under a curse." Sitting there he
turned to the Lord, called upon His name, and was saved.
The fourth picket you'll have to
overcome, if you perish, is the suffering of the Savior for your
sins. You can't go very far in your sin before you see, standing
between your soul and your sins, Christ and His cross. Look upon the
Lord. Can't you see Him, in visions of your soul, dying for your
sins? What sorrow there is in His face! What suffering there is in
His body! No, it's not the nails that are holding Him to the cross.
It's His love for you. Oh, I remember when I was lost and without
the Lord. I wandered into a gospel meeting and I came face to face
with the Christ of the cross. I saw Him "wounded for my
transgressions...bruised for my iniquities"...dying for my
sins. I couldn't trample under my feet the Lord and His love. And as
I lingered I found that
"Mercy there was great and
grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied to
me."
Then I received Jesus as my
Savior. Won't you?
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.
