2 Peter, 3:1-7

We are turning a corner again in 2 Peter. We've finished the second chapter, although I don't think Peter had any idea he was finishing a chapter. But we finished the second chapter beginning today in 2 Peter 3. And one of the things I'm inclined to do is to kind of tell you ahead of time, you know, some of the things that will be helpful or tell you what Peter is about to tell you.

And three things he's going to do here. One is going to return to reminding. And we brought that up before as something that he had brought out. Second Peter chapter 1, 12 through 15. Second thing he is going to do, as he did before, is emphasize the Old Testament and the New Testament as profitable Scripture. He's going to underscore that again.

And it's interesting, we find that call throughout Scripture. Remember when you're going through Isaiah. Isaiah says, to the Lord and to the testimony. And we find the Lord Jesus saying, thy word is truth. We find Peter saying, as we'll see later on, Paul and all the rest of the scriptures. And we see here Peter's second emphasis on both the Old and New Testaments.

And we'll see that. And the third thing is he's going to address the scoffers. We've seen before false teachers, and he takes a kind of a different slant here. It isn't explicitly the false teachers, but the scoffers. the ones who belittle the gospel message, and those who carry it, and those who live it. So those three things. In this third point with the scoffers, the scoffers who deny the Lord's second coming, they deny the Lord's judgment, and the limited time frame for this present material world.

They see how this world is going to keep on ticking. And their own accountability before God. From a biblical standpoint, it is possible that this world that we are standing in right now is over and done with in 1,007 years. Right? If the Lord were to take us home this very minute, we didn't even finish the class. I guess they can leave the PA system on, I don't care. But if the Lord were to take us home, it would be as little as seven years until the end of the tribulation. and then a thousand years, and then it's done. And this world's finished.

Isn't that interesting? People think of, oh, this will always be around, and we talk about, you know, thousands of years. It may not be thousands of years left. It might not be. This world is not eternal. And where they say the sun has a billion years or something left to go, where it burns out, I don't think we've got that long.

Okay, now, the last thing is they deny their own accountability before God. I'm not accountable before God, and therefore I'll scoff at all these things that we just talked about briefly. I'll scoff at all these things, and I'm never going to stand before God and answer for anything I've done. Okay? And so they deny it all. They scoff at it all. All right, let's take a look at the passage here. 2 Peter 3, the first couple of verses we'll begin with there.

This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you, in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember, there's those reminder and remember words again, remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Okay. Here's Peter referring evidently to his first letter. We have two letters from Peter, and we have the first one, and now he's referring apparently back to that letter here in the second letter. And Peter had written earlier in this very same letter, 2 Peter 1, verses 12-15, Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things. even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you, I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent any time, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind." He keeps sewing in that thread of reminder, doesn't he? Reminding, remembering, recall. Because he wants the truths that he's taught to continue on in their minds and in their lives after he's gone. And we're included. Okay? We're included. Now, Peter used a word in this Greek text that has a significance that doesn't come across immediately in our English translation.

The Greek word translated sincere, and I'm back at 2 Peter 3.1 there, is elekrinos, which literally means judged by sunlight. Wow. Here's the idea.

Biblical times, pottery makers would have first grade and B grade. A grade and B grade pottery. The B grade pottery, what would be the problem? What's the problem with B grade pottery? A flaw. Yes, you're right. What kinds of flaws? Cracks. Good, and what else? Chips. Yeah, it might be chips or bubbles. Any kind of a defect in the surface... in addition to a crack. And so what they would do often is take a little bit of wax, in those days it wasn't petroleum wax, it was beeswax, but they'd take a little bit of beeswax and they'd work it into the crack or work it into the defect. The cracks particularly, the defect would have to be pretty deep, but the cracks particularly would show up Judge them by sunlight.

Hold them up to the sun. Wait a minute. I see a line of light coming through here. I'm not buying this. You can have it. You can keep it. That's what he means. That's the word that he used. Judge by sunlight. The source of this word was the practice of holding pottery up to the sunlight to see if the seller had touched up minor blemishes in the pottery by filling them with wax. The sunlight would shine through wax filler. The buyer would then decide to buy or not to buy based on does it pass the sunlight test.

As for the word mind, Peter used the same Greek word that Paul had used when he wrote I pray that the eyes of your heart, literally having been enlightened, so that you would know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe."

Peter then is referring to the believer's minds in Christ having spiritual insight. It's the spiritually active mind having spiritual insight. So let's put this together here. He wants to encourage the believers to apply the mind they have in Christ to the Word of God as given in both the Old and New Testaments. This is a message similar to what he wrote before, and this is going back to the Old Testament and New Testament underscoring.

In 2 Peter 1, 16-21, For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received glory and honor from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. Words capitalized, majestic glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

So what does he call these things written by the New Testament authors? They're written by your apostles. Is it interesting? He makes it personal. And that's something I think to be thought about. Peter makes it personal. We're not just some sort of generic apostles. We're sent by the Lord for you. I was talking with Brad earlier this week and one of the things that we pointed out, there are words like elect. predestined, you know, and we kind of want to get, you know, real grand scale, almost mechanical theological concept significance to those words. And what I was showing with Brad is how the Lord couples those kinds of words up with taking it personally.

You ever heard somebody use the expression, don't take it personally? Well, I encourage you to do exactly the opposite. When you see things in Scripture that, you know, this seems like it ought to be a theological concept, well, maybe not. See, the rapture is not a theological concept. It's something that the Lord rewards us for loving His appearance. Take it personally. Same thing here. Your apostles, those are sent because the Lord loves you. Take it personally, okay? Do take it personally. Very much so. Verse 19, so we have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

But know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. That word moved has the idea of carried along. So here he is underscoring now twice, here's the first part, chapter 1, reminding and now God's Word. God's Word, God's Word.

Remind, remind. Remember, remember. He wants us to remember the truths laid down in God's Word because why? He knows his days are short. He knows my end is imminent. He says, what's really going to matter, what I really want to pass on to these people, God's Word, God's Word, God's Word, remind, remind, remember. He keeps coming back with that. Let's look at the next portion of this passage. 2 Peter 3, 3-7.

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking. That doesn't happen anymore though, right? Not so much. Okay, what happens? Following after their own lust. What is motivating these guys to do their scoffing? Isn't that interesting? It's essentially a sin nature sourced scoffing. Yes? Does this lust mean sexual lust or does it just mean any kind of lusting? Any kind of lusting stimulated out of the sin nature. Okay.

And that's an interesting thing is you will have people who come up and maybe they have all sorts of scientific or academic or philosophical credentials, loudly scoffing on TV shows, books, appearances, speaking at colleges and universities and in front of various academic groups, scoffing loudly. What's the source? Isn't that interesting? The source is not their massive intellect. The source is not this mountain of evidence against the Christian faith. The source is their lust. The source of the lust is the sin nature.

And saying, where is the promise of His coming? Where is the promise of His coming? It is said with a snide intonation. It's said intended to belittle. That's the very thing. Now, notice it's put in the form of a question. Where did we hear something questioned earlier in the book of Genesis? Did the Lord really say this? This is an ancient practice. Did the Lord really say this? This can't really be.

So you know where that comes from. For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. For when they maintain this, and that has the idea that they keep on doing it, keep holding to it, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by his word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men."

Alright, Peter had this first of all phrase in 2 Peter 1.20 and here he returns to it.

Isn't it interesting how the things that we read in chapter 1, he is now returning to them. He's returning to the first of all. He's returning to the reminder. He's returning to God's word, God's word, God's word. So it's interesting how he starts off with these things and now he's coming back to them and underscoring those points. It must be important. He puts these of first priority is what he means. This first of all, a first priority. These are spiritually important. Spiritually important.

Now, when are the last days? Are we there yet? Doug says yes. Anybody have any other ideas? Or do you agree? She agrees. Okay. Alright. I see heads nodding. Yes, that's right. Doug's got it. Okay. The last days, we're here. Okay. Pardon? The Olivet Discourse tells us that. Okay. Yep. So, yep, the clock has been ticking. Pardon? What's that? Yeah. There is a characteristic of things ever since Peter wrote these up until the present, right? Yes?

Does the last days actually refer to the time from the resurrection until the second coming? We're going to look at that. The scripture does not use the term in the sense of final singular solar days, like you've got to last a few days or something, but rather for the days from Christ's first coming until right before his second coming. Hebrews 1, 1 and 2, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways, In these last days, they're already there right in the middle of the time when the author of Hebrews is writing, before the first century is out. As a matter of fact, Hebrews dates from before the Romans took out Jerusalem and the rest of Israel. So right in the middle of the first century, those are the last days as well. Okay. In these last days he has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world."

The words mockers and mocking are related words, as you see them in English, also in the Greek, and they have the idea of in sport, making sport of the mocking, making sport of jeering, making sport of asking questions to sow seeds of doubt. These mockers are driven by the lust of the sin nature in their daily lives and make sport of the hope and anticipation of the Lord's coming. Are believers to have the hope and anticipation of the Lord's coming? Yes, yes, by all means, absolutely. The Lord even rewards believers for loving His appearing. Yes, by all means. But the mockers will come and sow seeds of doubt.

They will scoff. Their mocking is also to defend and justify their lifestyle. You see, it's not just that they're looking at you and they're trying to knock down your faith and your confidence and the confidence of others. They're also trying to justify the way they live and the way they think. Like Rosie O'Donnell, who seems to be on the news. Oh yeah, she has a high horsepower mouth, yes. But all it is, it's this scoffing, and the reality is the scoffing is a justifying.

What do we think of when we think of justifying, apart from scripture where it's declared righteous? What do you usually think of when we think of somebody justifying something? Entitled? To make it okay. Yeah, to make it okay. In other words, we make a good excuse. Or what sounds like a good excuse. God is a loving God, so therefore he would allow this. I hear that all the time. Yes, God's just going to wink at it. If God grades on the curb, I'll be fine. Maybe not. Okay.

In contrast here, believers are encouraged to look for the Lord's coming. Most certainly, to set the Lord's coming for us who believe in their hearts and minds as the blessed hope. Paul writes to Timothy, the blessed hope, Titus. And the believers are even offered a crown, a Stephanos crown, for loving his appearing. Let's take a look at the top of page 3, 2 Timothy. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, Stephano's crown, which the Lord, the righteous judge, the righteous judge gives a crown of righteousness, will award me on that day, and not only me, so this is intended to include you, but also all who have loved his appearance. So if you love his appearance, great! Okay? Good! But it doesn't matter that I say good. What matters is that the Lord says this is really good. Okay? The Lord says this is really good.

Now this question, where is the promise of his coming? The Lord's patience and mercy towards the unsaved are taken by these mockers as supposed reason to mock the very hope that God says that believers are to have. The Lord's not coming. See, look how long it's been. It's not going to happen. The Lord is patient. The Lord is merciful. After all, He could just take the mocker out if He wants. And I've even seen some of these mockers come to the Lord. But at least right then and there, they mock the Lord's patience and mercy.

Isn't that interesting? What they are doing is looking at the Lord's character, His eternal, infinite character of patience and mercy, and what they do is they interpret that as, it ain't happening. Denying the reality based on presumption, a presumption about God's character. His delay means it isn't happening. The Lord has said repeatedly that he will come again, and the apostles affirmed it repeatedly as well.

But these mockers maintain that nothing has changed since the world began. It all stays the same, and that everything has just continued as it was, implying that there has never been any miraculous intervention by God in the world. Nah, doesn't happen. Peter seems to portray the mockers as deist. There was a creation. but God leaves no evidence of his involvement with the created world since that time.

Some have even put it, I've heard them say it, I went to a seminar at Stanford once where this was said, as we begin and continue studying things scientifically, we increasingly prove that God is superfluous, an unnecessary hypothesis. Okay, yeah, Doug. I have heard it said that many of our fathers of the country are theists. Yes, and that is true. I didn't really understand who the theist was when I was told. Yeah, yeah, basically they are theists.

They believe in a God, but the God just created and then just kind of walked away out of disinterest. Somebody else have similar? Okay, Doug talked about the deists, that what we have here is the definition of the deist, that the deist believes there is a God, but that God created everything and then just walked away and has no continuing interest in this world, nor interest in being involved. That's also an agostic. And it is close to agnosticism, although an agnostic may be at the point, and I've talked to some of them as well, an agnostic may be at the point of saying, I don't know about whether there's a God or what God's character is or things of that sort. So it's close in terms of the outcome is basically the same, isn't it? One believes in the God, the other doesn't, but it makes no difference to their current, present life. Yeah.

It's interesting because we historically have called the United States a Christian nation or a Christian country. It was founded with some Christian ideals, but deists, you know, wouldn't necessarily have Yeah, I think that the proper assessment is that there were everything from true genuine Christians who we will see in heaven when we go to be with the Lord, to those who were theists but of a deistic understanding and some, you know, range in between there, such that what you really have is a mixture. There is certainly a lot in our country's background in which Christian involvement was basic and critical. Even the design of our Constitution is, as I mentioned going through Isaiah, out of a verse in Isaiah that has three parts identified.

So anyway, yeah, thank you for bringing that up. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice. Now, the mockers have a viewpoint to maintain. Isn't that interesting? So they don't just throw it out there and walk away. They have a viewpoint to maintain because they have to continue to justify their lifestyle. They have to continue to justify their worldview. So they have to maintain it. Otherwise it looks bad. It looks bad anyway, but, you know, so it's all about appearances.

As they do so, they must ignore or be ignorant of a few key facts. The Greek text even uses the word phalo, which indicates a willing ignorance of hiding the facts. Isn't that interesting? It is not just an accidental escaping notice, but this word phalo means to will. They have a willing ignorance in this. They are not accidentally ignorant. They are willingly ignorant. They intend to be ignorant. Okay?

So it's ridiculous because they are ruining it for themselves because God can see everything. He sees the heart and He knows, hey, we've got to screw it up. That's why we have this Romans 1 passage, you know, that's exactly the point. This reminds us of and fits well with what Paul wrote to the church at Rome. And what David wrote as well, Romans 1, 18-21, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world has invisible attributes, what can they know from the creation of the world? Do they know everything that's in Scripture? No. Since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, meaning his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

I think the important part is that they are without excuse. They are without excuse. They have revelation to them. Even the person who has never seen the scriptures, who doesn't have access, even the person who has never had access or been given the Christian gospel, they still have revelation to them, don't they?

And it is the pattern of man to suppress that truth, to push it down, willingly, is what Peter's point is here. Willingly suppress the truth. Psalm 19.1, the heavens are telling the glory of God and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Work of His hands, okay? Declaring it. Telling. It is a message given by the creation.

So, since the beginning of creation, there is one thing that has been the same. Since the beginning. Are they right about something being the same? Here's what's been the same. Since the beginning of creation, the creation has been making God's eternal power and deity plainly visible. Okay? That's what's been the same.

And the people have been ever so consistently suppressing the truth that is evident within them. Notice that this truth doesn't come to the eyeballs and then stop. It's a revealing that goes all the way into the heart. And from there is where the boomerang phenomenon takes place. Yes. Yes, man goes and changes things, but God's creation stays much the same and the message is very consistent all the way along. The message is very consistent.

You mentioned Psalm 19.1, Psalm 24.1, The Earth is the Lord's. The Earth is the Lord's. He is the one that has possession. We might have our title deeds. He is the one that owns it, ultimately.

The creation has been making God's eternal power and deity plainly visible. But aside from the constant message being preached by the creation, got that? Message preached by the creation. There were other events that Peter brought forward, aside from creation, and he does mention that. There's something else.

As Peter did with the past events, remember he brought up Balaam, Sodom and Gomorrah, okay? Peter also told the evidence of God's radical intervention in this present world. Those people who claim everything's been the same, God doesn't intervene, wait a minute, time out, okay? Here's what Peter says, top of page four.

By the word of God, the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. What Peter points out in verses 5 and 6 is that God called the heavens into existence by his word, and used water in the earth's formation. That's Genesis 1 and a couple of different places. Water is also used to destroy the world that existed before the flood of Noah's day, Genesis 6-9. So God has intervened in this world in massive ways, ways which have been universal or at least global in scale. God's intervention has not been some little minor thing where I say, Brad, did God do a little something in the pew pocket over there? It's not, no. He's not talking about little obscure things where I gotta go and ask somebody if something happened.

He's talking about stuff, we're talking the whole globe gets impacted. Big impact. Undeniable, massive impact. These people are just ignorant of this stuff. The mockers that Peter wrote about who exist in our own day, Richard Dawkins, are not accidentally ignoring, ignorant of these things, but willfully so. Not accidental, but willfully. They're in the process of actively and willfully suppressing these great truths as they mock them and mock our blessed hope of Christ coming for us.

But by the word, his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire. By the way, how did things get created? by His Word. How are things being held off? Is nothing happening yet because God doesn't care? No, they are being held off from their ultimate destiny by God's Word, the very Word that brought about the things that we see right in front of us. The material world right in front of us. God's Word. How are things created? God said, let there be Light. And he, by his word, everything else was brought into existence. Right? Right. Okay? And then, it says here, by his word, the present heavens and earth are being preserved.

By his word, there is an abeyance for what ultimately will take place, but it will take place. An original creation, a global flood, by his word, an abeyance of the ultimate destruction by His Word. And by His Word, when that abeyance is done, this world will be done. All by His Word.

All He has to do is speak it. When Jesus comes again in His second coming, will He have to pull the sword and slice off all these guys? What will He do? Sword in His mouth. By His Word. By His Word. And who is Christ? He is the Living Word. God's Word, God's Word, God's Word, God's Word, God's Word, all the way through. Okay, let's look here.

Rather, by His Word, the verbs in the rest of the verse are carried out, reserved and kept. until the time of the, I call them the terminal nouns, judgment and destruction. They are kept and reserved until the time of judgment and destruction, which will also be by His Word. God therefore is indeed acting to hold off on judgment and destruction, not because He doesn't care, not because He can't do anything, or isn't around. The very holding off is by His Word.

The mockers are not only willfully in great error, but they are dangerously dead wrong. Their public misinterpretation of God's patience and forbearance and mercy are the worst deliberate mistakes one can make. Is that right? It's the worst, and I put that word in there, deliberate, willful, It's the worst deliberate mistake that a person can make. Both for themselves and for all their ignorant victims. Yes, I'm sorry. Because they would spread the wrong message to others. Absolutely. And so therefore, that's the biggest danger. It is awful for them, certainly. It is awful for everyone else who listens to it.

For everyone else who listens to the nonsense and nods their head yes, who also willfully suppresses the truth, whether actively, as they're doing, or passively, nodding their head and saying yes. Both of themselves and the ignorant victims of their mocking persuasion.

In this passage, Peter has put the mockers' words and lies in perspective. He does so in order that those believers, and us, would continue to place their and our trust in God's revealed truth and maintain Christ's coming for them and us, and their and our coming with Him as certainties. And Peter has also reminded us to be totally confident of the truth of Scripture as God has inspired it in both the Old and New Testaments. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, all scriptures inspired by God and profitable.

What are the mockers saying? It's not profitable. Paul says, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. It's through God's word that we behold the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory, and are changed from glory to glory.

Yeah, just a collection of tales and they'll do a literary analysis. They will perform form criticism. They will do historical criticism. They will do all sorts of criticism. But it's useless because in the end it's all suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. I'm sorry, I'm not catching what you're saying. Expand on that a little bit more.

Right. Right. Yes. Ah, yes. Yeah, I get your point now. Yeah. One of the things that Peter does repeatedly here is draw back on the Old Testament. things as examples. Is that what you're intending to point to? Yeah. It's interesting that Peter, he has more than once here. He brought up Balaam, Sodom and Gomorrah, the creation, the flood. He keeps coming back to things right out of the Old Testament and right out of Genesis in great part. These are realities that people are setting aside, and he says we ought not to.

Thank you. Other thoughts, Tom? Can I just comment on the other side of the mockery, that don't believe that God intervenes on anything, or very little. And there's some that teach that God does it all. have free will, even controls our thoughts. I heard one guy say, every molecule in the universe, God is in control of that at all times.

Yeah, I think that the thing is that you bring up an issue What happens is we have various people who have and I think ultimately strangely enough it's it's humanism that insists I must come up with a system of logic and so that I, as a human being, can understand how everything works.

And ultimately, hardline Calvinism is that. Arminianism is that. Calvinism says God's sovereign, but it's ultimately in order, and that's what you're describing, is hardline Calvinism. Ultimately, it's in order to have a logical system that a human being, I can understand.

And so it takes the truth of scripture all the way to the point of where scripture implies that we have choice and a responsibility denying that. The Arminian, which is another term in the mix there, the Arminian says that, well, I'm going to pin everything on the human will.

And they put that there, and then God's responding to human will. Open theism, something that's been brought together in the last couple of decades here, is the idea God doesn't even know the future. And God's surprised. Sometimes they'll even say God likes surprises.

All this is an attempt to try to develop a humanly understandable system. What each of those groups do, and all three of them are humanism, What each of those groups do is insist on taking the message of scripture and boiling it down to a humanly understandable system. In doing so, even though they end up at very different conclusions, they all start with the same premise. Once they develop their system, in Calvinism it's the system is pinned on God's absolutely sovereign, that's the one you're describing, Tom. or Arminianism, human will as sovereign, or open theism, God doesn't know what's happening. All three of those are an attempt to take the message of scripture and force it into a humanly understandable system with the assumption that whatever God's doing, I have to be able to understand.

It sets aside passages like God's ways are higher than our ways. and the end result of those is they're squabbling with each other, and all three of them override clear teachings of Scripture. The reality is Scripture teaches both that God is sovereign and that we do indeed make choices and are responsible for those choices. Scripture never reconciles those to human satisfaction.

And you know what? That might be exactly what the Lord has in mind. In fact, I think it is. That we trust Him, realizing that the ultimate understanding of that is beyond what we're going to be able to handle. That His ways are indeed higher than our ways. And we're not going to reduce the truth of Scripture. We're not going to impose our understanding and even change the meaning of Scripture in order to do that.

Therefore, my take on it is that we set aside, I know you've had conversations and I have too, the folks who claim every single molecule is controlled and now you have the universe machine that God pulls all the levers on, that we set that aside, that we set aside the Arminian idea that we make all the choices and God just responds. That we set aside the open theist idea that God doesn't know what's happening in the next second.

As a matter of fact, He doesn't even know what's happening right now. That God's running to catch up. That we set all three of those views aside, and instead take scripture, God at His word, as inspired. That's what's inspired, not my system. Not me as a human being assuming I can figure it all out when He's told me I won't. God's ways are higher than my ways. Absolutely. Yeah, Marilyn. And that may well be. The thing is for right now, what we have is what's revealed. The Lord is certainly free to reveal more.

As time goes on, but it's kind of like a mathematical problem. There are some mathematical problems that you need a higher level of math. to be able to resolve it. And we just are simply not given this side of heaven's gates, that level of mathematics. We cannot resolve it or solve the equation with the level of mathematics that we have, because his ways are higher than our ways are right now.

Hold on. But through a glass darkly. Yeah, we don't see it all clearly now, do we? Yes, because too much. If you get to be so analytical, you lose the message. You lose the message of the Bible. You lose the word. It's God's word. And you start trying to analyze every little thing. You're going to go mad.

Well, yeah, well, and that's probably a good assessment that the three views that Tom brought up the first of are madness. The idea that we as human beings can understand things and get it all figured out We're talking about a universe that an infinite God created. We're talking about things, we don't even understand stuff right in front of us.

When I was going through engineering school, I remember hearing, you know, here we are doing soil mechanics and all these guys with PhDs and all that, they said, we don't really understand how clay works. You know, we make pots out of it and we do all kinds of, we still don't understand how clay works. We have theories of light. There's a particle theory and there's a wave theory.

We use one when that works and the other when that works, but we still don't understand it. There's various things that we simply don't understand, but we rely on every single day. And to think that us human beings, with things right in front of us that we rely on, we stand on the ground, we use light in our everyday life, and we don't understand them. To think that I'm going to take spiritual truths about things that I can't even examine, I can't put under the microscope or the telescope or the oscilloscope, and to think that I'm going to be able to comprehend it all is foolishness.

Yes. And yet, He has still made His Word quite understandable. He has made His Word clear for what we need to know. There are things that are not written. Remember Paul wrote to the Corinthians that you stay with what's written, not go beyond with what's written. We know in Revelation, there was one place where God told John, don't write that. So John didn't write it. Deuteronomy. He says, there are things, secret things of the Lord that I have not told you.

Do we dare step out and say, I've got to comprehend the whole thing? Better! Humbug! Okay? We need to take God's Word as God's Word, as what He has revealed, as the truth, and if we can't reconcile it, great! But we need to take God at His Word. If He says He's sovereign, believe that. If he says, you've got a choice, believe that too. Believe them both. And that's what we need. Yeah. One thing that's important to realize, too, is that, yeah, God is sovereign. God could move every molecule. But sovereign doesn't mean that he exercises that ability at every step.

The reality is we can sit there and try to figure it out philosophically. And I've heard various sorts of compatibilism and different things. I don't know compatibilism from cannibalism, but the truth is, the truth is, scripture does not reconcile that. Other thoughts, questions, bafflements? We better call a quiz. Yes? I'm thinking God is superior and sovereign.

We're not going to have his attributes just because we get to heaven. And we're not going to know everything He knows. We've not been told what God is going to reveal or what He hasn't. Think of this one thing. That in the ages to come, Ephesians 2, 7, He will demonstrate, show, and reveal His infinite grace. Does that mean that we'll understand and comprehend it just because we walk through the gates? Maybe not. We might be in a continual learning mode, catching up with this infinite God, gasping in awe. Never catching up, because in the ages to come, He will reveal it. Hey, you know, if you think about it, the Lord's revealing His grace and I'm going, that's okay. I'm happy with that, okay? Lifelong learning and no worrying about the tax credit for it.

The point being, it is God's absolute dictation and control And looking that as the truth on which we pin every other conclusion. And from that flows what we talked about the tulip thing a week or two back here. From that flows all sorts of other things that are hard Calvinist conclusions.

The reality is that God's sovereignty is taught in scripture. But the reality is that we also see regularly an appeal for people, both unbelievers and believers, to make choices and an act of will. God does not explain the resolution of those two truths. Yeah, and does Scripture teach God's sovereignty? Yep. Does Scripture teach that we have a choice to make and we have an act of will to follow through on? And are we responsible? Yep. Does Scripture resolve those two? Nope.

And what we can do, what we ought to do, is take by faith what the Lord says and understand that when He's told us, my ways are higher than your ways, that we're not going to be able to comprehend it. And any attempt on the part of human beings to force that into human comprehension is a distortion of Scripture. No matter whether you're Calvinist, Arminian, or open theist, all those are assumptions that I can comprehend what God is doing in the universe for all time. Wow.

How's that for audacious and arrogant? Let's pray because we're way out of time. Lord, we thank You for what You have revealed. We thank You for what You've given us because You love us and care for us. You've determined to let us know what we need to know. And we know even that limited but true revelation is out of Your love and care. And so we believe Your Word now. We trust You now and give You thanks for all that You've given. and all that you will show in the eternity to come. In Jesus' name, Amen.