Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
You know, it's a lot of times we say something last in.
Eternity. But it's really hyperbole, isn't
it? There's an eternity.
You know. You're sitting there at the
restaurant. You're.
Waiting for them to deliver your food, Like, man, there's an
eternity. And it's really, well, not an
eternity. It's just a long time, you know,
to go to Walmart. They got that two checkout lanes
open although they have 50 out there it still.
Bugs me, I can't get over it. You know they they put every
one. Of them with all those checkout.
Lines. There's only two available.
You're waiting. It's like this is taking the
eternity. You want.
Someone to call we probably. Somebody with some good news,
you know, they, they, they, they're going.
To tell you something that you need to hear.
And you're waiting. To call and the waiting.
Can take maybe all day. And maybe days turn to weeks.
Who knows how long it is for that call to be able to come.
And what do we say this is taking an eternity waiting for a
sermon to finish? Oh, that would.
Hit the mark all right. Is this ever going to end?
He's preaching for an eternity. No, I am not preaching for an
eternity. No, the waiter.
Is not taking an eternity. To come.
Nor is Walmart. Causing you to wait an eternity
in the. Checkout line.
Those all are very long. Things.
Yes, including the sermon. Very long things, I understand
it. But we.
Use that term eternity so loosely, don't we, about things
that really don't last for eternity?
Do you know what's in eternity? Are you ready?
Eternity, That which never ends, that which goes on in
perpetuity. And I want to remind you this
morning that eternity is not just a very long time.
Eternity is literally forever. And this morning in our text,
Peter gives us several things that you need to know.
When it comes to the issue of eternity.
Not about a very long. Time.
But about where you will. Spend forever after this life is
over and the end result of what Peter is going to tell us this
morning. Is this?
You'll either be born again or experienced the second death.
The Bible says there are only two choices.
Either you will be born again or you will experience the second
death. We stand pleased for the reading
of the word. Of God and.
We covered 8 verses. Last week, today.
Just one. All right, just one.
Second Peter chapter 3 verse. #9.
And it says this, the Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some man count slackness, but His
long-suffering toward us. Word.
Not willing that any should perish.
But that all. Should come to repentance.
Feels like almost a crime to make you be seated after such a
short verse like that. So.
Let's read it again. Shall we?
The Lord is not. Slack concerning his promise.
As some men count slackness. But as long-suffering to us word
not willing that any. Should perish, but it all should
come to repentance. Heavenly Father I.
Prayed you'll be with us this morning as we look at this
short, pithy, powerful verse that tells us what we need to
know about eternity. So.
I pray that you would. Help us with these issues today
and I pray. From the bottom of my heart.
That if there's someone here that doesn't know where they
will spend eternity, that they realize these two options, these
only two realities and they would choose life or thank you
for what we've seen here this morning and be with us as we
continue. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.
You may be seated. Remember we said last week that
when someone gives their final words, it's often an indicator?
Of their heart. And we looked at Moses
recounting the law. We looked at Joshua Choose you
this day. Whom you will serve we.
Looked at Jesus, the Great Commission and Paul with preach
the word be instant in season, out of season.
And then we saw last week these this conversation.
That. Paul starts here, rather Peter
starts in the very last chapter and he talks about issues of the
end times and we talked about that last week.
But here I believe he gives the very central idea of what his.
Life had become after. He had met Jesus Christ.
The central idea, the central theme of Peter's life after
meeting Christ was this the gospel?
Why? Because the gospel message
changes lives. Peter knew what the gospel did
his own life. And so as he's giving the final
words, this, this final chapter inspired by the Holy Spirit, the
last words that he's giving of his life that we have recorded
today, he wants everyone to make sure they understand.
There are some realities that people need to know about
eternity. In fact, the title of my message
this morning is this, 3 Things You Need to Know About Eternity.
There's three things that everyone, whether they realize
it or not, they need to understand about eternity.
Because what you believe about the Gospel is the one and only
determining factor. Of where you spend eternity.
What you believe about the gospel is the one and only
determining factor about where you.
Spend eternity. So what are those 3 facts that
we read in this very short verse here?
Verse #9. Well, the first fact is this.
God is truthful. God is truthful.
He, He isn't just the truth, or rather He isn't just telling the
truth. He literally is the embodiment
of truth. Everything about God is true,
for He is true. Well, where do we see that in
verse #9 Well, it may not be as readily apparent as you think,
but look at verse number. 9 the beginning it.
Says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness. Now, the word slack here doesn't
actually mean. Truthful.
If you're kind of wondering, that's where we're going with
this. The word slack means this to
Terry, to slow or to loiter. Now, we don't often use this
word this way anymore, but we do use it on occasion to maybe help
us understand what is being said here at the beginning of verse
#9 if someone's lagging behind and we're trying to go
somewhere, what would be something that we'd often say
you need to pick up the slack? No, not pace, all right?
Slack. We're talking about Slack
people, all right? Come on.
Right. You woke up.
All right, That's good. That's great.
You need to pick up the slack. Am I the only one that says
that? Pick up the slack?
Yeah. Hey, what if somebody's not
doing? What do we call them sometimes?
A slacker, you know? Hey, they're.
Sitting around, they're standing around, they're not doing
anything. They're being a slacker if
you're pulling a rope and it's got some slack.
What does that mean? Well.
You need to have some greater urgency to be able to pull in a
greater way. You know, this idea of slack
means to tarry, to slow, to loiter, to pick up the pace.
No, that's not in there. Nevermind.
But I'm trying to make you feel better.
All right, listen. But but that phrase that God is
not slack, meaning this God is not slow.
God is not. Waiting.
God is not tarrying in the way that mankind is slow or waiting
or tarrying. Now, why would Peter be talking
about this? We'll go back to verse #8 So
let's look at verse #8 It says this.
But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is
with the Lord as 1000 years and 1000 years as one day.
Remember we saw last week that God's timetable is not your
timetable, that the way God works, the way God moves, the
way that God has his designs upon this world is not upon our
timetable. It is upon his timetable and his
alone. And He's not Privy to let us
know what his timetable. Is and so the next.
Verse says this, in case you're wondering.
Listen, God's not a slacker. God is not slow just because you
don't see things happening the way you think they should be.
Happening. As some men count slackness
because we see things not happening in the.
World, what do we say? Well, man's not working fast
enough. They're not doing what they
ought to do. They're not pulling their
weight, whatever we might say, but when we look at God and
things may not be going in this. World.
The way that we think that they ought to be going in this world.
Listen, God is not slack in the way man is psyched.
If he said he's going to do something, listen, this is where
it comes in. If God said He's going to do
something, He is truthful that He will do it.
Just because you don't see it in the moment doesn't mean it's not
going to happen. Mankind is slack concerning His
promises, but God is never slack.
People can be loose with the promises they make.
God is never loose with one promise He's ever made from
eternity past into eternity future.
Why? Because God is truthful.
And this is an important. Point because you may look at
the world and not see a God who's in control.
Now, I know we're many here this morning have made a profession
that they know Jesus Christ their Savior.
But even those of us who are saved, we look at the world and
sometimes it looks like it's spinning off its axis.
It feels like things are out of control.
And so sometimes people look at human suffering and they wonder
if there is a God, that he must be slacking.
So this is what the world would say.
If there's a God, where is he? Do you ever hear people say
something like that? They look at warfare, they look
at cancer, they look at natural disasters, they look at
political unrest, they look at geopolitical warfare.
They look at all of these different things that take place
and they say, well, if there's a God, where is he?
Why is he showing up? Why is he allowing these things
to happen? It's like they believe that the
world other than it's like they believe that God, if he even
exists, is slack. He's not showing up.
He's not keeping his promises. Yet I would.
Submit to you here this. Morning that God has promised
that there will be a time when all things will become new, and
just because that hasn't happened yet doesn't mean that
he is untruthful, because there is a time when all things will
become new. Revelation 21 verse one and two.
I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
For the 1st heaven and the first earth were passed away, and
there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God.
Out of heaven. Prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. Verse 5.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new. And he said unto me, Listen
right, for these words are true and faithful.
Listen, will there be a time when there is no more suffering?
Yes. No more pain?
Yes. No more sickness, no more
doctors. I mean no offense to the
doctors. They can get saved.
But they won't need to. Practice their trade anymore.
Why? Because there will be a time
when all things are become new, say, well, I don't.
See it? Well, that doesn't mean God's
not. Truthful.
He's not slack concerning his promise.
Understand this, that our God is a God of truth.
And today maybe you're looking for answers in religion.
You just don't understand why the world is going the way the
world is going. You don't understand.
Why you see the? Things that you see you don't
understand. Why it seems like everything?
Is just completely and totally mad.
But I want to submit to you that God's not asleep, God's not
unaware. God's in control.
He's on his own timetable and in his time, Satan's puppet Kingdom
that is today, and I say it is a puppet Kingdom, but his puppet
Kingdom of today in God's timing will be exposed and it will be
eradicated. Why?
Because God is truthful. He's not slack concerning His
promises. The bottom.
Line is that God is not. Delayed in keeping his promises.
His delay listen to this is. Actually his design and you can
trust him that he'll keep his word.
He's never not. Kept his word he's.
Patient with his promises. The problem is we're not
patient. We live in a microwave society
today where everything has to be done.
It has to be done right now. You've ever seen advertising?
From somewhere around 100 years ago where they have
advertisements for those newfangled washing machines.
I'm not talking about the washing machines.
We have today, I'm talking about the kind that they would have
had back in the days and and they advertise them to women.
Not going there, but my wife's out of town so I'm not going to.
Anything I say is not going to be held against me anyway.
But well, you may hold it against me.
They say this now your wash day has become simpler and think of
all that extra time. You will save and a.
Lot of the advertisements of those times, even going into the
50s were about you'll save so much time with these automatic
appliances and. I don't know about you, but the
appliances. Keep getting faster.
And we keep moving faster and we have become very, very
impatient. It used to be that you could
have a meal in a few hours, then you could have ATV meal that
could be made in the oven 30 minutes, and then you could have
a meal that could be microwaved in 3 minutes.
And now we're like, can I just get an IV and just put it right
in? And not stop.
Actually now we just drink protein drinks and it's like,
well I don't even know if this tastes good or not, but at least
I'm not hungry anymore. In fact, it kind of tastes like
sawdust mixed with. Chocolate, but that's all right.
Why? Because we want what we want
now. But listen, God operates in the
now because He always is in operation, but His timetable is
not our timetable that. Doesn't mean he's not truthful.
He has never broken one of his promises.
We're going to put your trust if you don't put it in Jesus
Christ. Put it in man, how many promises
is mankind broke? The Bible says that we come
forth out of the womb. Uttering lies, you know.
Don't put your trust in man, trust in God because he is
truthful. 3 Things you know about eternity #1 God is
truthful #2 Understand this. God is a long-suffering.
He's long-suffering. Again, verse 9.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness, but is long. Suffering to us Word.
Aren't you glad that God is patient?
And aren't you glad God is patient with His promises that
God operates? In his time.
And that he cannot be hurried. He can.
Be slowed. That God will work at the exact
appropriate time in which He needs to work.
Why? Because he's patient.
But really? I think sometimes we take the
word long-suffering and patient and we just.
Put them together and make them interchangeable with one
another. But.
I would say to you this morning that while there are great
similarities. Between the word patients and
long-suffering. They are different.
Concepts. The 1828 dictionary.
Says this that long-suffering is bearing injuries or provocation
for a long. Time patient, not easily
provoked and the way that we. Know that long-suffering is
different from patients is in the very word in fact, the word
defines it. It's suffering long listen, you
can be patient without necessarily.
Suffering patience is a friend. Saying, hey, someday I'm going
to. Call you and.
We're going to go have. Coffee together and you wait
patiently that in and of. Itself Is patience
long-suffering? Is a friend saying hey, let's go
meet for coffee? Next week at this location and
at this time and you go to the location, you wait.
They don't. Show up you pay for.
Your coffee, you go home, you do it next week, you drive the
location because they promised you they'd be there.
You wait patiently, you buy coffee, you go home alone, and
you do it over. And over and over again.
Could you imagine somebody doing that to you?
And you, the whole time you have, your time has been wasted,
your money has been wasted, the emotional investment, it's all
been wasted and and you've had to eat that yourself.
And the question is what? Fool would put up with
something. Like that?
What fool would put up with someone else?
Say I'll meet you next week. I'll be there, you know, this
week I'll really be there, you know, I know I didn't tell the
truth the last couple. Weeks, but this week.
I'm really going to be there. We're going to have coffee.
We'll have 3 cups of coffee to make up for the other two weeks
that I wasn't there. Like, listen, I'm going to you
say what fool at some point would say, listen, I'm not
putting up with that anymore. Who would do that?
Listen, I'm not talking about a sucker.
This morning, who is long? Suffering I'm.
Talking about your savior because what we have done to him
is nothing but empty and broken promises where God is true.
The Bible says let God be true and every man a liar.
God, I'll do it. Then we don't do it.
God, I won't do it. Then we'll do it.
Remember, Paul talked about that.
By the way, if you feel too bad about yourself, Paul talks about
the book of Roman. He says, oh, wretched man that I
am, the things I don't want to do, I end up doing, and the
things I want to do I end up not doing.
Listen, the apostle Paul struggle with that.
You think you're not going to struggle with that?
And over and over, we test the very patience of God.
And it's not just that we test his patience is that we, if you
could put it this way, injure him in the process.
Now listen, we can't hurt God you.
Understand what I'm saying? What I'm saying is this is that
we do wrong against him and yet he is long-suffering.
It's easy to be patient when nobody hurts you.
It's a lot harder to be patient when someone is actively hurt
you and we have actively hurt the Heavenly Father who sent his
Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross.
And yet he is what? long-suffering with us.
And I know I've said it here before, but it's like the old
preacher says that he's not just long-suffering, he's
long-suffering with us because he puts up with a lot.
Say, how is he long? Suffering.
How is Jesus? How did Jesus patiently?
Endure. The harm and provocation.
Of mankind. Or we could start by saying
this, He was long-suffering on the cross.
Hebrews 12, verses 2 and three, looking unto Jesus, the Author
and the finisher of our faith. Who, for the joy that was set
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right? Hand of the throne of God, for
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself. Thus you'd be wearied and faint
within your own minds that he put up with our contradiction,
our contradictory way of living. By the way, He knew how wretched
we would be before the foundation of the earth.
Because he was his foreknowledge, He understood.
Listen your. Way of living didn't take.
Jesus by surprise. The way you lived before you got
saved didn't take Jesus by surprise.
He knows all things knowing how wretched you are.
And don't worry how wretched I am.
Jesus Christ. Willingly went to the cross he
didn't go eyes wide shut. He went eyes wide open.
What? And he said he endured the cross
despising the same shame. But it says I'm sorry the says
for the joy that was set before him knowing that all those
things would take place it was a joy.
And as I've said before, it wasn't a joy.
The physical, the physicality that took place on his body,
that was not a joy. The Bible says he was
unrecognizable as a man. We can't even comprehend the
suffering of his humanity, but yet he joyfully went to the
cross. Why?
So we could be reconciled to God.
What an amazing thing that is. But it's not just that Jesus was
long-suffering on the cross. He's long-suffering with you and
I, not just before we got saved, but after we got saved too.
David said in Psalm 86, verses 15 and 16.
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, gracious,
long-suffering, plenteous in mercy and truth.
Turn unto me, have mercy upon me, and give me strength.
I'm sorry. Give thy strength unto thy
servant, and save the Son of thine handmaid.
Every sin we commit, every time we've slandered His name by
using it in vain. Every hateful word, every
hateful. Thought every prideful, boast
every selfish. Claim every time we reject or
neglect His word, His house. Those were all weights that were
added to him on the cross. But yeah, he's long-suffering
toward us. Look at verse number. 15 it says
in the. Account that the long-suffering
of our. Lord is what salvation?
The long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, meaning this what
is the end result of the long-suffering of God.
If you go down the road of the long-suffering of God, you see
at the end it ultimately exists. Our salvation, the fact that we
are able to be redeemed. So if you were to understand
something about eternity this morning, it would be this.
God is truthful then #2 that God is long-suffering.
But #3 and most importantly for you this morning is this is that
God wants you to be saved. God desires.
It says it right here in verse 15, an account that the
long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.
God desires you to be saved. What does it say in verse #9 It
says not willing that any should.
Perish that all should come to repentance, this verse shows.
That there are two choices and two choices only repent or
perish. That's not my words.
It's not the conjecture of some wild eyed crazy independent
Baptist preacher. It just says here there are two
choices, you repent or you perish.
Now what does repent mean? That means a change of mind
which leads to a change of action, a change of mind that.
Leads to a change of action. No, no, it's not works.
The Bible says we are not saved by our works.
We're just learning at 10:00 this morning about Islam and
that Islam salvation, quote UN quote, is this.
Your good deeds and your bad deeds are matched up.
And whatever weighs itself more on the cosmic scales, good
deeds, heaven, bad deeds, hell. And you can never know what the
scales will be until the time comes.
There's no peace in that. There's no hope in that.
There's no salvation in that. The Bible says this.
Repentance means this. It's not a work.
It's a change of mind that leads to a change of direction.
It's turning from one way and going the right way.
I'm thinking of Peter. No, I'm not.
I'm thinking. Of Paul.
I'm thinking of Paul. If you only knew what goes up
and goes on in my mind while I'm up here.
It's incredible. I'm really thinking of Paul.
On the road to Damascus and he was running hard in One
Direction. What was that?
Kill in prison, do whatever he could to believers.
This was his desire, whether he killed them personally or not.
We know that, for instance, Stephen, he was consenting unto
his death. His desire was that this way was
eradicated. But then what happened?
He met Jesus. You know I.
Don't say that he met. Jesus on the road to.
Damascus and he repented. How do I know that?
Because he was running hard. This way.
And he turned around. And once he met Jesus, he was
running just as hard the opposite direction.
Now the zeal in which he had. To.
Persecute Christians was the very same zeal now put into the
direction of I have to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It's a sign of fruit, of repentance.
Isaiah 50. 5 verses 6:00 and 7:00.
Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found.
Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
the unrighteous man his thoughts, Let him return unto
the. Lord.
And he will have mercy. Upon him and to our.
God, for He will abundantly pardon.
That's repentance. The wicked forsaking their way,
the unrighteous man his thoughts, and returning unto the
Lord. It's making that change of mind
which turns into a change of direction.
This means that when you. Repent, you are turning towards
God, which also means this you're turning away from your.
Sin because you're. Turning away from your former
master, which was Satan, and from.
His devices, which are sin. God calls upon all to make this
decision. God calls upon all.
To come to repentance. But it also says this, that if
you do not, the Bible says you perish.
And the Bible calls this perishing, the second death.
Now this phrase, second death is used four times in the Word of
God, all in the Book of Revelation.
What is the second death? Well, it says in Revelation 21,
eight. But the fearful and unbelieving,
the abominable murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers,
idolaters and all. Liars shall have part.
In the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death? The Bible says this.
There are only two choices. You'll either be born again or
experienced the second death. Do you see the difference
between life and death? The good news is this, that God
desires that no man perish, but that all come to repentance.
It's the desire of God that you trust Jesus Christ as your
Savior today and that you trust Him.
What of the Bible way, not your own way?
God's long-suffering for a reason.
He's not just long-suffering because he wants to take
punishment. He's long-suffering because he.
Wants that long-suffering to lead to your repentance and your
salvation. Luke 532 I came not call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Luke 1910 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that
which was lost. First Timothy one verse 15.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came in the world to save sinners.
And Paul said this, of whom I am chief, what is this?
Jesus wants you to be saved. The question is this, you turn
from death, will you turn from sin and turn towards the living
God? There's three things you need to
know about eternity. God is truthful.
You can trust Him. He's not slack concerning His
promises, you know. He's not behind schedule.
He's not running late. He knows what time it is, and
his time is the right time because He's truthful.
We also know this, that God is long-suffering.
He puts up with you. Yeah, I said it.
But he puts up with me, which is just as bad.
He puts up with us. He's long-suffering with us to
bring us to repentance. And then after we get.
Saved I. Don't know about you, but I
still. Sit once in a while after get
saved. How about you?
Now if you didn't agree. You just send right now.
All right, so we got you covered too.
All right, so the people. Who agreed?
The people who don't want to say anything that are lying.
We're all sinners and even after we get saved, aren't you glad
he's so long-suffering with you? But God wants you to be saved.
Listen, there's no salvation in any other.
There's no salvation in Islam. There's no salvation in Jehovah
Witness. There's no salvation in the
Mormons. There's no salvation in
Buddhism. There's no salvation in any
other worldly thought process. There's no salvation in
humanism, there's no salvation in secularism.
There's no salvation. In any other ISM.
And there's no salvation by human enlightenment.
I'm just going to become a good person and eventually I'll reach
my own plateau. I'll reach my own place of no
friend. Every single one of those roads
made to have a different signpost on it, but they all
lead to the same destination. Death, judgment, the great white
throne. But there is one Rd. that leads
to life, and that's Jesus Christ.
And you know what he's doing today?
I believe he's actively in front of the road telling you come,
come find. Rest for your souls.
Find rest not just in this life, but in eternity and at the same
time. In front of those other.
Roads. He's putting roadblocks, saying
no, don't go this way. This is not the way of which you
should go. And his word.
Warns us of these things because there is life in only Jesus
Christ. Voltaire, who you may have heard
from the 1800s in France. Voltaire was not merely
skeptical of Christianity, he was one of its fiercest critics
during the Enlightenment, he famously wrote Frederick the.
2nd of Prussia, that Christianity.
Was the most ridiculous, the most absurd, the most bloody
religion which has ever infected this world.
His campaign against religious dogma was so aggressive that he
adopted the motto he Cretesse. That's in French.
I can't do it. All right, this is in English.
Crush. The infamous thing referring to
the church through works like. Kennedy and his Philosophy.
Philosophical Dictionary. Voltaire.
Ridiculed Christian doctrines, Clergy.
And the violence he saw perpetuated.
In the name of faith, he viewed religion.
As a tool of oppression and superstition, often blaming it
for wars, persecution and ignorance.
His satire wasn't just literary. It was.
Personal, political and relentless.
But now consider. This Despite his intellectual
bravado, Voltaire's deathbed paints a sober in contrast.
According to multiple accounts, including his nurse and
physician, Voltaire died in torment, he reportedly.
Cried out for forgiveness and begged for more time.
Saying to his doctor, listen, I will give you half of what I'm
worth if you give me 6 months let to live.
When told that was impossible, he exclaimed, then I shall die
and go to hell. Some of his final words included
this. I am abandoned by God and man.
His nurse later said, for all the money in Europe, I wouldn't
want to see another unbeliever die.
The man who spent. His life.
Mocking Eternity ended up leaving that life with dread.
I will tell you this, God will wait.
He's long-suffering. God will wait, but eternity
waits for no man. There will be a time where you
have to answer this question. Why should you come into this
heaven? At the Great White Throne
Judgment, every single person, billions upon billions will be
asked that question, and they will have to answer that it's
not by Jesus Christ that it'll be by their own way.
And as we said this morning in Revelation chapter #20 the books
will be open, the books of your life.
And if you have sinned even one time, you will be found a
Sinner. And the Bible said that all of
sin and come short of the glory of God.
What does that mean? That you will spend an eternity
in the lake of fire? But that's not God's desire.
Now I know that one our text tells us that to Jesus life
shows us that because he came to this world for 33 years he
lived, he taught, he healed and ultimately went to the cross,
died, was buried, resurrected, ascended into heaven.
Why? With 1 mission and 1 mission
only so that you could be saved. That's John 316 that that's what
it's all about. So I want to encourage you
today, if you don't know Jesus Christ your Savior, you don't
know where you'll spend eternity.
Listen, eternity is not found in the institutional church.
So what do you mean salvation is not found in the Catholic
Church? So Hester, you really can't say
something that on the nose. Well, I'll tell you this,
Salvation is not found in the Lutheran Church.
You know why? I was a Lutheran for 16 years.
Salvation is not found in the Presbyterian Church.
Salvation is not found in any denomination.
I'm going to tell you a secret. Are you ready for this?
Let's go and get this close. Salvation is not found in the
Baptist Church. What do you mean?
I'm saying this. Becoming a Baptist doesn't make
you saved. You're not supposed to say that
as a Baptist. Well, I mean, I'm not supposed
to preach the truth. No.
No Baptist Church ought to be preaching salvation.
But salvation is not found in the Baptist Church.
Salvation is found in one and one alone.
It's Jesus Christ. And if you think your good works
will get you to heaven. If you think coming every Sunday
morning will get you to heaven. If you think giving in the
offering plate will get you to heaven.
If you think that making sure that you do good works and work
for community groups during the week will get you to heaven.
If you think being a nice guy will get you to heaven.
If you think being morally pure will get you to heaven.
Really. If you think anything.
Will get you to heaven other than Jesus Christ.
You will find out that there is a second death.
And you know what my heart, with every fiber of my being is, is
that I can't even imagine that there would be someone that
would sit under the ministry here at Liberty Baptist Church
for a Sunday or for months or even years that heard the gospel
message over and over again and ended up spending an eternity in
hell. That thought haunts me.
It makes me want to go down to the seats and just grab everyone
by the shoulders and saying. Are you sure you're saved now?
I won't do that because. We wouldn't be at church very
much longer. That's not the way you do
things. But it's that important that you
hear the message and heed the message.
It's not of the pastor of the Word of God.
All must be saved through Jesus Christ.
Why? Because he's truthful.
He's long. Suffering and he wants you to be
saved if you're not saved, listen, don't leave this
building today without coming up to me, without coming to someone
else and saying this. What do I need to do to know to
go to heaven? What do I need?
To do and the answer. Is this it's not what you?
Need to do because. This Christ didn't receive
gospel. The gift of the Gospel.
That's already been provided for you.
You just have to accept it to repent of your sin.
They call upon Jesus Christ to save you.
Now I will say this and I'll be done.
You say, pastor, that's a great message.
I'm already saved. So that didn't really do
anything for me today. I got something for you too.
Don't worry. First of all.
I think it's good for all of us to remember how good the gospel
is of which we received. Like we need a reminder of that
sometimes anyway. What did we learn last week?
Or rather, what did we? Learn on Wednesday night, I
guess That was last week that we're to have the mind of.
Does anyone remember the mind of Christ?
Remember that? Well, if the mind of Christ is
long-suffering, then what does that mean?
That Christians are supposed to be long-suffering?
If we're not careful, we are some of the most impatient,
grumpy and grouchy people you will ever meet.
Yeah, that didn't go over very well.
So I'm going. To turn back here and say if
I'm, you know, if we're not careful, I'm.
Going to talk to. This guy over here, you know, if
we're not careful, we as Christians are some of the
bumpiest, the grouchiest people you'll ever be.
I could see you agree with me right now and you know the.
Thing is. Is that if we were billboards
for Christianity, we would probably be one of the worst
billboards possible. When we do not.
Have the long. Suffering nature of Jesus
Christ. I mean, do you agree?
Yeah, this guy listens. The mind of Christ.
Means that we need to have the qualities of God within our
life. One being truthful, but two I
just want to focus on are you long-suffering?
Will they hurt me? That's the very nature of
long-suffering bearing the hurt and still being patient.
Now, again, I know that there are consequences for sin and I
know there's some difficulties and, and I understand that, you
know, if someone's listen as someone robbed from you, you
know, you probably aren't going to, you know, give them a loan
the next week. Boundaries are necessary, aren't
they? But forgiveness is still real.
long-suffering is still real. And Christian friend, are you
willing to be patient for the sake of the gospel?
Well, they hurt me. That's why it's not just
patience. It's long-suffering, and God is
long-suffering with us. Our.
Version of long-suffering is. I'm sorry.
Get it over with. As quickly as possible.
That's at the mind of. Christ so this week.
As we add to our. Faith, let's have a greater.
Appreciation for the long-suffering nature of God for
the unsaved, may it call you to repentance.
For the saved, may it be a quality of which we live our
lives so we can show people Jesus Christ through our
long-suffering nature. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.