God Knows How To Deliver The Saints And Sinners

Why? There are several reasons.

(1) Often when preachers select one verse it is easy to take it out of context.

Did you know you can twist the scriptures to make it sound like anything you want it to sound?

Let me give you an example…

You can quote from scripture the Bible says, THERE IS NO GOD!

Yes, you can actually find these words in the Bible.

But those four words are taken out of context. The whole verse of scripture says, in Psalms 53:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God….”

In order to properly interpret scriptures we need to know:

• What comes before the verse

• What comes after the verse

• Why it was written

• To whom it was written

• What purpose was it written

These are only a few things we have to consider, so we may interpret scripture correctly.

(2) Another reason most Bible preachers do not like to select just one verse for a text is because they like to load God’s people spiritual “plates” down with as much spiritual food as they can get on them.

However, some verses in the Word of God are so rich that it takes a whole sermon to deal with one verse of scripture.

Such is the case in 2 Peter 2:9, our text for this message.

We read, “THE LORD KNOWETH HOW to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.”

Look at the words, “The Lord KNOWETH HOW...”

Illus: The song writer had it right years ago when he said, “My God can do anything, anything, anything...”

The Lord KNOWS HOW TO DO ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!

Illus: All you have to do is look at this beautiful planet we live on each day, and any intelligent person can only conclude THAT GOD CAN DO ANYTHING!

Scientists have been debating for centuries about how this all came into existence.

Listen, if they really wanted to know, all they would have to do is turn their Bibles to Genesis 1:1, which tells us, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”

Psalm 19:1 state, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.”

This is one of the clearest biblical statements that nature itself is meant to show the greatness of God.

These words are in the present tense.

That is…

• The heavens “are declaring,”

• The sky “is proclaiming” the creative work of God.

It’s a continual display of His existence.

A person needs only to look honestly at the world around him in order to realize that God exists.

Look at Isaiah 40:12. We read, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?”

Notice that the word “hand” is singular, it did not take two of God’s hands, only one of his hands, to measure the mountains, oceans, lakes, ponds, and all the creeks to place them exactly where they should be placed.

God knew how to take the water and mountains, weigh them in His hands, and place them exactly where they should be so that the earth is precisely balanced as it rotates on its axis.

The Word of God is absolutely correct, GOD KNOWETH HOW TO DO ANYTHING.

This verse teaches us TWO things He knows how to do.

I. GOD KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER HIS SAINTS

Look at 2 Peter 2:9 again. We read, “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations...”

This verse of scripture is written in the Bible especially for Christians, so that we might know that when we face severe temptations - “HE KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER THE GODLY OUT OF TEMPTATIONS...”

Look at several things in this clause.

Look at the word “deliver. “It is just another word among thousands of words in our vocabulary.

But, when we find ourselves entrapped by something, it becomes the most important word in our vocabulary.

For example,

• When the soldier falls into the hands of an enemy and becomes a prisoner of war, the word “DELIVER” becomes the most important word in his vocabulary.

• When a man suffers financial loss and begins to lose everything he has ever worked for, the word “DELIVERANCE” becomes the most important word in his vocabulary.

• When we lose our health, the word DELIVER us from the disease that has attacked our bodies becomes the most important word in our vocabulary.

Also, to Christians, the word “DELIVERANCE” is one of the most important words in our vocabulary when we fall into severe temptations.