4G Coverage (2 Peter 3:14-18)

Sometimes an outgoing executive will leave the company with recommendations for the future. A multi-step roadmap, a five point plan. Jack Welch shared ten “foundation points for the next launch of GE” during his final address.^[1] On his way out, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz delivered a five point “reinvention” strategy with “multiple plans for long-term growth.”^[2]

Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon back in 2021. In his final letter to shareholders, he mapped out the goals he believed were necessary for the future of Amazon. One of those goals was, “[Be] earth’s safest place to work.”^[3] Unfortunately as of December 2024, Amazon workers were nearly twice as likely to be injured as workers in the rest of the industry.^[4]

We understand why these leaders cared about their company’s future. They gave decades of life to the mission. It’s natural that on their way out, they would offer advice on what should come next.  But if their vision is only material, economic, temporal – if their principles are not backed by eternal power, their outgoing instructions amount to little more than vain hope. Castles in the air.

This morning we hear the last words of the last message given during the last days of the Apostle Peter’s life on earth. On his way out, Peter leaves us with a four-point plan, both encouraging and practical. They’re not just suggestions. Peter stacks these final sentences with imperative verbs. He means to challenge the attitude and the conduct of anyone who reads this letter.^[5]

If you’re a note-taker, each imperative begins with the letter G. Peter’s guidance to us is to gauge, to glean, to guard, and to grow.

2 Peter 3:14 – ¹⁴ Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace.

Therefore is a culmination word. If you recall back to how the letter started – Peter explained all we’ve received by the grace, through faith. The lavish supplies of salvation. All we need for life and Godliness. Then he warned us of false teachers. How they seek to rob you and ruin you. Then he reminded us of the sure coming of Christ. In the previous text, Peter started to put it all together and said, “Since this is what’s been done for you and what will be done in the future, it’s obvious what sort of people you should be.” And now he provides clear directives. Therefore. Time for us as readers to move from instruction to application.

Therefore we should be people who gauge our spiritual health. Peter says, “Examine. Take stock. Make sure you’re life is becoming more spotless, more blemish-free.” What does he mean?

Contextually, he’s making a direct comparison between us and the false teachers. Back in chapter 2, he referred to them as “spots and blemishes.”^[6] And we saw what characterized their lives. Selfishness. Immorality. Denial of Biblical truth. Sin of all sorts.

A Christian must gauge their life for spots and blemishes. Righteousness matters. Holiness matters. Go through the Bible and you find being spotless and blemish free is a requirement for salvation.^[7]

Oh, but Lord, I am not spotless! I can’t complete a single day without sinning in some aspect. How can I live up to Christ’s command, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect?”^[8]

We can’t. We will have sin in this life.^[9] So what are we to do? First, we remember that we cannot work our way to spotlessness. But the answer is not to give up. The answer is to be in Christ. Peter explained in his first letter that Christians are redeemed by the blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.^[10] And in Him, there is no condemnation.

But it is my responsibility to gauge whether I am becoming more Christlike or not. Because Christians are empowered to be like Christ. As Christians, we are dead to sin.^[11] Meaning that we do not have to sin. We’re going to, because we are imperfect, but as we live we should make every effort to live out our Christianity and be Christlike. If we don’t, can we say we are abiding in Jesus?

“Make every effort” is one of Peter’s favorite words.^[12] He’s used it multiple times in this letter to remind us that we have a part to play. We have responsibility to be faithful. Not to just be cultural Christians. Not to just be philosophical Christians, but animated and active in our following.

2 Peter 3:15a – ¹⁵ Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation…

Now, if you’re discouraged by the previous verse and how short we fall in holiness and in walking worthy, Peter wants you to be encouraged as he opens verse 15. He reminds us of God’s gracious patience. His patience is not to be used as a delay so we can mess around. We should understand that God’s patience is for us to continually turn to Him, trust Him, and walk with Him.

Maybe you messed up yesterday. Maybe you dishonored God or gave into temptation. But here you are today. And today God’s mercies are made new. Today you can worship God and honor God and demonstrate your love for God by obeying Him. Today you can abide in Christ.

2 Peter 3:15b-16 – …just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. ¹⁶ He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

After gauging our spiritual lives, the second imperative is to glean from the word of God.

When we do not know God’s word or when we do not properly interpret God’s word, we fall into traps. That’s when we become unstable and are led astray. God’s word brings stability to life.

Christians should be stable people. It’s not that we don’t struggle or that we don’t grieve or that we don’t have questions or fears or concerns. But God has sent His word to give us comfort, to give us perspective, to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, to thoroughly equip us for all of life.

These verses are an interesting New Testament moment. Peter directly comments on other epistles. Not his own, but Paul’s. He again defends the authority the apostles had to speak for God.

As he comments, we get some significant insights about the Bible. First, both Testaments are authoritative and both are necessary. Peter categorizes them all the same. All the books of the Bible are for all of us. Just because the letter to the Romans was written to Romans in the first century doesn’t mean it’s not for us. Peter indicates that the letters of Paul could be read by people outside the original recipients and be applied.

Second, the message of the Bible is a unified message. It all agrees. Peter says, “The truth I’m sharing with you, Paul also teaches.”

At the founding of our nation, there were serious divides in philosophy. One was the divide between Federalists and Antifederalists. You’ve got Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, and others dedicated to Federalism, and then there’s Hancock, George Mason, Patrick Henry, and others on the other side.  They worked it out through compromise, but very different ideas and teachings.

But the Bible is a unit. Because the Author is actually God the Holy Spirit. The Bible is God breathed – a message sent through inspired, human authors, but one harmonious revelation.

Third, Peter studied Paul’s letters! Even though he was an apostle, even though he was also a writer of Scripture, he studied Paul’s writings. And Peter admits that there were difficult passages. This verse makes me feel better whenever it’s time to read Romans. But the Bible is profound. We keep studying personally and corporately because we’ll never run out of things to glean from it.

These verses are also sweet because they reveal that, at the end of his life, Peter held no grudge against Paul.^[13] A number of years before Peter wrote this letter, Paul had to rebuke him publicly. But Peter here saw Paul as a faithful servant, a dear brother. Beloved.

We need to glean from God’s word so we know the truth. Life is going to be full of people and ideas that distort the truth. It’s not just a few false teachers in Peter’s time. Consider what Paul faced: People teaching the resurrection had already happened. People teaching that you had to follow the Law of Moses. People teaching it was a sin to get married. People teaching unbiblical things about the gifts of the Spirit. You need to know the truth so that you can spot the lies.

2 Peter 3:17 – ¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position.

So first we gauge, second we glean, third we guard. It’s a term that means to be aware. To watch. To preserve. To avoid.^[14] Even the strongest Christian can stumble and fall into error. And Peter knows it because it happened to him.

Remember how I said Paul had to rebuke Peter? Here’s what happened: a few years before this, Peter went to Antioch. Antioch was Paul’s home base when he wasn’t out on the mission field.

Peter came and things were great. But then some guys came from Jerusalem who erroneously taught that Christians had to keep the Law to be right with God. When they came, Peter fell from the true doctrine of grace into a hypocritical doctrine of legalism. He stopped eating with Gentiles.

Paul explains in Galatians that he had to rebuke Peter publicly. And it wasn’t just Peter. Paul says, “Even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.”^[15]

And now Peter uses the same term here: Led astray. It can happen to us if we’re not on guard. Now listen – this is not referring to losing your salvation.^[16] But it is referring to losing progress, getting tripped up, missing out on fruit in our lives. Costly spiritual missteps.

If we’re not actively living out our walk with the Lord, following Him, then we will wander. So, Peter says, “Be on guard.” And remember: This is not a rebuke, it’s a reminder.

Thomas Schreiner gives a vivid illustration: “Experienced mountain climbers ensure their safety by studying their climb, taking necessary precautions, and knowing their climbing partners.”^[17]

So be on guard. For example: Examine who you’re listening to. What is their doctrine? What is their character? What is the fruit in their lives? “But I feel good when I hear them.” So did people hearing the scoffers in Peter’s day. Don’t drink falsehoods. And don’t drink in partial truths. It’s deadly.

2 Peter 3:18 – ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

So we gauge, we glean, we guard, and finally we grow. We can grow in our faith every single day.

You know, our human bodies grow a lot at the beginning of life. But when it comes to muscle mass and height, by the mid-twenties, we’re all done. And once you hit 40, you start shrinking.^[18]

There are some organisms that keep growing their whole life. It’s called indeterminate growth. One example is the Giant Barrel Sponge. Water is continually pumped into them and as a result they just keep growing. Some 2% a year, some 400% a year!^[19]

How much do we want to grow in our spiritual lives? It’s God accomplishing the work, but we must cooperate. It’s like my relationship with math. I grew in my knowledge of math to a certain point. And then, after algebra 2 I decided I was done. I had other interests, other pursuits.

But this is the final imperative: Grow. How? Page back to chapter 1, verses 5 through 10 to see how we grow in grace. Page through the the Bible to grow in your knowledge of the Lord. But remember: It’s not only academic knowledge, but also relational knowledge. It’s personal knowledge, as you commune with your Savior and are led by Him. Remember what Job said at the end of his book? “I had heard reports about You, but now my eyes have seen You.”^[20]

This closing text has been a lot about our part to play, but as Peter puts down the pen he reminds us of the most important thing: Christ is the source of all truth, of all we need, of life itself. To Him be all the glory. Once again, Peter proclaims that Jesus is God Himself. The Lord declared in Isaiah 42, “I am the LORD, that is My name, and I will not give My glory to another.”^[21]

All glory to Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity. He doesn’t give His glory to another. But He does give His grace. He extends it out to you and me. We have everything, everything we need for life and Godliness. We have all the power, all the equipment, all the leading, all the markers and directions necessary to experience life as God intends it for us. A life of peace and stability and confidence and hope. It’s ours to receive by faith – but a living faith that moves and grows.

Jeff Bezos got a lot of things wrong in his farewell letter. But there’s one idea that had some wisdom. It had been decades since the company was founded, but he ended with this phrase: “It remains Day 1.”

Christians, today is the day that the Lord has made. And His plan continues. We can rejoice, we can be glad, we can bring our worship, our devotion, our lives to Him to be filled up with His exceedingly great and precious promises, His power, His provision. It’s time for us to grow.

Promises, Promises (2 Peter 3:8-13)

Are you good at keeping your promises? Some of you may be in a promise debt right now. All of us who are married are in a promise debt to love and to cherish our spouses – a promise made to God and one He takes seriously (and we should, too).

Sometimes we make more specific promises. Shaquille O’Neal wanted to drop out of college and go to the NBA. To get his mother’s permission, he promised he would finish his education one day.

Eight years later, he completed his bachelor’s degree.^[1] After another 12 years, he had earned a MBA and a doctorate in education.^[2]

A promise kept after 20 years is pretty good. But Benjamin Franklin has Shaq beat. He kept a 200 year promise. In his will, Franklin donated $2,000 each to Boston and Philadelphia. For the first 100 years, the money had to be invested and could only be used to make low-interest loans to young tradesmen. Then, after being invested for another 100 years the cities could use what had grown. In 1990, after 200 years of promise, Franklin’s fund had grown to more than $7 million.^[3]

Our God is a lavish promise maker. Peter calls them “exceedingly great and precious promises.”^[4]  It’s been estimated that God has made more than 7,400 promises to mankind.^[5] This text is all about the confidence we have that God does keep His promises. Especially His promise to return for us.

The trouble was that scoffers were prying their way into the Church and one of the main things they were teaching was that Jesus is never coming back. Now, we may not have that going on today, but even Christians can struggle with the timing of God and the fulfillment of His promises. We wonder how long the Lord really will wait before returning to establish His glorious Kingdom.

The Lord knows we have those struggles, and that’s why the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to give us the comfort of these verses. But on top of comfort, this passage also gives us context and reiterates our calling as God’s people, inheritors of God’s promises.

2 Peter 3:8 – ⁸ Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

The argument of the false teachers and scoffers was that things have stayed the same for centuries, and that means life will never change. Peter used the first part of this chapter to prove that wrong, but it does leave us with the question of, “Why does the Lord take so long from our perspective?”

Peter answers on several levels. He starts with how God relates to time. He says, with the Lord, a thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years.” Now, this isn’t a conversion table, it’s a simile. Peter is adapting what we read in Psalm 90. There the idea is even more dramatic: “In Your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night.”

God does not relate to time the way we do. That isn’t to say God doesn’t care about timing. He does. I know I have said before God is outside of space and time. And God is eternal and He created time – He’s not bound by it the way we are – but God does relate to time. We know that because of verses like Romans 5:6 and 1 Timothy 2:6 that say Jesus died at just the right time. God is going to keep relating to time in the future. In Revelation 8 we’re told that, when the seventh seal is opened, there is silence in heaven for about half an hour.^[6] And in the very last chapter of the Bible, as John shows us a glimpse of eternity, we’re told that months are measured in heaven.^[7]

Now listen: God saying that to Him a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day isn’t a cop out. Sometimes when we don’t want to keep a promise, what do we say? “I’ll do it later.”

But we’re talking about a large scale God doing a large scale work. What’s the old saying? “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” The redemption of the world isn’t done in a day or a year or a decade. I for one am glad the Lord wasn’t so hasty to finish His work that He wrapped it up in 33 AD or 1,000 AD or 1982 AD. God relates to time differently than we do, but His timing is careful and purposeful.

2 Peter 3:9 – ⁹ The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

Peter moves from talking about how God relates to time to talking about God’s desire to reconcile. From the human perspective it seems like God has taken a long time, but that’s not the way the Lord sees it. For Him, each day that passes compounds the wealth of redemption. Like Franklin’s generous gift growing in size, so God’s reconciliation grows day by day as more souls are saved.

It is not delay. It’s patience. It’s kindness. God’s great goal is not to stop suffering but to save souls. In other words, His primary goal is life, not death. To save sinners from perishing. But that requires repentance and so often we humans are so slow to repent, aren’t we?

God is holding the door open and says, “Hey, everyone! Come on through!” But sometimes we take these tiny little shuffle steps when the best thing we could do is run through.

Now, perhaps you’re here and you’re not a Christian – you’ve never believed in Jesus, repented of your sin, and obeyed His command to follow Him. The world is the way that it is because of you. God is holding the door for you. He’s waiting because He’s hoping that you will get saved. It is an incredibly kind, gracious, and generous thing God is doing for you.

But listen: In Romans 2, the Apostle Paul puts a very direct point on it for you:

Romans 2:4-5 – ⁴ Do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? ⁵ Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.

So, repent! To repent means to change your mind. To turn to God from your idols. To trust Him.

When Peter uses the term “perish,” he doesn’t mean physical death. He means eternal judgment.^[8] So is he suggesting that, in the end, everyone will be saved? Does verse 9 teach universalism?

The answer is a clear no. After all, Peter has spent the rest of his book warning the false teachers and their followers that they’re in imminent danger of eternal damnation. The sad fact of the matter is that, in this regard, God does not get what He wants. He wants everyone to be saved, but love cannot be forced, and so He does not force us to follow Him.

2 Peter 3:10 – ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.

The previous house we lived in was burgled by thieves on two separate occasions. I can tell you, the coming of a thief is quite unpredictable.

Jesus also said His coming is like a thief. Now, if you’re a Christian, you still don’t know when He’s coming, but He comes not as a thief, but as the Bridegroom to whisk His beloved home.

When Peter says “the heavens” in this verse, he doesn’t mean where God lives, but the created heavens – stars and space.^[9] When God finally judges the cosmos, all created matter is going to melt in a cataclysmic eruption of fire. Peter means for the image to be terrifying,^[10] because God’s furious wrath is terrifying. But this final judgment is necessary to punish sin and purify creation. In fact, Peter uses a medical term that Greek doctors used to describe the burning heat of a fever.^[11]

For unbelievers, the loud noise will be of carnage and desolation. But you know, that term was also used of the sound of a shepherd’s pipe.^[12] Remember, Christ’s coming is not only to destroy the wicked, but to deliver His people. The Good Shepherd, calling His sheep to the greenest pasture.

2 Peter 3:11-12 – ¹¹ Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness ¹² as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming. Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat.

Peter began this section by giving us context to why God’s promise has taken so long to be fulfilled. We’re still waiting. But first we’ve seen that God relates to time differently than we do. And then second, God is waiting out of His patient desire to reconcile as many people as are willing.

But now we have this third layer. And here we learn that we – you and I – have responsibility because we are part of the fulfillment of God’s work. Peter reminds us of our calling as disciples and reminds us that when we live out our faith, that hastens the fulfillment of God’s promise.

How? First, we can hasten Christ’s coming by being people who repent. Repentance isn’t only for unbelievers. And it isn’t a one-and-done thing. Christians – what do we have to repent of today? There’s something. Five of the seven churches in Revelation are told to repent.

Our obedience and repentance accelerates God’s work and our refusal decelerates God’s work. Consider the example of Lot. He kept lingering in Sodom. He wouldn’t leave, even when the angel told him to. He held to his materialism and worldliness hour after hour. And finally, at one point, the angel said, “You have to RUN, because I can’t do anything until you get to safety.”^[13]

We also hasten the Lord’s coming is by helping others repent and receive salvation. We preach the Gospel. We move through the world as living testimonies of Who God is and all He has said.

Since we want to be a part of God’s work, since we want to hasten the return of Christ, since we know the truth of what is going to happen in the future, the only way for us to live is in holy conduct and Godliness. Actually, Peter used the plural forms of those words. He said, “It is necessary for you [Christians] to live in holy conducts and Godlinesses.”^[14]

That adjustment to plural is, to me, very helpful. Because sometimes I hear, “You need to be Godly,” and it can be hard to apply. Godliness means pleasing God^[15] and being Christlike. But Godlinesses reminds me that there are all sorts of things I can do every day to please God and to think and act like Jesus. In how I treat my wife, in how I treat my kids, in how I treat strangers, in how I do my work, in what I fill my mind with, in what choices and goals I aim at in life.

And as I remember the fact that all this world is going to be consumed, it should help me to not only have a proper perspective on what really matters, what will really last, but also give me an urgency to be about my Master’s business, because not only is His return imminent, but Peter indicates in his verbiage that the breakdown of the universe is already underway.^[16] And just as I would not sign a mortgage for a building that’s actively on fire, so I should not give my heart and life to wordly, temporal pursuits that will all be gone one day.

2 Peter 3:13 – ¹³ But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

We’re not excited to see this world burn. We’re excited for what comes next. As Abraham looked forward to the city whose Builder and Maker is God,^[17] so we love and long for Christ’s Kingdom.

In this world, so much of life is trying to make things a little better. Trying to hold back the effects of sin on our health, on society, on relationships. But Christ’s Kingdom is not just better, it is best. And what is best of all is that in it righteousness dwells. Meaning not only will society not be corrupt and our bodies not break down, but more importantly, The Lord our Righteousness will be there. He dwells with us, face to face, in the new heavens and new earth. “New” here is a term that speaks not just new in time, but new in quality. Fresh. No blemish or contamination of any kind.^[18] And there, our righteous King will wipe away every tear from our eyes. He will dwell with us and we with Him.

This is not just a theory or the hope of some religious zealot. This is a promise backed by blood. Jesus poured out His blood in a new covenant and by it guarantees the truth of this promise. One that is sure to come. One that is already being accomplished and cannot be stopped.

Are you a citizen of that Kingdom? Have you received salvation? You can know you have if the Holy Spirit dwells in your heart. The Holy Spirit is given by God to those who are born again as a down payment guaranteeing all His promises.^[19] If you haven’t received it, repent. Turn to God. Be saved.

For those who are Christians here today, hopefully you have been comforted by the spiritual context Peter gives in these verses. But don’t forget the responsibility of your calling.

It’s interesting: In 1990 when Benjamin Franklin’s trust fund was set to be liquidated, Boston had $5 million dollars waiting. Philadelphia had less than half that much. $2.3 million. Why? They started with the same amount. They had been given the same promise. It was a matter of management. Misallocation of what they had been given.

Christians, we have been given everything we need for life and Godliness. Which means we have the power and equipment necessary to hasten the return of Jesus to redeem the universe. These truths make it clear what sort of lives we should lead. Are we living out our faith? It’s clear what the Lord is going to do in the future. It’s clear what He wants done in the present. Let’s be people of repentance and participants in Christ’s work of redemption, doing His business till He comes.

Scoff Science (2 Peter 3:1-7)

Perhaps some of you remember Harry Truman. Not Harry S. Truman the president, Harry R. Truman the bootlegger turned prospector who, for 52 years, ran a lodge at the base of Mount St. Helens.

Harry has been labeled a folk hero by many in the media.^[1] More than 100 songs have been written in his honor.^[2] He appeared on the front page of the New York Times and the San Francisco Examiner. He was featured by National Geographic, The Today Show, Time Magazine, Life Magazine, and Newsweek.^[3]

Was it because he sounded the alarm that an eruption was coming? Was it because he worked bravely to save those who needed to evacuate? No, Harry is remembered for refusing to leave despite many, repeated warnings.

For two months, the mountain showed all the signs that it was no longer dormant. There was all sorts of seismic activity day after day. There was steam and ash in the air.^[4]

Authorities, friends, well-wishers, and strangers pleaded with Harry to evacuate. But he wouldn’t budge. He had been at the mountain for more than half a century and was convinced nothing would change. He said, “That mountain just doesn’t dare blow up on me.”^[5]

As the ground beneath his feet continued to shake in the days leading up to the historic eruption, Harry admitted he was afraid and had taken to sleeping in the basement of his lodge. The day before Mt. St. Helens blew, five people visited Harry, trying to get him to leave. But he wouldn’t go. Instead, journalists reported that he scoffed at the concern for his life. After all, as Harry said, “The mountain is a mile away, the mountain ain’t gonna hurt me.”^[6]

And then 8:32am came on Sunday, May 18, 1980, and Harry R. Truman was the first to die in the extreme heat of the volcano’s pyroclastic flow. Somehow this man is celebrated as a hero for scoffing at people who were simply trying to save his life.

In our text this morning, Peter talks about those who scoff at the idea of fiery judgment coming to the world and how they scoff at God’s revealed word altogether.

Instead of being apathetic to what God has said, it should animate us to live out our Christianity, paying attention and living with intention based off God’s reliable revelation.

2 Peter 3:1 – ¹ Dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written to you; in both letters, I want to stir up your sincere understanding by way of reminder,

In chapter 1, Peter focused on how good and essential it is to be a growing Christian. How we can rely on God’s word, and how as we live it out, our lives will be full of strength, peace, and purpose.

In chapter 2, Peter warned us about the false teachers who try to break into the Church and into your life to deny the word of God, exploit you, and ensnare you. They offer freedom, but all they really do is ruin lives.

Now in chapter 3, Peter will focus on the second coming of Christ. How these scoffers deny that Jesus is ever coming back or that there will ever be a judgment for sin. But that for Christians, the second coming is not only a reality, it is one of the most important aspects of our faith.

As he wraps up his final message before death, Peter says, “I’m writing to stir you up.” The term means to awake from sleep.^[7] To stimulate.^[8] He’s not scolding us for being asleep. This is a positive reminder. Our “understanding,” which means our minds and our disposition, should be animated. God’s truth should be energizing us as we live out our lives.

Christianity is not just some things we learned in Sunday school, but the vitalizing engine of life. We have received the truth that actually sets people free and through it the peace of God and the hope of God and the joy of God and the love of God.

Where Peter says “dear friends” the term is beloved. He uses it 4 times in this chapter to describe you – the object of God’s love. And so, as he draws to a close, Peter says, “I’m writing to you who are loved by God so you can have a living faith, animated by hope, overflowing with grace.”

2 Peter 3:2 – ² so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles.

What anchors our lives? What gives us stability and direction? How do we receive all that we need for life and Godliness? Recall the word. Walk in the word. Apply God’s word to your life.

Peter assigns the whole text – cover to cover. Both Testaments, all 66 books. Prophecy begins in the opening chapters of Genesis. It continues all the way through the last chapter of the Bible.

Notice Peter’s perspective on the Bible. First, both Testaments are still needful. Just because we’re in the Church age, the New Testament era, doesn’t mean we don’t need the Old Testament anymore. Second, the apostles have the same authority as the Old Testament prophets.

On the devotional level, this is an important reminder, too. Your spiritual life must not be anchored on feelings or experience, but on revelation. Feelings matter – look at chapter 1. God wants you to have peace in increasing measure. He wants you to enjoy your relationship with Him. But we cannot hand the helm of our lives over to our feelings. That’s what the false teachers of chapter 2 did, and the result was absolute ruin. We anchor our spirituality on God’s revealed word. All God’s word.

2 Peter 3:3 – ³ Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires,

Some jobs require more situational awareness than others. Sometimes being aware makes the difference between life and death.

Peter has used this phrase “above all” before. He means that what he’s about to say is of overwhelming importance,^[9] so we need to be aware.

What does he want us to be aware of? Scoffers. What are scoffers? Well, they scoff. Proverbs talks a great deal about scoffers. But how do we recognize them? They’re the people in chapter 2. And they are those who constantly follow their own desires rather than God’s commands. They are those who reject God’s word and the idea that He is coming back again. So, we can recognize them by their theology, their morality, and the way they treat the Bible, Christ, and Christians.

Notice that Peter believes anyone reading is living in the “last days.” That is a technical term in the Bible. It refers to the time just before Christ’s return. How could Peter be in the last days if it’s been 2,000 years since he wrote this letter? Well, he’s going to explain that with God a day is like a thousand years, but the “last days” started at Pentecost, the birthday of the Church.^[10]

Now, here’s some irony: The Bible predicted what these mockers would say and how they would behave. How they would laugh at the idea of Christ’s return because, after all, where is He? But they themselves are proof that His second coming is imminent!^[11]

2 Peter 3:4 – ⁴ saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.”

Essentially, the argument of the scoffers is that even if God exists, He does not intervene in the world.^[12] This was the position of Epicureans, Deists, and among many agnostics today. Everything seems the same, so that must mean God is not involved and never will be.

2 Peter 3:5 – ⁵ They deliberately overlook this: By the word of God the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about from water and through water.

Remember: The specific people Peter was warning the original audience about still claimed to be believers. And yet, they rejected the Bible and the teaching of the apostles.^[13]

It is a willful ignorance. They close their eyes to the revelation of God and the testimony of God through history. He has been constantly involved, from the beginning. And from the start He uses His word to accomplish and communicate His work.

By the word of God the heavens came into being. He could’ve done simply by His power or through His thought or in any way He wanted. But God uses His word. He wants to communicate.

In antiquity, many philosophers and scientists taught that the universe was eternal. Of course, we have discovered that is not true. It had to have a beginning. Not only that, we have found that is has a clear design. We’ve also discovered that order cannot come from chaos.

Fast forward to today and we don’t really have Epicurean and Deist philosophy dominating philosophical discussion. But what is the dominant dogma among unbelieving scientists? “Well, the universe isn’t eternal, but let’s use numbers that keep getting bigger…millions of years, billions of years, so that effectively we think of it as eternal. And even though we know order can’t come from chaos and something can’t come from nothing, we’ll say that’s true, except that one time it wasn’t when everything came into being and we’ll call it The Big Bang.” It is a deliberate refusal to accept that design must have a Designer and that Designer has spoken through His word.

Rick Oliver, who has a PhD in biology and is a member of a variety of scientific groups wrote about how this happens. He said,

“I remember how frustrated I became when, as a young atheist, I examined specimens under the microscope. I would often walk away and try to convince myself that I was not seeing examples of extraordinary design, but merely the product of some random, unexplained mutations.”^[14]

But a Creator does exist. And that Creator has spoken. We know His word is reliable. These truths beg the questions: Why did He create this universe and what does He plan to do with it?

2 Peter 3:6 – ⁶ Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded.

So, first of all, Peter holds to a literal, historical, global flood. Genesis 1 through 11 is just as literal as Genesis 12 through 50.

But the point Peter is trying to make is that God does not only act to create. He has also intervened in human history to judge and to deliver. And, as He did so, He talks about it! He prophesies about it. He sends messages and commands and truth so humanity can know about it.

Because God is just, He must judge sin. But because God is love, He does all He can to make a way for people to be saved from judgment. But when we ignore Him, when we plug our ears and reject His offer, the result is death and judgment. It happened in Genesis, it is going to happen again.

2 Peter 3:7 – ⁷ By the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

By the same word! This is pretty basic spiritual math. Look at how God has intervened before, how He warned about it, and then what happened. And now consider that God has said – throughout both Testaments – that a global judgment of fire is coming at the end of human history. It is coming. It cannot be avoided. It can be escaped on the personal level – that’s what salvation is about – but judgement is coming to the world. The Day of the Lord is near – near and rapidly approaching.^[15]

As we’ve seen in this letter, there are two groups: The Godly and the ungodly. The Godly are those who believe God’s word and receive His salvation. The ungodly are those who will not believe and receive judgment. Christ is going to return, bodily, literally, to accomplish two purposes: To deliver the Godly and to destroy the ungodly. And because He loves the people of earth, He has sent warning after warning, proof after proof, reminder after reminder, because He’s not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. But He will not force you. He allows you to choose whether you want His deliverance or His destruction. And when He comes, Matthew 3 tells us the fire of His coming will burn the chaff from the wheat. The wheat is gathered into the barn of heaven, the chaff burns in the fire forever.^[16]

Before his death, Harry Truman received many letters from children, pleading with him to listen to reason and evacuate from the inevitable eruption of Mount St. Helens. He said some of the letters moved him to tears, but rather than humble himself and leave, his response was to write back to the kids, enclosing some of the volcanic ash that was even then covering the area.

Just four days before he died, Harry did leave his lodge. National Geographic paid for him to fly via helicopter to Oregon to answer questions and sign autographs to a group of schoolchildren. In one of his last messages, he said, “I’m king of all I survey. I’ve got plenty [of] whiskey.”^[17] And then he flew back to the base of the mountain, as the very ground shook beneath his feet.

Christ is coming to save the world. But with His deliverance He brings wrath and destruction on those who refuse to believe Him. Have you believed? God loves you. He wants to save you. He’s explained what He’s doing and what’s going on in the world and how He can totally transform your life. Each beat of our hearts brings us closer to the Day. If you haven’t accept Him. If you have, be awake, be animated, be invigorated to live out your Christianity in a true and meaningful way.

Where There’s A Swill, There’s Astray (2 Peter 2:17-22)

In the mid 1800’s, New York was rocked by a terrible and deadly scandal. Clean drinking water was scarce, so demand for milk skyrocketed. Local distilleries realized they could cash in on this market. So, they brought in cows to milk. And then they had a great business idea: Why not feed the cows with the grain mash that was leftover from making whiskey?^[1]

The problem is, cows don’t want to eat hot alcohol mash. In fact, the cows would only eat it if they were starving.^[2] And so that’s exactly what these milkers did. The diseased cows would be held up by ropes – milked as they were dying.^[3] Many of the cows’ teeth had rotted out and tails had fallen off. The lifespan of of a cow in one of these places was about 6 months.

Their milk was known as swill milk. It was a grotesque, bluish liquid mixture of milk, pus, and dirty water added to stretch out the yield.^[4] To make it more palatable to customers, it was thickened with rotten eggs and molasses. To make it white, they’d stir in plaster of Paris.^[5] And then it was loaded up into a truck whose side said, “Pure Country Milk.”^[6] And day after day, the children drank.

By the late 1830’s, swill milk made up “between 50 and 80% of all milk consumed in America’s large northeastern cities.”^[7] As a result, 8,000 infants were dying every year in New York City alone.

In 1858, a journalist named Frank Leslie published an exposé on swill milk, leading to an outcry from the public. What did the distilleries do? They “hired chemists to run experiments showing that not only was swill milk not a danger, it was positively healthier for children.”

One of the major reasons the scourge of swill milk was finally defeated was a man named Nathan Straus understood the danger. He used his own wealth to provide pasteurization equipment for New York City’s orphanage. At his own expense, he established 297 milk stations in 36 cities. It is estimated that Nathan directly saved the lives of 445,000 children.^[8] But someone had to sound the alarm and give the equipment needed for those lives to be saved.

That’s what Peter did in this letter. False teachers were selling lethal spiritual milk and fighting hard against anyone who questioned them. They were especially targeting those who were brand new Christians – babies in the Lord.

2 Peter 2:17 – ¹⁷ These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.

This text is very similar to Jude 12 and 13. Both writers stack up metaphors to make it clear who these guys really are underneath. They’re springs without water. You go there to get a drink, to keep yourself alive, but there’s no water. You can’t slake your thirst or irrigate your crops.

They’re mists driven by a storm. They are blown about by their own whims or various trends that come through. Offering relief, they leave you high and dry. In the arid climate of the middle east, the land needed the nourishing moisture of mist, but before the dry land is able to soak anything up, here comes the wind to blow it away.^[9]

Jude says they’re like hidden reefs. You’re sailing along, thinking you’ve got clear seas, but then you run into these teachers and the hull of your life is torn open. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. He says they are fruitless trees, twice dead and uprooted.

Could the apostles be any clearer? This is who these guys are. In verses 10 through 16, Peter explains their character. In 17 through 22, he explains the consequences of following them. The impact they make on people’s lives.^[10] He puts the bottom line up front: They’re headed to the gloom of darkness. Remember that image from verse 4? That’s the place the evil angels are held until judgment. And these false teachers and their followers are sailing to that port.

Meanwhile, where does our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ lead us? Here’s what Isaiah said:

Isaiah 58:11 – ¹¹ The LORD will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose water never runs dry.

Oh, the absolute opposite! Sustained and satisfied and thriving and bearing fruit because our Lord is not a spring without water. Ask of Him and He will give you living water.^[11]

2 Peter 2:18 – ¹⁸ For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error.

Why would anyone follow these false teachers? They offered freedom. Pleasure. All you could possibly want for yourself. “Pure Country Milk.”

Barely escaped here refers to those who were recently coming to faith in Christ.^[12] So here you are, a Gentile who lived a pagan life of sexual promiscuity, gluttony, drunkenness, no restraint, all selfishness. You hear the Gospel of Jesus and you realize that here are the answers your soul has been groping for deep in your heart all your life. But, just as you start to step into a life of faith, these people, claiming to be Christians, claiming to have secret enlightenment, they come to you and say, “You can have Jesus and paganism. There is no need to follow any law. We’re free from the Law.” And the way they said it was awfully impressive. People new to the faith are vulnerable.

Some speakers or leaders or content creators are incredibly impressive in the way they communicate. But what is the content? Where do their directions lead? It is the substance that matters, not the show. Not the stage or the fanfare or the charisma. Consider the content.

2 Peter 2:19 – ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.

They offered total freedom. Not just from the Law, but from any law. “You can be your own master. After all, the apostles didn’t know what they were talking about. And Jesus is never coming back!”

But friends, all of us must serve a master. When a person says they are their own master, in reality they’re enslaved to their sin. You can either serve the law of God or the law of sin.^[13] Those who say they’re enjoying the pleasures of life, look at the swill they’re drinking. If you’re free, why are you addicted? If you’re free, why are you depressed? Why are you aimless? Why do have to fight your way up the ladder? Why do those one-night stands leave you feeling more and more alone? If you want to be free, serve Jesus. Yes, that means you are His bondservant, but He promises:

John 8:32 – ³² You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 15:15 – ¹⁵ I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master, is doing. I have called you friends

Christ is a Master Who does not drain your life, exploit you, and shackle you. He fills your life to overflowing. We’ve never seen, heard, or can conceive of the good He intends to do for us.

He is a kind and generous Master, but He is a Master. He commands you and I to obey His law of love. The royal law, prescribed in Scripture.^[14] Christ has rules and directions, designs and boundaries for our relationships, our choices, our words, our attitudes, our activities, all of life. But when we obey, when we serve Him as Master, then we receive true freedom, true fulfillment.

2 Peter 2:20 – ²⁰ For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.

Peter’s previous life as a fisherman echoes through this passage. When he said “seduce,” he speaks of a lure – bait on a hook. Here, we imagine the fisherman’s nets entangling an unfortunate soul.^[15]

Verses 20 through 22 can cause doctrinal debate or confusion. Is Peter saying that a person can be genuinely saved, but lose their salvation? That is the perspective of some Christians. Our answer to that specific question is no because of many Scriptures, but Peter himself said in his first letter:

1 Peter 1:5 – You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

If a person is truly saved, they are safe. They may have lapses of obedience, leading to terrible consequences and the breaking of God’s heart and the loss of rewards, but no one can snatch them out of Jesus’ hand – including themselves!^[16] So what are we to make of verses 20 through 22?

In verse 20, Peter gives this warning to the false teachers and those who follow them, saying, “If you go this way, the last state is worse than the first.” Why?

For one, they think they’re living the Christian life. These people claimed to be Christian. But if you do not walk the path of righteousness, if you do not obey Jesus, you do not love Him and you do not know Him. Jesus said in John 14, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments!” Very simple. These folks thought they were sailing to heaven, when in reality their destination was hell.

Second, the Bible teaches there will be worse judgment for those who hear the truth and reject it.^[17]

Third, when we choose to harden our hearts toward the Lord, toward His truth, we are always worse off than before.^[18] That much further from God. That much more ensnared by sin. In fact, if we keep hardening our hearts, God allows us to that much more deceived by the lies.^[19]

We can see that the people Peter is talking about were not truly saved. Because, after all, they were defeated by temptation and sin. If you are saved, God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to withstand.^[20] That’s a promise. To be a Christian means to be a person who is led by God in victory – in Christ’s triumphal procession!^[21] Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. If they are ultimately defeated by sin and temptation, it is because they do not have the Spirit of God living in them.

2 Peter 2:21 – ²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them.

The “holy command” means the whole Christian message, sent from God, delivered through the Scriptures and by the teaching of the apostles. Again, note that we are under a law. It is the law of love, but these are commands. Jesus puts demands on your life. He demands surrender. He demands devotion. He demands obedience.

2 Peter 2:22 – ²² It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”

To us, dogs are beloved companions. Not so in this time. They were despised creatures.^[22] Even today, some of you have dogs who eat from the litter box. We see dogs lap up vomit. It’s horrible.

But that’s what was happening on the spiritual level. It wasn’t enlightenment. It was swill. So what are we drinking? Is it swill milk? If so, the result is going to be waste and barrenness and death.

For anyone still worrying that they might, through mistakes or distraction, lose or forfeit their salvation, consider the illustration Peter used. Dogs and pigs were unclean animals. And at the end of the proverb, the dogs were still dogs, the pigs were still pigs. In other words, they may have cleaned off the sow, and put some lipstick on her, but her nature wasn’t changed.^[23] They were never transformed. It doesn’t say the dog became a lamb then turned back into a dog.

We can go back to the examples of Lot and Balaam. Both had issues with greed. But one believed and the other did not. If losing your salvation was possible, Lot would’ve lost his. And yet he is thrice called a righteous man by Peter! Ultimately, he obeyed by faith. That was the difference.

So, how can you be sure you’re a Christian? Well, listen to James:

James 1:25 – ²⁵ But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.

A hearer and a doer. As you do God’s word, the authenticity of your faith is revealed. That you are a lamb, not a dog.

It’s said that the swill milk manufacturers could literally be smelled a mile away.^[24] It stunk of waste and death. With God’s wisdom and warnings, we should be able to see false teachers a mile away.

Instead of drinking their swill, you and I must drink deep of the living water, feeding on the milk and the meat not of the culture around us, but the word of God. And do you know what happens then? Not only do you and I get to enjoy Christ’s living water, He promises that we will have streams of living water flowing from deep within us!^[25] You and I become spiritual Nathan Strauses, bringing life, saving lives, protecting the weak, the vulnerable, those the false teachers want to prey on. And in living out the Christian life, we will be blessed in what we do.

Animal Wrongs (2 Peter 2:10-16)

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. This folksy bit of common sense was probably coined by a late 19th century American poet named James Riley.^[1] In the 20th century, it became a repeated warning of the dangers of communism, both domestically and internationally.

Elementary school was full of lessons on how to tell different animals apart. Is it an alligator or a crocodile? Is it a seal or a sea lion? Frog or toad? Tortoise or turtle? Moth or butterfly?

I don’t really want to cross paths with an alligator or a crocodile in the wild. But sometimes we learned what might make a life or death difference between two creatures.

It was at an outdoor field trip of some sort that I learned the famous rhyme, “Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, venom lack.” It helps you differentiate between coral snakes and king snakes. The colors are the same, the order is different. King snakes are considered harmless, whereas coral snakes have the most potent venom of any snake in North America. Forewarned, forearmed.

Peter has been warning us about the danger of false teachers. How they infiltrate the church. They will infiltrate Christian communities and culture. And their words are deadly venom.

He’s been warning us in a general sense. Now he starts teaching us how to spot the false teachers. And Peter does not pull any punches. Frankly, he says they act like animals. They claim to have deeper understanding of all the most important questions of life. But Peter says, “Look how they waddle. Hear how they quack. These are not great oracles of truth. They are vipers to be avoided.”

We pick up in the middle of verse 10, where Peter begins showing us how to spot them.

2 Peter 2:10b-11 – Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; ¹¹ however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.

These verses leave us with a few questions. Who are the “glorious ones” (your version may say “dignitaries” or “celestial beings”)? Who is having a slanderous charge brought against them? Scholars debate the grammar, the context, and the fact that these verses overlap with Jude.

A smaller percentage of commentators think the “glorious ones” refer to church or civil authorities. I tend to think Peter wouldn’t use that title for himself or other human servants of God. The dominant view among scholars is that Peter is referring to angelic beings – either good or bad.

We don’t exactly know what they were saying,^[2] and that’s ok. Often times, the epistles will leave texts like this somewhat broad so that we don’t obsess over the specifics of the situation. The ambiguity is important.^[3] Peter wants us to focus on a principle, not the specific predicament.

So, we aren’t told exactly what these guys were saying, but we can see how they were behaving. They had no respect and no restraint.^[4] They were brash and blasphemous. Peter says they were bold, arrogant people.

But wait: Aren’t Christians supposed to be bold? Didn’t Peter and the other apostles and the Christians in Jerusalem pray for boldness?^[5] They did. But that’s not the boldness Peter is talking about here. In Acts, they prayed that the Lord would empower them to, “speak His word with all boldness.” What Peter is talking about here is arrogance, and headstrong recklessness.^[6] They were self-willed. Their goal was not please God, but pleasing themselves.^[7]

Peter contrasts these false teachers with the angels of heaven. Angels always show a great deal of restraint. Now, think about that for a moment: A heavenly angel has amazing power. They’ve got full access to God Himself. They are supernatural beings that can move between the heavenly realm and the earthly realm. They know so much more than we do about what God is doing. But they are extremely careful about what they say and do. They are not brash or headstrong.

Standing before God, they won’t even bring a slanderous charge against the guilty. Whether the “them” in verse 11 is evil angels or if it’s referring to the false teachers, either way the good angels know they’re guilty. But they know God is in charge and that He is merciful. So, they do not act like Lucifer, who came before God to accuse Job. Jude tells us that Michael the Archangel wouldn’t bring a condemning word against the devil himself. He said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

We would do well to be more careful about the words we speak. James has a lot to say about that in his letter. Jesus Himself said that, “on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak.”^[8] The angels are certainly careful. We should be, too. One way to identify these false teachers was by their rash, brutish, blasphemous speech. Arrogant and irreverent.

We can also know them by the patterns of their personal lives. As always, a tree is known by its fruit.

2 Peter 2:12-13a – ¹² But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed. ¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.

Peter is not calling them names. He’s exposing how these people were living life on a base level of selfish hedonism. A life of self-indulgence, driven by sinful, human urges. While they were raising themselves up, parading themselves as experts and gurus and keepers of secret truth. In reality, they lived like animals, not driven by morality but by desire.

Animals aren’t moral. Go into the wild and you will find the coral snake does not feel bad about biting you at all. It’s driven by animal instinct. It makes decisions based off natural urges.

When Peter says they are “creatures of instinct,” he uses a word that means “belonging to nature.”^[9] The sin nature. But friends, we’re not meant to belong to the sin nature. We’re meant to enjoy a supernatural relationship to God and man. God raises us up above the cares and the corruption of this world, with our thoughts set on the Spirit^[10] and the Gospel and the work of God in our lives.

The false teachers, living on this base, animal level, would reap what they sowed. They destroyed the lives of others, so they would be destroyed. One of the wonders of the Christian life is that we get to reap what Christ has sowed in us. His life. His word. His peace. His comfort. His grace.

Now, don’t read verse 12 and think that these false teachers were determined to be evil. We read that they were, “Born to be caught and destroyed.” This isn’t teaching that God predestined them for Hell. Because, remember: All of us are born dead in trespasses and sins. All of us are born of the flesh and if we live according to the flesh, we are going to die.^[11] This is not a verse about predestination. It is a reminder of the only prescription that can cure the disease.

Do you want to be set free and saved from destruction? Do you want a life not captive to natural urges but lived on the higher plane of God’s grace? Then you need to be born again. And once you are born again, you no are no longer obligated to the flesh, to live according to the flesh like these false teachers. But instead you have the mind of Christ. The heart of Christ. You walk the way of Christ, not toward destruction, but toward life. How are we born again? Through belief.

2 Peter 213b-14 – They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions while they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!

Here, Peter lists their mentality and activity. It’s an ugly rap sheet. They slander, they carouse, they deceive, they seduce, they’re full of greed.

Theirs was a habitual lifestyle of sin. Of course, they saw it as one big party. Not just on Saturday night, but during the workday. In fact, not only during the work day, but they were bringing their drunken, self-indulgence into church services, too. As God’s people came together to share a meal and to celebrate communion, here are these guys, scoping every lady as someone they wanted to seduce and looking for all the ways to get more of everything for themselves.

They were trained in greed. We know they wanted people’s money, but the term also refers to a lust for more of everything.^[12] In fact, Peter used a word that referred to athletic training in the gymnasium.^[13] They had chest and arms day, leg day, and greed day.

They never stopped looking for sin. But notice what form that took: It wasn’t just sin in a vacuum. They indulged their appetites by exploiting and devouring the Christians around them. Unstable people were being “seduced.” That’s a term that refers to catching prey with bait.^[14]

This is why back in chapter 1, Peter says, “I’m writing so you can be established in the truth.” He wants us to be firmly anchored in the word of God, in the truth of God, so that we’re not easy prey.

You’ve watched nature shows. Planet Earth. Wild America. When the lions want to grab a gazelle, who do they target? The strong? The alert? No. It’s the weak ones straggling behind the herd.

Getting grounded in the word of God is not just about knowing more things. The Bible explains that this is the way we anchor our lives on Christ so that when the storms come, when the winds blow, when our enemy comes – who is a prowling lion seeking someone to devour – we will be strong. We will be secure. We will not be knocked down and destroyed, but continue growing and thriving in the love of God and the protection of His truth. Being established in the truth shields us and sets us free. It directs us and fortifies our lives.

2 Peter 2:15-16 – ¹⁵ They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness ¹⁶ but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

Peter uses an Old Testament character as an example of what these false teachers were doing. Balaam’s story is an interesting one. He pops up more than we realize. He’s referenced in Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Nehemiah, Micah, 2 Peter, Jude, Revelation.

Balaam was this guy who you could pay to do divination. The Moabites wanted to curse the Israelites, so they hired Balaam. God told him, “Don’t take the job,” but Balaam really wanted the money. He ended up going. On the way, an angel of the Lord stood in the path to kill him. But the donkey he was riding could see the angel, and she turned away to try to help Balaam. He got really angry, started beating the donkey, and the Lord miraculously opened the donkeys mouth and allowed her to say, “Why are you beating me? I’m trying to save you!”

Now Balaam still doesn’t get the hint, he wants the money, so he tries to curse Israel. But every time he opens his mouth, God makes a blessing come out instead. Remember: the Lord knows how to rescue the Godly from their troubles.

After all that, Balaam is still greedy for the money. So he tells the Moabites, “Look, I can’t curse them. But we might be able to convince them to commit sin themselves, which will bring God’s judgment on them.”^[15] And that’s exactly what happens.

Balaam kept following this path of sin and greed, and in the end he was destroyed. Along the way, God kept giving him a chance to turn back. Pitstops of mercy and choice. It was like God put all these signs in which said, “Dead end. Not a through road.” The same is true for any sinner today. God doesn’t want you to perish, but for you to repent. To turn around and walk on the straight path – the path of righteousness. It’s madness to continue on a road you know ends in death.

But you have to choose whether you’re going to walk in the light or stay in the dark. Sadly, many people love darkness rather than light. But as Peter is so quick to remind us: The end of the path of unrighteousness is death. Destruction. Judgment. Hell.

These false teachers seemed like they were having a good time. They were telling people that they knew more than angels, more than apostles. In reality, they lived like animals. They were spots and blemishes in the church of God.

In the last chapter, Peter is going to bring that image back when he tells us to not be led away by these false teachers and to make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in Christ’s sight. How? By walking with Him, not them. By making progress on the path of righteousness. By not living an animal life of sin, but the Christian life of purity, grace, power, and truth. Looking at my life in the mirror, is there any spot cleaning I need to do?

Peter’s warning is that there are Balaam’s out there who want to bring curse and ruin into our lives. God knows and is keeping an account. He will deal with them for the harm they cause. But our part is to watch out for their venom. Now, we should be aware but we don’t need to be afraid. Consider the example of Balaam: Balaam couldn’t do anything to Israel, no matter how hard he tried! The trouble only came when they decided to follow his advice. That’s when ruin came.

In the mean time, we’re not donkeys with human words. We’re sheep with the Lord’s word on our lips. We can not only keep ourselves from being seduced by the lies of the false teachers, but we can warn others of the coming judgment. And we can warn those false teachers themselves when we run into them. God extended mercy to Balaam. He didn’t take it, but he could have. God has mercy for you and me and those around us today. Keep to the path of mercy, the path of righteousness. It is the path that leads to life, to glory, to all we need to enjoy the supernatural plans God has for us.

Here Comes The Judgment (2 Peter 2:4-10)

In the United States, nearly 98% of criminals walk free.^[1] It’s not that we don’t try. In fact, we spend about $300 billion every single year to fund police, courts, jails, prisons, probation, and parole.^[2]

Here in California, only 12% of burglary cases are even solved, let alone perpetrators punished. Only 10% of auto thefts, and a dismal 9% of larcenies and property crimes.^[3]

Human society reveals that we’re no good at righteousness – not on our own. But God is righteous, He is holy, He is just, and He demands righteousness, holiness, and justice of His creation.

In this text, Peter warns of God’s coming justice. He will repay the unrighteous for the evil they have done. Don’t believe it? Peter gives us a list of historic examples that each foreshadow and guarantee the final judgment after Christ’s return. He has absolute jurisdiction. It is universal. There is no place, there is no creature, there is no circumstance that falls outside of His judicial review and power. He judges on the celestial level, the global level, the local level, and the personal level.

These verses are one long if/then sentence. If God judged the wicked and delivered the righteous in these past examples, then He will do so again. That’s what God has promised and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But here is the theological hope: Judgment is inevitable, but it is not inescapable.^[4] Each and every one of us can be rescued from death, saved for life and live a life of righteousness, which brings us refuge, hope, and strength even in the hardest circumstances.

2 Peter 2:4 – ⁴ For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell, and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment;

Last week we heard Peter’s warning about false teachers and how their lies ruined lives. Now, he drives the point home that those who deny Christ, those who refuse the the path of righteousness and go another way, are going to be judged and condemned in the end.

Peter illustrates the certainty of God’s coming judgment with three stories from Genesis. In verse 4, he starts on the celestial level – when God brought judgment on angels.

In Genesis 6 we read the story of how angelic beings known as Watchers came to earth and produced offspring with human women.^[5] These offspring were known as the Nephilim. They were violent giants, who worked wickedness on the earth.

In response, God judged this group and sent them to a holding place where they await their sentence. Now, most English translations say they were cast into “hell,” but Peter uses a specific word here – in fact, he’s the only New Testament writer to name it. It’s a place known as Tartarus.^[6]

We covered this in our studies in Mark recently, but in the Bible there are a variety of places we would put in the category of the afterlife. There is Hades, Sheol, Gehenna, Tartarus, Heaven.

When we put this verse with passages in Jude, Revelation, and Luke, we learn Tartarus is an abyss of gloomy dungeons in the depths of Hades where angelic beings are held for final judgment.

Never think that hell is ruled by the devil and his minions. That’s not a biblical idea. In fact, in the Gospel of Luke we see that the demons are afraid of Tartarus, not to mention the Lake of Fire.^[7]

Peter describes Tartarus as a place of darkness and chains. Interestingly, the Greeks also talked about Tartarus from time to time. Plato and Homer both reference it. They, too, described it as an under-underworld of gloom and chains. They said that the monstrous Titans were held there.

2 Peter 2:5 – ⁵ and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly;

Peter moves from the celestial to the global. After Genesis 6, looking down on creation, God saw that human wickedness was widespread on the earth – that every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time.^[8] And so, He sent a global flood to wipe out that generation.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of God. Noah and his family believed God and walked His path of righteousness. As a result, God protected them.

If you, by faith, live out God’s righteousness, you will find refuge. David wrote,

Psalm 31:1 – LORD, I seek refuge in you; let me never be disgraced. Save me by your righteousness.

Psalm 34:19 – ¹⁹ One who is righteous has many adversities, but the LORD rescues him from them all.

How was Noah protected from the flood? His faith was not only intellectual beliefs. It was a living faith. Noah did not go the way of the world, but actively followed the callings and leadings the Lord gave him. Build an ark. Hew the trees. Fashion the planks. Mix the tar together to cover all 100,000 square feet. Through that faithful participation in God’s will, Noah and his family were protected.

2 Peter 2:6 – ⁶ and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;

Peter moves forward chronologically again, now moving from a global example to a local example. The story of God’s judgment on Sodom and the cities of the plain can be found in Genesis 19.

Josephus, the first century historian, recorded that physical evidence of Sodom’s destruction was still available during his lifetime. Philo of Alexandria said the same thing.^[9] These cities were dramatically judged by God for their wickedness. The telling of Genesis 19 focuses on their sexual immorality, which was a key reason for God’s action. But that wasn’t all:

Ezekiel 16:49-50 – ⁴⁹ Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and comfortable security, but didn’t support the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and did detestable acts before me, so I removed them when I saw this.

Sodom and Gomorrah is an object lesson for what will one day come on the whole earth. You see, after the flood, God promised Noah that He would never again destroy the world with floodwater.^[10] But, as Peter will later reveal, God will destroy this world with floodfire. Sodom is not only a warning of the judgment of the Great Tribulation and the destroying of this earth, but also a warning of the eternal judgment found in the second death of the lake of fire and sulphur.

2 Peter 2:7-8 – ⁷ and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral ⁸ (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)…

We’ve gone from celestial to global to local, now to a personal view of judgment and deliverance.

The big reveal for us is that Lot is called a righteous man. Not once but three times. We have a hard time with that, don’t we? We’re shocked by Lot’s choices, his behavior, and his compromise.

And yet, he was a believer. Weak. Compromised. Polluted by the culture he purposefully immersed his family into. Not someone we admire or aspire to follow. But when we are faithless, God remains faithful.^[11] A God of that much grace that He would not only save Lot, but looking back, God still credits righteousness to him. Such grace! Such mercy! The God of the Bible is a God Who wants to rescue. He wants to save us from judgment, from our own weakness and failures. The God Who did not spare angels for their sin sent angels to deliver Lot and his family.

2 Peter 2:9 – ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

So after seeing these examples, if this, if this, if that, then be confident. Be hopeful. Be sure that the Lord can and does rescue His people from trials.

God’s people maybe saved from the wrath of judgment, but that doesn’t mean life is always clear sailing. Consider what Noah and Lot had to face. Peter was facing imminent martyrdom. Both he and James explain that Christians will face “various” trials. Douglas Moo writes, “[Peter means] all those challenges to faith that Christians experience in this world.”^[12]

In the face of trials, our God is an Advocate. He is a Rescuer. An ever-present help in times of trouble.^[13] He is the God of all comfort. The Father of mercies. The God of hesed, agape love.

At times, we worry that God must not know what we’re up against. We worry that He’s not going to arrive in time with the help we need. And yet, He proves again and again that He sees Noah’s family as the rain starts to fall. He sees Lot while the mob press on the doors. He sees Moses floating in a basket on the Nile. He sees Joseph, falsely accused in a dungeon. He sees David standing before the giant. He sees the people of Judah, besieged by the Assyrians. He sees Daniel in the lion’s den. He sees the young prophet, who lost a borrowed ax head he couldn’t afford to repay. He sees the hungry, the hurting, the bankrupt, the lost, the brokenhearted.

At the same time, the Lord also sees the unrighteous. If you’re not a Christian, not only are you missing out all that God wants to give, He’s also watching you, because your sin must be repaid.

Revelation 20:12 – ¹² I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.

So in verse 9 we see two distinct groups: The Godly and the unrighteous. The Godly are those who believe God and receive His salvation and all that comes with it. The unrighteous are those who reject the truth, go their own way, and face judgment.

That judgement can be escaped. Jesus Christ took our place by dying on the cross. The Lord punished Him, putting on His own Son the iniquity of us all. He was taken away for judgment, struck for our rebellion.^[14] The only way for you and I to be rescued from the inevitable judgment that is coming on the wicked is to have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

2 Peter 2:10a – ¹⁰ especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority…

How do I know if I’m in the righteous group or not? Evaluate the fruit of your life. It’s not only whether you believe God exists. The conduct of your life matters. A tree is known by its fruit.

I do want to draw attention to those closing words: “Especially those who…despise authority.”

You know, we live in a time and culture that despises authority in just about every form. The Christians here today need to make sure we’re cultivating a proper, Godly, Biblical attitude toward authority. That doesn’t mean we don’t speak up when we see corruption – our system is set up for that kind of civic activity – but remember that Peter writes under the rule of Caesar Nero.

But for anyone here who is not a believer, this is the message: Judgment is coming. And you don’t know when. In Noah’s time, there was 30 to 75 years of delay.^[15] For Sodom? One night.

Have you heard of the Doomsday Clock? Since 1947, it has been a tool to try to warn people about how close we are to destroying the world. Right now, they say we’re 85 seconds till “midnight.” Although, the founder first set it at 7 minutes to midnight because it “looked good to [her] eye.”^[16]

God is not guessing. He is working. His wrath and judgment are an inevitable part of His work. He wants to save you from your sin. He wants to save you from death, the grave, and eternity in hell.  The only way out is to receive righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 12:28 – ²⁸ There is life in the path of righteousness, and in its path there is no death.

The majority of us in the room are Christians. Let’s talk about walking the path of righteousness.  This morning, Peter gave us two human examples: Noah and Lot. Both were righteous, but consider the difference righteousness made in their lives.

Noah walked the walk and his whole family was saved. Lot, who picked up so much pollution from the sinful culture, hesitated till the last possible moment. The angels had to drag him out so he wouldn’t be destroyed with the city. His sons-in-law stayed behind and died. Lot’s own wife longed for Sodom and was judged. Lot was bothered by sin, but didn’t bother to live out his faith.

Noah had a harder set of circumstances. His was the only Godly family on planet earth! Lot was enamored of wealth, culture, and position. It wasn’t about circumstances, it was about commitment.

Are we making progress on the path of righteousness? Are we serving God? Are we preaching the Good News through the activity of our lives? We don’t have any record of Noah giving prophecy, but he lived prophetically. He knew the flood was coming and that knowledge changed his life. His living faith led to deliverance and grace from God and provision for their needs and a future.

And so we might close this way: Noah’s righteousness preached. Lot’s was paralyzed. The Lord was faithful to both, but it’s clear which example we want to follow. Let’s walk the road of righteousness faithfully today. That’s the path of rescue, of communion with God, the path of life.

Teacher’s Vet (2 Peter 2:1-3)

Never underestimate the impact of a teacher. Most of us can think back to a teacher who not only made a subject come alive, but awakened wonder in us and a desire to truly grow in our learning. Along the way, whether they said it or not, it was clear that they actually cared about us.

Even more vivid is our memory of the bad teachers. The discouragement we felt walking into the classroom. This teacher stopped caring long. Rather than strengthen our understanding, they undermined it. Their influence didn’t foster any wonder in your mind, only weariness.

But worst of all is a bad teacher that you don’t know is a bad teacher. They can do a lot of damage. My first year at my Christian college, every student had to take this class called Jesus In The Christian Community.  On the first day of that class, the professor stood at the front with a smile on her face and proceeded to explain that much of what we had been told about Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity was not, in fact, true. That the Scriptures were not infallible. That there was truth to be gleaned in other religious systems as well. I knew it was going to be a long semester.

I watched friends join the Bible department at this school. While there were some faithful, orthodox teachers, the dominant philosophy among the theology staff was the same as that JCC teacher.

I look back now more than 20 years later and I can think of quite a few former friends who received theology degrees, Bible degrees, specialist training in Hebrew and Greek, yet many now openly deny Christ. Among those my age, that seems to be the rule, rather than the exception. That was the product of the Bible department. What a difference teaching can make.

That’s the main point of our text today. Really, it’s the main point of Peter’s message in this letter: Watch out for those teachers whose ideas lead to spiritual and eternal ruin. Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. Peter began by encouraging us that we have all we need for a vibrant spiritual life, for Godliness, for days full of hope and confidence as we trust in the Lord and wait on Him.

But now in chapter 2, he moves into the main body of his message, which is to warn us of the danger of false teachers, help us know how to identify them, and how to not be knocked off balance by the misdirections they smuggle into the Church.

2 Peter 2:1 – ¹ There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.

Peter packs so much into every sentence! This one verse alone touches on a wide variety of Biblical connections, prophecy, doctrines, philosophy, and practical insight.

His main point is that false teaching always has been and always will be an issue for the people of God. Some problems in life are ever-present. For example, 95-100% of adults carry the roseola virus in their body.^[1] We’re up against spiritual viruses as well. Things like pride and doubt and fear. False teaching will always be a spiritual contagion seeking to afflict believers. Don’t let that knowledge discourage you. Instead, this knowledge helps us fortify ourselves so we can develop spiritual antibodies and immunity. That’s why Peter is warning us.

Now, in this letter, Peter speaks both empirically and prophetically. There were false teachers doing their thing right then and the will be more in the future. In fact, Peter uses the word “will” 6 times in these 3 verses. There will be false teachers, they will bring in their heresies, many will follow them, and it will bring defamation on the name of Jesus.

It was a problem in the Old Testament, it was a problem in the first century, it is still an issue today. But before we look closer at these teachers and their teachings, some good news: No matter what era a believer finds themselves in, they can stay rooted in the truth. They can be part of what the Bible calls the “remnant.” The remnant are those who hold to their faith in God, no matter the pressure from the culture, no matter how influential the false teachers are – no matter what.

There were times in the Old Testament when the false prophets absolutely dominated the airwaves. But there were always those who kept walking with God. In 1 Kings 18, there was a man named Obadiah. His job was to manage the palace for the wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. But Obadiah greatly feared the Lord. He was like a 9th century B.C. Oscar Schindler. He saved and protected 100 true prophets of the Lord. He was not polluted by the lies that dominated his nation.

In the time of Jeremiah, an era dominated by idolatry and false prophecy, we see the Rechabites – this faithful family who would not compromise their beliefs or behavior. There’s a whole chapter of Jeremiah dedicated to them.^[2] They stayed true when all their neighbors followed a lie.

You and I can stand strong in truth. We can share in the Divine nature and escape the corruption in the world. To do so, we have watch out for the lies that undermine God’s Word and His directives.

Peter says these teachers are going to bring in destructive heresies. That almost never takes the form of someone walking in and saying, “You should abandon Christianity,” or, “Let’s perform human sacrifice to Baal.” It’s always more subtle than that. In fact, the term Peter uses for “bring[ing] in” can mean to smuggle,^[3] or to bring them in alongside the orthodox doctrines of the Church.^[4]

Doctrine, by the way, simply means instruction or precepts. Teachings about the truth.

Peter is describing a person or group gaining influence in the Church who present new understanding, a new school of thought. It masquerades as true Christianity, but is actually putting you on a different path altogether.

One way to identify this kind of teacher is if they are sectarian. They create a faction and always trying to add numbers.^[5] Always working to exclude others and siphon people off to their group.

But the main way to verify a teaching is to see how it treats Jesus Christ. In this case, they “deny the Master Who bought them.” At the time, this was happening in two ways. The false teachers denied that Christ was going to return and they were denying His moral imperatives – the way Christ commanded us to live. It was a new way of living. A redefinition of truth, morality, and spirituality.

If a teacher has a wrong Christology, everything else is going to to be off-base. So, for example, when someone says that Jesus’ was limited by His first century culture, or that Jesus’ commands on how to live life are now outdated, or if they say that Jesus’ teachings and His word are not enough, but that we need other ‘truths’ added in, they’re denying the Master.

Before moving on, take a moment to notice how Peter said that Christ bought these false teachers through His death on the cross. This indicates that Christ’s atonement was not limited, but that Christ’s atoning work was for every human to ever exist. These false teachers were not born again, though they claimed to follow the Lord, yet His blood was shed for them all the same.

But let’s get back into the danger of their teaching. And, let me be clear: We’re not talking about differences of opinion on non-essential areas of Bible doctrine. This isn’t about various preferences in style of worship or modes of baptism or church government. This is about teachings and teachers that actually lead people off the path of truth, off the path of righteousness, onto another path, typically of selfishness, license, and man-centered theology, one outside faith in Christ.

That path, Peter explains, is destructive for lives now and for eternities in the future. In the here and now, these false teachings lead to lives that are corrupted, exploited, and ruined. A spiritual life which is the equivalent of a dog eating its own vomit.

But these teachings also lead to eternal destruction. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, the life. And when a person goes another way, no matter how good it looks or sounds, the end is destruction.

One source notes, “Bringing swift destruction on themselves is not a simple extinction of existence…but an everlasting state of torment and death”^[6] ‘Swift’ here makes reference to what we call the doctrine of imminence^[7] – that Christ can return at any moment with deliverance for His people and judgement for His enemies. Peter’s warning is serious – it’s life and death.

2 Peter 2:2 – ² Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.

The sad news is that false teachers are often very effective. Which means we can’t just look at the size of a church or a ministry or a teacher’s influence to verify their message.

Large numbers do not necessarily equal spirituality. Jeremiah had very few followers. Now, there are times when God does a great work of revival and great masses of people fill faithful churches. But just because a podcaster says they’re a Christian and has a million subscribers does not mean their message is the truth. You have to evaluate the teaching. Where do their directions lead?

But here’s the good news: God has given you a mind. If you’re a Christian, He’s given you His Holy Spirit to be your Teacher – to help you understand the truth.^[8] God has promised to not withhold wisdom from you if ask for it. So, no matter who is trying to teach you, no matter how impressive or influential they seem to be, do what the Bereans did. They heard this guy Paul teach a message about God, then they took what he said and examined the Scriptures to see if it was true. Acts 17 says they did so daily.^[9] It wasn’t that they had closed minds, they had critical minds. Not just drinking the draught because they were impressed by the person offering it.

You and I are called to be wise, to be discerning, to be careful about which well we drink from, spiritually speaking. False teachers present themselves as expert navigators, but their directions don’t lead to abundant life. Their path is a crooked path of depravity and spiritual disease.

Often the form these heresies take is in personal license – you can indulge however you want, you can live how you want. There’s frequently an embrace of all sorts of sexuality outside the commands of Scripture. A lack of moral restraint.^[10] And as people walk this road while claiming to be Christians, it causes the unbelieving world outside the Church to say, “Those ‘Christians’ are a bunch of hypocrites!” It brings shame on the name of Jesus. The truth is maligned.

When professing Christians disobey Christ, when we sin before a watching world, it contributes to a blaspheming world digging themselves further into their unbelief. Now you are not responsible for someone else’s choices, but you influence them. And God takes that really seriously.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says those who put an obstacle in the faith of others have done a terrible thing. It would be better to have a millstone put on your neck and be thrown into the sea!

2 Peter 2:3 – ³ They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

They offer “freedom,” they offer “pleasure,” they offer “enlightenment,” but all you really get from them is entrapment, exploitation, corruption, and blindness.

Now notice what Peter says: “They will exploit YOU.” This isn’t just a theory in a lab. This is a real danger out there. He doesn’t say this to make us afraid, but to make us aware. So we can be firm in the truth. Remember what he said in chapter 1: He’s reminding us of things we already know so that we will be established in the truth. Because God wants life for you. He wants strength for you. He wants to protect you from exploitation. To save you from being spiritually robbed.

In many cases, these false teachers was literally taking resources from people. In that time, as well as ours, false teachers often charged fees and begged money from their listeners.^[11] And Peter says here that the false teachers were trying to make merchandise out of Christians.^[12]

Beware commercialized religion. Now listen, our church is supported through donations. We don’t bring in tax revenue. We don’t make profit from selling products or services. The things we do sell, we sell at a loss. Giving financially to God’s work is part of the Christian life. We are so thankful for those of you who have and do give to our local church family here.

But that’s not what Peter is talking about. He’s talking about money grubbing and greed. He’s talking about things like the Texas megachurch pastor who offers life-coaching classes for $84,000 a year. Only millionaires are allowed to apply. That’s real, by the way. He also offers marriage counseling for $36,000 a year.^[13] He’s talking about leaders who fleece their flocks every week so they can buy a jet. He’s talking about those who hide the Gospel behind a paywall.

We try hard to not pressure people to give because so many churches have been influenced by worldly methods of fund raising. And it’s not right to constantly shake God’s people down for money. That constant pressure for giving is part of the false teacher playbook. That doesn’t mean every church that puts up a thermometer is part of the false teacher group, but it’s a methodology that should make us pause and evaluate carefully.

Now, Peter says, “Listen, these guys are just making up stories.” Interestingly, that’s what they accused Peter and the other apostles of doing. It was just projection and misdirection. Meanwhile, as we saw last time, Peter and the apostles had a message that was in line with Scripture, that was humble and loving, one that was submitted to and in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

So, now that we know these false teachers are out there, what do we do about it? It’s interesting – by the end of the letter, Peter doesn’t tell us to stone them or shout them down. Actually, all he tells us to do is escape them. Get away from them. Be on guard. Don’t be led away. Don’t be afraid but be aware and be advancing in the truth, in grace, in the strength given to you by God as you follow Him.

Witness’ Stand (2 Peter 1:16-21)

In the 40’s and 50’s, if you needed an expert, you might go to Fred Demara. His resume is unlike anything you’ve ever heard. As a teen, he became a Catholic monk. He served in the army and the navy. He was a deputy sheriff and assistant prison warden. He became a lawyer, but wanted to teach. He taught 4th grade, but repeatedly found his way to higher education. He became a cancer researcher and a celebrated psychologist and child care expert.^[1] He published a well-received booklet titled, How to Bring Up Your Child.

He worked in Arkansas, Los Angeles, Kentucky, Maine, Chicago, Texas, and Milwaukee, among other places. In Eerie, PA, he served as Dean of School of Philosophy at Gannon College. In Washington, he founded the St. Martin’s Student Psychological Center.^[2] This guy had answers!

But one day the FBI finally found Fred. He hadn’t been going by “Fred” for quite some time. He was living as Dr. Robert French, a “religion-oriented psychologist.” He took that name after faking his suicide and deserting the navy.

It was all lies. He had been thrown out of his Catholic monastery at age 18. He used a friend’s name in the army and went AWOL in 1942. He moved so often because he always on the run.

He served 18 months for desertion…and then went right back to his old ways! He assumed another identity in Maine, where he founded a college which is still a university today!

But we’re not done. In Maine, Fred befriended a surgeon. He took his friend’s documentation, assumed his identity, and joined the Canadian Navy. During the Korean war, he served as the only doctor on a destroyer. “As the wounded arrived, he ordered personnel to prep them for operation. Disappearing to his room, he would read quickly on how to perform the next procedure. Then he would return to the operating table.” Is that what you want your surgeon to do?

“When desiring a new ‘career,’ Fred would obtain a few pertinent textbooks, memorize the required info, and then present himself with bogus credentials and supreme confidence.” Above all, he wanted prestige and status.^[3]

One of the major reasons Peter is writing this last letter to the Christian world is to warn us of phonies and liars who want to set themselves up as experts over you. Meanwhile, these false teachers were saying Peter was the liar and quack. They claimed to have real expertise – that their teachings would free people from the oppressive mentality and morality of the apostles. But these ideas did not enlighten those who bought into them – they entrapped them. These were “destructive heresies” that wrecks lives. Like Fred Demara stealing his friends’ identities for his own glory, these false teachers were exploiting and polluting Christians out of greed and jealousy.

Peter writes to counteract their lies with the truth. He’s been using dramatic language to impress on our minds how important this message and his warnings are. By the end of our text today, he’s going to say that these truths he and the other apostles gave the Church are like a light in the dark – they will give us the illumination and clarity necessary for the life ahead.

But why should we trust him? And why should we trust the Bible? All around us, there are plenty of people who claim to have truth, who claim to know the secrets you need for happiness, who claim to have the enlightenment that will unlock life’s mysteries. Who is reliable and who is the imposter?

In our text, Peter defends the validity of his testimony, the apostolic authority to speak for God, and the reliability of Scripture.

2 Peter 1:16 – ¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

We read the Bible and can’t help but admire the apostles. But there were people in the first century who subverted these guys and what they taught.

In this case, they were saying that Peter and the other apostles, were making up fairytales when it came to God’s morality and God’s plan for the future. We’ll see in chapter 3 that one of their main claims was that Jesus was not going to return again.

It is Christ’s second coming that Peter is referring to in this verse.^[4] The future, bodily second coming of Jesus Christ to rule and reign over a literal Kingdom was a bedrock and essential teaching for the apostles. Peter talks about it. Paul talks about it. John talks about it. Hebrews talks about it. James talks about it. Jude talks about it.^[5]

Think about all the expertise Peter had on the first coming of Jesus. And, naturally, he instructed the Church in those things. But here, at the end of his life and ministry, he takes the time to remind us of the importance, the primacy, the motivating factor of the return of Jesus to earth.

You see, the Gospel is not only about what Jesus has done, but what He is doing, and what He will do. Peter explains that, when Christ comes, it will be in power. It is not a secret coming. The Kingdom is not just spiritual – it’s not just an allegory. Christ comes with absolute power. He will rule with a rod of iron. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He will restore creation. If you want to know more of what His Kingdom will be like, read Psalm 2. Read Ezekiel 40-48. Read Isaiah. Read Revelation 20-22. The day is coming. The Kingdom is coming. And Peter said, “Listen – I am an eyewitness of these things.” Remember: he, along with James and John, saw the Lord in His Kingdom glory – just a glimpse.

2 Peter 1:17-18 – ¹⁷ For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased!” ¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.

This refers to the Transfiguration, which we read about in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It was a momentary preview – a coming attraction – of Jesus in His glorified authority.

Peter explains that they saw Jesus in His glorification and they heard God the Father speak from heaven. If you’re trying to determine which teacher is bonafide and which is not – if one person is telling you the resurrection has already happened and the “Millennial Kingdom” is just an old wives tale, and the other person says, “I’m an eyewitness. I’m an earwitness,” which is more reliable?

Our justice system relies on witnesses. When you bring a case to court, the court calls witnesses to testify about what they’ve seen and heard – to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Sometimes people who don’t want to believe in Jesus will say, “I have to see it for myself.” But that would be like a judge saying, “Well, I can’t decide the case because I wasn’t there to see it.” But here’s all the evidence. Here are the witnesses!

Now, another key revelation of the transfiguration is that Christ’s Kingdom is literal and bodily. Jesus was truly transfigured. It’s not just a state of mind. It’s not just a philosophical ideal. Moses and Elijah were there, speaking with Him. It was the prelude to His real, future arrival.

2 Peter 1:19 – ¹⁹ We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

On top of being an eyewitness, Peter says here’s another reason to believe the apostles’ teaching, rather than the Judaizers or the Gnostics or the Nicolaitans or any of the other groups seeking to dominate the Church: The apostles’ teaching lined up with the Bible, which is absolutely reliable.

Specifically, Peter references Old Testament prophecy. But he’s not only referring to the books after Song of Solomon. There is prophecy – even prophecy about the future Kingdom – all over the Old Testament. In Genesis, in Numbers, in Psalms, in Deuteronomy, in Job, in Ecclesiastes.

And Peter points out that Old Testament prophecy has been “strongly confirmed.” It is not only proved to be true, but to be literal.

There are some today, even in the Church, who say that Bible prophecy isn’t literal. What they  mean is the prophecies about the future from our spot on the timeline aren’t literal. They’re allegorical. They’re figurative.

But, were the prophecies about the Messiah’s first coming literal? That He would be born of a virgin? That He would be born in Bethlehem? That He would be a Nazarene? That He would be betrayed and suffer and die?

There are more than 300 specific prophecies about the Messiah that Jesus literally fulfilled.^[6] It’s only possible if He really is God and the Bible really is true. But now, some say, “The prophecies of the Kingdom aren’t literal.” Peter says, these things are strongly confirmed! More than that, he tells us how important it is to be students of Bible prophecy. “You will do well to pay attention to it.”

The Word of God is a lamp shining in a dark place. Peter is specifically referring to Old Testament prophecy here, but all of Scripture is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.^[7] It illuminates our lives so we can see where to go – how to step – what’s ahead of us.

Life on this side of eternity is shrouded in darkness.^[8] That is a regular description of our world in the New Testament.^[9] Peter uses a term here that refers to the squalor and gloom of a dungeon.^[10] It’s a fallen world in which good is called evil and evil is called good and there is separation between God and man. And so, the Lord has given us the 66 books of the Bible, so that we can know Him, know His ways, know His will, see His doings in the past, the present, and the future.

The Bible is not only about ethic, but also prophetic. And knowing the future should have a great impact on how we behave in the present. In chapter 3, Peter’s going to say, “Since God has shared the future with you, it is clear what sort of people we should be.” Paul says something similar in Romans 13:

Romans 13:12 –  ¹² The night is nearly over, and the day is near; so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

When the night is over and the day dawns – meaning when Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom, well then everything in us and around us will be totally illuminated by the Morning Star – Who is Christ Jesus. He is the Light Bringer. That’s what the term “morning star” literally means.^[11] Jesus Christ is the light at the end of the tunnel. By His word, we can see. By God’s word, we can navigate.

In the here and now, there will be some things we’ll be left in the dark about. Why did God allow that situation? Why didn’t God intervene in this way? One day, all will be lit up. That is the day when Christ returns to rule and reign. Meanwhile, if you find yourself in a dark tunnel, if you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, head toward the Light. You can be sure the Lord is good and can be trusted.

2 Peter 1:20-21 – ²⁰ Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, ²¹ because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Scholars divide over Peter’s main idea. He could be saying that the Old Testament prophets did not come up with their writings on their own. Their messages came from God. That is absolutely true.

But the phrasing can also mean that we, as readers, do not have the luxury of just coming up with our own interpretation on the Biblical text.^[12]

Let’s take that second idea first. As we read the Bible, whether it’s a prophetic section or any other passage, we cannot just decide what it means by our own whims. This is where the cults come from. The Bible doesn’t mean what you want it to mean. If you’ve ever been in a Bible discussion group and the leader says, “Let’s all go around and say what this verse means to us,” really, that’s not a great mentality. “To me this means A.” “Well, to me this means Q!” The question is never, “What does this text mean to me,” the question is, “What does this text mean?”

The false teachers of Peter’s time were taking the Scriptures and twisting them to fit their own agendas and desires. But our job is not to superimpose our own ideas or agendas on God’s Word, but to submit ourselves to what God has revealed.

But now turning to that first way of understanding these verses: The Old Testament writers did not just come up with stories and ideas and messages of their own. God’s word is inspired. And to help us understand that miracle, Peter says the writers were “carried along.” It’s a term that can refer to a boat with her sails full, driven by the wind.^[13]

The Holy Spirit operated in power through the authors who cooperated with God to deliver His word, while still retaining their own style, vocabulary, and ability. They weren’t in a trance as God wrote the words through their hands. But what they wrote was absolutely originated from God.

The Bible is plenary, verbally, fully inspired without error in the original writings and is the infallible

rule of our faith and practice as Christians. It is the most reliable written work of all history. It has been proven accurate again and again and again in century after century, case after case, life after life. If you are here and you struggle to believe that the Bible is the word of God Himself, you don’t have to take my word for it. Go read The Case For Christ. Go read Evidence That Demands A Verdict. Read A Biblical Case For Total Inerrancy, or Can I Trust The Bible?

God has spoken so that we might know Him. So that we might know the truth and the truth would set us free. Peter and the other apostles laid down their lives for this truth. And they shared this truth with us so that we could be liberated and illuminated, not so they could lord over anyone.

It’s a shame that people were accusing Peter of being like Fred Demara. Peter was the real deal. He wrote this defense not to make us think more highly of him, but so that we wouldn’t be shipwrecked by the lies trying to break their way into our hearts. Lies that lead not to enlightenment, but deeper into the dark.

As we close, one moment of application for we who are Christians here this morning. Peter was able to be powerfully used to spread the truth – to bring light to those who needed it – because he had a reliable personal witness. He said to this audience, “I saw God work. I heard Him. I walked with Him.”

Peter stepped into eternity 2,000 years ago. Now YOU are the witness called to the stand. You get to be the one to proclaim to those in the dark that you have seen the light. That you have heard from God and have seen Him work in your midst. Now we get to have the sails of our lives filled by the Holy Spirit.

Live a life that is worthy of the witness stand. Join with God in the testimony-building He wants to do in and through you. You don’t have to steal someone else’s identity. He’s made you to shine the light of the truth. Let your light shine by moving closer to the Light, Himself, and illuminating your heart, your mind, your experience with the brilliance of His word.

A Prepare To Remember (2 Peter 1:12-15)

A lot of things you learned before you don’t remember anymore. Though algebra 1 has been a high school requirement for decades, I doubt many of us more than 5 years removed from the classroom would be able to pass a pop quiz. 82% of adults have forgotten whatever trigonometry they’ve learned. 69% cannot correctly identify an isosceles or scalene triangle. And 61% of us cannot help our kids with long division.^[1]

60% of adults have no idea what a pronoun is, 40% don’t remember the difference between a colon and a semicolon. And one in ten admit they don’t know when to use there, their, or they’re.^[2] Though, I’ve got to say, reading people’s comments online I think that last number is much higher.

I don’t bring up any of these statistics to make any of us feel bad. I definitely fall into some of those categories. And, don’t worry, we’re not going to put any triangles up on the screen to see who remembers what. But these findings highlight the fact that human beings are a forgetful people. I mean, algebra, trigonometry, grammar – we were tested on this stuff. At some point (actually at many points) of our schooling, we proved we knew the answers to these questions – that we could work out the problems and find the solutions. But left unstimulated and unpracticed, those memories atrophy and we find ourselves unable to solve for X.

Now, I don’t really mind being rusty at long division, that is until one of my kids needs help with their schoolwork and dad is revealed to be not nearly as smart as I’d hoped they’d assume.

The truth is, we also have the capacity – actually a tendency – to forget spiritual truths as well. Peter has been discussing this very thing. He’s been encouraging us to remember the great truths of Christianity. What salvation really is, what it really means. To remind ourselves why we were cleansed from our past sins. And in our text this morning, Peter is passionately and vigorously telling us to remember, remember the truth of the Gospel, which will keep us sturdy on our feet.

2 Peter 1:12 – ¹² Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth you now have.

We learned in verse 9 that there were some in Peter’s audience who had forgotten the truths of Christianity. Their spiritual amnesia left them blind and short-sighted. But Peter wasn’t only trying to remind that group of what they forgot. Here he says to the bigger group, “You know these things.”

It is never bad to be reminded of the truths contained in God’s word. This is why we dedicate much of our church life to studying the Bible systematically. It’s why we encourage you to regularly read through the Bible – all 66 books. Because, “truth needs to be repeated.”^[3]

Remember: This is Peter’s last will and testament to the world. He’s got this one chance to get one more message out. He uses the opportunity not to give himself a lifetime achievement award – not to aggrandize all he had accomplish in his life as an apostle. He uses the remaining breaths and ink he has to help us grow in our faith – to grow in the truth that we have.

The truth he’s referring to is the Gospel. He has briefly encapsulated what Christianity is about in the opening 11 verses, but of course he’s also talking about all of God’s revelation to us. In his introduction, has talked about the hope of eternal life, the glory of the coming Kingdom, our access and participation in the Divine nature, the total transformation of our lives as they continually grow in the power, the goodness, the grace, and the peace of Jesus Christ.

Well, if I already have these truths – if I’ve already learned them – if I’ve already read through the Bible cover-to-cover once or ten times, then why do I need to keep being reminded of stuff I already have and already know?

It’s because we’re a forgetful people. But also because we’re not only meant to receive this information, our lives are meant to be established in it. But what does it mean to be established?

We can think about that from two perspectives. The first is the idea of being firm on our feet. Meaning that when false teachers come with their lies, we’re not easily knocked over. That’s a major focus of chapter 2 of this letter: To be firm in the face of spiritual deception. That our feet are firmly on the “ground” of God’s truth and we won’t be misled.

The other way to think about being established in the truth is to think about a foundation upon which we build our lives. Whether you’re building a single-story house or a towering skyscraper, you have to start with a foundation that can support the weight of what needs to be built.

As we continually remind ourselves of the truths of Christianity, the truths of God’s word, we thicken the slab of our lives. And God is able to keep building story after story onto your life.

Going back to the opening research – if you’re like me you think, “I don’t really mind that I don’t remember trigonometry, because I’m not going to use trigonometry ever again.”

But when it comes to spiritual life, we actually do not know all the things that will be helpful to know in the future. The situations, the struggles, the sufferings, the opportunities, the assignments. God knows what our futures hold, and He supplies what we need to grow in every one of those situations. But if we want to stand strong, if we want to have the spiritual capacity of our lives increase, if we want new, strong boughs to grow off of the trunk of our lives so that yet more spiritual fruit can be harvested, then we need a continually strengthened foundation in the truth.

Now, I love how Peter used this term, established, because it’s actually the same word Jesus used back in Luke 22.^[4] Jesus told Peter, “Look, Satan is going to try to sift you. You’re going to deny Me, but when you turn back, strengthen your brothers.” And here we see Peter still obeying that command on the last days of his life. Peter was faithfully discipling people to the very end.

2 Peter 1:13 – ¹³ I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder,

Peter’s perspective on life and death is inspiring. He knows he’s soon to die. So let’s notice how he thinks about things.

First, as we’ve already seen, his biggest goal in his last days was to try to help you grow in your faith. Most of us, if we knew we had a few days or weeks to live, would probably have somewhat more personally focused goals.

But Peter was focused on the eternal impact he could make in his temporal life. Yes, we may be in bodies of flesh, but the words we say, the choices we make, the things we do can change lives – can grow the Kingdom. They can help people turn toward God and experience eternal life, themselves.

Peter didn’t just mean he thought this was a good thing to do – that’s not what he means by “I think it’s right.” He believed this to be his solemn duty.^[5] He recognized that he had been called by God to serve as an apostle and as a discipler. Discipling people was the best thing he could do with his final days. And so, he says he feels the need to wake us up with the reminders of this letter.

All of us tend to get a little drowsy in our walk with the Lord. We tend to settle. Maybe it’s not because of apathy or temptation or doubt, but the knife gets dull from daily use and needs to be sharpened again.

I remember when I was lifeguarding, our system was to rotate positions around the pool every 15 minutes, because you’re sitting in the chair, in the heat, staring at your section of the pool, and there’s a tendency for the mind to wander – the attention to dull. So every 15 minutes someone would come and tap your shoulder and then you’d move on to the next spot. The job was too serious to allow the guards to settle into complacency or slumber.

And so Peter says, “I want to stir you up!”^[6] In this case, it’s not just a quiet clearing of the throat, he’s shaking us with intensity. He doesn’t want anyone to be asleep to the truths that God is real. His power is available to you. Christianity is a life-transforming gift , but it doesn’t grow on its own. That you have been called to purposes in God’s Kingdom and providence.

2 Peter 1:14 – ¹⁴ since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me.

After the resurrection, Jesus had prophesied to Peter that he would be martyred for his faith. But, apparently as that moment drew near, the Lord had come and made it clear to him again. All earliest records say he was crucified and Origen (the 2nd and 3rd century Christian scholar) says he was crucified upside-down.^[7]

Would you want to know the day and manner of your death? That’s a classic would-you-rather question. Or the classic, “If you knew you were going to die next week, what would you do this week?”

You and I may not know when and how we’re going to die but let’s be honest: We know we are going to die. I’m guessing Jesus hasn’t appeared to anyone here to tell them the day of their death, but if the Lord tarries and does not come in next year, the next 10 years, the next generation, well then many of us are going to die.

How then should we live? Peter says to live in the truth. To grow to the very end. To stand and to stay awake and abound in grace and peace.

Think about the peace Peter had. Look at how he talks about his impending death: “I’m going to pack up my tent soon.” That’s how he spoke of facing the cross. You know, they invented a word to describe the horror and torment and suffering of the cross: excruciating.^[8]

But Peter knew the truth about death: For a Christian, it is simply a departure. That’s what he calls it in verse 15. A door we step through into perfect glory with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean that the suffering of death isn’t real or isn’t, in some cases, very difficult to endure. But this is why we need the hope the Gospel. This is how the Gospel’s truth gives us strength to stand and endure. When our bodies die, it is like the folding up the tent, the tabernacle and we then move into the eternal Temple.

Meanwhile, we know we have a date with death if the Lord doesn’t return first. And so we should live accordingly by remembering what it means to live the Christian life.

2 Peter 1:15 – ¹⁵ And I will also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure.

Peter notes that he’s making every effort to help us out. Remember, he’s already told us to make every effort to do our part and to grow and to serve the Lord. And he’ll tell us to make every effort again in chapter 3. But he isn’t commanding us to do anything he’s not also doing. Even as an apostle, he’s making the Godly efforts demanding of his calling.

Now, what is he referring to in this verse? What effort is he making so we can recall things? Well, there are his two letters – First and Second Peter. But church history also records that Peter was the source Mark used when writing his Gospel.^[9]

He was able to deliver the truth because he had not forgotten it himself. Now, Peter was like us – he wasn’t perfect. He made his mistakes. But he did what he’s challenging us to do. He remembered the truth of God’s word. He remembered the commands of Jesus. He lived out the reality of Gospel power day by day and he wants that for us as well.

In fact, scholars note that he’s saying he wants us to over-learn these things.^[10] He wants us to be so saturated with the truths of Jesus and the realities of Christianity that it can’t help but work in us, can’t help but fortify us, can’t help but come out of us as we move through the world. That at any time we can produce the hope of the Gospel in every situation.

One closing thought given to us about death: Peter has told us it’s like packing up your tent after a camping trip. He sees it as a departure, not a defeat. But the term he uses here is an exodus.^[11] Death is scary. For some it is even excruciating. But Peter reminds us that through it we are rescued. Like the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, so we will depart in our own exodus from mortality to immortality. From suffering to glory. From disappointment to perfection.

Christians, you may be losing health, but don’t lose heart. The outward man is perishing, but the inner person can be renewed by the love of God and the truth of God day by day.^[12]

Peter was making every preparation he could so we could remember what we already know as Christians. It wasn’t a waste of his time – it was the most needful thing for him to do. Today, we remind ourselves that the Christian life is a life alive. That we not only can grow in what we’ve learned, but we must. That as we deepen our understanding of God’s word and His callings on our lives, we’re deepening the foundation that will keep us standing upright and will provide the base for God to build higher and wider, more and more, as we walk with Him. And though we face death, and though it may be a punishing experience, we know it is not the end. Death brings us into true fellowship with the Object of our faith, Jesus Christ. And in eternity, the Lord will continue to provide for us more than we could ever ask or imagine.

So let the long division go. Don’t worry about calculating pi. You can always look up the definition of gerund. But let’s never forget the faith we’ve received. Let’s continually prepare ourselves to remember those truths we need to wake from sleep, stay stirred up, and stand strong in the Lord.

Entrance Exam (2 Peter 1:10-11)

In 1912, Jim Thorpe accomplished an incredible olympic feat: He won gold in both the pentathlon and the decathlon. No had ever done that before and no one has done it since.

The king of Sweden presented him his medals and said, “You sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.” Not only was it true, it wasn’t even close. In the decathlon, Jim scored nearly 700 points more than the silver medalist.^[1]

Jim was welcomed home to parades and celebrations of his victory. But then, a local reporter heard an off-hand remark from one of Jim’s former coaches.^[2] He realized he had the scoop of a lifetime: Years before the olympics in Stockholm, Jim had played two summers of baseball in a North Carolina minor league, earning $2 a game.^[3] The reporter published a story branding Jim a professional athlete during a time when only amateurs were allowed to compete at the Olympics.

Even though his two baseball seasons had nothing to do with track, even though it had nothing to do with the olympics, even though the compensation had been meager, and even though the deadline for challenging the results of the 1912 Games was long past, the International Olympic Committee stripped Jim of his medals and his name was removed from the record books.

Could a Christian get disqualified from heaven on a technicality? The verses we just heard are the kind that might make your collar feel a little tighter the first time you read them. Depending on how they are interpreted, someone might envision a believer at the very end of their race, stumbling and falling and being disqualified just before the finish line of eternity.

We know from all the jokes we’ve heard that people have to stand before the Apostle Peter at the pearly gates before they get into heaven. That’s not true, by the way. Peter is not a bouncer at the door of heaven. But is Peter saying that if we don’t Christian hard enough, we won’t make it? That is the perspective of some people out there. And there are other serious issues to deal with in this text. These two little verses are a doctrinal minefield.

Are they teaching that you validate Christianity by doing certain behaviors? If so, could someone do the behaviors to become a Christian? Is this text teaching that you can lose your salvation? Is it teaching that a real Christian could attain sinless perfection on this side of heaven?  It’s a text that raises serious questions. So, let’s endeavor to make sense of what Peter is trying to get across to us.

2 Peter 1:10 – ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.

Chapter 1 is all about the character of the Christian life – what it really means to be a Christian. Peter has explained that, through faith, we receive from God all we need for life and Godliness. And that we receive these things not only to possess them, but to produce fruit in our lives. The power of God is given to be operative in us so that we will be useful and fruitful in our growing knowledge of Jesus. And in the last two verses, Peter just explained that if we don’t live out our Christianity, we are blind, shortsighted, and have forgotten what it means to be cleansed from sin.

But now Peter moves to the other option. He says, “Therefore,” which can be translated as, “Instead of this.”^[4] Instead of living a life of blind Christianity, we should “make every effort to confirm your calling and election.” We’ve heard this “make every effort” before – and we will again in chapter 3. Peter wants to be clear that we have a part to play. God has accomplished all of this for us, given us all these things, so that they can thrive and grow and produce and operate in our lives. Last time the analogy was being given a car so that you will drive it.

But is he now saying that we are responsible to secure our calling and election? That God has provided the way for us to be saved, but it’s up to us to get across the finish line? The finish line of eternity is what Peter is referring to. After all, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians:

1 Thessalonians 2:12 – ¹² we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Your calling is, fundamentally, into the Kingdom of God. And election refers to salvation. So what does it mean that I confirm my calling and election?

Linguistically, Peter is saying you must “produce a guarantee of your salvation.”^[5] A Christian should be able to verify the genuineness of their faith. And he would point back to the list of Christian virtues in verses 5 through 7 as evidence of true faith.

If a person is really a Christian, you should be able to tell by looking at the fruit of their life. Now, we talked last time about how there were people in Peter’s mind who were saved – cleansed from their past sins, yet were not growing in fruit. The New Testament refers to them as babes in Christ, or sometimes carnal Christians. It’s a terrible, spiritually diseased state to be in.

But even worse is to be a person who thinks they’re a Christian but aren’t. Let’s be frank: There might be someone here who thinks they are saved, but have never been born again. Jesus Himself said there will be those who call out, “Lord, Lord,” but will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Why? Because they did not do the will of the Father.^[6] And Jesus will say, “I never knew you.”

How do you know if you’re actually a Christian? Well, first you believe the Gospel, and then you actually see the growth of spiritual fruit in your life. If spiritual fruit is not growing in your life then you are either a blind, short-sighted, amnesiac, baby, carnal Christian, or you’re not a Christian at all. You don’t want to be either of those things. Peter encourages us not to take it for granted.

Am I a Christian? I’m commanded to work out my salvation with fear and trembling.^[7] To pursue the Kingdom of God and live life as a disciple.

Am I really saved? That question can be answered by answering these two questions: Are you obeying Jesus and is there spiritual fruit growing in your life? You can confirm your Christianity.

Peter continues and says, “if you do these things, you will never stumble.” How should we take this? There are two very scary ways of taking this verse. The first is that, if we don’t achieve well enough, we’ll fall down and lose it all just before the end. That Peter means stumbling into damnation.

The problem with that interpretation is that we are told very plainly in Romans 11 that God’s gracious gifts and callings are irrevocable.^[8] If you’ve accepted His call of salvation, He’s not going to get to the end and say, “Just kidding. Had my fingers crossed. We decided to go with another candidate.” Jesus said that those He gives eternal life will never perish. That no one can snatch them from His hand.^[9]

A second problematic way of looking at this verse is to assume Peter means that a real Christian will eventually stop sinning altogether. There are some Christian traditions who do hold this perspective – that you can (and should) attain sinless perfection in this life. That’s a little scary because, if we’re honest, we recognize we’re nowhere near being sinless. And you know what? Neither were the apostles. James says, “We all stumble in many ways!”^[10] John wrote that if we say we have no sin, we’re liars.^[11] Paul said the things he wants to do, he doesn’t do.

So what does Peter mean by stumbling? Stumbling means “coming to grief,”^[12] or “suffering a reverse.”^[13] Peter himself had experience in such a stumble. On the night before the crucifixion, facing pressure and danger, he did not endure, but denied his Lord. And after giving in, he went out and wept bitterly. He didn’t lose his salvation, but he did need to be restored to closeness with Jesus, service to Jesus, which Jesus graciously and compassionately accomplished.

When Christians stop growing and living out their faith, we suffer misfortunes, spiritually speaking. We must not assume that spiritual strength and maturity and fruitfulness happen on their own. They don’t! These are pursuits we must make every effort to receive, cultivate, and establish in our lives.

2 Peter 1:11 – ¹¹ For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

Peter is not saying that if you don’t Christian hard enough for a long enough period of time you won’t make it into the Kingdom. If that were the case, who then could be saved? The fact is, if you’re a Christian, you’ve already been brought into the Kingdom on one spiritual level.

Colossians 1:13 – ¹³ He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

Notice those verbs: Rescued. Transferred. Past tense. We’re not working to be qualified for the Kingdom. Jesus did that for us. Hebrews 6 explains that God guaranteed His promise of salvation to us with an oath so that we would have unchangeable hope set before us – a hope we can anchor our souls on, firm and secure, and that’s possible because Jesus was our forerunner. He already won the decathlon and now He invites us to share in His victory by running the race behind Him.

So, 2 Peter 1:11 is not about us working to be qualified for the Kingdom. It is about the quality of our reward in the Kingdom. We should make every effort to live out the Christian life, to bear fruit, so that we won’t only enter the Kingdom, but so God can richly provide an entrance for us.

Here’s what we need to admit: God is not a communist. I think because we value fairness and because of the things we think about heaven and eternity, we allow ourselves to assume that everything is totally equal in God’s Kingdom. But the Bible absolutely teaches the opposite.

Let’s start with an easy one: There are different crowns in eternity. At least five of them.^[14] One of them is the martyr’s crown – called the Crown of Life in Revelation 2. Those that die for Jesus get a special crown. We’re fine with that, that seems nice – plus we don’t really want it, do we?

But listen – in God’s Kingdom there are going to be different levels of reward given depending on what we do in this life. Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 3. Some Christians will have their Christian life evaluated and be rewarded while others will watch their efforts burn up and they will experience loss. They will be saved, but as through fire.^[15]

Once, while people were thinking about the Kingdom of God, Jesus told a parable where some servants are rewarded with ten towns of authority because of their faithfulness, others five towns.^[16]

There are tiers of reward and placement in God’s Kingdom. In fact, Peter uses a term here that suggests the ordering of a triumphal procession^[17] – an emperor’s parade.

So now remember what Peter said in verse 10: He doesn’t want us to stumble, to suffer a misfortune,^[18] which would erode the richness of our reward in the future.

Now, we shouldn’t be offended at the idea that there will be degrees of glory conferred in Christ’s Kingdom,^[19] because there is nothing stopping you from living an absolutely thriving, growing, Christian life that will lead to more rewards than you could ever ask or imagine. It’s up to you! God wants to provide it richly for you. The word used there was the same Peter used earlier when he said we should supplement our faith.^[20] So, God gives us all we need so that we can supplement our faith with these wonderful, supernatural fruits, which will then allow Him to supplement our entrance into the Kingdom with greater and greater, rich rewards.

So the question is: Are you a Christian? If yes, then the next question is: Are you a growing Christian? Is your Christianity on track for all the glory God wants to lavish on you in eternity?

In Peter’s mind, a significant aspect of being a growing Christian is thinking ahead to eternity. Thinking ahead to your place in Christ’s Kingdom. This, by the way, means that we cannot be fully in the Kingdom now. There is a theology that teaches there is no literal Kingdom, that we’re in it now. But this and many other passages prove that cannot be true. Now, Christ’s Kingdom is eternal, and He has brought us into His Kingdom as citizens, but we are waiting for the full, final, literal and physical fulfillment where Jesus Christ rules and reigns on His throne in Jerusalem.

So we realize we’re not only living out our Christianity today, but that as Christians, we are headed for eternity. And in chapter 3, Peter’s going to come back to this idea and say, “Since the coming Kingdom is a reality, it’s obvious what sort of people we should be.” Thinking ahead keeps us from becoming short-sighted in our faith. It helps us contextualize our situations, direct our decisions, give us hope on dark days, and remember our lives have purpose.

In the end, Jim Thorpe’s medals and records were reinstated. It just took 70 years. The IOC knew it was the right thing to do and they wanted to honor Jim’s athleticism.

God is not looking to disqualify you. He wants to richly provide this entrance for you. And as we run, He’s given us what we need so that the pitfalls of life don’t knock us off track. He wants to empower us to stay firmly established in the truth – the living, growing, productive truth of Christianity. Let’s run. Let’s grow. Let’s enjoy what Christ Jesus has already won, already promised, already given to us by grace, through faith.