string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

Sermons

← back to list

Oct 25, 2020

Last Word Living

Last Word Living

Passage: 2 Peter 3:1-18

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Forever Faith

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: worship, faith, jesus, god, evangelism, gospel, salvation, eternity, christian living, new life, spiritual gifts, christian principles, judgement day, living towards eternity through god's salvation

Forever Faith | Last Word Living | Matt Petty | Burnt Hickory Are you living towards eternity through God's salvation? Today you are encouraged to live as if you're having your last word. In 2 Peter 3, Peter advises us how we can all live towards eternity rather than tomorrow as believers and followers of Jesus Christ. Peter says that wholesome or flawless thinking, by context, involves us living a life that's dedicated to the Word of God. It's the Word of God that puts the thinking into our souls that allows us to walk out the attributes of God and the primary way that you can know God and walk with God is to know His word.

You ever had those people in your life that you just feel like they have to have the last word? I mean, you know what I'm talking about, right? Um, those people that no matter what you say, no matter how hard you press into them, they're just last word people. And look it carries over into their text messaging, right? Do you have those people that you can text at any moment at any time and no matter what, they're always going to text you back and you can keep this going for days if you want to. They'll just keep texting you back. Well, I love last word people. In fact, there's a couple of them in my home. I'm not going to mention which ones of them that they are. But there are a couple of people and here's what last word people are really good at. They're really good at not caring about what you're saying. That's what they're good at. Why? Because they're always just thinking about the response, they're going to have to you as they walk off with their hands in the air. And you know which kid it is, if you got kids, if you got two kids, I guarantee you one of them is a last word kid. It's just how it works. And there's part of you that wants to strangle them and find the place you can hide them for the rest of their life. And there's part of you that every now and then you're like, you know what, they have a good point. And you don't know what to say back to them just because they're good at it. Well, here's the thing this morning, we're going to look at some last word business. We're going to look at Peter's last word. And here's one of the most incredible parts of this morning's text that we're going to look at this morning. It's almost a double entendre, like two different meanings of the last word, because listen to what's happening this morning. We're gonna see the Apostle Peter, giving us his last words catch this, talking about that God's gonna have the last word. So, it's this double level last word thinking and if you're new today, if it's your first day or first day in a long time, we've been walking in this series called, Forever Faith. And we've been going through the book of 2 Peter. It was written by the Apostle Peter, it was later on in his life and look, it doesn't matter if you've been here, I can catch you up in two minutes. It's literally this. It's old time, Peter, that's been walking with Jesus for a long time and he's giving a message to the church. And it's his last word, it's his says last message, and he knows that he's about to die. And he's looking at believers just like you and just like me, and he's saying, I know life is hard. And I know it's difficult. And I know you're scattered, and you're scared, and a lot is going on. But he's saying this to them, you can have hope. And you can have promise, in fact and you have it in the name of Jesus. If we had to pick one verse from the whole book of 2 Peter, that kind of encapsulates the whole book, it will be 2 Peter 1:3 and it reads like this. It says, ìHis divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Himî that's speaking of Jesus, ìwho called us by His own glory and goodness.î So, this whole book of 2 Peter is talking about this idea that God has gifted us with salvation, but it doesn't stop at salvation, it rolls into an incredibly powerful and incredibly present life of walking with Jesus. And here's the good news for us in 2020. He's gifted us with the same salvation if we've taken advantage of it. And then throughout the book, what Peter does is he takes that as the foundation and he walks through this idea that we as believers aren't just to enjoy salvation for salvation's fact, we're to grow in that salvation. We're to grow in our faith, we're to walk out our faith, and we're gonna walk out this grace and this peace that God has offered us. Now here's where my goal is in this series. My goal in this series is for us to incredibly grasp on to the idea that we have an eternal security in Jesus, but we also have a goal in mind and that is to add goodness and grace and knowledge and mercy and perseverance all to the idea that God has already given us salvation. But we also have to watch out for, and we talked about this last week that there's counterfeits. There's counterfeits that they're sneaking inside of church. They're counterfeits that are out there and they really have a different goal and they have a different nature. And they have a different end and they produce different fruit.

And last week, we played Bible drill where we, kind of flipped from chapter 1 to chapter 2 and chapter 1, all day long, we looked at this contrast of a true believer versus a secondary believer and, we walked out just asking ourselves last week, am I a true believer in Jesus? And I really hope that you just prayerfully took that challenge last week, asking yourself. Am I a religious person or am I a person that walks under the name of Jesus? That's the question. Well, in the context of this whole book, the message that Peter wants us to have is, that the gospel can deliver you and it can give you a new life. Well, this week, as we roll into the third chapter, here's our goal for the week is to close the book up, God willing, is to close the book is to walk through this third chapter. And we're gonna look at Peters last words, giving us God's last words, telling us to live as if we were having our last word. So, let's look at what Peter says. And he's gonna give us a couple of reminders. And then he's going to give us a way in which we can live out last word living. In fact, let's get to it. Verse 1, we're going to be in chapter 3 all day today. All right? So just stay there and go with me. Here it is. Here's what Peter says. He says, ìDear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.î Now, look at what Peter's doing here. I love this. Because it's like a father speaking to a child. It's like a mentor speaking to someone that they want to go with them. It's not a massive rebuke. It's not harsh language. He's calling them friends. He's like, hey, I just want you to go with me. I just want you to know what I know. I want you to have what I have. And I want you to experience God. Peter is saying in the way that I experience God. It's an incredible message. And then he says, Hey, I need you to remember this. What does he say? He says, I've written both of them as reminders to you. Now, I love this because this is a pastor's dream, when the Apostle Peter said this, because here's what he's saying. There's some things that are in our lives that we need to be reminded of over and over and over and over. I get people from time to time that say something like this, Matt, we need to really go deep in God's truths, to which I say, Yes, I'm 100% with you, okay? But I'm also 100% knowing that Peter right here is saying this, you just need to remember the things that you already know. You need to walk the things that you already have. In fact, Peter would be the guy that would stand up and say that we are probably educated well beyond our level of obedience already and you just need to remember the things that I've already given you.

In fact, he says right here that just because you have heard something, doesn't mean that you don't need to hear the core thoughts and the core virtues of Scripture, what is he saying over and over and over and over again. Why? Because it's the repetition. Here's what he said, is that it begins to lead us to wholesome thinking. It's that repetition. It's like any other endeavor that we have, right? The more you do it, the more you are involved with it, the more you walk it, the more it becomes part of who you are, the more because part of what you want to do. And he says, this is what leads us to wholesome thinking. Now, we don't use that language today. I mean, if you're at lunch today, and you're like, hey, you know what I've been thinking about wholesome thinking. And, nobody talks like that. But here's what it means. It literally just means pure thinking. It means just thinking. It means thinking that hasn't been affected from the outside world, hasn't been contaminated, if it would by the outside world. And there's this inference here that if you're just reading this quickly, you might miss it. You probably didn't it just took me a little while. But there's this inference here that as a believer in Jesus Christ, and somebody needs to hear this, that you can and should have pure thinking. So, here's what I want to tell you. Never let Satan get you to the point where you feel like you are past the point of beginning to get your mind to wrap around spiritual truths that can change your life. Never let Satan look at you and begin to get you to doubt that you can know God and you can know His promises and you can know His truth. And then your thinking can begin to lead you to action. It's about our thinking. But how do you do this? Look at verse 2, he tells us, or after he says, hey, these are reminders to get you to wholesome thinking, look at verse 2. It says, ìI want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the Holy Prophets, and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.î So, Peter says that wholesome thinking or flawless thinking, by context is really us living a life that's dedicated to the Word of God. Why? Because it's the Word of God that puts the thinking into our souls that allows us to walk out the attributes of God. Now, it's kind of easy to fall into the trap of not knowing what this is. So, let me just put this in a reminder for us here. Here's the first reminder that Peters given us here, he says this, flawless thinking, only comes from a dedication to the flawless word. That's what he says. He says flawless thinking, it only comes when we have a dedication to the flawless word. And this is easy to miss if you read this fast, but here's what he's doing. In one sentence, I need you to catch this. In one sentence, Peter encourages the believers of the day, he encourages us. He says, look, go back and remember what the prophet said. Who were the prophets? That's the Old Testament. What is he doing? He's validating the Old Testament. He says, remember what Jesus said? Remember what Jesus said. Where do we find what Jesus says? That's the Gospels? And then what did he say? Remember what the Apostles said? So, what is Peter doing? If you tie these three statements together, Peter is tying these together in a continuous thread, the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the letters that were written by the apostles, even in the context of while they were being written. Now, this is important. Why? Because I get people all the time that asked me this question, Matt, do you think that? Do you think that the Disciples or the Apostles? Do you think they knew what they were writing was Scripture? Or do you think they just kind of like looked up one day and they were like, look at that they included it. That's awesome! I mean, ever thought about that?

That's a tough question. But I think there's a sense here, that Peter is validating himself on the same line of command of what Jesus said, and what the prophet says. So, catch this. This man knew when he was writing that he was writing the very words that we would be reading one day, he knew it.

And how cool is it to think about the context of 2 Peter? 2 Peter is one of the last books to be written, the only books that were kind of lagging and we can argue over this over lunch one day, if you want to, the only books that were kind of lagging were the Gospel of John hadn't been written yet. All right, that was later on. And Revelations right, the last book that was the only two. Every other book in the New Testament had already been written. Therefore, the apostle Peter is validating the whole canon of Scripture at this point, saying that we should follow it because that flawless thinking to the flawless word is going to set us in motion. And this is a big claim. Why? Because the primary way that you can know God and walk with God is to know His word.

That's it. It's the primary way you can worship all you want, you can have fellowship of believers, all you want, you can share all you want, you can drink coffee with Scripture over all you want. But until you know it, until you soak it in, it begins to kind of be this context of do we really want flawless thinking? And look, I get people that ask me this question all the time, Matt, what is God's will for my life? I really don't know. I mean, honestly, I'm doing a wedding this afternoon. And, they asked me this question a while back. Do you think it's God's will for us to be together? And I was like, I don't know.

I mean, I don't know. It's not my call. Alright? But we can walk together, and we can look. I don't know if it's God's will for you to take that job. I don't know if it's God's will for you to date that girl. I know when it's not God's will sometimes. But I don't know if it's God's will for you to do a lot of things. I really don't. But I know it's God's will for you to do this. Why? Because His primary will is that you would know Him and walk with Him. Number 2, reminder is this. He moves on and He says that, hey, there's short sighted scoffers. They're always going to exist.

Always. He says, hey, look, you can have wholesome thinking, by knowing the wholesome word, right? But these short-sighted scoffers, I love that language, they're always going to be around. Now there's a difference. You're like, oh, man, didn't we do this last week talking about the counterfeits? Yes, but there's a difference. Why? Here's why counterfeits are in the secret. They're just barely dripping things. They're just trying to lay low and affect this from with inside. Scoffers are on the outside. They're the ones that are heralding it from the rooftops. They're the ones that don't care about what God says, don't care about his attributes, don't care about what he said. Scoffers deliberately go against biblical claims. And here's the thing. Some of them have incredible life success to which they're looking at us saying, see, you don't need that stuff. You don't need to walk with that stuff, especially these scholars that he's talking about, especially when it comes to the things of Jesus returning. Jesus returning, in fact, look at verse 3, and let's look at what he says about them. He says, this is a reminder, he says, ìAbove all, you must understand that in the last days now,î don't get caught up on that last day stuff. It's just the time period between Jesus coming his first time and Jesus coming his second time, don't go all apocalyptic army. That's just what it means right there. Okay. It says that, ìin the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.î What does he say? He says these scoffers, these are not ignorant people. They're not people that are just in the streets that are just trying to spew ignorance. He says, in fact, they're very smart people. In this time, he would have been looking at the philosophers, he would have been looking at government leaders, he would have been looking at these gnostic believers that were heralding nasty calls over the church. And he's looking at us saying, hey, these scoffers they will be professors in college, they will be government leaders, they will be world leaders, they will be business leaders, there'll be scientists, and they're always going to be out there. And then Peter gives us this idea that these scoffers, they didn't just have an intellectual problem with the word, they had a deliberate distaste for God's word. Now, there's a big difference there. It's not that they didn't understand God's word. It's just they didn't like it because it was controlling them. And they wanted to control themselves. Does this sound like today a little bit to anybody or is it just me?

He said, it's not that they just couldn't grasp what God's word was saying. It's just they wanted to be in their own control. They wanted to make their own rules. They wanted to be their own lords, and they wanted to follow their own characteristic and attributes in life. And they did not want the God of the universe, controlling that. In fact, look at what he says about him. Because, they just tasted a lot of stuff. Verse 4 says, ìThey will say, where is this ëcomingí He promised?î What is he talking about? The coming back of Jesus, the Second Coming. They say, ìEver since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. But they deliberately forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world at that time was deluged and destroyed.î Verse 7, ìBy the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.î Now, I know there's a lot there we're going to look at but my favorite line in that whole paragraph, right there is this idea that they deliberately forgot. What does that tell me? It's not an intellectual problem. They ignored it. They ignored Him. Listen, when you meet people, most of the time when they have a distaste for Christianity, it is not an intellectual problem. It is an ignorant problem.

It is the fact that they just don't want the controlling God of the universe beginning to rule their lives. And I get that I really do. But the question is, what did they ignore in the context of these verses? Because here's what I know. They're still ignoring the same thing. What did they ignore? Look, there's a couple things the first off scoffers, they ignore creation. They ignore creation, verse 5. What does Peter look at? Peter confirms in verse 5 right here that they deliberately forgot that long ago, God created the earth, they forgot it. What does this mean? This means that by God's word, He created the heavens and the earth. What is Peter doing here? Peter is connecting the creation story of the Old Testament, and he is validating that only scoffers deny the creation by God. Only scholars, what does this mean for the evolution folks? What does this mean? I don't want to step too heavy. So, I'm not gonna get into a seven, day seven, whatever. I don't care about that. All I know is this. God created it. The Old Testament tells us, Peter verifies it in the New Testament. He verifies it. So anytime somebody tries to kind of give you this mess of Matt, that's Old Testament talk. No, no, Peter. Peter said, only scoffers deny that's so.

Right? Don't do that. That's me. But that's what he's saying. Right? You can't have a creation without a creator. You can't have an effect without a cause. You can't deny creation without being a scoffer. The second thing is they deny the past judgment of the world by the flood. They deny the flood. What is he saying? I mean, you can look back at it in verse 6, one of the most commonly placed stories in all of historical context of every early civilization, was what? A cataclysmic flood event. Cataclysmic. What does that mean? That means it changed geography, it changed geology, it changed the earth's atmosphere, it changed the earth. And we find it all over scripture, we have so much support for it. And what is Peter saying? Peter is saying, hey, it's not just the Old Testament that verifies this thing. I am verifying it. I'm tying them together. So, look, scoffers, what is he saying? They deny the literal flood, they deny it. So, let me put those two together. To deny creation, to deny Adam and Eve, to deny the flood. Listen, here's what you're doing. You're not only deconstructing the Old Testament; you're jumping off the cliff and beginning to try to deconstruct the New Testament. That's what you're doing. But they also, he keeps going scoffers, verse 7, what do they do? They deny or they ignore the coming of the Judgment Day. They deny it. What does that say in verse 7? It's saying that they had this false belief that if Jesus was in fact going to return and judge the planet, that He should have done it before now, he should have just taken care of it. And now because there are a couple, they're almost a generation later, they're looking at it going, you said he was coming? You said he was coming? He didn't come now, therefore, we're not going to believe you anymore and as a result of that, what do scoffers do that don't believe a judgment is coming? They live, how they want to live. They live how they want to live; you see how the cards are falling, the house is falling right here, right? What do they do? If you're denying the fact that Jesus is going to return one day on the Judgement Day, you will begin to live a way in your life where you don't care that there is an eternity in mind. Because you're denying it. You're scoffer. You're a scoffer, it's not me saying it. It's the Bible saying it. Which leads us to number 3. Number 3, reminder is that judgment day is delayed.

Because of God's love, it's delayed. The only thing God is delaying His judgment because of His love. Have you ever thought about this? Have you ever just thought to yourself, why don't you just come back God? Have you ever just been in one of those moments where life is caving, it's crumbling, and you're just like, would you just come on? Is it just me? I mean, am I the only person here? I think we've all been there before. But here's why it does it. Because of his patience. And because of His love, he tells us right here that God is a patient God, that God is a loving God, and that God is not wanting anybody to perish. So let's look at verses 8 and 9. It says, ìBut do not forget this one thing.î I love it every sentence that Peter starts here is one thing, he's a great preacher. ìBut do not forget this one thing, dear friends; With the Lord a day is like 1000 years and 1000 years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.î Now, as finite human beings. This is an incredibly hard text for us. Why? Because we have a really hard time looking at eternal and looking at temporal things, why? We are on a timeline as humans to where there's a beginning and an end. There's a one kind of direction that we're going but God is on a timeline that is outside of our timeline. So, when we begin to dog God a little bit for not returning, for tarrying in His return, we're kind of looking at it through the wrong context, because God is not just on our timeline. He's not just with us at this moment. God is everywhere. In fact, I tried my best to come up with a way to say this this week. But Spurgeon does it best. So, let's just read it. Here it is. Listen to what he says. He says. ìYesterday, today and tomorrow belong to a dying mortal. That's us. The Immortal King, that's God, He lives in an eternal today. He is the I Am. The I Am in the present. The I Am in the past, and the I Am in the future. Just as we say of God, that He is everywhere. So, we may say of Him that He is always. He is everywhere in space. He is everywhere in time, catch this, God is today in the past, He is today already in the future and He is today in the present in which we are.î Think about it. Why is God not hurrying in His judgment? Why? Because God doesn't have to hurry. He's already there. You don't have to hurry to a place that you're already in. And when you are desiring God, of wanting people to come to repentance, you tarry in your return. You wait in your return; God wants us to turn. So, when we look at the Judgement Day, and we're going, God, that's so wrong. Why would you judge the earth, God is going, I'm giving time? I'm waiting, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. He's been waiting for 2000 years post Jesus, to watch people come to Him. And look, He wants us to turn. Look at the last verse 9, it tells us that God doesn't desire anyone to fail, He doesn't want us to fall. He wants us to come to repentance in Him. And He's given us the grace, which leads us to number 4, reminder that the day of the Lord is coming. It's coming. And we should look forward to it. We should look forward to it.

And when you tie these things together, you're looking at the patience of God. But you also have to give credence that listen, God's return, his judgment is coming, to which some of your like, finally, a Baptist Church is going to preach hell and brimstone. That's not the point. All right? It's not, I promise you. The point here is this. The patience of God is the only thing holding up the judgment of God. And He wants us as believers to look towards the judgment of God. Now, this is really hard to wrap our minds around. And it also sounds a little strange. But let me just read you in verse 10. What it says, ìBut the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.î That's the universe, that's the solar system. That's the earth that's all going, ìSince everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you be? You ought to live holy and live godly lives.î We'll look at that in a minute. ìAs youî what? ìAs you look forward to the day of God, and speed it's coming.î Now we don't have time to go over, speed it's coming, but if you want to look at that over coffee later, we can. But here's what I want you to look at. That as believers in Jesus, we should be living our lives in a way that we should be looking forward to the judgement day. Now, I'm not saying that we should strap on an A frame and walk up and down Due West Road. I'm not saying that we go over to KSU and tell everybody they're going to hell. That's not it. I'm not saying any of that crazy kind of stuff. What I'm saying is, there is a way in which believers live in our lives, that should point us and other people to the fact that God is in fact going to return one day and gift us with eternity with Him. That's what he's saying right here. And he goes on to describe the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord. It's the second coming of Jesus, it's the events that surround the second coming of Jesus, whichever platform that you fall on, and that doesn't really matter at this point.

It's all of the events once Jesus comes back. And notice what he says about the day of the Lord. He says it's like a thief. It's like a thief. In other words, we don't get to put a big old chart up here and walk through the events. We don't know when it's coming. We don't know, there's no code language here to give us an indicator. He's just saying one day, it's going to happen. But when it happens, it's not gonna be a flood, this time, it's gonna be a fire. But this is good news believers. This is good news. Why? Because it's on that day, that God will begin to establish a new heaven and a new earth and a new covenant and a new nature for us and a new eternity for us and a new life for us. And it's on that day that we will have no more pain, and no more shame and no more sorrow and no more death. And we as believers, we've got to get to a point to where we live not towards the temporal things of the earth, but we live towards the eternal things of the earth. We live towards this good news. Why? Because as believers in Jesus realize this, you are as close to hell right now that you will ever be in your life as close as you will ever be. And he's looking at us with this judgment language. That seems so heavy telling us that there's hope. There's hope in the judgment. Now look, yeah, I know that the word judgment is so hard, right? It is so hard. I mean, anytime I'm getting judged. I don't like it. I don't like it. I get judged a lot, especially by the young crowd. I don't know what's going on right now. But it is, it's just happening. They all got my number and I know it, all right. Here's the deal. We all get judged for things. But the point of judgment is this. It's Peter saying somebody's ringing. It's Peter saying this. It's Peter saying there's a way to live your life in which judgment day comes, in which you will enjoy the eternity of the gift that you're given.

That's what he's saying right here. Now look, I know anytime we use this conversation right here, there's two groups of people. Number 1, there's the group that, this makes you feel really uncomfortable. You're like, Matt, that's not seeker friendly. I get it. All right, I get it. There's a group of people that this makes you feel extremely uncomfortable. But can I tell you why it does? Because you're not sure which side of the judgment you're going to be on. Can I just tell you this morning, meet Jesus? It's the heart of Peter. It's the heart of the delay of the judgment. And look, the gift of salvation is offered to you. It's offered to you through turning from your sins and giving your life to Jesus, we preach this every week that He desires, a relationship with you. He desires to deliver you from your sin to give you eternal life. There's another group of people in here, and it's the group that you know Jesus, but you're just really not sure about all the judgment business. To which I can just say this, hey, it's okay. It's okay. That's okay. We don't. Nobody knows all the deal. All right? Nobody has all the language, right. But this is what I want to say. You can know that you're living towards the judgment day and good news. Today, Peter gives us five really quick things to finish up this book that says this. It's coming. But you can live towards it. In fact, let me walk through them with you. Look at verse 11.

It says this, ìSince everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?î So what is he doing? He's giving us this idea of, hey, since you know this is coming, how do you need to be living? Number 1, he says this, ìYou ought to live holy and godly lives.î Number 1, live whole heartedly striving for holy lives, for holy lives. What does that word holy mean? It just means set apart. It means that we live in a way that we set apart from culture and we set towards Jesus. And this is a way different conversation of how far is too far? This is the conversation of what is holy, and what is not holy? And the rationale makes sense, right? The rationale makes sense that we should not live for what 90 years at best on this planet, we should live towards eternity. We should live in a way that yes, this planet affects us, how it isn't its current state.

But it should affect us even more knowing that judgment is coming. This is the heart of Jesus, right? Matthew 6:33 when he says, ìBut seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This is what Jesus was saying. He's saying, hey, there is another kingdom, seek that kingdom. That's what holy living looks like. That's what holy life looks like. There's been multiple times in the conversation of the book of 2 Peter saying the conversation is not sin, the conversation is, is that holy? Is it holy? That doesn't mean am I asking myself the question. Is this sin or not sin? Why don't we ask ourselves the question, am I walking towards holiness? Am I walking as if, here's the thing, what if I were to tell you this afternoon, Jesus is coming back this afternoon? What if I was to plant that pole in the ground? Other than just calling me a crazy lunatic, which you should. Would it affect how holy you point your life in a direction? Yes, it would. Why? Because you know, it's coming.

You know, it would, listen, he's telling us it's coming. And you've been created to live a holy life. This is why, when we sin or when people you know, sin, this is why that it might feel right in the beginning, but it doesn't feel right for a long. Why? Because that's not what you've been created to do. You've been created to live holy, to live righteous to live toward eternity.

But look, he keeps going. Number 2, he says this. If you're gonna live towards the judgment day, live, radically redeemed, being found spotless and blameless. Now there's a lot there. But this is what it means. It means that we live in a way that Jesus has already set us free to live. That's what it means. Do you know when Jesus comes into your life, He wipes out your past, your present and your future, He makes you clean, he takes your sin, He sets you apart, He cleanses you for eternity. And he's telling us here that now we should live like we have that salvation. Look at verse 14. ìSo then, dear friends, since you were looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.î Speaking of God, this point is to live the life that Jesus has already given us. Why? Because what was the character of Jesus, He was spotless, He was blameless, He was what tempted and always yet without sin. He was the one, He was the Lamb of God that was put up for the sins of the world, and He was the spotless lamb. And that's what He's calling us to. This is a way different mindset than the fact that hey, I got saved and now I have a get out of jail free card. This mindset is hey, now I'm living in a way that I am redeemed and I'm doing what I am now walking the worth that God has given me. That's what he's saying. You want to live towards eternity, walk the worth that He's already put into your life. But number 3 keeps going. And he says, live purposely active and celebrating and leading others to salvation. He says, If you know that judgment is coming, live purposefully, you are celebrating your salvation, you are now actively sharing with others of what salvation looks like. What is it? Remember this, Peter is speaking to who? He's speaking to believers, right? Why would he speak about salvation to believers? To remind them that their job, their commission, if you would, would be to go and share this with other people. He challenges the people to have missional thinking, verse 15, look at what it says. ìBear in mind, that our Lord's patience means salvation.î In other words, what's he waiting on? He's waiting on salvation.

Now, we can argue all day long the ins and outs of how often that is. What that looks like, how many have to know him or the Jews or Gentiles, whatever. But what he's saying is this. In other words, God's given time for the believers, to go share the story of salvation with other people. Why? Because God desires all men, all men to come unto himself. That's what he's saying. We're gonna look at that over the next couple weeks, a little disclaimer, the next two weeks you need to be here. Going to look at what it looks like to live a missional life. What it looks like to share the Gospel across this planet, in our context with kids and the kids of the world. Make your reservations early for the next two weeks, it's gonna be way way good. Number 4, here it is. He says this, live securely grounded in God's word. He says if you know the judgment is coming, if you know that I'm gonna return, if you know that I'm gonna cleanse the earth. Live in a way that you're falling in love with God's word. We've seen this as a theme over and over and over and over in 2 Peter, right? Why? Because the Bible is God's word for us. And it's interesting what Peter does right here. We've already talked about it a little bit from verse 2. But I want you to see just what Peter does right here, because it's important in verse 15. Look at what Peter says. He says, ìBear in mind, that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all of his letters, speaking in them, of these matters. His letters,î I love this, ìHis letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures to their own destruction.î

Now, what is Paul doing here? He's saying that we need to live grounded in his word, but he's doing it by giving a reference or a shout out to the Apostle Paul. Now, if you remember, in Galatians, chapter 2, Peter and Paul, they had this little falling out together. And he teaches us this little side lesson here that believers can disagree and have a fight, and they can get back together and love each other. Right? That's a whole other day. But somebody needed to hear that on Facebook this week. But here's what he's saying. He says this about Paul, and I love it. Because this frees me up this week. He says sometimes, when you're falling in love with God's word, there's some hard to understand stuff, especially from that guy named Paul, what do you think he's referring to? Probably most of the book of Romans, maybe some Hebrews, just to be honest. But here's what he's saying about it. He's saying that just because something is hard to understand does not mean that it needs to throw you off and completely distort your view of who God is. Why? Because the hard to understand things in Scripture are not A one A priority things. They're not salvation, the love of God, the peace of God, the knowledge of God and eternity. They're not those things. The hard to understand things are the nuances of God that don't affect our salvation. They're things that are just struggles. They're things that are contextual. There are words that are hard to understand. And he's going that guy, Paul, he uses a lot of that stuff. Peter says, I don't use a whole lot of that stuff. So just follow Jesus fall in love with the Word of God. And then I love what he says on the back end, he says that people distort. What does that mean? It says, people were taking the Word of God, and they're interpreting it for themselves. Listen, you don't have the right to interpret the Word of God for yourself.

You know, why? Because God's Word has always meant the same thing. It is not a morphing book. It is not a changeable book. And I don't care if you're a Sunday school teacher or the Pope, you don't get a call down a new revelation on this. You just don't. Why? Because the Word of God was written to a specific audience for a specific purpose. And now we get to pull the specific application from that other than that we don't have the right. We just don't. And so, what does that mean? That means that just because culture changes doesn't mean that it changes the Bible. The Bible should change culture. That's how you live grounded in His work. That's how you live towards judgment day because look at what happens when you begin to distort. What does it do? It brings them to their own destruction. Their own destruction. Let's keep moving. Verse 5, this last one, we're gonna make it. Here it is. It says this number 5, live wisely guarded against false teaching. Live wisely, guided, we really dug into this last week on the counterfeits, we're not going to really revamp it. But I want you to see verse 17. Look at what it says. He says, ìTherefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned,î he's like I've learned, ìbe on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.î What is he saying? He's saying friends, listen, don't let any false teaching, cultural teaching, momentary teaching, worldly teaching, begin to drag you, not from your salvation that cannot happen that is secure, but to drag you away from the power of God, no matter what anybody brings up to you.

That's what he said. So, don't do it. It's not worth it. It's a distortion of God's word, it's lawlessness. And that stuff on the day of judgment, he's saying, that's not gonna fly. Since you've been warned, and look at how he closes up this letter, I love this. He says, when you live with a day of eternity, when you live with the day of judgment, when you live with the last day, on your mind, look at what he says in verse 18. He says, ìbut grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.î Catch this, ìTo Him be the glory both now and forever.î Forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. ìAmen.î What does that mean? That means we are linking ourselves up, ah this is so good when we live towards the judgment, that when we live towards the grace and the glory and the knowledge of God, we're linking ourselves up with the praises of eternity. Do you realize what you're doing when this happens? You are preparing yourself for what you will be doing believer for eternity. And what is that? Giving God Glory. And look, the grace is not going to grow. Because grace doesn't grow. You got all the grace you ever need. But look, your knowledge of it grows. The glory doesn't grow with God, He has all the glory He ever needs. But are giving of glory grows. So, here's my question to you. This is where Peter leaves it. He says, look, you have salvation gifted to you by Jesus. You've been called to live out that salvation in an incredible way. Watch out for the false people, they're going to drag you down, but continually grow by knowing the Word of God so that your life can be pointed on a day of judgment, to where you look forward to it. Look forward to it, why? Because it's your gift. Your gift. Do you know Jesus today? Look, we're gonna worship in just a second. Here's my encouragement to you. Every week we talk about this weird next step text. It's weird. Okay, let's just get it. It's put it on the table. It's weird to text the church something, but it's the condition we're in right now. All right?

Can I tell you this? If you need Jesus today? Or if you're not even sure you know, Jesus today, would you just reach out to us today and just text this next step number and here's my promise to you, somebody in the next 24 hours will reach out to you. They'll reach out to you and they'll ask you, Hey, what's up? Let's just pray together. Let's see together. Maybe you're not even sure. Maybe you just need somebody to pray with you. One of our pastors will reach back out to you and just say those words, hey, what's going on? Can we get together? Can we pray together? Because here's what I know. It's coming. It's coming, judgment is coming. And I know that's like, oh, that's heavy, Matt. It's heavy. But God's patience has given you this opportunity. His patience, to come to repentance. For believers, listen, what would happen if we started living towards eternity instead of living towards tomorrow? I think it would change some stuff in this. I think it would change some of our attitudes, I think it would change some of the desires of our flesh. And I think that we would leave this world pointed to Jesus instead of us.

Lord, walk with us in this next moment. As we sing the cries back to you that for over 1500 years that believers have saying, because God, you're coming back. And God we celebrate that Lord Jesus. Mold our lives in a way that recognizes it, that loves it, and it points towards the day Lord Jesus, then we meet you, and we meet you. You take away the pain and the shame. You take away the death. You give us new life. We walk with you in eternity. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Follow Along with the Message

Last Word Living

Sermon Notes for October 25, 2020

2 Peter 3 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. 14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

4 Reminders:

1. Flawless  only comes from a Dedication to the Flawless Word.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:1-2

2. Shortsighted  will always exist.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:3-5

2 Peter 3:4-7

3. Judgement is  because of God’s Love.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:8-9

4. The Day of The Lord is  & We Should Look Forward To It.

Bible References

2 Peter 3:10-11

2 Peter 3:11-13

5 Traits of NEW LIFE LIVING:

1. Live Wholeheartedly  for Holy Lives.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:11

Matthew 6:33

2. Live Radically  , being Found Spotless and Blameless.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:14

3. Live Purposefully  in Celebrating & Leading Others to Salvation.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:15

4. Live Securely  in God’s Word.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:15-16

5. Live Wisely  against False Teachers.

Bible References:

2 Peter 3:17

2 Peter 3:18