MidTree Church
The sermon audio of MidTree Church in Harris County, Ga. BEHOLD // BELIEVE // BECOME
MidTree Church
Are You Growing or Coasting? Peter's Final Challenge | Pastoral Discussion | June 29th, 2025
Ever felt like your spiritual growth has hit a plateau? In this exploration of 2 Peter, we discover the apostle's urgent final message written from prison as he faces execution under Nero's persecution. Peter, the disciple who once denied Jesus but ultimately gave his life for the gospel, reminds us that true spiritual growth doesn't require new revelations or secret knowledge—it demands remembering and applying the transformative truths we already possess.
The letter opens with an astounding declaration: everyday believers share "equal standing" with the apostles themselves. This radical equality exists not because of our spiritual achievements but through "the righteousness of our God and Savior." Peter then outlines qualities that should mark a growing believer's life: virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. These characteristics aren't optional add-ons but evidence of genuine faith.
Most striking is Peter's fierce warning against false teachers who "secretly bring in destructive heresies." These deceptions rarely announce themselves as obvious lies—they begin with subtle twists of scripture that lead to devastating spiritual consequences. As one pastor noted during our discussion, "Your ability to justify your behavior is unmatched by anything, except for the grace of God." This sobering reality calls us to vigilance in a media-saturated age where algorithms learn our weaknesses faster than we recognize them.
The letter culminates with Peter addressing skeptics who mock Christ's return. His response—"with the Lord one day is as a thousand years"—reframes our impatience and reminds us that God's apparent delays always serve his redemptive purposes. This perspective transforms how we approach each day, living with urgency but not anxiety, actively waiting for Christ's return while fully engaging with those around us.
What would change if you knew Jesus was returning in an hour? How might your priorities shift? Join us as we unpack Peter's timeless challenge to grow in grace and knowledge while standing firm against false teaching. Whether you're new to faith or have walked with Christ for decades, 2 Peter offers both encouragement and warning for your spiritual journey.
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All right. So here's what we're gonna do. We do this about two, three times a year, so if you've never been here, boy am I excited that you are here on a Sunday. So what we are going to do is read through, as a congregation, the book of 2 Peter. I mentioned already three chapters. It's about a seven-minute read. We're gonna take it a chapter at a time, and then the goal here is to do a couple of things. One I want you to better know who Peter is.
Speaker 1:When we read the book of 2 Peter, it is who you're thinking. It is the guy who jumped out of the boat, the guy who was hanging out with Jesus, denied him three times. That is who wrote this letter, and he's writing it about 30 years after Jesus is killed on the cross, resurrected and ascends into heaven. He's also writing it probably months before his own death, and he knows that. And so this is the letter from the guy who heard the words of Christ most, sharing his final words with us, and so that's what we're going to look at. A couple of other things he probably wrote this in prison. He was probably in a Roman prison, and so you'll notice by the time we get to chapter two. He is feisty about ending well because he's ending well, so he wants you to end well.
Speaker 1:And then the other thing that I would say is this we never, we us, but we midtree, we never want to build our services to be entertainment driven. However, I'm sorry, I'm losing my voice, sorry, it is the most annoying thing to have to cough. You have a microphone, always Like you can't get away from it. Um, what was I trying to say? We don't want to be entertaining, thank you. Entertainment, um proof. Uh, what we do want to do is engage in god's word, the way that god's word has been engaged for for millennia.
Speaker 1:And so, just so you know, it's going to begin with with peter saying this is my second letter to you. What we're about to do is how the early church would have done church. They would have read the entirety of the letter. They may have had a little bit less exposition in preaching. And there is going to be inside of you the need, in a culture that watches three second clips and decides if you're interested or if you're swiping that, you're gonna have the. I'll put it in the positive you're gonna have the opportunity to mature as a seasoned pursuer of Christ in us, not trying to entertain you, and so I would just prepare you for that in advance. Settle in, we're gonna be reading and receiving the word of God, just so you know. This is so much better than any of my thoughts, thomas's thoughts and most of Greg's thoughts. Anyway, I'll give you more credit than us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so with that, here are if you guys would throw up the slides for me, I'll be putting it up. These are four questions. If I were you, I would be asking yourself as we read through it and keep in mind, the books that we gave you have first and second Peter in them. So if you realize we're reading something different than you, you're in the wrong one, okay, so make sure you're in second Peter.
Speaker 1:Guys, anything to add before we dive in? No, okay, then what we'll do, josiahiah, I'm going to read through chapter one and then, if we could put up the QR code for questions right after that, we would love for you to put in thoughts and questions and reflections as we get ready to sort of engage the text together. Our, we did not show up with three miniature sermons. We used to do that and none of us ever got to finish any of our thoughts, and so we have studied, we have thought, we have prayed through these things, but we really want to engage as a congregation and we had lots of questions come in in the first service. So we will give you an opportunity to do that in just a minute.
Speaker 2:And I will say for anyone who is new today or hasn't seen one of this read-throughs been done at Midtree, we will take the next couple of weeks and months to preach through 2 Peter. We're doing kind of a flyover, the way they would have received it as a letter, reading the whole thing, unpacking kind of like maybe highlights or just interesting things that we see. But in the weeks to come Will is going to be preaching through the text and so don't think we're doing this and not.
Speaker 1:But you get to go to bed tonight and say I read a book of the Bible today. That's right, and it wasn't Jude, that's awesome. All right, here we go. 2 Peter, chapter 1, starting in verse 1. Oh, hang on, guys, let me make it a little bigger for you. Okay, there we go. Simeon Peter. That would be Simon Peter written into Hebrew form, simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, jesus Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus. Our Lord, his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him, who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his very precious and very great promises, so that, through them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, Having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. Because of sinful desire, yours, and are increasing. They keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord, jesus Christ, for whoever lacks these qualities, is so nearsighted that he's blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall, for in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
Speaker 1:I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me, and I will make every effort so that, after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for when he received honor and glory from God, the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. I think that would be our desire this morning as well to be led well by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:So, as Peter begins this letter, what are a couple of things that stand out to you guys? Ten seconds to think. If you guys would go ahead and grab your phones, I'd love even if you don't have a question right now, I'd love for you to grab it and get the QR code in the event that something comes up in the midst of discussion, so that you can send in a couple of questions. That really makes it a lot of fun for us as well. All right, guys. So what are we thinking as Peter begins this letter?
Speaker 2:Well, just on the outset, twice actually. I just noticed it a second time. I don't have a pen. I don't have Ian right there to throw me one.
Speaker 2:In verses 12 and 13, he uses the word remind or reminder. He says in 13, I think it is right, as long as I'm in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder. And what Peter is saying to the church that would have received this letter is basically I'm kind of not telling you guys new stuff. I'm not adding to, I'm not subtracting from. What I'm doing is I'm jogging your memory of these things that you've been taught, that you've been raised in, that you've been trained in, that you've grown in. And what you guys need right now is a reminder, even as I'm about to die.
Speaker 2:He says that in the next verse, Even though I'm about to put this body off. I don't have a new word from the Lord. I don't have a new kind of thing to tell you. I just want to remind you of the goodness of God. I want to remind you of what his face is like, what sin is like, what he has done to purchase sinners back to himself. I'm just reminding you kind of of the basics of Christianity. And it's so encouraging because, as we read this, it's not going to feel like a reminder. Sometimes it's going to feel like big, lofty things. But he's saying just remember the basics, Remember the things of God.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so freeing as a believer to know that a good quiet time doesn't mean you've learned something that you never knew before. A good sermon is not. Oh well, that is brand new. I've never even thought of that concept before. Peter at the end of his life is not pointing to hey. Now that I've lived this whole thing out, let me tell you two great tips for loving the Lord. He's like hey, I've got nothing better to give you than simply Jesus and who he is, and I think that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and certainly there will be times when maybe you might unmind unearth a new nugget of sort of truth that you hadn't seen before in a verse. But I do think there's something about, look, and I resonate with Peter. I'm probably similar in age to he was when he wrote this more in the rearview mirror than through the windshield at this point, and so he's looking back with this sort of hey, you know, my life is at this point. I care for these people deeply. I'm concerned that they're not led. We're going to get into sort of what the false teaching that sort of he's going to address more specifically, but he's concerned that folks that he's loved, that he has been in a shepherding rollover, he's concerned that they're going to be led astray, and so he's saying look, I'm using every last minute that I have. I'm concerned to know that before I leave here, that I sort of drive a stake in the ground like this is gospel truth that you guys need to know, you need to cling to, you don't need to be deceived by these things that you're hearing. And so we'll get into what that is a little bit later in more detail.
Speaker 3:But I can certainly relate to Peter and his heart, I think as elders, pastors, we all sort of have that Like we bear the burden. It's weighs on us rightly dividing the word, making sure that you guys are doctrinally sound and that you're not being led astray by, you know, false teaching or things that sound true, and there is a sense where we all love to be in on the new bit of knowledge. You know something like hey, you guys have been reading this for years and here's something they all have missed, and so that's appealing to us in a lot of ways. And he just said look, it's just the faithful reading of the word, it's sufficient, it's clear, it's authoritative, it's necessary, sufficient, it's clear, it's authoritative, it's necessary, like, it has all that we need for life and godliness. And so he's just reminding you know, his dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that this is of utmost importance.
Speaker 1:One of the things that we did to make that reality something that you can live with. Y'all will notice these little bands. Did any of you guys grab these on the way in? I feel like the ladies know what this is way more than the guys do. So what this is, this is a scripture memory band, and we picked 2 Peter 1, 3, the scripture that I used for the call to worship, because if we're going to remember something out of this, verse 3 of chapter 1 is one of the best things that we can remember, and so it's just the first letter of every word of that verse.
Speaker 1:If you didn't grab one of these on the way in, you'll be able to as you head out, but we would love for the whole church to be working on memorizing this scripture over the next six or so weeks and, I would point to this, if we'll throw the scripture back up in verse three, his divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Don't separate your life into. Well, I've got my churchy life and my devotional life and when I sing songs in the car, life, and then I've got my podcast life and I've got my work life and I've got this, no, peter's like. He's given you everything you need for every element, through the knowledge of him, who called us to his glory and excellence. And I just find it so encouraging and fascinating that, at the end of his life, peter is still saying I want to be excellent, I want to grow. I don't know if I'm going to have two weeks left or two months left, but I want my knowledge of Christ, my living the Christian life being excellent in all of its forms and factors. I never want to quit growing.
Speaker 1:And so, as a congregation, as we look at this book, I think Peter would basically say this to you Are you growing in Christ or are you coasting? How tempted are you to sort of hit the cruise control button? How much credit do you give yourselves for rhythms that have already been firmly established? Let me explain what I mean. How many of us are like look, well, I go to church, I read my Bible occasionally, and if I'm having a bad day, I put on worship songs. What more do you want from me? And I'm like well, it's not that I want more from you or for you. I want your whole world to be invaded by the goodness of who Christ is, and I don't know that we ever get to the point where we are filled up to 100% this side of heaven. But I feel like Peter's at 99.9, and he is just like striving to get that 0.1. How can you not be in the 90s, when you're in prison, writing a letter filled with the Spirit of God that we're going to read 2,000 years later?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think maybe in step with that, like growing in grace, growing in knowledge, growing in grace, growing in knowledge, growing in all these fruit. Just something that struck me while you were talking was just the virtue of the fact that we have a letter from Peter in prison under Nero's persecution, knowing tomorrow could be the day.
Speaker 2:I mean he's burning Christians on sticks to light the city at night and he takes time to sit down and write his friends a letter, Like I know it's like Holy Spirit stuff, but the fact that he is concerned enough to say because I think sometimes we could just go into I'm going to worship, I'm going to pray, I'm going to read my Bible, what they had. But instead Peter says, hey, I'm going to remind my friends of what I've taught them, I'm going to grow them how relational, Exactly Like I think it's really cool and that's one of the best ways to grow in your maturity and walk with the Lord is helping others to grow.
Speaker 1:One of the questions that came in. So take a look at. I think we're going to start in verse five. Here In verse five are those attributes written in order of importance. So let's just take a look at the attributes. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with so we have, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. Is there a thought to the order that Peter's going through here? Or is he just like hey, man, you want all these things. Grab them if you can get them.
Speaker 3:I don't think there's an order in a sense of you have to build on one other than faith has to be there first. But I don't think it's like hey, once you've got faith, let me get back there, you know, work on virtue and then, once you tackle virtue, then go to knowledge, and once you tackle knowledge, then go to self-control.
Speaker 1:We wouldn't love people for a while.
Speaker 3:No, yeah, I think you're saying, look, all of these spring out of faith and without faith you're not going to be able to have all these things to be true in your life. But if you have faith, all of these things increasingly should be true of your life. And he's going to, he's going to cut his readers just a little bit of slack right so down in in eight he's going to say if these qualities are yours and increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful. So, hey, this is sort of a positive If you're doing these things and you're growing, and it's going to keep you from being unfruitful.
Speaker 3:Because whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he's blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins and almost to the point of like, hey, if this is not true of you, ever in your Christian walk, are you really walking as a Christian right and so that we talked about Philippians 1.6, being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.
Speaker 3:So the idea that if you are truly in Christ you will progress in sanctification, like you're not just going to sort of coast perpetually.
Speaker 3:You'll be seasons where you know maybe you're not growing as much as you'd like, but the trajectory of your life should be one of increasingly becoming more like Christ. And so Peter's sort of laying in pretty heavy and saying look like there may be a time where it looks like you've lost sight of your profession, your confession of faith, but long term like doing these things in verse 12, reminds you of these qualities that you know that we're establishing the truth Sorry, it's verse 11. And these ways will richly provide for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. He goes even deeper and says look, this is the way that you know you're really a believer, like if you're growing in these areas. But yet no, the short answer is I don't think he has to be in order, other than all these come out of faith, and without faith you'll never exhibit all these One of the questions we had and we've already had one come through is can you lose your salvation?
Speaker 1:I'm looking at this and you're not going to fall if you do these things. When I think about somebody, my theological answer would be no, you can't lose your salvation. I think there are a number of people who think they're saved, that maybe aren't, and so it would be easy to interpret as a loss of salvation, but I sort of view it sort of as a door from the perspective of God, like if you are his in his hand. Nothing is snatching you out of his hand. Your calling and your election are sure.
Speaker 1:However, from our side of the door, how do I know I'm a Christian? Do I know I'm a Christian because I got saved at nine years old in my pastor's office? Or do I know I'm a Christian because I got nervous about that when I read more about hell and I got saved at a DC talk concert? Or when I got nervous two years later and I got saved at sharp top, like which one counted. And I think, from our side of the door, how are you making fun of me for what? Oh, yeah, the DC talk. Yeah, conundrum, all right. How do we know we're saved. Here's my answer.
Speaker 2:I went to a Hank Williams concert and they cranked up some tunes.
Speaker 1:Here's how Will knows that he's saved. I am trusting in Jesus today and I'm repenting of my sins today, and if that ever evaporates, I have major concerns, even though God can see in a way that I can't.
Speaker 2:And I think, to the question of can I let's make it personal can I lose my salvation? Usually what I say is to the person asking that is it's a good question. And just by virtue you ask. It means you're concerned about it, it means you don't want to be what is it Ineffective or unfruitful? It says in verse eight like you don't want to be, that You're asking yourself am I continuing in the Lord, am I walking in his ways? And even if you're not like, you're concerned about it. And I think that is an indication of at least the desire to have that faith which cascades down into that knowledge, self-control, steadfastness.
Speaker 1:I want to look at one more question because I really enjoyed this one that came in. It's in verse five, so if you guys will throw it back up there, so I'm going to kind of erase what we've looked at, this one concept of virtue. Here is the question. The world would use that term that things are virtuous, but Christians, and God's word is going to define it differently. So what might be a virtue that the world would espouse and what would be the actual gospel flip of that? So I've already prepared an answer.
Speaker 1:You guys take a moment to think Our world is going to say that it is a virtue to pursue hard work and victory and success in whatever your endeavors are Hustle right, like get your hustle moving.
Speaker 1:I don't think Peter would have a huge problem because he's like hey, man, I want you to like go after it. But Christians ought to have a virtue of not only strenuous work but almost strenuous Sabbath, that there's sort of this balance where the world is going to say work, achieve, go. You are more impressed. The more full your calendar is, the less margin that you have in your life, red line as much as you possibly can. And the gospel would come into that and it would say well, don't you know that it's God who works in you? All good things, why are you striving? If it is his strength that does? It Doesn't mean you shouldn't work, but we should be as adept at our resting as we are at our working, and I think that's one virtue that the gospel would tweak, that our culture would have. What's another virtue in our culture that you think the gospel would flip on its head a bit?
Speaker 3:I would probably say success, like monetary Making, money Gain making money, more money, more problems. The world would tell you, you know, get all you can, can all you get. And you know, the gospel would tell us, you know, in the same way, that Christ has been unimaginably generous with us in the personal work of Christ. He would encourage us to hold possessions and money loosely and sort of view them as a blank check that God can write for whatever he wants, which is very sort of atypical. I think Christians are called to be humble, self-sacrificing, giving in any number of ways. You know, if your brother asks for your cloak, you know, give him two. If he asks you to carry it for a mile, carry it two miles. So just this idea of generosity, of humble submission, is not worldly but what we're called to do, sort of this upside down kingdom.
Speaker 1:All right, let's flip to chapter two. Is that good, Thomas? Yeah, all right. What was it? Out of curiosity.
Speaker 2:Just the virtue of self-fulfillment Kind of, in that We've been watching a show Compared to self-sacrifice. Well, yeah, we've been watching a show, me and Emily and one of the ladies on the show. I noticed you didn't mention the show.
Speaker 1:Well, it's Survivor. Is there some connection? No, no, no, it's Survivor, okay.
Speaker 2:Very clean, okay. And one of the ladies as they were talking was like yeah, basically I'm a counselor, full-time counselor, and I left my husband and my family to go pursue whatever I wanted and virtuous Like it was like seen, as you did, the hard thing of getting over the hump of your husband so that you can set yourself free, and obviously the gospel would say no, no, no, like the like.
Speaker 2:The virtuous thing is the self-sacrifice, and not in a demeaning or just degrading way, but in a way that says, like I'm going to put your needs, desires, affections first, you know, so that we both grow towards Christ.
Speaker 1:Well said, All right. Uh, chapter two. He's reading that one.
Speaker 3:I got it Okay, chapter two. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed and in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, and if he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, if, by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly, and if he rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.
Speaker 3:Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant will also be destroyed in their destruction. Suffering wrong is the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery.
Speaker 3:Insatiable for sin, they entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed, accursed children Forsaking the right way. They have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing but was rebuked for his own transgression.
Speaker 3:A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. These are waterless springs and mist driven by a storm. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved For speaking loud boast of folly. They entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first, for it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them the dog returns to his own vomit and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.
Speaker 1:All right. So a little bit of a switch there from chapter one, where he's encouraging lots of folks. Now, all of a sudden, it's okay, there's another way to live your life. And if you live your life that way, don't be fooled, it isn't going to end real well for you. We'll go ahead and throw the QR code up now that we've read chapter two. If you guys want to shoot something in, feel free to do so. Initial thoughts on chapter two.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's in conjunction with chapter one, which is why I want to say that at the top he says, in verse 1, beware of the false prophets, those who arise from among the people, who do so secretly, and they secretly bring in destructive heresies. And at the end of chapter 1, in verse 16, he says we did not follow cleverly devised myths that were made known. And so what Peter is saying is, like these false teachers, these people that have come in and wreaked havoc in the church, leading people astray, have done so so nuisantly, so subtly, that they may not even know that they're on this path. And Peter lays out that these people have come in and this is their end. He uses very strong language chains of gloomy darkness. They're in this place of torment. He says this is where it's leading. And so you guys, he's saying to the church, do not follow the subtle drift away from true gospel, knowledge and centrality about Jesus.
Speaker 1:One of the questions that came through was at the end of chapter 1, and it said where in Scripture does Peter know that he is going to die? Like he's writing this saying, the Lord has made it clear to me that I am going to die. Where does that come from?
Speaker 3:I don't remember the exact reference. You may remember You're looking like you do, but we talked about yeah, I guess you must have looked it up we talked about that. Hey, peter, you're going to be led around in chains, and so there is this. There is this sort of forecasting, not an explicit detail. But, peter, your life is not going to end well like you're gonna. You're going to be cut short, you're going to be in, in captivity, basically, and you have freedom today, but that's not always going to be the case.
Speaker 1:I couldn't remember the chapter and verse.
Speaker 3:John 21.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I did remember Jesus saying hey, peter, you're going to be let. Right now you have the freedom to dress yourself, but soon another is going to dress you. It's right after Jesus forgives him and he says are you going to feed my sheep? And Peter's like Lord, you know that I love you. And then, coupled with Peter saying, lord, you know I love you, jesus says all right, let's talk about how much you're going to love me. Are you going to love me 30 years from now, when you're probably in your 50s, when you're in a cell, when you are no longer dressing yourself Other people are, when you are chained? Are you going to love me that much? And I think it's awesome that Peter gets to write us this letter which is to us, but I think it is also him proclaiming to Christ Lord, this is how much I love you. I've been faithful. I love you enough to tell them that everything that they need for life and godliness is in you. I have loved you enough to even point out people who want to lead others astray, because that's never a fun thing to do. It is never a fun thing to point to. I think this is not just Peter's letter to us. I think this may be Peter's response to Christ when he says are you going to love me this much? And he's saying let me show you how much I love you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the things that stands out to me if you look at the very beginning of chapter two Thomas, you mentioned this about the secretly that there will be. I like that. It's like there's a promise there will be false teachers among you. There's never a world in which you are only going to get good gospel, truth. It is always going to be attached or attacked by other things. And one thing that I would warn you of is this we had a question come in, what would be essential things that you would look for if you were trying to find a church? I'm going to leave that with you guys. What would be essential things that you would look for in finding a church?
Speaker 1:I think there's a lot about what Peter's saying about hey, it's Sunday morning church context.
Speaker 1:But if I could just pastorally warn you about something that is secret, something that is false, it's simply this when we spend time on our smartphones, I would just encourage you to realize this phone is smarter at knowing you than you are at knowing it.
Speaker 1:This phone is smarter at knowing you than you are at knowing it, and so, whether your form of media intake is Twitter or Facebook, instagram, tiktok, whatever it is, the moment you like something, it begins learning you, and the moment you slow scroll something, even if you don't like or follow, it begins learning you. And I think one of the things that Peter, if he were writing in our context, he would say please don't let your algorithm get caught in a funnel of foolishness, because so many of the folks that I talk with when their lives are in a really, really bad place, I can tell by minute five they have bought into something that our culture is selling that God's word never would. And it all started by one post that was just a little bit off and they liked it, and then they got two more the next week, and then they got four, and then they got eight and, next thing, they knew they were believing things that they never would have believed if they had stayed away from it, and I see it most in relationships and marriages.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that obviously happens. I'm sure it happens a lot. But also, I think, peter's warning against the heresies and the worldviews that would actually take Scripture and just twist them Little bitty twist, little bitty twist.
Speaker 2:Like that's what the serpent did in the garden. He didn't say you know, bump God, he's not real. Did he really say you shouldn't take of this or eat it? And she's like, oh no, he took God's word and he twisted it. And so if I could be pastoral, I'd say that to me is, I think, the more dangerous one of when they start with a Bible verse and they're like this doesn't mean what you think it means, and then they twist it in this way that you're going oh, I've never thought about life that way, and it just leads down this destructive path because you're taking a verse out of context and twisting it.
Speaker 1:Maybe one of the best questions we can ask ourselves is this what is speaking to me louder and more frequently than God, and is that a good and a wise thing? What is speaking to me louder and more frequently than God? Just by my rhythms of life? That doesn't mean you need to read your Bible eight hours a day, by the way. I know some of you who want to. I do. I know there are some of you who want to. I think most of us are struggling to want to spend 15 minutes in our Bible every day. If I'm honest, and my encouragement I think Peter's would be hey, what is the loudest thing to you right now? What's speaking to you more than anything else, and where is that going to land you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think, just for context, you sort of begin to peel back the curtain a little bit and see what Peter's getting at. So there's these false teachers that have came in to the church that are basically denying that there is a coming judgment, right. And so we're going to see that in chapter three where he's going to say look, everything's been continuing the way of all things you know, up until this time there's been no judgment. And so if there's no judgment, if there's no sort of day of reckoning for our behavior, then why endeavor to live a holy lifestyle now, right, and so that was sort of the message that these false teachers are promoting, and that's why Peter is so passionate about no, it does matter how you behave, that's evidence of a true profession of faith. And so he's going to go to war against those ideas, and you'll see that in this chapter and in chapter three to come.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I do think it's neat too, the end of chapter one where Peter's sort of laying out his credentials like hey, this is how you can know that my testimony is true and faithful. I personally eyewitnessed the transfiguration. I saw God, heard God from on heaven saying this is my beloved son. So we saw his face light up and him be transfigured in glory. So he's saying look like we personally were there, we were an eyewitness testimony to the work of Jesus Christ. So he's going to pivot that against these false teachers who are going to claim that Peter is just sort of living at, you know, sort of spooling up these heresies, these like senseless myths and things. And so Peter is's fighting against that, laying out his credentials of why we should have confidence in the scripture that's been passed down.
Speaker 1:All right, quick fire, because I want to get to chapter three, but we just had a slew of questions come in. One thing you would look for if you had to pick out a church I'm going to go with humility. I would want a leadership team that is humble.
Speaker 2:Drums. Okay, I'm going to go with humility. I would want a leadership team that is humble Drums. Okay, I'm just kidding. Christ and Christ crucified being preached is what Paul says. I think a lot of times, especially in the Southeast, we can go to churches that are quasi-Christian enough that they give you godly principles and godly guidelines for living, but they don't preach Christ and what he did to you know, purchase his people, and I think I wouldn't settle for anything that doesn't preach that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would just say a full-throated proclamation of the gospel in all ways, the good and the bad, the wrath of God, the atoning sacrifice, the sinfulness of man that we rightly deserve as wrath. Like, I think, if you have a church that boldly proclaims that and doesn't just try to picture God as being loving which he is, but God is also holy and righteous and not like us, and that would be what I would look for.
Speaker 1:We have lots of questions coming in about is there a higher expectation for those of us who knew something longer, who have been Christians longer? But I'm going to summarize it with this one, succinctly Is there no hope for someone to come back to the Lord if they have walked away? Because and I said like I'm connecting these two dots, I would say there's always hope.
Speaker 3:I think the point he's making is that when he says, look, it would be better off, in a sense, that they had never sort of my view on this is, when he's talking about those you know who have fallen away, that these are people who are not genuine believers.
Speaker 3:They have been around, you know things of faith, have been in the Christian community, but they were deceived Like they were. This you know the seed that fell among you, know the stony ground, but they weren't genuinely believers. Or else Philippians 1.6 is not true that being confident in this very thing that he who began a good work and you will be faithful to complete it, you will eventually come to glory in heaven. But I think the sense is that if you have been around and you've deceived yourself in a sense and you fall away and you sort of hardened your heart against the true gospel, it is very hard to come back to a place of true repentance and that your heart is broken over sin. It is so much more unlikely for that to be true of you once you have been so close in Christian community and you've sort of been under God's common grace, but you harden your heart to the point to where you apostatize and walk away. Anything's possible with God, but it is not a hopeful place to be.
Speaker 1:It's one of the saddest things when somebody has been a part of a Christian community I'll just speak from experience and they're known well and they're loved well and they've served for a long time and then one thought, one idea, one concept enters into their heart and mind and they breathe life into it. Your ability to justify your behavior is unmatched by anything, except for the grace of God. Your ability to justify anything that you do is unmatched. And I think what Peter is sort of saying is the likelihood of somebody turning their back on Christ and justifying that behavior is a whole lot more common than someone turning their back on Christ and then turning back toward him, recognizing how many people's faces they are going to need to repent, to how much guilt. Shame which, by the way, the Christian community would forgive them wholeheartedly and celebrate it.
Speaker 1:But there is something about the deceived mind that deceives them to walk away and then deceives them that they cannot ever walk back, which would not be the case of the good news of Christ. All right, let's jump into chapter three. All right, we'll finish up here. This is the shortest of the three chapters. Thomas, I think that's you, yep.
Speaker 2:This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days, with scoffing, following their own sinful desires, they will say where is the promise of his coming? Forever? Since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed without water and through water, by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was indulged with water and perished. But by the same word. The heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction for the ungodly.
Speaker 2:But do not overlook this one fact beloved that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.
Speaker 2:The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but he is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
Speaker 2:Then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Speaker 2:Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn? But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:One more time. We'll throw up the QR code if anybody wants to shoot in. A couple of questions. I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:What stands out to me at the beginning of chapter three is in verse five, when it says they deliberately overlook this fact. Can I just be honest with you? I think all of us are prone to this. We've talked a lot about like people leading the church astray. I don't think many of us put ourselves in that category and we're like I'm so glad we're talking about this Will, because I've really wanted to lead ministry astray for a long time and I just needed that application. But I will tell you this I think it is so.
Speaker 1:I think the children of our culture say the things that the adults believe but are too embarrassed to say. And there is a reality when you talk to kids, when they're like do I really need like Jesus hadn't come back in 2000 years? What are the odds he comes back in my lifetime? Can't I just and then it will be broken down by age Can't I just do this while I'm 10 and do this in my twenties, and do this in my thirties, and do this in my forties, and then this in my 30s and do this in my 40s and then kind of clean it up at the end and know that God's grace is sufficient, and the fact that Peter's like guys.
Speaker 1:There is a problem when we deliberately overlook the fact that the return of Christ is destined by God to come like a thief, and then, like in the next 10 seconds, the trumpet sounds and Jesus comes back and Peter sort of has this question since all this is the case, we all throw it up, throw up the scripture. Since all this is the case, what sort of people want you to be Like? Let this be a reflective question for the day. If Jesus comes back in an hour, how does that change the way you live for the next 60 minutes? If he's coming back in six days, what do the next five look like?
Speaker 1:And then words that I think we as Americans hate. We are people who wait. We are people who wait. We are people who wait and I think all of us look at these words as a burden, like, oh my gosh, but the way Peter's writing it, it's more like the person leaning at the race line waiting for the gun to go off. This morning, lord, when I get in my car, what is it that you have for me? Who do I get to pray for when I show up to work? What conversations do you in glory already have prepared for me to engage in? I am waiting for God to use me profoundly, and that doesn't mean I'm waiting until a deathbed confession.
Speaker 2:And I think, just kind of how we started, a little bit like the question of if you knew you had an hour until Jesus came back, I think a lot of at least my mind goes immediately to well, I'd spend it in prayer and time of the word and things like that.
Speaker 2:But I think like one of the things that the scriptures as a whole maybe even 2 Peter specifically encourages is like, as the day draws near, we are to spend it with other people, like pouring into them, enjoying life with them, doing things like that, and so I don't think, if there's an hour on the clock, we should all like hit our prayer closets and I think we should go to the pool and hang out with each other and enjoy the things that God has given us, to include relationships, and I think that's what he's doing kind of on the eve of his death is pouring into others in a way that I think is giving. Paul uses the phrase that my joy may be complete, and what he means by that is that you guys are sharing in the things that I care about too, that you guys are growing in and maturing in the things that I care about, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:How can you tell when somebody's twisting Scripture? One of the questions that came through.
Speaker 3:I think you have to know Scripture, right. I mean, it's like back in the day, if you were a bank teller, they didn't train you on counterfeit bills, right? You saw thousands and thousands and thousands.
Speaker 1:Did you ever get shown a bill? And they're like Greg, this is the real one. I've heard this illustration before. Catch me, if you can.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was never on the teller line, but it's the fact that you handle the real thing all the time that when a counterfeit comes up, it's obvious to you because you are so familiar with the real thing. And so I think it's the same thing with Scripture. Right, you have to know it, you have to be familiar with it, you have to have hidden it in your heart so that when somebody comes and says, well, this really means that you say, well, that's not true, like I know what Scripture says. And so because of that, and the Holy Spirit certainly guides you and convicts you and helps enlighten scripture to you. But I think the key thing is, like, you have to know scripture. You cannot just be part-time in the word and expect to be able to guard against some of these folks who have you know they have cleverly snuck in trying to deceive you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, One of my favorite things. Can I just tell you about yourselves? A little bit mid-tree. Some of y'all are here for the first week and you're like, you don't know me, that's all right, I may not, but I do know a bunch of you guys and one of my favorite things to watch is when I ask you an easy question from the stage on a Sunday, versus when I ask you a hard question from the stage. If I ask you an easy question that you learned in Awana and somebody gave you a Jolly Rancher for Like name three of the disciples who were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. When I say this, some of you get excited and you smile because you're like I know it. But then when I ask like a question that is Is it okay to be angry with God? Yes, yes, like that when it isn't, which you did with the middle schoolers last week.
Speaker 3:I did.
Speaker 1:When I ask you a question, that isn't trivia, and this is the difference in knowledge and knowledge. It is so funny watching you guys go like y'all will give me eye contact all the time when I'm preaching until I say is it okay for you to be angry with God? And then, all of a sudden, you've never been more interested in your Bible, right? And if I could just tell you guys, we want to be a culture that asks questions of the Bible and it is okay to not know the answer. It's not okay to think you must know the answer all right, or to think to be a Christian, you have to already know the answer. Please, please, please. Let us be a group of people who never stop asking questions, and I think that's a big way to know the difference in what is true and what is not. Is we need to ask questions and not be embarrassed to do so when we're not sure.
Speaker 2:Anything else. And I think to tack on to that, like that's kind of what Peter says about Paul's writings, they're hard to understand, he's like bro this is tough, they're hard to understand.
Speaker 2:And he says I'm going to add another category. Sorry, peter, but he says there are some that take Paul's writings and they just twist them. They twist them for their own benefit, their own gain, things like that. And I think there are other people that take Paul's writings and they just give up. They just say it's too hard. I'll read, peter. I try never going to read Leviticus, exactly, yeah, and I would encourage you guys not to do either of those, like Greg said, to know Scripture as best you can, to weigh these things, to know if they're being twisted, and so that you don't give up. I think the more you read, the more you understand.
Speaker 1:And at the beginning it's going to be hard. Greg mention to us Stokes you pointed to in the first service. That sort of wraps this entire book up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like two people in here will be interested in this, and you're one of them sitting next to you, they're right here.
Speaker 3:An inclusio is sort of some people call it a sandwich where there's like a concept that's introduced early in a passage and then it's sort of bookmarked, like there's the same thing at the end. You'll see here, at the end of here, we're talking about, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. The idea of grace and knowledge and the fact that you're growing in that. And he starts out in chapter I mean, yeah, in chapter one he's talking about to those who obtain a faith equal, standing by the righteousness of our God and Savior, jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God. So he starts out sort of telling you where he's going and then he winds up with a you know looking at bookmarks.
Speaker 3:But it's just a way of sort of summarizing and bringing you back to. This is how I started. This is why it was important I wanted you to know here, and this knowledge here is epignosis. It's an experiential, like a deep knowledge, not like a head knowledge, where you know facts. He said, look like I want you to know experientially who Christ is and what he's done for you, and so and he is the same way, sort of bookend in that.
Speaker 1:And if you find yourself and you're like, holy moly, I just sat with three pastors that read an entire book and Greg just said gnosis, and I'm supposed to know what that is, or something along those lines. Can I leave you with, I think, maybe one of the greatest encouragements. If you guys will put the scripture up, please notice how Peter began this entire thing. This was the guy who walked with Jesus. This was the guy who denied Jesus. This was the guy who walked on water, saw Jesus transfigured, and here's what he says To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours how insane is it that the apostle Peter, who wrote scripture that walked with Jesus, looks at you and says we're all the same, we are all simply children of God, children of the King, and so, no matter where you feel, this morning I got a ton of knowledge.
Speaker 1:My knowledge needs to come here. I have more questions than I have answers. Peter would say, hey, I was a fisherman Like I'm the one who made the most mistakes and I'm the one who gets to live 50 years of a life and then give it all for Christ. And you living in Harris County, columbus and the surrounding area, with GPS and everything else. You are no different than me, be a child of the King, who never bores with being reminded of his incredible grace to you. So let's stand and let's sing and worship this king, and if anybody needs prayer, we will be down here to pray with you.