Introduction:
A. The story is told of a minister who visited an elderly woman in the nursing home.
1. The young minister said, “At your age you should be thinking about the hereafter!”
2. The older woman said, “Oh, I do all the time. No matter where I am – in my room, down in the cafeteria, or down in the recreation room – I ask myself ‘What am I here after?’ ”
B. C.S. Lewis said, “It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.”
1. Popular author and preacher, Joseph Stowell wrote, “When we begin to believe the reality of the other side, we start behaving differently on this side.”
C. Last week, we noticed that Peter focused on the reality of the second coming of Christ.
1. All true believers hold firmly to the fact that Jesus will come again.
2. We might disagree about what exactly will happen when He returns, but we know that He is coming and when He comes everything will be changed forever.
3. Therefore, in light of Jesus’ certain return, we must ask and answer a very important question: “How Then Shall We Live?”
4. How should we be living in order to be ready?
5. What should we be doing in order to be living a life that is pleasing to God?
D. Let’s see how Peter answers this important question.
1. The admonition that best summarizes Peter’s answer is “Be Diligent!”.
2. Peter has employed this idea before.
3. In 2 Peter 1:5, Peter admonished us to “give all diligence or make every effort to add to your faith goodness, etc.”
4. Then in 2 Peter 1:10, he commanded that we “give all diligence or be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.”
5. Again in 2 Peter 1:15, he spoke of the diligence and effort he was going to put forth to make sure that they would be able to remember these things after his death.
6. Let’s look at this final section of the letter and see what we must make every effort to do in light of the coming of Christ.
I. Be Diligent to Live Godly Lives (3:11-14)
A. Peter began: 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, the home of righteousness.
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.
B. Because we realize that the world will be destroyed, and that even the elements will be disintegrated, we fix our hope, not on anything in this world, but only on the Lord.
1. And, as we discussed last week, because we don’t know when all this will take place, we must be constantly ready for His return.
2. This expectant attitude ought to make a difference in our personal, daily conduct.
C. Our conduct should be characterized by holiness and godliness.
1. Holiness entails separation from evil and dedication to God.
2. Godliness relates to piety and worship – it describes the person whose life is devoted to pleasing God.
3. Commentator John McArthur describes holiness and godliness this way: “Holy conduct refers to action, godliness refers to attitude. Holy conduct refers to the way I live my life, godliness refers to the spirit of reverence within me by which I live my life…And so Peter is saying what kind of person ought you to be in heart and in behavior, in motive and in action, in attitude and in duty.”
4. Good summary: Be holy in action and godly in attitude.
D. The result or conclusion of our effort to be holy and godly is addressed in verse 14: make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him.
1. It is interesting that Peter used these same two words “spotless, blameless” in reference to Jesus in 1 Peter 1:19 – “But with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
2. In other words, we want to be like Jesus, and we want to be at peace with him – a peace that results from our efforts to please the Lord, and from the forgiveness we receive through our relationship with Christ.
3. Ultimately, those who are “found at peace with him” have put out of their lives the things he hates, and have put into their lives the things God loves.
E. Other New Testament writers also teach that an eager expectancy of the Lord’s return ought to motivate us to godly living.
1. In 2 Cor. 5:1-11, Paul talked about the reality of the loss of our earthly tent, and our appearance before the judgment seat of Christ. Paul’s conclusion is that this should cause us to make it our goal to please the Lord and to try to persuade others.
2. In John’s first letter, he made these motivating points:
a. “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” (2:28)
b. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” (3:2-3)
3. It is easy to see how the second coming should motivate us to live holy and godly lives.
4. When Jesus returns we want to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
G. Since Christ is coming back, we first of all must be diligent to live godly lives.
II. Be Diligent to Win the Lost (3:15-16)
A. Peter continued: 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.
B. Here we notice that verse 15 continues the thought that Peter began back in verse 9, where Peter explained why the Lord had delayed fulfilling His promise to return.
1. God had every reason long ago to judge the world and burn up its works, but His merciful desire to see more people repent, has kept Him from fulfilling the promised return.
2. The Day of Judgment is coming, but until then, we continue to live in the time of the Lord’s patience which results in the Days of Salvation.
C. Unfortunately, while we are diligently trying to win the lost, Satan is at work trying to foil our efforts.
1. Satan has many tricks up his sleeve for keeping the lost lost.
2. One of the tragic ways Satan works is through false teachers.
3. Peter classifies Paul’s letters as Scripture – the inspired Word of God, which shouldn’t surprise us since from the moment of their composition and delivery to their recipients they had the authority of commands of the Lord through his apostle.
4. Peter points out that Paul’s letters contain some things that can be hard to understand, which makes them easily used for distortion and false teaching.
D. What happens to people who blindly twist the Scriptures? Peter says that they do it to their own destruction.
1. It leads to destruction because it is the rejection of God’s way and the setting up of one’s own way in opposition to God.
2. This is why it is so important for us to correctly handle the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15).
3. Barclay wrote: “G.K. Chesterson once said that orthodoxy was like walking along a narrow ridge; one step to either side was a step to disaster. Jesus is God and man; God is love and holiness; Christianity is grace and morality; the Christian lives in this world and lives in the world of eternity. Overstress either side of these great two-sided truths, and at once destructive heresy emerges. One of the most tragic things in life is when a man twists Christian truth and Holy Scripture into an excuse and even a reason for doing what he wants to do instead of taking them as guides for doing what God wants him to do.”
4. May God help us to correctly handle His Word – to understand it, abide by it, and lead others to Christ through it!
E. Let’s notice one final thing before we leave this point.
1. Back in verse 12, Peter mentioned that it is possible for us to hasten the return of Jesus.
2. Peter wrote: “as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
3. How can we Christians speed the coming of Jesus?
a. It can be done through prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come” (Mt. 6:10).
b. It can be done through preaching and witnessing. If God is delaying the return of Christ so that more can be saved, then if we are busying bringing people to Christ, that will speed His coming.
c. It can be done through penitence (repentance and obedience). In Acts 3, Peter preached, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ…” (3:19-20).
4. Since we know that the day of Christ is coming, and since we can speed its coming, #1 - let us be diligent to live godly lives and #2 – let us do what we can to win the lost.
III. Be Diligent to Guard Yourself and Grow Spiritually (3:17-18)
A. Peter concluded: 17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men 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.
B. It is heartwarming that Peter writes with such affection in this last chapter.
1. Four times he began his statements with “dear friends.” Your translation may say, “beloved.”
2. These concluding two verses touch on the two main themes of the letter and summarize its contents.
3. First, there is the reminder that his readers guard against being led astray by the false teachers.
4. Second, there is the exhortation to grow in Christ.
C. The word translated “guard” carries the meaning of constantly guarding yourself.
1. Peter has repeated said that his readers knew the truth, but he warned them that knowledge alone was not sufficient protection.
2. They had to be on their guard; they had to be alert.
3. Did you notice in verse 17 that a person’s secure position is something they can fall from by being carried away by the error of lawless men.
4. Peter is emphasizing that this is serious business – we must guard ourselves or we may fall being led astray.
D. So how can we maintain our steadfastness and avoid being among those who are led astray?
1. Peter says we can do so by growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
2. This command to grow carries the meaning of constantly growing.
3. Someone said: “The Christian life is like riding a bicycle – unless you keep moving, you fall off.”
4. Peter says that we must keep on growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
E. Growing in the grace of Jesus includes many things.
1. We are saved by grace and we must grow in our understanding and trust in that grace.
2. Growing in grace also has to do with becoming more like Jesus in our character and in the way we treat others.
3. Growing in grace also means being strengthened by grace (2 Tim. 2:1-4), being able to endure suffering through grace (2 Cor. 12:7-10).
F. But, we must not only grow in grace, we must grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
1. Consider the balance of these two things.
a. Knowledge without grace is a terrible weapon, and grace without knowledge can be very shallow.
2. Notice that we are not challenged to grow in the knowledge of the Bible, as good and necessary as that is.
a. No, we are challenged to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
b. It is one thing to know the Bible, but it is another thing to know the Lord, who is the central theme of the Bible.
c. We should know the Bible so that we can know the Lord, not just the Bible.
G. The diligent Christian must constantly be guarding himself and herself, lest he or she be led away into error, and the diligent Christian must be constantly growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
1. All of this requires diligence, and demands discipline.
2. Nobody automatically drifts into spiritual growth and strength, but anyone can drift out of spiritual security and strength.
3. That’s why the Hebrew writer wrote: We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Heb. 2:1)
H. Physical and spiritual growth follow pretty much the same patterns.
1. We grow from the inside out.
2. We need nourishment and exercise to grow.
3. We grow best in a loving family environment.
4. We need to grow in a balanced way – imagine if our two arms or legs grew at different times – that’s why we want to grow in grace and knowledge.
Conclusion:
A. So here we are at the end of this wonderful, short letter from the apostle Peter.
1. Peter has reminded us of so many powerful truths.
2. He has reminded us that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness, and that we can make our calling and election sure.
3. Peter has reminded us that we can trust our Bibles because the men who wrote it were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
4. He has reminded us that there will be false teachers and that we must be on guard.
5. Peter has reminded us that Jesus is coming back, no matter how long His return is delayed, and that we must be ready.
B. Today we have learned that we can be ready by giving attention to three things.
1. Being Diligent to Live Godly Lives.
2. Being Diligent to Win the Lost.
3. Being Diligent to Guard Yourself and Grow Spiritually
4. What action plan do you need to put into place as you leave here today?
a. What changes do you need to make to be living a more godly life?
b. What actions do you need to begin to be reaching out to the lost? Who do you need to invite over for dinner or desert? Who do you need to invite to worship? Who do you need to have a spiritual conversation with and offer to study the Bible with?
c. What steps do you need to take to guard yourself and to begin growing spiritually? Do you need to be more regular in your daily or weekly spiritual disciplines? Do you need to ask someone to be your mentor or your accountability partner?
5. Let’s be sure we leave here today ready to do something to be more ready for Christ’s return.
C. Have you heard the recent reports of air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job?
1. Last month, a lone air traffic controller at Washington D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Airport admitted to falling asleep during his shift.
a. On March 22 a little after midnight, the pilots of two commercial planes were unable to reach the tower, but they were in communication with a regional air traffic control facility about 40 miles from the airport.
b. Regional air traffic facilities handle aircraft within roughly a 50 mile radius of an airport, but landings, takeoffs of planes within about three miles of an airport are handled by controllers in the airport tower.
2. On Thursday of this week, I heard about another incident that occurred back in February.
a. An air traffic controller was found sleeping while on duty at an airport in Knoxville, TN.
b. Because the radar controller was unresponsive, officials in another part of the airport's control tower handled landing seven aircraft over the five hour period.
c. Unlike the controller at the Washington, D.C. airport who fell asleep in his chair, the one in Knoxville, was found on a cot in a room on a separate floor from the control tower where he should have been.
D. The last thing we want to do is to be found asleep on the job when Jesus returns.
1. We don’t want to be caught off guard and by surprise.
2. That means we need to be alert and ready at all times.
3. Jesus is coming soon! Come Lord Jesus!
4. To Him be the glory both now and forever! Amen!
