In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'An Abundant Entrance into an Everlasting Kingdom,' based on 2 Peter 1:10-15, he emphasizes the importance of believers making their calling and election sure through diligence in cultivating godly virtues. Dohm highlights the eight qualities listed by Peter—faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love—as essential for spiritual growth and assurance. He underscores that these virtues are a response to God's grace and should be growing in believers' lives to prevent spiritual short-sightedness and amnesia. Dohm draws parallels with Romans 8, explaining the process of salvation as God's work from predestination to glorification. The sermon stresses the concept of having an 'abundant entrance' into God's everlasting kingdom, contrasting it with merely slipping in. Peter's exhortation is not about achieving perfection but maintaining ongoing dependence on God. Dohm also reflects on the role of shepherds like Peter in reminding and stirring believers towards diligence. He concludes by challenging believers to desire a fruitful life, motivated by gratitude for God's grace, aiming for an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom.

Our sermon text today is 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 10 through 15. Therefore brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know them and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease." The title of the sermon this morning is, An abundant entrance into an everlasting kingdom. It's just borrowing words from the text. But what a happy title. And it really is a happy text. God has designed for us, desires for us to have an abundant entrance, not just an entrance, but an abundant entrance into this wonderful everlasting kingdom that he has prepared for his people.

He doesn't want us just sneaking in by the skin of our teeth. He wants to provide for us an abundant entrance. Last week in verses 5-9, Peter gave us 8 things that ought to be established in the lives of every believer, and that ought to be growing in the life of every believer. And he has given us the reason for that. The reason why we ought to have these eight things and the reason why these eight things ought to be on the increase is because God has shown us so much grace.

It is just founded in the goodness of God towards His people. And because He's been so good to us, because He's lavished on us, everything that pertains to life and godliness, we ought to be a thankful people. People look at our lives, they ought to see us living in gratitude for the one who called us out of darkness into his marvelous Light. Peter says, for this very reason. What reason?

Because He's given us all things needed for life and godliness. Because He's made us partakers of the divine nature. So consequently, he says, give all diligence to having these eight things established in your lives, and may they be growing. May the Lord's people live in gratitude because we see the grace of God that has been poured out on us. So Peter says, add to your faith.

Don't have a faith that's alone. Don't have a lonely faith. But add to it. Virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love, not a dead faith, but a faith that has lots of company. These other seven things ought to be added to our faith.

These things should grow together and they should infuse one another so that our faith is filled with virtue and our virtue is filled with faith. You can play that game all the way across those eight things. All of them should infuse one another and they should all be growing together side by side. This is to be the life of the believer. And if it is, then You are fruitful in your knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Knowing Jesus means something. Knowing Jesus is a living root that always produces fruit. And if it's not that way, then you are going to suffer from spiritual short-sightedness and spiritual amnesia. If these things aren't in your life and they are not increasing, then you will have spiritual short-sightedness. In other words, you'll only be able to see earthly things, the things that are right before your eyes.

But we're not supposed to be like that as the people of God. We're supposed to fix our gaze on heaven, where Christ is. Heavenly things is to be the preoccupation of the people of God. We will have spiritual amnesia. We won't be able to look back and see all the sins that God has delivered us from.

So It's a plague. To not give yourself diligently to these eight things is a plague that makes you short-sighted and gives you memory loss. The Lord's people are not to be like that. This week, Peter bears down on the importance and significance of our diligence. So last week he called us to all diligence.

And this week he's just going to keep pounding that nail in. He's going to bear down on the importance and the significance of that diligence. So we go to the text, let's go to the Lord in prayer. God I pray that you would use these words, that you would use the text that is before us today to make us an obedient people, a diligent people who recognize the grace that you poured out on us and we live in gratitude. We are people desiring to be a drink offering poured out before you.

You might be honored That we might be conformed into the precious image of your son Jesus Christ. Oh God, please use these words for this purpose among us. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. In Jesus' name, Amen. Verses 10 and 11, our first two verses, are about making our call and election sure.

In verse 5, Peter says, giving all diligence add to your faith. Now in verse 10 Peter says, therefore brethren be even more diligent to make your call in election sure. So just when you thought he couldn't up the ante from verse 5 when he says, give all diligence, he does in verse 10. He says, be even more diligent to make your call in election sure. How can you be even more diligent to make your call in election sure?

Three words, do these things. Do these things. What things? The list of eight things that he just gave us in last week's text. In verses five and six he develops this list of qualities that should be in the life of the believer, should be growing in the life of the believer.

Then Peter bundles them together and says, These things, in verse 8, and says, These things, in verse 9. It's this bundle of eight things and then he says these things again in verse 10. So these things means the same thing in verse 8, verse 9, verse 10. It's that list of eight things. Do these things.

Let's talk about the call and election of those who have obtained like precious faith. That's who Peter is writing to. Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith. That's who he's writing to. Those who are in the faith.

We share a common faith. So he writes to those who share a common faith that we ought to give all diligence to make our call and election sure. Turn in your Bibles to Romans 8. Romans 8 teaches with such clarity about the call and election of the Lord's people. So turn to Romans 8.

I'll begin reading in verse 28 and read through verse 30. Paul writes this in Romans 8 beginning in verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called.

Whom he called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. Here in Romans 8, Paul first gives the purpose of what God is doing in salvation, and then he gives the sequence. Do you see that? First the purpose, then the sequence.

The purpose is this. To take a people of his choosing. To take those who are not a people and make them a people. To take those who have not obtained mercy, and have them obtain mercy. Take a people of His choosing, and then to conform them into the image of his son.

That is the purpose of God in salvation. It's not simply that he feels sorry for rebels. He does feel sorry for rebels. It's not simply that. It's to take those of his own choosing and then conform them to the image of his son, Jesus Christ.

So that's the purpose in salvation. Then the sequence. Whom he predestined, he Whom he predestined, he calls. Whom he calls, he justifies. Those who he justifies, He glorifies.

So that we see that God is doing everything. God initiates. He begins the good work. And then He is faithful to complete the good work. He starts it.

Because if he didn't start it, it would never start that work. And he is faithful to bring it to completion, because if he wasn't, we'd never make it to the finish line. It is God from start to finish doing these things. So He does the first step. He predestines.

When does that happen? Ephesians 1 verse 4, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He, God the Father, chose us in Him, Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world. It did not happen in your lifetime. God's choosing of you did not happen in your lifetime in response to something you did, or something you were like.

It's because of His mercy. And then He calls. There are the elect, there are the chosen, there are the predestined, but not one of them was ever born saved. They were born in rebellion, and they lived in rebellion. They lived for themselves.

They were an enemy of God. And then, in time and space God called them. God puts His hand on a sinner and says, you're mine and reveals himself to that sinner. And all of a sudden the sinner can see for the first time in his life the beauty and perfections of God. And he says, I have to have that.

I'll sell all that I have. For joy over it, I'll sell all that I have to have this God. When that happens God justifies. And then He glorifies. The end point of the glorification is going to heaven to be with him forever.

You'll never sin and you'll never have tears. There will be no more failure and setbacks. But the glorification doesn't start there. The glorification starts in this life after you've been justified. And God goes to work on you and God is conforming you into the image of his Son.

That's when the glorification starts. God making his name great by taking a sinner and justifying that sinner and then making that sinner look like something that was completely contrary to what he looked like before or what she looked like before. This is when the glorification starts. In one way it's your glorification, but in a more profound way it's his glorification. Only God can do this with sinners.

In Romans 8, Paul gives us the purpose of salvation. God would take a people of his choosing and conform them to his image and then he gives us the sequence of salvation which starts before the foundations of the world in election, in predestination, in choosing. And then it comes into time and space when God calls a sinner. And then that sinner is justified through the work of Jesus Christ. And then God begins the work of glorifying His name by changing the sinner and making that sinner more and more and more and more like his son, Jesus Christ.

Here is the punch line. If you are being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, you can have confidence that God has put you on this track. Here's what Peter is getting at. If you can look at your life and say, with all my sins and shortcomings and failures and setbacks, All that aside, God has put His hand on me and He is making me more like Jesus. I am nothing like I used to be.

If you can look in your life and say that, you can say, God has put me on this track. I can have confidence that I was predestined. I was picked out before the foundation of the world. God has called me to see him and know him, and I'm justified, and I'm being glorified. So Peter is not telling you to save yourself through effort.

When he says, be more diligent to make your call and election sure, he's not saying, save yourself through effort. No, that's not what do these things mean. Peter is exhorting you to secure confidence for yourself. God doesn't need confidence in your election. You need confidence in your election.

And Peter is exhorting you to secure that confidence by nurturing the work of God in your life. So that you can look and see that God has begun a work, is continuing the work, is showing himself to be faithful to bring the work to completion. You can say, God put me on the Romans 8 verse 30 track. Being predestined, then called, then justified, then glorified. After all, Peter has just said that his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

So if you can't say I'm on that track where God is conforming me into the image of the Son that he loves, into the image of Jesus Christ, then You cannot have confidence that God has put you on the track to be saved and to be glorified. Peter has said, his divine power has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness. Godliness. When we heed Peter's exhortation, the exhortation to be even more diligent to make your call on election sure by doing these things. When we heed that exhortation, two things happen.

First, number one, we don't stumble or fall. King James and ESV render it fall instead of stumble. They're both good renderings. So the first thing that happens When we exert ourselves to make our call on election sure by doing these things, is that we don't stumble or fall. Ever.

Ever. Am I saying that a Christian can go through life and never stumble or fall? I'm simply saying what Peter is saying, which is that the Christian who gives all diligence all the time, will never stumble or fall. And I'm happy to concede that I'm not that Christian, and that I haven't met that Christian. And this isn't unusual to Scripture.

To have us called to things that we will never achieve to perfection. Be holy as I am holy. Can you do that? Have you met the Christian who can do that? No.

What is God doing? God is giving us these things to create a sense of ongoing dependence on Him. Ongoing dependence. He is forcing us into ongoing dependence. By saying that there is a way to never stumble, and that is to always give all diligence to these things.

We will not see that perfectly established in our lives on this side of heaven. At the same time, God wants us to know that we're no longer slaves to sin. Christians aren't slaves to sin. We don't have to keep wallowing in the same old thing, day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, there is freedom in Christ. So while no Christian is going to have the experience to say, yes, this has come to fruition in my life.

I always give all diligence every minute to these things, and so I never stumble, and I never fall. God wants us to know that His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So Peter is not teaching us that we can be perfect, but he is teaching us that we can level out our walk in the Lord If we will stop being so careless about our souls. This is what Peter is teaching here. Not that you can be perfect, but that you can level out your walk.

I can look back, I've been in the Lord for more than 30 years now. I can look back and remember to those first days when it was a roller coaster all the time. The highest heights, the lowest lows. And through time, as God has given me progress in the faith, because He is faithful, I can see that things have leveled out in a good way. He is teaching me to Stop being so careless about my soul.

To be more careful. There are two sides to that coin. Don't be careless. Do be careful. This is what Peter is teaching in this text.

Stop with the carelessness about your soul. Are you tired of all the stumbling and bumbling in your Christian walk? I can tell you sometimes I am so sick and tired of the stumbling and bumbling that happens in my Christian walk. Well, Jason, stop being so careless. Start being more careful.

Because God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. It is our stumbling and bumbling that erodes our confidence that God has put us on this track. So when you're careless about your soul, and it sets you stumbling, you start to wonder, has God really marked me out before the foundation of the world? Has He really called me? Has He really justified me?

Because I'm not seeing a lot of conformity to Jesus Christ right now. And it makes you wonder. Good! It ought to make you wonder. Because God has said that His purpose in salvation is to conform a people into the image of His Son.

So if you're in a dry period, you're not making progress in the faith, and there's not a lot of conformity to Jesus Christ, you ought to wonder. And Peter says this is what happens. If you will not give yourself with all diligence to these things, you're going to start to wonder. And God wants it that way. This is for our joy.

That we would give ourselves with all diligence to these things. It's for our joy. What a joy it is to know that God has marked us out before the foundations of the world and that he has revealed himself to us and called us to know him, to repent and be free from the penalty of our sins, to be justified by the blood of Jesus Christ and then to be conformed into the beautiful image of Christ. This is all joy, pure joy. That's why Jesus says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Diligence in these things is joy, leads to joy. It's an easy yoke. It's a light burden. Consider the brilliance of what Peter is teaching. He has not given us a list to check off.

You might think you want that, but you don't really want that. You don't want that list of actions that can be checked off. Because he hasn't given us actions. He's given us the dispositions and qualities that undergird the actions, that are behind and motivate the actions. So you can make yourself Help little old ladies across the road.

But Peter hasn't called you to that. Peter has called you to love. So Peter, in saying it the way he has said it, keeps us away from a checklist of actions. Okay, help little old lady across the road. Check.

You can make yourself do that, but in your heart of hearts, you know if there's love under there, or if it's a counterfeit. So Peter hasn't given you the thing that's easy to counterfeit, he's given you the thing that's underneath. So he forces us to look at our hearts and to know whether it's love that makes us help the little old lady across the road or not. Whether it's self-control that makes us bite our tongue when someone lashes out, or whether it's self-interest. You know in your heart of hearts, you have a conscience.

So the first thing, giving diligence to doing these things does is it keeps us from stumbling. Thing that happens is we secure an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of an everlasting king. You like the sound of that? I like the sound of that. Having an abundant entrance.

Not just an entrance, not just in or out, but an abundant entrance. A grand entrance into an everlasting kingdom that has an everlasting king. That's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's Jesus. I want to consider two texts that help us understand exactly what Peter's driving at here.

The first We don't even need to turn to, we're very familiar with it, it's Matthew 25. If we went there, we'd be looking at Matthew 14-30. In Matthew 25 verses 14-30, we have the parable of the talents. A lord is going away on a journey, a long journey, and so he entrusts his goods to his servants. He gives five talents, which is a tremendous amount of money, to one servant.

Two to another, one talent to a third, which is still a tremendous amount of money. Some are fruitful. The one with five is fruitful. Out of the five, he generates another five by being diligent. The one with two is fruitful.

He generates another two by being diligent. The one with one just buried his, and there's no fruit. When the Master comes back from his long journey, to the one who took five, and through diligence generated five, he says this, well done good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of your Lord." Same with the one who took two, and through his diligence, generated two more. The one who just buried his is sent out into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Because there's no fruit. Peter is driving at the same thing. Peter wants us entering the gates of heaven and hearing these words.

Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things. I will make you ruler of many things. Enter in to the joy of your Lord. That friends is an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Does that sound abundant to you? That sounds very abundant to me. Well done, good and faithful Josh. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Well done, good and faithful Karen.

Enter into the joy of your Lord. Well done, good and faithful Karen. Enter into the joy of your Lord. That friends is an abundant entrance. Now consider 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

I do want to ask you to turn there. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, 5 through 15. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 beginning in verse 5, Paul talks about laboring in the Lord. Fruitfulness in the Lord. Follow along with me.

1 Corinthians chapter 3 beginning in verse 5, reading through 15, Paul writes, Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters but God who gives the increase.

Now he who plants and he who waters are one. And each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear. For the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." My understanding of this, and I think I'm on solid ground here, is that Paul is teaching about Christians.

He's talking about people who are building on the one solid foundation, Jesus Christ. So this isn't believers and unbelievers. These are believers who are building in very different ways. Paul is communicating a few things here. One is that God gets the glory.

You might be a sower, or You might be a waterer, but in any case, when there's increase, it's because God gave it. So boasting is eliminated. But another thing that Paul is communicating here is that how we build on that foundation matters. You're either building with gold and silver and precious gems, or you're building with wood, hay, and stubble. And these works are going to be tested by fire.

And It's possible to build badly and still get in and to just barely escape. But that is not an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not. So Peter is exhorting us in our text in 2 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11 to go for the abundant entrance, to build with gold and silver and precious jewels and not to be one who just gets in by the skin of his teeth or her teeth. Paul says this in Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." Can you see God working in you to will and to do His good pleasure. This is what it means to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. To be able to see the work of God in your life to will and to do His good pleasure. So that God is working in you. When you assess your life, you can see Him working in you.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith, you know. Peter and Paul are teaching very, very similar things here. If God has put His hand on you and His Spirit indwells you, there is real spiritual fruit. So give yourself with all diligence to see that there is real spiritual fruit.

Not the counterfeits. We all know we can generate the counterfeits and we'll all be impressed with each other. We'll all fool each other. We're talking about real spiritual fruit here. And if God has put His hand on you and His Spirit indwells you there will be real spiritual truth.

Peter says, however diligent you've been or not been, be even more diligent. Peter can say this across all the spectrum of the Lord's people. The one who was saved yesterday who has very little to commend himself or herself in the way of fruit. Peter can say, be more diligent than you were yesterday when you got saved. Peter can say this with all confidence and a straight face to someone who's been in the Lord for 50 years, be even more diligent, and someone who's been walking with the Lord, that long will be thankful for the exhortation.

Because they'll know how quickly we cool off. So we need to be told to be even more diligent. The diligent need to be told that. Those who haven't been diligent need to be told that. There is an everlasting kingdom.

There is an everlasting king. There is an everlasting king. And there is an abundant entrance to be had. And there is a voice that says, well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

Back to 2 Peter, verses 12-15. Peter now turns to his own work. He's been talking about our work to be diligent in. Now he turns to his own work. And on your handouts, I've got this section as the work of the diligent minister of the gospel, because Peter is holding up his own work, but he's actually a pattern.

You'll recall in 1 Peter he calls himself a fellow shepherd, a fellow elder, an under shepherd. So Peter's work here is the shepherd's work. In verse 12 he says, I will not be negligent. In verse 15 he says, moreover I will be careful. The New King James translator should be flogged for rendering that careful just for this simple reason.

It's the same Greek word as diligent in verse 10. So the point is he's called us to diligence and he's holding himself to the same standard of diligence. And the New King James translators, because they rendered the same Greek word differently, have made it easy for us to lose sight of that. NASB renders it diligent, and I think that's better for the obvious reason. So Peter has called you and me to diligence in verses 5 and 10.

In verse 5 it's just the noun form, in verse 10 and 15 it's the verb form but it's the same Greek root. He's requiring it of you and me in the Lord, and He's requiring it of himself as a shepherd. What he says here is what a diligent shepherd does. So this is an important text for me and for you as you groom your expectations of me. I'm going to be diligent.

I should be doing what Peter's doing. What is that? Teaching truth and then reminding of the same old truths. How little of my time is spent teaching new truth, things you've never heard before. You might not have ever heard anything from me once that you had not heard before.

That's not really my business, unless you're a very young Christian. Most of my business is reminding you of the things that you already know, and working to stir you up in the things that have already been established as truth. You've already embraced it as truth. And it's my job to keep saying it. In verse 12, Peter says, for this reason, for this reason, shepherds have a role to play in the fruitfulness of sheep.

He's just talking about assurance that comes from cultivating the work of God in your life in these eight things. So shepherds have a role to play here. And it's to teach and it's to remind The sheep. Shepherds ought to always be doing this. If the sheep aren't established in the truth, then they should teach truth.

And if they are established in the truth, they should teach it again, and again, and again, and again. Very often is not too often. Peter says, always. Peter says, always, and he means even after I'm dead. That kind of always.

Not always that's capped by death, but always that goes even beyond the point of his death. He says, it is right. It's right to be teaching truth and then reminding so frequently that it extends beyond the point of my death. That's right. Why?

Because even when we know something, three things are in play. Even when we know and are established in a truth, number one, we're forgetful. We have short attention spans, don't we? It's good to be reminded. So even if you know a truth, it's good to be reminded of the same truth because we're forgetful.

Number two, because we need to be stirred up. Even when we know and we're not forgetting, we grow cold fast. We grow cold periodically. And we need to be stirred up by the Word of God through preaching, through reminding. Thirdly, I'm going outside of the immediate context, but to the context of the books.

There are false teachers that are working diligently to erode sound doctrine. And the more times we've heard it, the more firmly established we are, the better. The less vulnerable we are to the false teachers that Peter is going to spend the whole rest of the letter trying to protect us from. So we ought to be reminded because we're forgetful, we ought to be reminded because we need to be stirred up, We ought to be reminded because there are false teachers out there. We need to be so firmly established through repetition in all of these truths.

How many times has it seemed like the first time all over again in a sermon? You know you've heard it. You know you've been to the text a bunch of times, but you hear the sermon, not a spectacular sermon, but just a normal old expository sermon that just talks about the words of the text, and it's like you're hearing it again for the first time. This happens to me all the time when I hear preaching. I'm so grateful for the reminder.

And Sometimes it doesn't even seem like a reminder. It seems like you're hearing truth fresh for the first time. How many times have you been stirred up out of paralysis and complacency by a normal, old expository sermon? You're in a rut, and you can't get out of a rut and then God sends a man to just speak about just the right text, not in a spectacular way but a normal way and you're out of the rut. You're jolted out of your complacency or your paralysis.

To some degree or another, this ought to be happening every single week when you hear preaching. Paul, in Acts 20, calls for the Ephesian elders to join him on the beach at Miletus. In verse 20 he says he's talking about his life among them and he's exhorting them to follow his example. So that's the flow of Acts 20. Elders come here, they come here, then here's how I lived among you, you do the same.

In verse 20, he says, I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house. If Paul was in your house, he was teaching, he was reminding. If Paul was in public, he was teaching, He was reminding. He kept back nothing that was helpful. And he calls the Ephesian elders to keep back nothing that was helpful.

To teach when they're in houses and to teach when they're in public, just like he did. In Acts 20 verse 27, Paul says, For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. He lived in Ephesus a long time, more than two years. And He gave them the whole counsel of God. He didn't hold back one thing.

He gave it all to them. He didn't hold back anything that was helpful. Listen to Isaiah 62 verse 6. This is God speaking through the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 62 verse 6, God says, I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem.

They shall never hold their peace by day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent. God in every age sets watchmen on the wall. And They are not to hold their peace by day or night. They are to bring the Word of God to bear, and bring the Word of God to bear, and bring the Word of God to bear.

Not teaching new truths. This is not novel doctrine. These are all the things you've heard before. But reminding you and stirring you up because that's what the Lord's people need. They're not to keep silent.

Finally, Peter explains why he has such a sense of urgency. It's because his time is short. So Peter is pressing these truths, reminding, stirring up with all urgency because he knows he doesn't have much time left to do the work that God has given him to do. There are two things that Jesus said to Peter in the Gospels that are burning in his heart. As I studied this text this week, and I looked at the cross references, I could say, here in this Gospel, and here in that Gospel, these things are pressing on Peter and burning in his heart.

And I can tell it by what he's written. What are those two places? The first is in Luke 22, verses 31 and 32. In Luke 22, verses 31 and 32, Jesus looks at Peter and says this, Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren." These are some of the last words that Jesus said to Peter when he was here.

When you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. This is the work that Jesus gave Peter to do, and in 2 Peter he's doing it with all his heart. With the sense that he doesn't have much time left to do the work that was given directly by Jesus for him to do. He is strengthening his brethren with all his might. The second place is John 21 verses 18 and 19.

In John 21 verses 18 and 19, Jesus looks at Peter and he says, Most assuredly I say to you, When you were younger you girded yourself and walked where you wished, but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This Jesus spoke signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me. Jesus who went to the cross looked at Peter and said, Peter, Follow me. Right now you're a young man, you gird yourself, you go wherever you want to go.

When you're an old man, another will gird you and take you where you don't want to go. Jesus was saying that to signify by what death Peter would glorify God. Then Jesus looks Peter in the eyes, and in this dramatic movement he says, follow me. Peter did follow him. Consider how this godly man considers his life.

In other words, what does Peter think of his life? What we think of as life is not what Peter thinks of as life. When we think of a beating heart and arms that move and legs that function, vital organs that are humming along as life, we're not thinking like Peter. Peter says, all that's a tent. It's just a temporary dwelling to be put off like you put off a garment.

You'd be laid aside like you'd lay aside your sweater at the end of the day. Peter says, I'm in this tent so I'll teach you and I'll remind you because that's the work that the Lord has given me to do for now, but shortly I must put off this tent." He was a young man when Jesus said that to him, and now he is an old man. He can see where things are headed. He knows he doesn't have much time. A turn to 2 Corinthians.

This is the last place we'll go. In 2 Corinthians, Paul talks about the tent, just like Peter talks about the tent, and Paul expands on it so it's a good place to go to wind up our time. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 will read verses 1 through 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning in 1, reading through 8, Paul writes, For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.

If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent grown, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For We walk by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. As God makes us godly, we'll be more like this. We'll think more like this. We won't think of life in terms of a beating heart and vital organs that hum along at the normal rate. But we'll think that this tent is holding us back from being present to the Lord.

And our longing to put off this garment, to lay aside the sweater at the end of the day, and to be with the Lord will grow and grow and grow. May it be so in these hearts of ours. May we be ready to lay aside the sweater at the end of the day, and to be absent from this tent, and to be present with the Lord. Here's what the Expositors Bible commentary says, No cold, no terrors. It is like putting off old clothes, or an exit from old age.

As we give all diligence to these things, as we're even more diligent to make our call and election sure. Death will hold no terrors for us. God desires to supply an abundant entrance into an everlasting kingdom. In conclusion, This text takes aim at those who ask, can I get in with a little fruit? So you're the bullseye of this text, if that's your question.

Can I get in with just a little fruit? If that's your question, I fear for you. Not because the answer is no, interestingly enough the answer is yes. But the Lord's people don't ask that question. It's not their question.

They have other questions. They have other questions. God wants us to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord's people have a sense of that. The Lord's people have a hunger and a thirst for that.

So if your question is, can I slip in and just escape the fire, If I don't give any diligence to these things, then I just have a little fruit? Realize what that might mean about you if that's your question. So the answer is yes. There will be those who get in, but it won't be an abundant entrance. The Lord's people should want an abundant entrance to hear the voice of their Master say, well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.

Having built with gold and silver and precious stones, so that something remains when All of our work will be tested by fire, and we'll have a reward that we receive. May the Lord make us a fruitful people as we consider the grace of God that has been lavished on us, and we live a life of gratitude giving all diligence to these things. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. What a great text.

I pray that you would use it among us. I pray, Lord, that you would convict us of cold heartedness, of the wondering of how much we can get away with and how little fruit we can have and still be included. Oh God, make us a hot-hearted people who love you with all of our hearts and all of our soul and all of our strength. Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.