In 'A Hope-Filled Future Produces Faithful Living,' Trent Moody emphasizes that a hopeful future in Christ should inspire believers to live faithfully and diligently. Drawing from 2 Peter 3, Moody highlights Peter's final exhortation to the church, urging believers to anticipate the fulfillment of God's promises and to live in a manner that reflects their salvation. The sermon underscores the importance of understanding God's long-suffering nature as a means for salvation, giving believers time to grow in faith and share the gospel. Moody stresses the need for ongoing diligence in Christian living, not to earn salvation, but to demonstrate its authenticity through a life of holiness and obedience. The message includes warnings against falling from steadfastness due to the influence of false teachings and emphasizes the importance of growing in grace and knowledge of Christ. Overall, the sermon calls believers to be vigilant, diligent, and hopeful, living in anticipation of the Lord's return.

Turning there. Something struck me this morning in our call to worship that I would like to read before I read the text. If you've ever been given a task in your life that you seem so insufficient for, This is often how preachers feel when they stand to open the Word of God. He read to us in Psalm 89 in verse 7 it says, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, to be held in reverence by all those around him. In saying that, it takes me to another passage in the New Testament in Ephesians where Paul makes this amazing statement regarding what is about to take place.

This is what is getting ready to take place right here. So consider this. Paul says in Ephesians 3, 8, he says, to me who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. Listen to what he says, To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. And so as I come to this text I consider this And I think the task is way beyond me.

That what we do here today is so that we the church would make known to principalities and powers in heavenly places, the glorious gospel. It is not a little thing that we do here today. This is the worship of God. So may all the world fear him. Will you pray with me before I read my text please?

Our Father, we come this morning before our great King And we bring with us Lord the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lord I pray that you would guard my every word. Lord to consider the greatness of the task and to the extent that it is to be made known to principalities and powers in heavenly places. Lord, who is sufficient for such things? For we hold this treasure in earthen vessels.

But I thank you, O Lord, that the power of it does not rely upon me. For it is not by strength nor by might, but by my spirit, says the Lord. And so Lord, we with open hearts ask and invite you oh Holy Spirit to teach us today and I pray that God you would be glorified in your son Jesus yet again today. And we ask this in Christ's name. Amen.

In 2 Peter Chapter 3, I want to back up just to grab some context because it has been a little while since we've been here. In 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10 is where I preached last. And here Peter is giving his final exhortation to the church. He's giving his final words that we have recorded for us. And he says this, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwell. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless, and consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. As also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him has written to you, as also in all of his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction as they do also the rest of the scriptures.

You therefore beloved since you know this beforehand beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness being led away with the error of the wicked, but grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. You may be seated. Amen.

You may be seated. As you see in your outline, my desire for you this morning is that as you grasp this glorious future that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ, this new heavens and new earth that God has promised to those who love Him, that a hopeful future or a hope-filled future will produce in us faithful living. It's not unimportant how we live brothers and sisters. It's extremely important how we live. Not to obtain this glorious salvation which we are promised, but to prove that we have it.

You see we've come to Peter's final recorded words And here we have this final exhortation to the believers. He again calls them this wonderful term, beloved. I love that about Peter because he's constantly reminding his people, even though he's speaking very difficult things and very hard things to the people, he's reminding them again that everything that he says is because they are the beloved of God. And not only the beloved of God, but because they are the beloved of God, they are beloved to Peter. Peter saw himself as we saw in 1 Peter, that he was an elder and that he saw himself as being a shepherd, an under shepherd of the flock of God and that he was recommending and exhorting the elders not to lord it over the people but basically that that they should be servant leaders that they should love them that they should not do this great work by compulsion or but that they should do it because they love God's people.

I want you to know that that's my heart this morning and as I think about this and I read these words, therefore beloved, these are my words to you, therefore beloved. I want you to know that you are loved by God. And because you are loved by God, you are loved by me and by your elders. But Peter uses this word over and over and over again. He doesn't want them to forget this great truth.

He does not want them to forget that everything that he exhorts them to do is out of love. They are beloved to him and beloved to the Lord Jesus Christ. Really this is my prayer every time I stand to preach to you that you know that you're loved. That the labors of this work that are taking place this morning are labors of love. And so as the beloved first and foremost what we see here in Peter's exhortation to the believers is that we should live in expectation of the promises of God being fulfilled.

Now that may be a mouthful here, but I want you to see what Peter is telling them is that they should live as he says here in verse 14 looking forward to these things and back in verse 12 he says looking forward and hastening the coming of the day of God that as we look with expectation on the promises of God that they will be fulfilled. It's not a hope so as sometimes we think of, but it is not just hopeful that it will happen, but if you would hope-filled promises. We are filled with hope on the promises of God. We're not just hoping that they come about, we are filled with hope because we know they will come about, we are looking forward and hastening the coming of the day of God. That's what I want to press into you and that's what Peter wanted to press into these beloved of God, that they would be looking forward to these things.

And so this idea of looking forward to these things denotes a mental direction. Something that should always be before our minds is this mental direction of God fulfilling all his promises. Specifically what he's talking about here are the promises of the coming of the day of the Lord. For those who are in Christ, this is a hope-filled promise. This is a glorious expectation.

This is something that should make us eagerly anticipate that day. For those who are not in Christ, this is a day filled with terror. This is a day that you, if you remain until the coming of the Lord, you will desire to find a cave and you will cry out to the rocks to fall upon you to escape that day. But you will not. You will not escape that day.

But here Peter is speaking to the beloved of God. He wants him to understand that we can have great expectation of this promise of God being fulfilled in our lives. These things here that he is talking about is the coming of the Lord. It's the restitution of all things. It's the new heavens and the new earth.

How often brothers and sisters do you have these things before your mind? It's so easy to get overwhelmed and caught up and just absolutely given over to the things of our busy lives. Ten thousand distractions. And to hit off my last sermon, technology does not help. Technology is really one of those things that promise to deliver us from the large task and in some ways it did but it replaced them with 10, 000 little tasks that eat up your time.

But these things should be in our mind. Do not live as if Christ will never return. I believe the reason that we are not told when this day will be is so that we will live in a constant eager expectation with this anticipation of the Lord's return. You know none of the apostles, none of the disciples knew the day in which he would return. But he did say it will come as a thief in the night.

But don't let it overtake you as a thief. You're not the children of the night, you're children of the day. You know it's coming. So live with this expectation that the promise of God will be fulfilled and that's how you should live. And so this hope-filled future should produce in you a fateful living.

You see when we live with the return of Christ in the forefront of our minds, the effect will be diligence in our Christian world. Notice what he says in verse 14, therefore beloved looking forward to these things be diligent. Now I'll explain what we're to be diligent in but this is something important I put there in your notes the definition of this diligence. Be diligent. As reformed believers, we hold tightly to the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

We are made right with God not because of what we do. We are made right with God because of what Christ did. All that he did for us in his life, in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection, in his ascension, and as he intercedes for us, all of these things is what makes us right with God. There is no man working with God to accomplish salvation. It is his work alone.

Nevertheless, Peter is not talking about justification here. What he is talking about is our walk with the Lord. That because we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone, how shall we now live? He's talking about the sanctification of our lives and the striving towards holiness in light of the Lord's return. He's coming.

So here, beloved, there is striving and exertion and diligence in our pursuit of holiness. I don't know if you've ever heard this old phrase but sometimes in little country churches you hear the phrase, just let go and let God. Well that's not biblical. What Peter says is be diligent. Be diligent in these things.

This word diligent here is like I said is in your notes. It means to move speedily by fully applying oneself. Acting fervently. It's a speedy commitment to accomplish all that God has assigned to you through faith. Now remember it's through faith But it's not this putter-in-cruise control Christianity that we're talking about.

This is a striving with all diligence. It is seeking the Lord with all that you are. Remember that our diligence is activated by our faith and not the other way around. Philippians 2, 12 and 13 remind us of this. You've heard this many times, but he says this, Paul says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to do, or excuse me, to will and to do for his good pleasure." So even here we can't take any of the credit really other than God is working in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. He gets all the glory for it. It's God working in us but as he works in us it works out of us. It produces within us a diligence to seek the Lord because we know the day of the Lord is coming. Every parent has seen a child obey without diligence.

Perhaps with a bad attitude or perhaps with drooping of the hands and spaghetti knees, they go forward to do the task that was required of them. Sometimes as this huge weight was placed upon their shoulders, this invisible weight that is immediately set upon shoulders, the child strives to go forward to accomplish the task. Lest we be too hard on children, Christians can be the same way. How do you go about your diligence? Do you do it as if a heavy weight is laid upon your shoulders?

Christians, there should be delight in obeying the Lord. I often tell my children that attitude is 95% of any task. It may be more than that. A bad attitude makes every task unbearable. But a godly attitude, an attitude of diligence, an attitude of eagerness, an attitude of seeking to delight in the Lord and what he has done for us and what he has called us to do, it makes any task easier.

However, the opposite is true. This bad attitude could make almost the simplest task seem unbearable. So the personal question that we must ask ourselves is does the promise of the Lord's return produce in you a diligence to walk with Him in joyful obedience? You see that's what he's saying here, therefore beloved looking forward to these things be diligent to be found by him in peace. First Peter 1 5 through 8 says but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, to your virtue knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love, For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, he says also in 2 Peter 1.10, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble." That's the desire of Peter is that they would live a life of diligence seeking and pursuing God that they will not stumble. He's concerned. He's writing his last words to these believers and he doesn't want to depart as he talks about it in another place. He's soon going to depart and lay off this tent, this temporary dwelling place that he's living in and the believers are going to be left not without the Spirit, not without the Word, but without him and he longs for them. He's desiring to see in them a diligence produced so that they will not stumble and that they would not fall away.

You know 1st John 5.3 says this, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. How do you view the commandments of God? Like a child with take out the trash? Or do you view them as those who love God? It's not a burden to obey someone whom you love.

It's not a burden to obey someone who loves you and is given his all for you. No, it's a joy. It's a peace to our souls. We should be diligent to be found in him in peace. You see, if Christ were to return right now, Would you be found in him in peace?

What is that? What is peace? It's not the absence of conflict. It's not the absence of struggle. To be found in him of peace is much more about your relation with him than it is with the troubles and the strivings in this world.

There's a couple possible meanings here. It has to do with our standing before God. Scott is preaching through the book of Romans and I'm gonna be quoting a ton of Romans today, so you prep work for you, here you go. Romans 5.1, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ so first and foremost if you're going to be found by him in that day in peace this is how you have it. Are you justified by faith in him?

Are you made right with God solely upon the merits of Christ and what he did on the cross for you. And if that is true of you, he says right here, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so if that's true, When he returns, when the promise is fulfilled, you will be found in him in peace. It also has to do, I believe, with our walk with the Lord. You could be a Christian and the Lord return and you be found doing something you should not be doing.

None of us are perfect. We do struggle with sin. We often falter in our walk with the Lord. 1st John 2 28 says this, and now little children abide in him that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming." This past week can you think back of moments in your life where if the Lord had returned you would have been ashamed. Peter doesn't want us to live there.

Hey, we all get there at times, okay? This isn't a burden and a guilt trip I'm laying upon you. These are the facts of struggling with sin. But what do we do with that? We turn from that.

We reject the old man and we put to death the old man and we feed the new man. That's what Peter's going to be getting to here. And so our walk with God is so important because know this is so closely related to the first thing that I mentioned about being justified by faith. It's this believers abiding in Christ is proof of our justification through Christ. And so if you are not abiding in Christ, then you do not have the confidence of being justified by Christ.

If you're abiding in Christ then you can have confidence and you will not be ashamed before Him and His coming. Matthew Henry says never expect to be found at that day of God in peace if you are lazy and idle in this your day, in which we must finish the work that is given us to do. It is only the diligent Christian who will be the happy Christian in the day of the Lord. Our Lord will suddenly come to us or shortly call us to himself and we would have him find you idle. That's his question.

Or will we be found as the diligent? Jesus left his disciples often with the same thought, occupy until I come. We're not just to sit back and cruise, we're to be diligently occupied until he comes. 1 Peter 1 19 describes for us this next thought here, is that we're to be found diligent, we're to be diligent and be found by him in peace. And then he kind of describes this peace, it is this peace that pours out of being without spot and blemish.

First Peter 1 19 describes this of Christ himself and let me just say we can describe this as being Christ-like. You'll be found at peace with God when you're Christ-like. 1 Peter 1 19, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 John 3, 2 and 3 says, Beloved, now we are the children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. See, John is talking the same thing.

There is such a continuity among all of the writers of scripture. It is undeniable that this word is the very word of God. There are no contradictions except how it contradicts me. It contradicts me constantly in the way that I think and the way that I live. But there's no contradictions among itself.

John is very clear in saying this and he says that everyone who has this hope, that's what we're talking about this morning, what hope? The hope of him returning. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he, Christ, is pure. That should be our striving. That's what we're longing for, is to be like Christ.

It doesn't happen by osmosis. There are too many imperatives in the scriptures. Now, in our standing before God, hear me clearly, in our standing before God we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone. But he does not leave us there, but because we are justified in that way by solely a work of God, the Holy Spirit of God comes and he makes actual what he has declared to be true. He's working in us holiness and a striving for godliness, a purifying of ourselves and a desire to be pure even as Christ himself is pure.

But secondly we see in verses 15 and 16 he says salvation is the purpose of God which he has ordained his long suffering. So God, let me say it this way, God has ordained a long sufferingness of himself. Have you ever been amazed at the longsufferingness of God? How can he, Terry, how can he continue to hold back his judgment? Well, he tells us why he does that.

Salvation is the purpose of God which he has ordained in his long suffering. So consider this, let's read it, and consider, think about this he says, that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. Peter tells us to think about it. It's something that he's already dealt with in the former verses that I read earlier that we preached last time, but there's more to consider. He tells us the first time to be thinking, it's not slackness why God is delaying.

He's not slack concerning his promises. He's long suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But he mentions that again there's more to consider. Why does God delay His promises? And let me just say, to us they seem to be delayed.

To God it's exactly on time. There's no delay. It's perfectly His will when these things come about. There are two ways of view this longsufferingness of our Lord. The wicked view is this.

It's an opportunity to live it up. More time to sin, more time to feed the flesh, more time to mock those who believe the Lord will return, more time to pursue worldly pleasures, more time to make and worship idols. However, for the believer, it's an opportunity to consider our own salvation, our progress in the faith, and the salvation of others. The long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. It's more opportunity to share the gospel with the lost.

It's more time to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord. More time to purge every spot and blemish from our life. The long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. Matthew Henry again says, Does your Lord delay his coming? Do not think this is to give more time to make provision for your lust, to gratify them.

It is so much space to repent and to work out your own salvation. It proceeds not from a lack of concern or compassion for his suffering servants, nor is it designed to give continuance and encouragement to the world of the ungodly, but that men may have time to prepare for eternity. Learn then to make right use of the patience of the Lord, Who does as yet delay his coming? Follow after peace and holiness or else his coming will be dreadful to you. When you consider the longsufferings of God, What do you think about?

Sometimes in my own self-righteousness I think about the delay of the Lord and I think, Lord, when I see the things around me and what's going on in our culture and our nation and even around the world, I think, Lord, how could you possibly delay? It's almost like James and John with Jesus, Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven? Jesus says, you know not what spirit you are of. When we consider the long-suffering nature of God, when God delays His judgment, when He delays His coming, it is for the purpose of salvation. It is for the salvation of your soul, it is for the sanctification of your soul, is to give you opportunity to purge out every spot and blemish.

It is for the opportunity for you to take the gospel to all the world. Think about the purpose of God in His delay. It's not because He's slack. It's not because He's unloving. It's actually a display of the greatness of the love of God.

He's not willing as he says here in verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish. The delay in God's judgment is because he's not willing that any should perish. What a great love that is. What a great God we have. What a merciful God.

He delays his judgment. Long sufferingness is simply the word that defines itself. It means to suffer long. God is suffering reproach on all the wickedness of the world when they deny him, when they deny the very nature of what God has created us to be and the very genders that we are and all that he has created mankind to be and we throw it in his face as a human race and he suffers long because ultimately we do not affect his nature. When you attack me you may make me weaker.

You may lessen my ability to come back against you, but not with God. Our sin does not weaken God. All of our sin together does not hinder God from being able to bring judgment upon us. He's not lessened in any form or fashion. He delays because he loves.

The long-suffering, consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. So my question to you is why do you delay? We know why God delays. Why do you delay? If you are not in Christ why do you delay?

Today is the day of salvation. Come. The offer is open. Come. Ye who thirst, come.

There is a fountain of living water poured out for you. Come. The door has not been shut as of yet. The offer is open wide. Come, come to the Lord and you will then be found in him in peace." Peter calls us to live in this hopeful anticipation of the return of Christ in all that it entails.

The natural tendency that we have is to wonder why he tarries so long but we know it is because he loves. You know this doctrine should give us the greatest confidence in all of our efforts in sharing the gospel. Don't let the doctrine of God's sovereignty over salvation calls you to be in turmoil about what it means that God is long suffering towards all of those whom Christ died for. Let me be specific, Christ died for the elect. I don't know who all that is and you don't either but God surely knows.

He's long-suffering towards us we talked about that last time who the us is there the us as we learn in 1st Peter are the elect of God. He's long-suffering towards those and he's not willing that any of the elect shall perish. His long suffering is for the salvation of all those for whom Christ atoned for. These promises will not be fulfilled until every last one of the elect of God has been affectionately called to salvation. This should give us great confidence when we preach the gospel.

We have no fear of messing up. We have no fear of someone whom Christ died for not coming to Christ in salvation. We have full confidence that all that he calls shall come to him. And we are given this great privilege to proclaim this glorious doctrine. This doctrine, again, should give us the greatest confidence in all of our efforts in sharing the gospel.

God waits because there are more to come into the kingdom. Why has he not come today? There are still the elect of God who have not come to salvation. Therefore, go and preach the gospel to every nation. Every nation.

Consider the purposes of God's delay. I often hear from people who are amazed again that God delays his judgment. But God's delay is because he's not willing that any should perish. What a God. All those who thirsty, come.

Are you thirsty this morning? Come. I also believe that this can point us to the working out of our own salvation as I mentioned earlier. It's salvation in the sense that he gives us opportunity. One commentator, Ellicott, notes in his commentary, accounting the long-suffering of our Lord's salvation, instead of accounting it to be slackness, we should make use of it for the working out of our own salvation and fear and trembling instead of questioning and criticizing the long-sufferingness of God.

How are you using God's delay? It's important to consider. This consideration though extends beyond just the long-suffering of the Lord as salvation. The consideration goes beyond that and it is a testimony of Peter. Look at what he says of Paul.

He says, and consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you." It's an extension of the testimony of Peter and he brings Paul into this and he says there's a continuity of our message. It's a validation of the truthfulness of God's Word. The Gospel is the same. The testimony is the same. The exhortation is the same.

Peter says, it's not just my Word. It's our beloved brother Paul's Word, as he wrote to you. You see, consider with me the unity of the Apostles divinely inspired doctrine. He says it's not only mine but also our beloved brother Paul. You see, the Apostles' testimony agrees.

Paul's writings to them confirmed Peter's message as well. And I want to give you some passages that show that Paul was saying the same thing that Peter was saying and that God's long suffering was for the purpose of salvation again to Romans chapter 2 verses 4 & 5 he says or do you despise the riches of his goodness forbearance and long-suffering knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. But in accordance with your hardness and your impotent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Listen, Paul is saying, he says, do you despise the goodness and the long-suffering of God? Hey, if you're in Christ you need to understand this is your salvation.

If you're not in Christ, don't be like this second verse in verse 4. But in accordance with your hardness and impotent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath. Listen, the long sufferingness of God is salvation. But according to the Apostle Paul, it's also if you continue to reject Christ, you're storing up more wrath. You'd be better off to die now than you would be in 20 years from now if you're outside of Christ.

So why delay? Why reject? Don't have a hard heart. Turn from your hardness of heart if you're rejecting what God has done. Turn from the hardness of your heart and receive and be glad and be thankful of the goodness of God.

Be thankful for his long-suffering. It's for your salvation. Romans 3 24 through 26 also gives the same testimony being justified freely by his grace to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Why? To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Think about it. Romans 9, oh here's a hard one, Romans 9 22, listen to this, what if God, wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering, the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he called not to the Jew only but also of the Gentiles. You see there's a twofold purpose in the long suffering of God. One, you're storing up more wrath. Two, You're getting ready to be the display of God's glory.

You're going to give more glory to God because He was so long suffering with you. Isn't that wonderful? The same word, listen, the same gospel, to one it is aroma of life unto life, and to the other it is an aroma of death unto death. Oh, dear one, please come to Christ. 1 Timothy, Paul says this, This is a fateful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

However, for this reason I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe in him for everlasting life." Why is he so long suffering with us? He's using that as a pattern just to demonstrate how great he is, how glorious he is, how patient he is, his forbearance and his grace. He's demonstrating that. Remember what I read in Ephesians 3 at the beginning. It's not just about us, but he's demonstrating that to principalities and powers in heavenly places.

You, your salvation and God's working of salvation is on display not only for the earth but for every creature that has been created. It's on display. A few items that I just want to mention that I think are worth noting but I don't want to go too deep into them as we look and see these passage regarding Paul and the wisdom that was given to him and this unique way in which Peter brings Paul into this to affirm the validity of what he preached. And it may seem unimportant to you, but there's five or six things here I just wanted to mention real quick. Five.

One is this. It struck me that Peter holds nothing against Paul for his sharp rebuke in Galatians chapter 2. Can I just say a mature Christian takes a rebuke and becomes better, not bitter? How do you receive it? How have you received rebuke?

You become bitter at the person who told you? Hey, I guarantee your situation wasn't like Peter's. Paul did it before the church and then the Holy Spirit said that needs we're gonna write that one down for all the world to read forever. How about that? And Peter didn't become bitter, he became better.

And look at what he calls him. He says, even as our beloved brother, Paul. When you're rebuked by a brother, how do you receive that? Are they your beloved brother or your beloved sister or do you not like to look at him? So secondly Peter acknowledged Paul as receiving wisdom from above.

Again Peter is giving glory to God. It's not that Paul was so great, but Paul had received a stewardship. Paul had received wisdom from God. Anyone who has wisdom, anyone who has a spiritual gift, why do we boast as if we had not received it? What do we have that we have not received?

Anyone who is gifted in any form or fashion to bless the church, it is a gift from above. It is a gift of God for the good of the church, not for the glory of that person. So Peter acknowledges that Paul's wisdom was from above and not from within himself. Thirdly, it seems that Paul's letters had already made it to the churches in circulation among these believers as well. And not only that, but this testimony was found in all of his epistles.

He says here, according to the wisdom given to him has written to you, as also in all of his epistles, speaking in them these things. Paul was saying the same thing. Fourthly, Paul's writings, though often difficult to understand, are not impossible to understand. He says, speaking in them these things in which are some things hard to understand, he didn't say impossible. I believe that ties back to our diligence.

Be diligent. Be diligent in your study of God's Word. Seek out God's word to understand it. And then fifthly on this few items worth noting, the same word that leads to salvation can also lead to destruction for those who twist it to their own desires. Here's a warning.

The danger is private interpretation. We read this morning in our scripture quotation that the holy word of God is not of any private interpretation. Now there's some nuances in understanding all that that means, but suffice it to say this. If your interpretation of God's Word is unique to history, Dump it. Get rid of it.

Drop it. Because here's what happens. What happens is, is people who are unlearned or ignorant and unstable, as Peter talked about earlier, these people twist to their own destruction. They twist it. It's the idea of being put in the rack when a prisoner was put into the rack and they stretched it and they twisted.

That's what people do to the scriptures. And it leads to their destruction. To those who rightly divide the Word of Truth is salvation. To those who twist it, it leads to destruction. So be careful.

If your interpretation is unique to history, you may be leading to your own destruction. I have much more to say on that but time hinders me. Let's get to our last point. So finally Peter gives us some strong warning and as the saying goes forewarned is forearmed. He leaves us with this verse 17, you therefore beloved since you know this beforehand beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness being led away with the error of the wicked.

Peter's pastoral heart again emerges. He's mentioned beloved three times in these few verses here. You therefore beloved, Paul was beloved, and then before, therefore beloved. Peter is just about calling everybody, I love you, I love you, I love you. You're beloved of God, you're beloved by me, and I give this warning from a pastor's heart, be careful, be warned, beware.

See to beware means that you're being preserved by having an eye on something. It's referring to the uninterrupted vigilance of a shepherd. It's a military term speaking about a military guard exercising unbroken vigilance. He's keeping watch over, he's keeping something secure. Again, it's emphasizing this idea of vigilance to keep what is entrusted and that's what Peter's saying, beloved keep what is entrusted to you.

Guard it. Don't be led astray by the error of the wicked. You see, we need to be reminded constantly that the only defense against falling from our steadfastness is being ever diligent and vigilant. Again, we're not on a playground. We're on a battleground.

And the world, and your flesh, and the devil are constantly striving to pull you down. And let me just say this in side note, not everything that bad happens to you is the devil's fault. Sometimes it's all you. Sometimes you did every bit of that. It's just our own sinfulness of our flesh.

So may God help us. You know I often think of the Christian life in these very elementary thoughts. When I was a little child and I would go somewhere with my grandmother, I don't know why I remember this, but with my grandmother and we would see an escalator, you know, one's coming down and one's going up. And maybe it's just the boy in me, but I always ran to the one coming down and I would go up. And as I got older I began to think about that.

The Christian life is like that. Everything around you is in this downward motion. And as a Christian if you're not diligent and if you're not being warned of the negative nature and the downgrade of these things, listen, standing still leads you down. You must be ever diligent. You must be striving.

You must be running for the Lord. You must be going forward for God. Don't stand still in the Christian life. You see, this same type language goes all the way back to where we began and Jesus himself, and again I don't have time to share all these passages with you, I'm going to give you the references real quick and you write them down if you'd like. There's references here of Jesus telling his disciples to beware.

Matthew 7, 15. Matthew 16, 11. 2 Timothy, Paul says the same things. 2 Timothy 4, 14 and 15. Now there's your homework for the day.

You can go home and read those passages and there's more. But we must be constantly on guard for there is ever the downgrade and there's ever the danger of false prophets who want to twist the Word of God. And this idea here and this this word that we be led away with the error of the wicked the wicked there another translation of that is lawless the antinomian you can be led away or a stray by the antinomian those who say you know what let us sin all the more that grace may abound. That will lead you astray. But you know the lawless are also those who claim the law but don't fulfill the law as the Judaizers that Paul dealt with.

Those also can lead you astray so be guarded there is a ditch on both sides of the Christian walk. If you can only see one ditch, I think Kevin Swanson says this, it means you're in the other one. You need to be able to walk in the middle and see both ditches and be guarded against both of them, Be warned. But then he says this wonderful thing, this commentator, his name is Benson. He says, Beware lest ye also as well as others have been fall from your own steadfastness, the steadfastness of your faith.

This admonition he gives them, not to discourage them with fear of apostasy, this is important, not to discourage them with the fear of apostasy, but to awaken them to that holy care which would be a means to prevent it and so to keep them from security and trust in themselves, he does not say it to weaken their faith and reliance on the promise. Does that make sense? He gives a strong warning not to make you worry that you're going to become apostate, but he warns you so that you won't become apostate. He doesn't do it to weaken your faith and reliance on the promise of God that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it. That's the promises of God.

Then he says this, but grow. I could summarize this whole message real quick in three statements and maybe I should have. Be diligent, be warned, and be growing. Take that home with you. Those are the three things really that I wanna talk to you about.

But he tells us to grow, and Peter gives us this very good admonition, to grow. But grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's really saying the same thing. Grow in grace, grow in knowledge. And these things really go hand in hand.

The more you grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be growing in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Go to John 15 and read about those about abiding in the vine and you and him and he and you and he who abides in me shall bear much fruit. That's growing in grace. It's so important. So Peter's answer to not being led astray by the error of the wicked is to grow.

Grow in the grace. This word is not passive by the way. This word is not something that happens to you without be diligent and be warned. Be growing. It's an active word that means that you are actively involved in that growth but remember it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It is God who's working in you. We grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord." And I want to close with this quote by D.A. Carson. I rarely quote people who are living. They could disappoint you later.

So I will quote this living person because what he says a brother sent to me this week and it really helps so much. I'm not putting my mark of approval on everything this man says, but this nails it. Listen to what he says. People do not drift towards holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate towards godliness.

Prayer and obedience to scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift towards compromise and call it tolerance. We drift towards disobedience and call it freedom. We drift towards superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation.

We slouch towards prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking that we have escaped legalism. We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated. Be warned that this does not happen to you. And then he closes with this glorious doxology. To him be the glory both now and forever.

Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, you have helped us today. Your word has spoken truth. It has ministered to my soul.

Thank you Lord. I pray Lord that you would enliven and energize your people to be diligent in the faith. Lord, that you would help them to ever be on guard and to be warned of the falsehoods in this world for they are everywhere. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to ever be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we do that, May all glory and honor be unto you forever and ever.

Amen.