Thank you, Mark, for leading us. Good morning to everyone! It's a beautiful sunny day out there this morning. It's good to see you all and have you here with us. 

We're starting a new study this morning in the second epistle to Peter, and this is a very important letter with rich meaning for the church today. We're also starting James on our Thursday night. These two men are concerned about holiness, living out our faith, and a genuine faith. Peter, in particular, is concerned about false teaching, as we are going to see. So these are important truths for us in our time in the church today to pay attention to and to study. 

In his first letter, which we just finished studying on Sunday mornings, we saw that Peter was writing to scattered Jews who were living in the Gentile regions of Asia Minor—Galatia, Pontus, Bithynia, Cappadocia. They were experiencing persecution, and Peter wanted to encourage them to persevere, to endure, and to set their minds on God's grace and salvation and the hope that they have in Him. He wanted them to look to the eternal and not to the temporal sufferings. 

In the second epistle, Peter has the same audience but a different intent, as we will see. He is primarily concerned with the church being affected by false teachers and their lies. He's worried about the believers being led astray by error, which is always a threat against the truth and against the health, growth, and fruitfulness of the body of Christ. 

It appears from Peter's words that the main threat coming against this group of believers to whom he is writing dealt with the denial of the second coming and the certain judgment that Jesus would bring to those who refuse to believe. Also tied to the coming of Christ is the deliverance of the believers from this world. His coming meant salvation for those who believe but judgment for those who reject Jesus. 

False teachers always want to do away with the idea of the judgment of God. They want to do away with accountability to their Creator. We see this in Romans 1, as God has clearly revealed Himself as the Creator God of the universe with ultimate authority, sovereign over His creation, revealing even His eternal power and Godhead. But it says that men suppress and reject this evidence, the evident truth, and create gods after their own corrupt nature. They make religions that allow them to live sinful lives and remove accountability to a holy God. 

This is why men have been so eager to accept the theory of evolution. Sir Julian Huxley, one of the world's leading evolutionists, and head of UNESCO, a descendant of Thomas Huxley who was called Darwin's bulldog, said, “I suppose the reason we leaped at the origin of species was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.” This is an honest pagan. Men do not want to recognize God because recognizing God means that there is an account, there's a standard, there's a judgment. And this means that a holy God requires holiness and righteousness to enter His heaven. 

A primary threat of this epistle is a warning against false teachers that would lead us into licentiousness, away from what God's Word says. It's a guarantee also that God will deliver the righteous and come in judgment of the wicked. Peter writes, “The day of the Lord will come.” They may willfully forget, they may scoff, they may deny the Lord's coming in judgment, but the day of the Lord will come, Peter says. 

The theme that Peter develops with this truth of coming judgment and destruction of the present heavens and earth, along with the creation of the new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells, is the application he makes. It is all of this that means something to us as believers now, how we should live in this world. 

A key verse is found in chapter 3 at verse 11. At verse 10, he writes, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a 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 all 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 a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 

In light of all these great truths, the promises of deliverance, and the judgment of the wicked, what manner of persons ought you to be? This is the key point of application for us in light of the great truths that Peter expounds in this letter. The scoffers, the pagans deny His coming, they deny His judgment. What manner of persons are they? Licentious, sinful, idolatrous, deceptive. 

But we, believers in Jesus Christ, who know the truth of the Word of God, who know who we are and what we have in Him and the hope and promise of His coming, what manner of persons ought we to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God? 

In this letter, Peter wants the believer in Jesus Christ to know, to know His salvation as we see in chapter 1, to know the Word of God and to continually renew his mind to the truths of God, looking unto Jesus and affirming the truth of His coming. He wants us to know false teachers—their character and nature, their denial of God's coming and judgment—so that we might mark them out, avoid them, and not be led astray by their teaching. 

This letter is all about knowing. Peter's writing to remind us to reinforce and set in our minds permanently the truths of God's Word and our salvation in Christ, so that we might live holy lives that bring Him glory and men to Christ, rescuing them from the judgment to come. 

Let's look at our text: 2 Peter 1:1-4. We're just going to start today and have a bit of an introduction. 

2 Peter 1:1: “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 

I've given you four points on your outline: first, the author; second, the audience; third, the intent; and fourth, what do you know? 

Well, first in our text, we see the author, Simon Peter. Simon, or likely Simeon, was his given name, and this was a very common name in his time. Jesus said he would be called Cephas, the Aramaic for stone. In John 1:41, it says, “He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah,’ and he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, ‘You are Simon, the son of Jonah; you shall be called Cephas,’ which is translated a stone.” 

Jesus gave him the name Peter from petros, meaning rock or stone in the Greek. We see this in Matthew 16. Turn over to that passage with me, Matthew 16 at verse 13. This is Peter's great confession of who Jesus is. 

Matthew 16:13: “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?’ So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter, being the leader of the twelve and the speaker, so often pipes up and answers, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’” 

He says, “You are Peter, petros, a stone, a loose stone, a rock. Then He says, ‘On this petra, which is a rock bed foundation, I will build my church.’” The rock on which Jesus would build the church was not Peter, not petros, but petra, the rock bed foundation of his confession of Jesus as the Christ: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God; on this rock bed foundation I will build my church,” Jesus says. 

But here we see the name that Jesus gave to Simon. Simon was his given name, his old name, and Peter was his new name, his born-again name. And often we see in the Scriptures where Peter would fall in, fall in his faith or do something wrong, and Jesus would call him Simon, by his old name. It's kind of like when your mother would use your middle name; you know it wasn't a good thing. 

In John 21, after Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus said, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” Many men were named Simon, but when Peter writes Simon Peter, there's no question as to who the author is. He was the leader, the apostle to the Jews, the great preacher of Pentecost. This is Simon Peter, and he says, “I’m a bond slave and an apostle.” Interesting, a doulos, the lowest form of a servant, a slave, and at the same time an apostle, a sent one by Jesus Christ. 

Next, we see the audience. He says, “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Peter is writing to believers, and I think we can determine from chapter 3 at verse 1 that he is writing to the same believers he wrote to in the first epistle. 

Chapter 3, verse 1 says, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.” 

He wrote this second letter to the same believers he wrote the first epistle to. And who were they? Well, in 1 Peter 1:1, it says, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” He calls them elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. 

The key word for our understanding is translated dispersion, the pilgrims of the dispersion. This is a technical term in the scriptures for Jews who were sown or scattered among the nations outside the land of Palestine. It was first used by Moses all the way back in Deuteronomy 28:25, where he said, “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.” 

John uses the term in John 7:34; he says, “You will seek me, and not find me, and where I am, you cannot come.” They didn't understand what he was talking about. Listen to their response: “And the Jews said among themselves, ‘Where does He intend to go that we shall not find him? Does He intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks?’” 

We also see this term used in James 1:1: “James, a bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” 

The word is a very specific term and has much history in the Bible referring to Jews scattered by Assyria, and Babylon—any Jew living outside the land. So we see that although there's much application for the Gentile church, and there were probably Gentiles involved in these places that he wrote to, these are really letters that are written to the Jews that are scattered into those Gentile areas. 

The audience of Peter's writing is primarily Jewish believers living outside of the land. 

Now let's move on to Peter's intent. What is Peter's intent in writing this epistle? I think when we begin to study a book of the Bible or any given text, perhaps the most important thing we can do is determine the intent of the author. Knowing the author, the audience, and the context all helps with this, but the truly crucial issue is understanding what the author intends to say. What message is he intending to convey? And we determine this by starting with the words that he writes and setting them in their context. 

The first letter was all about enduring; it was about persevering through suffering and persecution, about being a witness in a pagan world with an attitude of submission to all authority in order to draw the pagans to the gospel of Christ. We know these were Peter's intents in writing because of the words that he wrote. As we studied them in their context, this became evident. 

So what is Peter concerned with in this second epistle? I believe he's concerned that we know. The word “know” in various forms is used 16 times in this epistle. The same basic word—16 times in just three chapters. This should be a great clue to us as to what Peter's intent is. 

So what is it that he wants us to know? Right away in verse 2 we see that we need to have knowledge of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3 says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” Our sufficiency in this life is through the knowledge of Him. 

In verse 16, Peter says, “We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is a major theme in the letter: knowing the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. How about the awesome statement of verses 19 to 21? 

Look at 2 Peter 1:19. He says, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first—this is a matter of first importance—knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” 

Peter wants us to know that these words, this book, are from God. But this is the only book that God ever wrote. Peter wants us to know the Scriptures. He gives us his intent concerning this in verse 12 of chapter 1 (2 Peter 1:12). He says, “For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know 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.” 

Peter wants us to know the Word of God. He wants us to constantly be renewing our mind to the Word of God. He's preserving it in this letter so that after his death, we will still have it. And here we are, 2,000 years later, studying his letter. Peter accomplished his intent in this regard. 

In 2 Peter 3:3, he writes, “Knowing this first, again, what do we need to know, Peter? You need to know that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts.” Peter wants us to know that there will be scoffers in the church who walk according to their own lusts and deny His coming and His judgment. This is really the heart of the epistle—what Peter wants us to know. 

In chapter 3, verse 5, he says, “For this they willfully forget.” The false teachers choose not to know the truth. In verse 8 he says, “But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Not forgetting is knowing. Not forgetting is remembering. 

At the end of the letter, he writes this in 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.” Beware. Be careful. Make sure that the one that you're listening to is teaching the Word of God. 

Bobby interacts with these ladies in Indiana, and they're all wound up about the rapture and the events that are happening, and it's going to happen now and it's going to happen soon. She engaged in the conversation yesterday and said something about the rapture being imminent, and if the rapture's imminent, then there don't need to be any signs fulfilled. So we're not looking for signs; we're looking for Jesus. 

The woman wrote back and said, “Well, there were 12,000 people raised when Jesus was crucified; that was the rapture.” Okay, well, I can’t find 12,000 anywhere in my Bible. It only says in Matthew that many rocks were split and many came out of the graves and came into the, and that’s all it says. 

But her teacher that she follows, who sends his sermons about three times a day, has said that that was the rapture and there were 12,000. 

All I'm saying is you better make sure that who you're listening to, you're checking him out by the Word of God. You better be sure that he's teaching verse by verse through the Scripture, in context, paying attention to the intent of the author, who the audience is, and what he's trying to say. 

Don’t forget this one thing— remember, he says— instead of being led away with error by the wicked, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's what we're to be doing: growing in the grace and knowledge. 

How are we going to know Jesus? How do you know anything about Jesus? You only know because God has revealed Him to you through His Word. That's the only thing you know about Jesus. So if you're going to grow in the knowledge of Jesus, you're going to be in this book and studying it. 

We must know our salvation. We must know the truth, the Word of God. We must know the reality of false teachers and their lies and their character. We must know our Lord Jesus Christ more and more, better and better as we look forward to His coming. 

These are the things Peter wants us to know, and these outline the intent of this letter. So as we study, this outline will guide us and guard us to rightly divide these words and make proper application. 

So we see the author, we see the audience, we see the intent. This brings us to the question: What do you know? 

The heart of this epistle is the reality and dangers of false teachers in the church. This was and is a constant concern in the church. In Colossians 2:8, Paul said, “Beware! Be on guard! Watch, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” 

Turn over to 2 Corinthians 11 with me, please: 2 Corinthians 11, verse 1. 

Listen to Paul writing to the Corinthian believers. He says, “Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me; for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy; for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus...” Did you know there's another Jesus? Well, other Jesuses, actually. But there's another Jesus—a Jesus who is insufficient to save. 

I grew up in that church, right? We have to add to what was lacking in His sacrifice by our good works and sufferings and all these things to accomplish our salvation. That's another Jesus, a Jesus who can't save. 

Paul says, “I’m worried, I’m fearful, because if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it.” It's going on in the church today; people are putting up with it. People are confused. 

Beware! Pay attention! Know the truth! Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

In Corinth, they didn't have this high view of the Word of God. They did not share God's desire for holiness and obedience. They were not that concerned about these things. I hear this in the church today often from believers—not so much in our church, but sometimes they say, “It's all about love and acceptance. It’s really not that important that we hold to the letter of the scriptures.” 

I heard a person say the other day, “There are those people that want to take everything literally.” When you work on your truck and you pull out the owner's manual, do you take it literally? 

God's written a manual. I think He means what He says. It's not that important that we strive and agonize and labor over the words of God to know them, believe them, and obey them, because, you know, doctrine divides. What matters is that we show the love of Jesus. 

What is the love of Jesus? Is it not the truth? Paul says, “Speak the truth in love.” 

Paul tells us the gospel is offensive. Jesus said, “They will hate you because they hated me first.” Why did they hate Him? Why did they hate and persecute and kill the apostles? Why did they kill the believers in the early church? Why were these believers, to whom Peter writes, experiencing persecution? Because they held the truth. 

Because they spoke the truth. Because they offended men at the point of the gospel. Think about how the Jews killed Jesus, the lengths that they went to in order to get rid of Him. Why? Because the truth offended their system, their status quo, their false gospel that leads men to hell. It's rampant in our world today and, unfortunately, in the church. 

The greatest sin in the world is to offend someone. It's unloving, unchristlike, they say. They must be reading a different Bible than I am, because if you read John 8 and Matthew 23, it's pretty clear that Jesus confronted the false teaching of the religious leaders head-on, because the eternal souls of men were at stake. 

It's no different today. 

The real matter is our view of the Word of God and our knowledge and commitment to the truth. Look again at verse 12, 2 Peter 1. Peter says, “For this reason, because there's false teaching in the church, because we have the prophetic word confirmed, for this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know 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. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the excellent glory: ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, listen to this—which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” 

“But let me tell you this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. What that means is, no man made it up. For prophecy never came by the will of man,” Peter says, “but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” 

Do you believe that this book that you hold in your hands is the Word of God? Do you believe that God wrote this book, that it’s the only source of truth? Do you believe that God has preserved this book, His Word, so that you might have it, that you might know it, that you might grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and believe it and obey it, so that you might bring glory to God and men to Christ? 

Do you believe these things? Because if you do, then wouldn't you do well— as Peter says—to spend your days making sure that you know what God says, what His Word means, and how it applies to your life? Wouldn't you do well to pay attention to the author, to the audience, to the intent, to the context, to rightly divide the word of truth? 

Shouldn't you know what you believe and why you believe it? And shouldn't you be able to articulate your arguments to deal with the applicable sections of Scripture if you're going to base your life decisions on what you know? 

What do you know for sure? 

Vance Habener said, “I'd rather know a few things for sure than to be certain of a whole lot of things that aren't so.” 

Peter wants you to know. He wants you to know your salvation, to know the Word of God, to know Jesus, to know what is false and what is true so that you'll not be led astray. 

Our view of this book and how we study it and what we know is the basis for how we live. And we must live holy lives in consistency with who we are. We must be discerning, and we must be willing to stand for the truth. 

You know what I've observed among Christians and in my life? When I'm distracted, when I'm spending all my time with pagans, when I'm not going to Bible study, when I'm not going to church, when I'm not in this book, when I'm not renewing my mind to this truth, then I start to act like pagans. 

I start to make bad decisions. I start to say strange things. We have to know. We have to be discerning. We have to be willing to stand for the truth. 

If this is our conviction, if this is our commitment, then we must seek to know—and that is what Peter wants for us in this letter. Know your salvation, know the Word of God, grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and have a commitment to holiness, to obeying God, to being a witness, always aware of false teachers and false teaching that seeks to lead you astray and cause shipwreck of your faith, your fruitfulness, and your full joy. 

God wants what’s best for you, but you need to have a deep, desperate dependence on Jesus, and that only through His Word, in order to be faithful and fruitful each day. Because without Him, you can do nothing. 

Peter has some sober, vital words for us in this epistle. This is serious business, but I think it's what we need to hear in our time as well. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you for telling us the truth. We thank you for reminding us, teaching us, establishing us. Help us to understand our need for you. Help us to understand our need for each other in this world to grow. Help us to have a commitment to know your Word, to believe your Word, and to trust you for your grace and power to work out your will in our lives— a daily dependence, Lord. 

And help us to be focused on what matters, to live in light of your coming. In Jesus’ name, amen.