2 Peter: A Jet Tour - [2 Peter]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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I'm going to read a few things and you tell me what they are in your mind. What are these things? What am

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I describing? A man, a plan, a canal, Panama.

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Secondly, a nut for a jar of tuna. Thirdly, borrow or rob.

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Fourthly, was it a car or a cat I saw? Fifthly, madam in Eden, I'm Adam.

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And lastly, murder for a jar of red rum. What was

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I saying? It's a what? Palindrome. At least somebody at the second service got it right.

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Excellent. A palindrome. What's a palindrome? The Oxford English Dictionary said it's a word based on two

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Greek words, back and running. A palindrome are words or phrases that can be read the same backward and forward.

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What do these have in common? The languages of Arabic, Hebrew, Pashto, Persian, and Urdu.

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What do those writing systems have in common? Answer? While we write from left to right, all those languages go from right to left.

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It's called directionality. Backward, opposite of what we normally do.

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And today I'm going to preach a sermon that's backward, or backwards, or backwardly, depending on what you'd like.

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What do you mean by that? That means like you don't have a very good IQ and it's just going to be one of those backwoods things?

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What are you going to do? Well, to find out, turn your Bibles please to 2 Peter. If you need your table of contents, you can.

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It's toward the back of your Bible. 2 Peter is the new book that we're going to go through.

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It is a book that will encourage you, it will convict you, you'll be glad you sat underneath the preaching of the

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Word of God from 2 Peter. It is a book that's ignored by a lot of people because they say, ah, we don't really need it because it's so close to Jude.

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Other people say, well, we don't even really know if it's written by Peter or not because it doesn't sound like 1

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Peter. If you read commentaries on 2 Peter, there are many commentators to be found in Romans, for instance, on Romans, but not so many on 2

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Peter. But this is a book that's very, very important and I think what we need to continue to do as a church is verse -by -verse going through books of the

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Bible. We will not succumb to this. Well, today we're going to have this cool eight -week series with great graphics on this particular topic and then when that's over, we do the same thing over and over and over.

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But digging through the Bible verse -by -verse, my goal is for you to understand it on your own better.

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So when you go home tonight and read 2 Peter, you'll say, oh, I understand that better. Not because the pastor is so insightful and I could never get anything without him, but he shows me, oh,

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I see it for myself. I want you to pick up your Bible and say, I need to read this for myself and I now can understand 2

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Peter better. That's what expository preaching does. Root word for expository is expose.

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I want you to see the truths for yourself because we all need to understand the Bible. You can't say, well, my priest said this and my reverend said that and the pastor says this.

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No, you need to believe. Every person here needs to believe for themselves. You can't get into heaven by osmosis or somehow under the coattails of your father, our mother, our friend.

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No, the work of God is this, as Jesus said in John 6, to believe on the

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Lord Jesus. And so while I can't give you cool graphics and fireworks and all that today up on the platform, by the way, if I did that, what would you be thinking?

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Well, fire. Yeah. Oh, here's this cool Braveheart, you know, video we're going to play.

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I hope you wouldn't put up with that. If you want to go watch that at home, that's fine. But there's enough drama here.

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There's enough excitement here and we're going to learn today that this truth that Jesus is going to come back is probably the most dramatic thing that will ever happen in the entire universe.

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So before we get into the book, let me tell you why I love this book and I want that to rub off.

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I want you to be able to say I love second Peter. I want you to say, you know what? I don't know what to read this morning in my devotional time, but second

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Peter just start saying would you please read me right? Would you I want to be read? I'm going to encourage you.

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I want to talk about that. So let me give you three reasons why I love the book of second Peter. Number one, it's a book about Jesus.

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Number one, it's a book about Jesus. Now, if I were to ask you the book of Revelation, the last book of the

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Bible, what's it all about? You probably say to me, tribulation, a great tribulation, end times, mark of the beast, and you'd be right.

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But it's mainly about Jesus. Listen to Revelation 1 .1. The revelation or the uncovering, the unveiling of Jesus Christ, which

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God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. When you read

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Revelation, it's about Jesus. And did you know when you read second Peter, it's about who

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Jesus is. It's the Lord Jesus. You see at the very beginning of the book and at the end of the book, we have these bookends, what we call an inclusio in grammatical circles.

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You can see for yourself, Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. We have his name,

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Jesus, which means savior, Joshua. Christ, that's the Messiah. Those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our

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God and savior, calling Jesus God, right there, Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, our

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Lord. At the very beginning of the book, he starts off out of the gate, out of the chute, if you will, saying, you know what?

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You've received faith, and it's through Christ's righteousness. Anytime you see that word righteousness, the root word is right.

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And if you do the right thing, you obey the law, that's righteous living. And we know to stand before God, we need to be righteous, but always righteous, perfectly righteous.

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How do we get to God and have his favor, knowing we're sinful? Well, that's why it's through Jesus Christ's righteousness.

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He obeys the law, not for himself, he's already righteous, but for us, and he obeys that law.

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We get credit for that, and our sins, Jesus gets credit for. So we stand before at the very beginning of this book and say, this is about the

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Lord Jesus. Take a look at the very end of the book. The last verse is similar to the first verse.

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The bookends of 2 Peter show me that this is a book about Jesus. Verse 18 of the last chapter, chapter 3, but grow in grace and knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

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This is the book about Jesus. He's God. He's human. He's a representative.

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He's a substitute. He's coming back soon. This book should make you sing with Wilbur Chapman.

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Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving.

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He is with me to the end. This is a book about Jesus. Let me show you in the middle of the book, it's the same thing.

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Is this book about Jesus? Yes. Chapter 1, verse 11. This rich provision of an entrance into the eternal kingdom of the

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Chapter 1, verse 14. As our

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Lord Jesus made clear to me. Chapter 1, verse 16 and 17. Do you see it?

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This coming of the Lord Jesus, eyewitness of his majesty, the transfiguration, and the Father says, this is my beloved son, verse 17, with whom

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I'm well -pleased. Chapter 2, verse 20. This is about Jesus. For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then, of course, in chapter 3, it won't surprise you, verse 2.

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The commandment of the Lord and Savior through the apostles. And then, at the end of chapter 3, of course, verses that I just read.

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Peter. How many times did he? Peter, he just looked at me.

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I said, Peter. The apostle Peter denied

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Jesus how many times? But he will not deny him again.

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Not in this book. He might say, I don't know you. He might say to the little Galilean girl,

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I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not with them. But now, when it comes to the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and post -resurrection of Jesus, Peter's going to write a book, and he will not deny

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Jesus again. I think this is a great reminder for all of us. That when it comes to preaching, and desire to hear preaching, and Bible studies.

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And maybe you teach your kids. Maybe you have a family time. Maybe you're evangelizing. Maybe you teach at a

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Sunday school, or a home Bible study. Or you're going to talk to a youth group. This is the theme. This must be our theme.

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The Lord Jesus. If you want to know about morality only, there's something called a TED Talk. And you can get it for free on YouTube.

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If you read 1 Peter, it's about Jesus. Would it surprise you that when

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Peter was preaching in the book of Acts, chapter 2, Jesus. Chapter 3,

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Jesus. Chapter 4, his sermon, Jesus. Chapter 5, any guesses? Jesus. I mean, the first word out of his mouth when he said in chapter 2, men of Israel, listen.

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And then his next word, Jesus. You think, well, you know what? I'd like to be walking in a manner, in a more godly way.

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I'd like to have my relationships more godly. I'd like to be a better worker. I'd like to have a better relationship with my kids, and my spouse, and all this stuff.

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If you take Jesus out of the picture, it's simple behavior modification.

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This is the Lord Jesus exalted in this book. If you say 2 Peter is all about false teachers, you miss it.

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It's about false teachers, but Jesus as at the hub. I received a letter at No Compromise Radio.

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I'll change the lady's name. And here was her letter. Hello, Mike. That's where she messed up at the beginning.

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It should have been a high holy father. But I try to be gracious these days.

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Sorry. Hello, Mike. We have the dearest, sweetest pastor, and we love him. But his preaching is more like a glorified

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Bible study. From the pulpit, he teaches us how to outline a chapter, how many times a

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Greek word appears in the New Testament, what Calvin or James Boyce had to say about a passage. But he doesn't bring

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Christ. I love all the things he teaches us. Now, listen. But I need to be reminded that I'm forgiven, that Christ loves me, that I will not lose my salvation despite of my remaining sin.

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What can I say to my pastor, if anything? I would never want to hurt his feelings as it is apparent that he spends a lot of time preparing his sermons.

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Thanks for any advice, Cindy. Now, there's nothing wrong with Bible study.

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There's nothing wrong with looking up Greek words. But if we forget Jesus in the middle of it all, it's not going to do us any good.

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I would say that most churches in America today, evangelical churches, that if Martin Luther sat in our churches today, if somehow we could beam him over to our century, and he'd sit down, you know what he'd do?

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He'd say, well, I don't see the stained glass. I don't see statues of Mary. But what that man said in the pulpit is a

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Roman Catholic sermon. Do, don't do, do, keep doing.

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That's all Luther heard in the Roman Catholic Church. And it was all focused on men and women versus I'd like to hear a little bit about who

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Jesus is and what Jesus has done. And then in light of that, okay, I'll do.

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All Luther ever heard from the pulpit was do, do, do, don't, don't, don't. And that is modern evangelicalism, sadly.

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And it's not enough to say, well, I preached for 45 minutes about what you're needing to do, and then at the very end

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I gave you kind of like a minute on who Jesus is. Spurgeon said, and I think he is echoing Peter, the motto of all true servants of God must be, we preach

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Christ and Him crucified. A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it.

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Know Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.

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Leave Christ out? Oh, my dear brethren, better leave the pulpit out. If a man can preach one sermon without mentioning

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Christ's name in it, it ought to be his last, certainly the last that any Christian ought to go to hear him preach.

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A sermon without Christ at its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution.

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However grand the language, it will be merely much to do about nothing if Christ be not there.

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I mean, didn't the Spirit of God come to bear witness to Jesus? Show me a

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Holy Ghost filled church and I'll show you a church that says, it's Jesus, it's Jesus. As it's worth, the

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Holy Spirit is behind the door pointing to Jesus. Spotlight on Jesus. Holy Ghost filled churches,

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Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. How odd is it that churches that want to be Holy Ghost filled focus on the

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Holy Ghost when the Holy Ghost focuses on Jesus? The Spirit of God bears witness to Jesus.

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And if I don't talk about Jesus, will the Spirit of God bear witness to my sermons? Peter, he talks about Jesus.

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Paul, it's about Jesus. And by the way, that should be the legacy of everybody here at the church.

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If I can influence you in any way, if you assume Jesus in this generation and what he's done, the next generation will abandon it.

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We cannot assume the most important thing in the Bible. Everything is important, but the most important thing is that there's a

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God who loves me and sent his son to die for me and was raised for me and I live in light of that.

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Whether you teach your children or whether you teach someone else or evangelize or preach, the legacy should be,

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I'm going to talk about Jesus. Second reason I love 2

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Peter is that it is authoritative. It's all about Jesus and it shouldn't surprise us that it's authoritative.

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Go back to chapter 2, verse 1. Sorry, chapter 1, verse 1, excuse me.

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Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus. I mean, there's so many people vying for our attention.

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They're the authority. They're the authority on truth and life and religion.

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Religions compete for our affection. How -to books, mainstream media, Farmer's Almanac and everything in between.

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I need something that has apostolic authority. Is this true? Because I can't base my life on something that's kind of made up or bell curve.

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You know, we believe this and we don't believe that. No, no, I need apostolic authority. And apostle means sent.

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So Jesus has words for us and he said those in the Bible, in the New Testament Gospels.

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And then he now sends Peter and says, you say exactly what I tell you to say, that's an apostle.

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Now, some of us have something called a red letter Bible. Who has a red letter Bible? Some do.

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Is that a good thing? Like a red letter Bible, what's that? The words in red are the words of Jesus.

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So if you read a gospel, when John the Baptist is talking, it's black. And when Jesus is talking, the letters are red.

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Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Did you know the original manuscripts, Jesus's words were not written in red?

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But in 1899, Louis Klausch was reading this verse.

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Luke 22 20, Jesus said, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which I shed for you. And Louis Klausch thought, you know what?

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When I'm reading those words, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is poured out for you. Jesus's words are in red or should be in red because that's the color of his blood.

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So by the end of the year, there was the first red letter Bible with all Jesus's words written in red.

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His mentor, Dr. Talmadge said, this thing could do no harm and it most certainly could do much good.

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Well, here's the good side of red letter Bibles. If you're looking for what Jesus said, it's kind of easy to find. But here's the bad side of it.

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And I don't think anybody here does it. But just to make sure, if you say the words of Jesus in red are more important than second,

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Peter are higher up are more authoritative. You've made a mistake. Jesus said those words in red and he sent his apostle, which means to send somebody on my behalf and he sent his apostle to say those words, which words are more holy.

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Jesus's words are the words in second, Peter answer, which words are more inspired, which ones are more authoritative, which ones carry more weight, which ones are more true answer.

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They're both the same because the spirit of God has written those words. So when

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I read second, Peter, I don't think well, Jesus said this and this is kind of like, you know, lower truth.

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No, that's not true. Here we have the apostle Peter and he, Peter is telling us exactly what the

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Holy Spirit wants us to know with great authority. And that's why if you say, well, people don't like second,

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Peter, because it doesn't sound like Peter. It's apostolic and it has authority. Well, I don't really think we need second,

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Peter, because it sounds like Jude. No, it's apostolic and it has authority. And then the third reason why I love second,

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Peter is because it's got a lot of gravity to it. It has gravity to it because it is the last will and testament of Peter.

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Peter knows he's going to die and he writes something and we should pay attention to deathbed words. You can just imagine when you're dying and you bring all the children around side the bed and the grandkids and you say, no,

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I just want to say something before I die. And then you say it. If that was my father speaking and I was a young person,

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I would listen. It's that kind of gravity. And here if you look at second, Peter chapter 1 verse 12 and following, you'll see that Peter, revealed by his

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Lord and Savior, Jesus, knows he's going to die. And so this is the last will. This is the gravity of a farewell address.

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Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, second Peter 1 12, though, you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

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I think it is right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder.

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Since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, I'm going to die soon. How do you know that, Peter? As our

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Lord Jesus made clear to me how he did that, we don't know, but it is true. And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able to at any time recall these things.

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Jesus is coming soon. I'm dying soon. And I have an important message for you.

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This sounds like Paul to me in his farewell address, second Timothy. I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come.

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I've fought the good fight. I've finished the race. I've kept the faith henceforth. There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the

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Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me only but to all those who have loved his appearing death bed words.

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So we come to second Peter and I thought to myself it was Friday night and I finished my sermon on the first four verses and then

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Friday night. I thought oh, I can't preach that this Sunday. Not because it wasn't biblical or Christ Center, but I thought before I preach the first four verses to give the foundation.

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What about the entire book? We need to have some kind of jet tour through the book. So we understand the big picture and not just the minutia.

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I had a professor in seminary and he said he preached verse by verse for years through the book of Ephesians and got to the very end and thought

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I think I've missed the entire purpose of the book because I figured it out at the end. So next Sunday he said turn your

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Bibles to the book of Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1. I need to preach it the right way. So we kind of need to know this is a letter that yeah, we can chop it up for sermons.

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But if you got this letter you would just read it you wouldn't go. Well, I'm just going to read the first little bit. Maybe your wife gives you a love note for Valentine's Day or you give her a love note and all of a sudden you go.

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Well, I'm just going to read the first sentence and then that's kind of it and some of you don't deserve even the one sentence, but neither do

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I. So to know minutia we've got to know the sweep of the thing and that's why for this first sermon

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I want to make sure we come in at a high level and say you know what I kind of have my arms around 2nd

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Peter so that I know what said in the particular verses. How about we could do it this way?

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Is there a verse in 2nd Peter or two that could summarize the entire book? If I said okay dear class maybe this was a seminary class or a

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Bible study or a Bible quiz or something. Tell me a verse or two in 2nd Peter that if you get those verses down you've got the chapter.

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You've got the book. I mean because I could do that in Matthew. The verse in Matthew that would summarize all of Matthew is

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Matthew 21 verse 5. Behold your King is coming to you. That's it. That describes the whole book of Matthew.

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Jesus is the King. If I were to say to you in Ephesians, what's the key verse or verses in Ephesians?

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To understand the whole book to unlock it. Chapter 3 verse 20 and 21. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think according to the power at work within us.

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To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.

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Amen. If I said to you the book of Romans, tell me a verse or two that summarizes the whole book.

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You'd probably say to me chapter 1 verse 16 and 17. I'm not ashamed of the what? Of the gospel.

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It's the power of God for salvation to all who believe the Jews first and to the

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Greeks also for in it the righteousness of God is revealed. Faith for faith.

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It is written the just shall live by faith. But what about second Peter? Well, it's found at the very end and so go to the very end and I read verse 18 before as we are stressing a

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Christ centered book. But if you read verses 17 and 18 at the end, you've got everything matter of fact, if you got those verses, you could work backward and figure out everything.

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Hence the sermon today verse 17 of second Peter 3. You therefore beloved knowing this beforehand take care that you're not carried away with the air of lawless people.

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Those false teachers that he's going to talk about and lose your own stability positively the flip side, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him. Be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

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If you get that you've got the book Peter is writing. The folks that receive this letter are being afflicted by false teaching.

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False teachers are saying the wrong thing. And here's what false teachers do. There's no God you don't have to be accountable and therefore live like hell live like you're going to go to hell, but there's no hell that's the thing so you don't have to worry about it.

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So just live it up. Jesus said he's going to come back. He's not going to come back. Therefore, we can live the way we want and we could be sensual.

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We could be sexual. We could do all these other things. Just live it up. Eat drink for tomorrow. We die. He's not coming back.

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Those false teachers had one main false teaching and commentators call it.

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It's kind of fun to say it'd be a good band name. Eschatological skepticism. Eschatology the study of end times skepticism.

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I doubt it. That's that's the false teacher. Jesus is going to come back. He told us that very thing in Mark chapter 13 the son of man's going to come.

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Everybody's going to see him great clouds great power great authority. He's coming back and the false teachers go.

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He didn't come back yesterday. He didn't come back 10 years ago a hundred years ago a thousand years ago two thousand years ago. You mean he's going to come back.

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No, he's not and why we can't have him come back Because we love our sin and it's no fun to sin thinking our heads on the chopping block.

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Who wants to sin? Knowing I'll be judged for it. Simon Kistemacher an excellent scholar said this.

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Since the root heresy, which is the denial of the second coming is addressed at the end of the epistle second

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Peter. It is more natural to start at the end and work backwards. And I read that and you know what?

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I thought I thought two things. I was peddling on a life cycle. That's in my office my study and I thought of two things number one.

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I'm not crazy. Well, I am but not in this particular case not here.

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And then I also thought my sermon. I just finished. I can't preach because I need to make sure we get a big picture of second

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Peter before we kind of parachute into particular verses and the way you do this is you start backward and move forward.

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So in the time we have left, let me give you a jet tour of the book of second

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Peter. What's the right one?

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You can't say towards anymore. It's toward and maybe you can't say backwards anymore. You just say backward walk backward walk backwards walk backwardly.

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See this is harder than it looks especially when we have one day to prepare the sermon, right?

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Let me give you some reminders. Peter is reminding people Paul reminds people we're forget for people.

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We remember what we're supposed to forget and we forget. We're supposed to remember and so he's reminding you're on the deathbed and you go.

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I've got to remind you of these things. So my sermon outline today. If you are taking notes, let me give you some reminders from second

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Peter so that you can understand it better because if you understand second Peter better your love for the

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Lord Jesus and your disdain for false teachers should grow reminder number one.

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You live in the last days. You live in the last days. So go to chapter 3.

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We're going to go chapter 3 then 2 then 1 and the next week when we do the first few verses of chapter 1, it'll make more sense chapter 3 you live in the last days.

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And that means there's nothing needed for Jesus to come back. We're not waiting for some kind of Industrial Revolution.

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We're not waiting for a European Union and we're not waiting for some country to be reestablished. Everything is ready to go.

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We're living in the last days. Jesus comes the first time he'll come the last time and in the in between it's called the last days verse 1 of chapter 3 now.

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Excuse me. This is now the second letter that I'm writing to you beloved in both of them. I'm stirring you up by sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets.

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What does the Old Testament say about the return of Christ and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles?

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See there's there's that authority knowing this first of all that scoffers will come in the last days in between his ascension and his second coming.

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And what do they do? They scoff and they follow their own sinful desires.

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So what I want you to be ready for is this is not a book that will need during the tribulation or will need later or close to the return of Jesus.

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We're in the last days now. And of course if the truth is proclaimed there's going to be false teachers right there.

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But this is a good reminder that we're in the last days. Secondly the second reminder there's going to be in the last days tons of false teachers.

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So buckle up. That's the reminder number two bombarding us with false a tease about the

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Bible. And so it says in verse 4 of chapter 3. This is their stick.

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This is their mantra. God makes promises and what do they say about his promises?

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Which means what do we say about him? Where's the promise of his coming? Ever since the father's fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

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I mean it's the same old same old. They deliberately overlook this fact though that heavens existed long ago.

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The earth was formed out of water and through water by the word. Down in verse 7. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

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These false teachers come and I don't think we should be surprised in any way shape or form.

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Number three the third reminder. Don't be discouraged because Jesus hasn't come back yet.

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There's a reason why Jesus hasn't come back yet. And the reason is simple. Verse 8 of chapter 3 says

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God's got his own timetable. Verse 9 his slowness as it were is so people will repent but God will eventually judge.

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Verse 10 and we see it right here. He's got his own timetable. He's patient but he'll eventually judge.

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Do not overlook this one fact beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.

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The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some counts slowness the false teachers.

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But he's patient toward you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. In other words the father has been given a bride or the elect to the son in eternity past.

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And when that bride is completed and full when that last elect person believes it's over.

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Why is God delaying because there are still unregenerate elect chosen people that need to believe.

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But the day of the Lord will come verse 10 like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar.

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You want to talk about Earth Day and global warming and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolve and the earth and the works that are done in it will be exposed.

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I don't want to be discouraged. I don't want to be impatient because the Lord hasn't come back yet. He said he would come back.

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Mark chapter 12 in red letters. But in those days after the tribulation the sun will be dark and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers are in heaven will be shaken and they will see the son of man coming in clouds with great glory and power.

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Christ will return. It'll be visible. It will be obvious. I love

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Robert Murray McShane. He was 29 when he died. But he used to say to his friends when they were having dinner parties.

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Do you think Christ will come tonight? Went around the room. Now you have a Thanksgiving meal. Go around the room and say, you know, do you think you're thankful for anything?

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Please go ahead and tell me what you're thankful for. So he'd like to go around the room and say, do you think Christ is going to come tonight? What if we do that here?

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Think he's going to come tonight? Will tonight be the night? And Robert Murray McShane said over and over and over.

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Every one of his friends said, I don't think so. I think not. I think not. And when he heard that answer, he would always repeat this

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Bible verse. The Son of Man comes in an hour when you think not. I like that.

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I like it when Horatius Bonar said, you know what? Every time he went to bed, he'd look out the window and say, perhaps tonight,

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Lord. And then he'd wake up in the morning and he'd say, perhaps today, Lord. No wonder

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Paul says, come, O Lord, 1 Corinthians 6. John, come, Lord Jesus, Revelation 22.

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The return of the Lord Jesus. I like this little poem. There's a man in yonder glory

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I have loved for many years. He has cleared my guilty conscience and banished all my fears.

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He's coming in a moment in the twinkly of an eye. And no time will be allotted for you to utter one goodbye.

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No time to kiss the husband or embrace the loving wife if they are but united in the bonds of holy life.

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Are you ready, Christian? Ready for shout and trump and voice? Will his coming make you tremble or cause you to rejoice?

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Are you walking, talking with him daily, taking him your care? Do you live so close to heaven that a breath would waft you there?

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Reminder number four, live for eternal things. So here's what's going to happen down in verse 11.

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Do you see it? In chapter 3, since all these things are to be dissolved, everything on earth, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?

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Waiting for, hastening the coming of the day of God because everything's going to be set on fire and dissolved.

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Okay, Jesus is going to come back. See what the false teachers do? He's not coming back.

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He's never coming back. Live the way you want. Live sinfully.

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Live an unpure life. If it feels good, do it. What goes on between consenting adults is nobody's business.

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And the list goes on and on and on. But what's the opposite of the false teachers? Since Jesus is coming back, what do we do?

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I mean, my father worked for Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, and I worked there for years as well. And there was a strike, and so he was in management.

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He had to go down to Oklahoma to Tulsa, and he would go there for the week and come back on the weekends. And so, okay, he'd give us chores and things like that.

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And I always remember mom saying about Thursday night, You know what tomorrow is, don't you? Mike, Marcy, and Pat.

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Tomorrow's Friday. Yeah, you know what that means? Yeah, last day of school. No, you know what that means, don't you?

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Dad is coming back. So we got out the feather pillows and just put all the feather pillows all over his workroom.

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And then we got a bunch of cans of beans and opened them and put them all over his bed. We had a great time.

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Is that what we did? Would you do that? No, dad's coming.

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Dad's coming back. Oh, yeah. Thanks for the reminder, mom. Room's clean. Everything's tidy.

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Everything's looking good. Dad's coming back. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The false teacher's like,

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He's not coming back. Live for sin. But since Jesus is coming back, live a holy life.

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Not to get into heaven, but because you're saved, and out of gratitude, you live a holy life.

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Live lives of, what's the text say? Holiness and godliness. Awaiting Christ's return. Do you see verse 14?

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Since you're waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace.

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Reminder number five. Rest assured, God will judge the false teachers. Now we go to chapter two.

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We're working backward, kind of as a nice little jet tour so we can understand 2 Peter better. I've heard from some of you that you've been reading 2

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Peter every day. Good job, keep doing it. 2 Peter chapter two. God's going to judge false teachers.

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And you know, when I think about some people who are false teachers, they seem healthy.

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They fill the compact center. They're on TV. False teachers prosper.

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False teachers, they don't seem like they're canceled. How can we be working behind the scenes for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years at this church, and we're not buying the

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DCU Center anytime soon, are we? Less giving goes up. I mean, they're saying

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God will never come back. And I'm saying, will these false teachers ever be judged? Verse one of 2

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Peter two. But false prophets also arose among you, are among the people. They start off in church, by the way, because sadly, not

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BBC, but many churches people are so naive that are one knock on the door away from a

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Jehovah's Witness before they deny the deity of Christ. Just as there will be false teachers among you who secretly bring in destructive heresies.

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And unlike Peter, who denied his master three times and then repented, these people keep on denying the master who bought them, probably talking about Israelites coming out of Egypt ransomed, and they bring upon themselves swift destruction.

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And you know, the thing about it is, lots of people follow their sensuality, and truth is blasphemed.

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And what do they do? Why do they do it? Here we have why. And in their greed, they want your money.

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Send money to Jesus. Here's my address. And they'll exploit you with false words.

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He's not coming back. Their condemnation though, dear Christian, Peter wants you to know, their condemnation is from long ago.

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It's not idle and their destruction is not asleep. God's ways are different than our ways.

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And we have to be thinking a thousand years in a day, a day a thousand years for the second coming. We also have to be thinking about what

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God does and how does He judge false teachers? How does He judge those that somehow talk to people that profess to be

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Christians and it's all about money and extracting seed money from them? God's going to judge them.

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And in our day, it would be so much easier for me if I just say to myself, you know what? Because he's got scabs all over his face.

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He's a meth head. You ever see somebody who's normal and then takes meth for five years? You're like, there are zombies on this earth.

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I mean, crazy. I mean, at least if a false teacher looked like somebody who was a meth head, I'd at least go, I can see who he is.

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But now guess what? False teachers have lots of followers and they have great teeth. They do.

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And you know what I'm talking about. The number one probably watched heretic in all of the world.

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And if you have a secret little desire where you go, I just really like to listen to Joe Osteen because he kind of peps me up.

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May today be the last day. Because I'm telling you, he's one of these people that they're describing.

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Oh yeah, he gives me some Bible verses. That's true. He holds up the Bible. We're going to preach from it. That's true.

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And then he gives you spiritual strychnine. That's true. He preaches like Jesus doesn't have to come back because you get your best life when?

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Now. You run from those people. Because at the root,

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God says, those kinds of people are greedy because they want from you.

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How do you get money from people? Fear. Ask yourself, those people that stand and scratch all the time and spend $50 every day on scratchers or whatever it might be.

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How do you get money from people? Greed. That's a good place to start. And it's in the church.

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They used to be in the church. But God's got a track record of judgment. Do you see in chapter 2?

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Like, well, you know, will God ever judge these people? Yes, He will. God ever judge anybody on this earth?

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Chapter 2, verses 4 through 10 gives me four ifs and one then.

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If, if, if, if, then. And He could have given 50 illustrations, but He gives four.

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Do you see it? Verse 4, if God did not spare the angels when the angels sinned, judged.

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And a future judgment too. Verse 5, Noah's world, all gone except eight people, judged.

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Sodom and Gomorrah, judged. Verse 7, the wicked people around Righteous Lot, If, if, if, if, verse 9, then the

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Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

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Where's the promise of His coming? He's going to come back. Where's the promise of His judgment? He's going to judge.

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The next reminder, you can judge false teachers by their fruits. Their own fruits and the congregation that they preach to.

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Remember Paul in 2 Corinthians? I think it's fascinating. He said, you know what? You want a letter of recommendation for me.

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Can you imagine? If somehow I could say, Apostle Paul, would you please come and preach at Bethlehem Bible Church?

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We'd love to have you preach. And, but before you do, by the way, could you send kind of like your credentials?

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That's what they were saying to Paul. Paul said, these are my credentials. Not just what I say, but the people

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I preach to, they change because of the power of God's Word. You're my letter of recommendation.

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What are these false teachers like? Verse 10 of chapter 2. They're bold and willful.

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I mean, they're not shy about it. They should be. They should be trembling, but they don't. You know what they're like?

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Verse 12. Irrational animals. Born to be caught. They blaspheme about matters of which they're ignorant.

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By the way, I say to myself, how can you be such a brazen false teacher when if I ask you to tell me about substitutionary atonement, or the law, or anything else, you wouldn't know what to say.

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These people don't know. What are they going to get? What do they earn? Verse 13.

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The wage for their undoing is going to be their own suffering. I mean, they're not even shy about it. It's not like they sin at night.

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They revel in the daytime. Every girl they look at, verse 14, they want to sleep with.

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Eyes full of adultery. They're greedy for sin. They've been trained in greed.

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And what's he say at the end of verse 14? Uh -oh. Accursed children. And you know what the people they preach to?

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They don't grow either. Verse 17. Why? Because when you're thirsty and you go to a spring, you need water, and they are waterless.

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When the storm comes, you hope it rains, but it's just a mist. And for them, the gloom of utter darkness has been what?

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Reserved. They're loud. They're sensual. They live for today.

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And they promise, verse 9, freedom, but they're slaves to their own sin. Dog returns to its own vomit, verse 22.

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And the sow, after washing herself, returns to the... They call themselves holy men.

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They're on TV. They have Bibles. They seem nice. Matter of fact, they're nicer than some of the legitimate

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Bible teachers, but they're doomed. God has much to say about sin and false teachers, and he will judge.

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And then two more to go. I'm going to make them super fast. As children know, and so do congregations, the first points take longer than the last points.

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Why? Because you've got to hurry up in the last two points to get them in. Second to last reminder, you can trust

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God's Word and God's messengers. I mean, who am I going to trust? People running around, running their mouths, false teachers everywhere.

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Is there anybody I can trust? Chapter 1 now we move to. Chapter 1, verse 16.

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Why is this here? If you didn't know the whole book was about false teachers and everything else, you might miss this.

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That's why we start from the back and go to the front. So we're at the front and go to the back. We'll get it. Got it?

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All right. Palindrome. We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says, but were eyewitnesses to his majesty. This is my beloved

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Son with whom I'm well pleased. We ourselves heard, verse 18, this very voice born from heaven. We were with him on the holy mountain.

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And we, verse 19, mark this. We have the prophetic Word, the Word of God, more fully confirmed, more sure to what you do well to pay attention.

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What's he saying? Verse 20. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, like the false teachers.

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For no prophecy was ever carried along by the will of man, like the false teachers. But men spoke from God, unlike the false teachers, as they were carried along, not by their sensual lust, but by the

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Holy Spirit. What's he saying? Who am I going to trust in these last days?

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And Peter says this. I was on that mountain. I saw Jesus with my own eyes. I could have my iPhone if I had one, and I'd record it.

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And then also, if I had the volume on, I could hear. Eyewitnesses, earwitnesses. I actually saw

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Jesus on the mountain. It wasn't that I had too many refried beans, and had a dream, or anything else. It was real.

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What can be more true than a real experience? An avalanche. That's the idea.

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No. What could be more true? The Word of God. What's more sure than an experience that's true? It's the

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Word of God. And so, we don't have to buy into false teachers. We don't have to do all that. We just say, you know what?

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God has spoken. I understand. I look to the Word. I'm not going to trust myself.

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I'm not going to trust other people. I'm not going to trust the false teachers. I'll trust the Word of God. And then, lastly, you have the ability to pursue holy living, based on what

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God has done. And this is what we'll look at next week, verses 1 and following. He tells us a lot in chapter 1, about how we should live holy lives.

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Lives of, verse 5, virtue, knowledge, self -control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection with love.

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He tells us to do those things. But if you look at the very beginning of verse 5, most people skip this, for this very reason.

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What reason? How can I live a holy life? How can I live a life that, you know, helps me with my assurance subjectively?

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And the answer is found in the first four verses. Verse 1, you've obtained a faith, and you're never going to lose it.

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You get that faith by the righteousness of Jesus, the law keeper. You'll never lose it.

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He'll never lose you. Verse 3, you've got divine power, and everything you need to live a life, including a life that has to deal with false teachers,

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He's granted it to you. And He's done it for His own glory and excellence. And by the way, they say, where's the promise of His coming?

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And verse 4 of chapter 1 says, by which He's granted to us His precious and very great promises.

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Everything you need for the Christian life is at the very beginning as a foundation. And those first four verses show that only

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God does this to us. It's not my faith that I came up with. It's not my regeneration, nothing.

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God did it all. He's ready. And in light of that, verse 5, I'd like to live a life commensurate with my calling, but I have the ability,

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God has given you the ability to live the Christian life, even though there's false teachers that knock on your door.

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Matter of fact, I was surprised. We had some Jehovah's Witnesses come to the church, knocking at the door.

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I'm like, would any of us ever go to the Kingdom Hall and knock on their door? I wonder. Years ago when they came, we had somebody who was no longer the church, and they were kind of the chair people and setting up the chairs.

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And the guy came up to me and he said, Pastor, there's a Jehovah's Witness. He wants to talk to me. And I go, I said,

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I'm not talking to him. You talk to him. I'm not the holy man. I get paid to be good.

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You're good for nothing. I mean, come on. For every

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Christian, you might not know a lot about apologetics, but if you are a Christian, you know, sin dwelling in me.

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I deserved hell. But God intercepted. God interrupted. God sent His Son.

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And while there's sin in me, no sin on Jesus. No sin, rather, in Jesus. No sin nature.

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He is truly God and truly man. And He is my representative for law -keeping.

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He's my substitute for my law -breaking. He's been raised from the dead. And I don't know a lot, but I know

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He's promised to come back. And I know that 2 Peter chapter 1 says that He's God and Savior.

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And you come to my door and tell me that He's not God and Savior. I'm not going to even tell you to come in and sit down and have a cup of coffee or water.

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I'm not going to do that at all because I'm concerned for your soul. And then, by the way, they always come in pairs.

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And so pick the one that's not trained the most and begin to talk to them. But everything you need, you never have to worry.

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I wonder if I'll ever be duped by false teachers if I'm in the Word and God has given me all these things.

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He will keep you to the end. How do you read a book of the Bible? Well, the best way to read a book of the

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Bible is to read all of the book, see what it's saying generally, and then start to dissect these different paragraphs, chapters, and segments of thought.

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I think as you study 2 Peter and you read it, you're going to love it because it will change you.

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It has authority. There's a gravity to it that you say, do you know what? This is an important last will and testament.

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And then everything you read about it should make you think, oh, it's about Jesus. Let's pray.

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Thank you, Father, for this Word. Thank you for the book of 2 Peter. I pray that you'd use it in Bethlehem Bible Church's life.

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First, to call those that sit here every week and are not Christians, that you would grant them repentance and faith.

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And then for us, would you help us to rest and to rely on you for our election and our calling?

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And then in light of that, we want to call out false teachers, we want to live holy lives, and we want to say,