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This morning we conclude Peter's second letter on February 11th We concluded Peter's first letter and on February 18th We started this second letter written by the Apostle Peter. What we have seen over the last four months is that Peter?
Three main topics in the first chapter Peter covered bait Christian living. The whole world is called to believe in Christ and once you believe in Christ The Lord has a plan for you and that plan is to grow you day by day to become more like Christ.
This growth doesn't just happen it comes through hard work. It comes through discipline. Peter also explained in chapter 1 that the foundation of our faith and the foundation of our growth is The Word of God and This word did not come from man.
No, it came From God and in the Word of God is power in the Word power to save and the power to transform. But the truth of the Word of God has always been threatened. And What Peter did to an entire chapter to explain that there is a threat that comes from false teachers.
Jesus calls them in Matthew 7 15 wolves. They are wolves in sheep's clothing. They present themselves as ministers of the gospel, but really they're pushing a different gospel. We spend several weeks looking at what these false teachers do to twist the scriptures and we also looked at their lives.
Typically when someone is teaching for doctrine, they also have a life that is immoral. And we've seen that and you see these things on the news. Some guy has some strange teaching and then you find out others a big scandal.
Should not shock us that those two go together. In Scripture describes that and Peter described that in 2nd Peter 2 and these dangerous people were there in Peter's day and they are very much here in our day as churches are built through the Word of God it is the responsibility of pastors and laymen to watch out for wolves who seek to advance their own agenda and Tear down the work that God is accomplishing through the word ministry in and through his people.
Now chapter 2 Was an intense chapter as Peter focused on wolves in the church that caused destruction wherever they go. But what Peter wrote about in chapter 3? Made chapter 2 look weak in Comparison as we have seen the last three Sundays Peter transitioned to talking about end times events.
And he spent much of his time talking about the end of the universe what could be a more heavy topic than that and The point that Peter drove home is that much of the world doesn't think? That this present world is going to come to an end.
It's going to continue on as it always has. That's what the world says. Many in this world believe there was no creation by the God of the Bible. There was no fall into sin when Adam and Eve sinned there was no global flood.
And there will be no time in the future when this world is Abruptly interrupted when Christ comes back to the earth. Some in the world are Aggressive in the insane these things while others believe this false teaching but are more silent about it.
One point these secular false teachers. Hang on is That lots of time has passed. God's people have been saying for a millennia that Jesus is coming back, and he still hasn't come back. And they say he has He isn't coming back.
This is what? Secular false teachers say. But to the Lord who is Eternal and not bound by time as we are. No time has passed. He sees all of history as one. Peter tells us that the Lord is going to bring world history to an end in his timing and in so doing He is going to fulfill his ancient promises that he is going to do this very thing.
And what God tells us is that sinners will be judged. The sin-stained world will be destroyed and there will be a new heavens and a new earth in the future. Where all the redeemed? Throughout history will dwell with God.
So this is what we have seen in a nut in 2nd Peter. Now as Peter closes this chapter He leaves us with final remarks that he desires his readers to take with them. And this is what we are going to look at this morning as we close the book on Peter and I mentioned that we ended first Peter in February.
We started our journey with Peter in first Peter one year ago on June 25th. So it's kind of interesting that this it's been about exactly a year since we started this journey with the Apostle Peter through 1st and 2nd Peter and Today we finished that journey.
So this time I encourage you to turn in the Bible with me to 2nd Peter chapter 3. We're gonna look at the end of chapter 3 and I'm gonna is this mic, okay? What switch? Okay. Let's try this one. This sermon is titled Peter's final message and as I give this title To you.
This is not just Peter's final remarks at the end of the letter. And as we saw in the introduction 2nd Peter Peter wrote this letter not long before his death at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero.
So.
These are these are literally Peter's final words as he leaves the world. So that's sobering and and let's think about that as we read this this morning. So we'll begin by reading the text. 2nd Peter chapter 3 verses 14 through 18.
Therefore beloved since you are waiting for these be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace and Count the patience of our Lord as salvation just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him as He does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters there are some things in them that are hard to understand which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as They do the other scriptures.
You therefore beloved knowing this beforehand. Take care that you are not carried away with the air of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.
Amen.
So here's our big idea what this text is calling you to do. Know that the Christian life is about staying the course till glory. The Christian life is about staying the course till glory and we're gonna see five practices how if you're visiting today, and you got that bulletin on the back of the bulletin is The outline where you can follow along.
We're gonna begin by zeroing in on verse 14 where Peter once again says beloved since you are waiting for these be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace. Peter begins with the word beloved.
You can see Peter's love for the churches to whom he is writing like any good shepherd Peter wants the best for the people of God. And what Peter has done is Speak the truth in love. And this is the responsibility of every shepherd of God's people.
It's to speak the truth in love. Ephesians 4 15 says speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ. What Peter does in these final verses is he speaks the truth in love?
Remember he's leaving them with these final words as I explained in the introduction. What we saw over the last three Sundays is that Peter describes the very end. The time when this earth and the entire universe will be destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth Will come in in verse 13.
It said according to his promise. We are waiting for New heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. So what Peter is writing is that his believing readers are waiting for the end of all things that will happen in All of its events which concludes with the destruction of the universe and the remaking of a holy universe.
Believers are looking ahead to. With this in mind, how are you to live? Peter says in the second half of verse 14. Be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace. And last week's text Peter wrote in verses 11 and 12 since all these things are thus to be dissolved.
What sort of people are ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? Waiting for and hastening in the day of the of God. Last week I explained the parables that Jesus gave the parables of the ten virgins the parables of the talents.
These parables Jesus gave to say. Jesus is going to come back and you need to be ready. What I've explained the last several weeks is that most of this world isn't ready? Isn't that true? Most of this world isn't.
Ready, look at what the world loves. The world loves darkness. John 3 19 says the light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works.
Were evil.
Can you remember a time in your life? When you weren't ready for something. Where you were supposed to be ready. But you weren't ready when it came. Whatever it is that you were preparing for. We can probably think of a school exam that was looming and we didn't study.
Like we were supposed to in the test came and the test probably didn't. In. In high school I was a fairly lazy student. I remember this very well. But as we think about the end of this present world.
We are ready.
We are to be ready for the end of all things and the way we are to be ready is by living. That is honoring to the Lord. All right third time's a charm in the old days. They didn't have microphones. So we if this one doesn't work Maybe I'll just shout the rest of the time.
So what Peter writes in verse 14. We are to be those that live lives without spot or blemish. And what's interesting is that Peter in his first letter in first Peter 119 When he describes the character of Jesus Christ, what does he say?
Jesus was without spot or blemish. Okay, so when we talk about The kind of lives we are supposed to live. We are supposed to live lives that reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter also calls his readers here to be at peace.
Peace is what the world longs for but looks for in all the wrong places. The only true peace that one can have is the Lord. To have the peace of the Lord is to have a calm Confidence that you are secure in Christ and what joy fills your heart knowing this.
Knowing that at the day of judgment You will not experience any judgment because Christ paid the full penalty for your sins of the cross. We need to live lives that are holy and be diligent to remind ourselves of the peace that we have in the Lord.
Knowing that we are forever secure in the Lord because of our forever union with Christ. Okay, so no, this is the first point.
No.
That the Christian life is about staying the course till glory and. The first practice how is by living for your eternal home now. Living for your eternal home now. Because he is going to come back and we want him to find us ready when he comes back.
The second practice how is by sharing the gospel to those in danger? Let's begin by looking at verse 15 where Peter writes. And count it and count the patience of our Lord as salvation. Just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him.
So here Peter recaps what he said in verses 8 and 9 of this chapter in those verses. He wrote. Do not overlook this one fact beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness. But as patient towards you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. Then Peter mentions how Paul wrote this in Paul's letters.
He makes the gospel clear and he makes the gospel clear in all of his letters. But the best place to go to is Paul's most famous letter the book of Romans. Going through the gospel in Romans has been called Romans Road.
Has anybody ever heard of that Romans Road and why would they call it Romans Road. The Romans were known for their roads they built the best roads where people could travel all throughout the Roman Empire.
And so when we're talking about Making the gospel clear as Peter is saying here in verse 15 Romans Road is a great place to go to Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 5 8 for God Demonstrates his own love for us and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
Romans 6 23 for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then you go to Romans 10 verses 9 and 10 in verse 13. Which says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.
You will be saved in verse 13 says anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So clear gospel presentation the only way one can be saved from their sin and God's holy wrath is when someone shares the good news of Jesus with them in Romans once again Paul wrote in Chapter 10 verses 14 through 17.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have? Never heard. And how are they to hear without someone preaching. And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written?
How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? But they have not all but all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says Lord who has believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
So as we live in this world, and we see how godless it is out there. It is true that we should long for the day when justice will come. It is a holy longing for the Lord to judge the wicked and every Christian Should be eternally grateful that Christ was judged in our place.
What we should also long for is the repentance of unbelievers. The only way someone can be saved from eternal torment and hell is through the gospel. It is through telling the old story that we read in Scripture and sing about in song.
When we share the gospel, we are telling people the horror of what will come upon them if they don't believe. Last week I talked about tornadoes and this Agent of wonder that comes that's in nature and I talked about the Joplin, Missouri tornado that hit in 2011.
This tornado was the costliest tornado in American history. And if it's the costliest tornado in American history, guess what? It's the costliest tornado in world history because the biggest tornadoes happen in what's called tornado alley in America which goes which goes all the way down to Texas all the way up to South Dakota and even, Iowa.
This tornado in Joplin, Missouri destroyed 7 ,000 homes. Imagine that one of the homes that was destroyed was my father's childhood home. Because my dad and his family lived there for four years during his childhood.
The tornado that Hits closest to home to us probably is the siren tornado of 2001. When this tornado hit I was only 14 years old living in Mound, Minnesota. But I remember hearing about this tornado all over the news and those of you living in this area back in 2001 remember it well the weather channel.
They do these storm stories and one of the storm stories they did was actually the siren tornado. I don't know if any of you have ever seen that. They tell the story about what happened that day on June 18th 2001 and there's a great irony about the siren tornado.
When the tornado was barreling east toward the town of siren the tornado siren in the town wasn't working out of service. But a story of heroism took place as this as the tornado was approaching. The sheriff of the town off duty Knew the tornado was coming.
He jumped into his vehicle and he drove all through town telling people to take shelter. Remarkably, even though the town was largely destroyed. No one in siren died from the tornado. As Christians we are to be like a sheriff that warns people of the horror that is coming and that horror is the holy wrath of God.
That will be poured out on those who do not believe in Christ as Lord Savior and treasure. This is coming on this world. This is coming upon people. Christ is the only Savior and this is the message we must proclaim to the world.
As Peter once again writes we are to count the patience of our Lord as salvation. The Lord is patient. Why is the Lord patient? He is patient because He wants to see people come to a saving faith in his son Jesus Christ.
And it's our responsibility as he is patient to get the message out so that people will believe. The Lord is patient for this reason. So know that the Christian life is about staying the course till glory.
And the second practice how that Peter reveals here is by sharing the gospel to those in danger as the Lord waits. The third practice how you are to know that the Christian life is about staying the course till glory is By understanding that wolves hinder true gospel advance.
Let's see this in the second half of verse 16.
Where.
Peter writes here that there are some things in them that are hard to understand. Some things in Paul's letters. Which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do. The other scriptures this is interesting here.
One apostle Peter is talking about another apostle Paul. And he says something very interesting here. He says that Paul Speaks he writes at a high level. That it's hard to understand. So Pete apparently Peter's reading Paul's letters.
He's like man. This is hard to understand. And this is how it is some speak at a higher level. Even though it's still important for intellectuals to speak in a clear manner. I Have some books on my shelf that are written by academics to academics.
Ultimately these books aren't all that helpful because most people can't understand them. The best books are those that are readable and by the way this book is readable. God made it that way. It's called the perspicuity of Scripture.
Which means that it is clear it can be understood if we work to understand the Bible. Well most of the Bible can be pretty easily understood. There are portions that are more difficult and Peter a Simple fisherman tells us that he sometimes has a hard time understanding Paul.
Although I would say Paul is much easier to read than some academics who want to show people how smart they are. So they use the biggest words possible, but even with that Paul is still harder to understand than other New Testament writers.
What Peter does here is that he makes the point in the second half of verse 16 that evil people use Paul's writings to their?
Own.
Evil advantage. When there is language that is less clear They make it say what they want it to say. So that it means something that Paul never meant. Now what chapter 2 in this letter is all about is false teachers.
What I have explained is that the false teachers in chapter 2 are false teachers with a Christian veneer. They present themselves as Disciples as teachers on behalf of Christ, but really they're spreading a different gospel.
They know the Christian lingo, which makes them dangerous. And Peter explains that in the second half of verse 16 that the people who do this are the ignorant and Unstable that twists to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures.
So they don't just twist Paul's letters. They twist all of scripture and when Peter is mentioning scripture here what he means is the 39 books of the Old Testament. These because at this time the New Testament is being written.
But as these false teachers they go to the Old Testament. They go to Paul's letters. They twist it. They make it say what they wanted to say to advance their own agenda. And as a side note Peter does something significant here.
He writes that Paul's letters are Equal with the Old Testament. Okay, so Peter the Apostle was aware That what Paul was writing was the Word of God in all of his 13 letters. But back to the point of what Peter is making Peter is warning his readers and us.
That evil people make the scriptures say things They don't say in order to advance the false teachers agenda and as we saw extensively in chapter 2 Every Christian needs to be aware of this false teachers and false teachings.
Abounded in Peter's day and how much more in our day as we are approaching the return of Christ. Satan is active. This we must understand in Peters concluding remarks. He's reminding us. Please understand that ignorant and unstable people twist the scriptures and They do this to their own destruction, which means they won't get away with it.
They do it, but they won't get away with it. So this is the third practice. How? You were to know that the Christian life is about staying the course till glory.
Wolves.
Hinder true.
Gospel advance.
And this is why by the way, we must always defend the truth. Because if we don't defend the truth guess what's gonna happen. We you say true things you say true things about the Bible and we're just gonna keep saying true things.
And it's just gonna drown out the bad stuff. That's not how it works. People need to know what we are for and What we are against. It's not enough just that people know what we are for they need to know what we are against.
Okay, we believe that Jesus is the only way which means that all these other religions aren't the way to God. People need to hear that with crystal clarity. People need to understand what sin is. Okay, and there's some there's a lot of controversial things people need to understand that abortion is a sin.
That homosexuality is a sin. That transgenderism is a sin. That embracing secular Ideologies and imposing them on the Bible which the church does quite a bit is a sin. Right, we need to identify these things.
Okay, and and yes pride is a sin. Yes. Lust is a sin. Yes, stealing is a sin. Yes. So on and so forth you go down the list. We're gonna go through the Ten Commandments here pretty soon. All these are sins, but if we don't identify.
What sin is then? What are people gonna know what to repent from? All right, so we have to when we preach the gospel. We need to identify if you're gonna follow Christ you need to turn from this specific sin.
Okay, you understand what I'm saying here. We can't be vague when we talk about what sins are we need to be specific? But wolves love to blur that and We we need to build up the truth as we proclaim it as we live it and we need to defend the truth with all of our might.
So the fourth practice how you were to know that the Christian life is about staying the course till glory is by Remaining on Christ's mission and we'll see this in verse 17 where Peter writes. You therefore beloved knowing this beforehand.
Take care that you are not carried away with the air of lawless people and lose your own stability. Peter is concerned that some of his readers will be deceived by false teaching. There's a reason people fall for false teaching.
It doesn't sound false. It sounds right like oh that sounds kind of good. We talked about counterfeit money. Certain people are trained to identify counterfeit money. We need to be trained to identify false Teaching it doesn't sound false.
Maybe at first glance, but upon closer examination it is. False teachers are master manipulators and this is why Christians need to be on their guard so that they are not led astray. Pastor John MacArthur who has pastored a grace Community Church in suburban, Los Angeles.
For 55 years. Can you believe it 55 years? He's been the pastor there. He was once asked what is the greatest problem with the American Evangelical Church? His answer was that there is a great lack of discernment a great lack of discernment.
All sorts of strange teachings get into Christian institutions and churches. I Grew up at a church where lots of strange teachings got in and guess what happened the whole thing blew up. The whole thing eventually blew up.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're welcome here. Yeah, you're welcome here. Yeah, you're welcome here. And it was this giant tent. We're it to the point where there was actually heretical teachings that were allowed and eventually the whole thing blew up.
You can't have a church like that. It doesn't work. God's not gonna bless that church. All sorts of strange teachings get into Christian institutions and churches a couple weeks ago. Was the largest? Christian Convention which is an annual event.
It was the Southern Baptist Convention and you might say why should we pay attention to what is happening in the Southern Baptist Convention? Well, we should care because as the Southern Baptist Convention goes so does goes the American Church.
Within the Southern Baptist Convention. There are over 40 ,000 churches because this is just a giant behemoth of a movement. It's in the Bible Belt. That's where all the churches are, right? Every Christian should be interested.
The SPC is the biggest denomination and the flagship seminary is One that Russell Fuller. Russell Fuller spoke here two months ago at our be not conformed conference he taught there for 22 years at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and The SPC is the driving force with what happens in mainstream evangelicalism in 2019 at the convention one of the professors this guy taught at Southern Seminary.
Southern Baptist Seminary Curtis Woods. He proposed an amendment encouraging pastors and members to use critical race theory and Intersectionality as tools to help understand the Bible on the issue of race.
And you might think okay, this must have been shot down. This is radical. This is clear heresy and guess what happened it passed. Thousands of people there it passed. Why did it pass? How did this happen?
There's little to no discernment among most Christians. Now. Some of these Christians are professing and not real Christians. That's true. Well, others are younger in their faith and they need to grow in discernment and the Bible tells us We need to grow in discernment recognizing.
What is good? What is true? Recognizing what is false? What is bad? Hebrews 5 14 says that solid food is for the mature for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
It is of utmost importance that Christians be discerning so that as Peter writes We are not carried away with the air of lawless people and lose your own Stability. Now, there's another place where Paul writes they are carried away by every wind of doctrine.
They're not ready. False teaching comes and they're not ready to stop it. They're not ready to turn from it. They just embrace it. I remember when I was in college I.
Got pulled over.
Because I did an illegal pass on the right shoulder. It's just kind of okay, I'm not bragging about this before for whatever reason when I've gotten pulled over in my life They've always given me warnings.
I don't know what the deal is. I don't know if God just knows how poor I've been over the years and he's just like you don't have the money to Pay for it. It's just a warning but I did an illegal pass and I was following the car in front of me and guess what the cop did not catch the guy in front of me he caught me of course the guy who's following the guy and What he told me I'll never forget he said.
If he were driving off a cliff, would you drive off that cliff with him. And I said, of course, no. When I did the illegal pass I was going with the flow and Wasn't paying close enough attention and as a result I broke the law That day on the highway.
How easy it is to go with the flow of society before you know it entire movements are adopting Secular philosophies and still consider themselves being faithful to Scripture. Not only that but how easy it is for us individually to fall for errant teaching.
Without even knowing it you can be out of line with the scriptures. So we must be on guard to keep our stability in sound biblical Christianity. Where the Lord is honored and we are under his blessing.
So know that the Christian life is about staying the course to glory and the fourth practice How is by remaining on Christ's mission and here's the fifth and final practice how? That's by living a productive life for the Lord.
And this is the last verse that Peter leaves us with. The last thing he says in his in his life in his written life on earth. Because not long after this he was executed for his faith in Christ. Verse 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So Peter tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Now the word grace is a word that can be used in a couple different ways. The way that we first comes to our minds is Ephesians 2 8 and 9 for it is by grace.
You have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God. Not a result of works so that no one may boast. In other words all our salvation Happens. Because of God's grace, we don't earn our salvation.
We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That's one of the ways to use grace. The other way to use grace is power. I've heard it said That grace is not just pardon. It's power.
It's God working in our lives. Paul used it in this way in first Corinthians 1510 when he said I Worked harder than any of them. Though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. The second aspect of grace is what Peter has in mind here.
Peter wants his readers to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as You learn about Christ in the Word of God and desire to be like him. What the Lord does is he uses the Holy Spirit to transform us?
To become more like him. The goal in your life on earth is not only to get to heaven by believing in Jesus. But that when you get to heaven you will arrive as a mature Christian. Now when you come to church on Sunday morning.
Which is the best time of the week? What you see above the door on the way out is this verse? 2nd Peter 318 it is our desire as a church. To be this when we talk about what is Eureka Baptist all about?
It is about Growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We don't just want people to be saved in this church. We want people to grow into mature Christians during the years that you spend here.
One day at the final judgment there will be lots of churches that Created an environment where there was little to no growth because the ministry was all milk. It wasn't solid food. It was all milk and It is my and the elders desire to teach you the whole counsel of God and it is our prayer that you feast On the word that is taught to you and that you not only intently listen on Sundays.
But that you read the Bible during the week. Right the reason I preach the way I do we go. We typically go verse by verse through books of the Bible. It teaches us to read the Bible. We want to be people who don't just know, you know a few verses here and there.
But that we actually read what it has to say and that the Lord would use this to transform us. Right Peter has made it clear in his letters that the way that we grow is through the Word of God. That's where growth comes from and if we create an environment where there's little to no Bible and a lot I mean frankly there are churches like that.
You're creating an environment that is not encouraging people to grow. You're creating an environment where people are gonna be shallow in their faith or maybe even not saved at all. And what a tragedy that is and every pastor every elder is gonna have to give an account one day as to how they led the church that they looked after.
So when people ask what is Eureka Baptist all about Eureka Baptist is about Raising people encouraging people to Think talk and act like Jesus to grow in Christ together. And as this happens What a wonderful environment it is and what a blessing this church is to the community a church that thinks talks and acts like Jesus and How we think talk and act might surprise some people sometimes because Jesus wasn't just love love love.
He was tough.
He was tough and tender. I think about that when I want to be like Jesus we're gonna have a backbone. Being like Jesus means you have a backbone. Think about that. It doesn't mean you're just always nice and nice and nice and nice and nice.
If someone is robbing your house You're not gonna be nice. You got to be tough. The righteous thing to do is to be tough. Right when false teaching comes we got to be tough. We got to have a backbone.
But we also should be kind. We should be the kindest people that that people know. But we stand firm on the Word of God we don't budge. That's what it means to think talk and act like Jesus and By his grace may we be that more and more.
And as you do this think of what a blessing you will be to those around you. It is this life that is glorifying to God and the one who lives this life has the greatest joy. And we talked about this a lot.
That.
Everybody wants to be happy. But people don't know what true happiness is because they don't get their happiness from the Word of God. If they get it in superficial things if we want a life that glorifies God and leads to the greatest joy.
Then we are gonna live out what the Bible says and you will find. Wow what a life this is. And it doesn't mean it's always easy. There's difficulties that come but even in the midst of difficulties this joy Goes with you, which is truly incredible.
Okay, so to summarize what we have seen this morning. Know that the Christian life is about staying the course. Staying the course till glory just like you're running a race. Stay the course all the way to the finish line.
And in this text We've seen five practices how by living for your eternal home now. Sharing the gospel to those in danger. Understanding that wolves hinder true gospel advance. Remaining on Christ's mission.
And as we just have seen in the fifth point living a productive life for the Lord. So by God's grace May we take to heart all the treasure that we have learned over the last year in Peter's first and second letter.
Now next Sunday, we're going to sermon series as I've already mentioned to you this morning. We're gonna start a journey through the Ten Commandments. It's probably gonna take us about 11 to 12 Sundays to get through it and VBS actually did the Ten Commandments last year.
So we're gonna there was a two years ago one of those years and so we as a church are gonna go through The Ten Commandments, but this time let's bow our heads in prayer. Father in heaven, what a wonderful God you are Lord as the word goes out.
It does not come back void. And so my prayer is. The word that has gone out at the end of Peter's second letter would be used to plant deep in the hearts of each one here and Lord that you would grow us into the people you want us to be.
That truly we would be people who think and talk and act like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And my purchase if anyone here has never put their trust in Christ. That this day that they would understand their sin.
They would understand that Jesus died on the cross for their sins that he paid the full penalty. That he rose gloriously from the dead. And by believing in him that that person may have eternal life and so my prayer is that everyone here would truly know Christ and Truly be growing in Christ in Jesus name.