Exhortations to Faithful Living: Part 1

So I'd like to speak to you this morning on the exhortations that's found for godly living.

Exhortations to faithful living. That's another way to put it. You can actually place the word faithful as another word of being diligent.

Being diligent. Now, I like to set that before you in this part one, and this is very important for everything up until this point of everything that we have heard from the

Apostle Peter. Before we go any further, let's please bow with me in prayer as we seek the

Lord to help us within this hour of worship as we open the

Bible and hear his word. Amen. Our Father and our

God, we praise you and we thank you. We exalt you. We exalt your holy name.

We thank you, Father, for who you are, and we say within our hearts and we desire your name to be hallowed.

Father, may your name be hallowed amongst us, just not only in our daily lives.

Yes, that's important, but Father, here amongst your people in worship for you're the

Lord God, and there's none like unto you. As we read this morning from Psalm 19, the prayer of David, let this be our prayer.

O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable,

O Lord, in your sight. In your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

I pray, Lord, to give us ears to hear your word of what the Spirit is saying to the church, and Father, we pray that you would open the eyes of our heart, and Father, that we may apply everything that is given to us from your word, and we need your

Spirit to help us, Lord. Without the blessed Holy Spirit, everything will be in vain.

So, Lord, I pray, hide me behind the cross, and may your blessed Holy Spirit help each and every one of us worship you, and may everything that we do be acceptable in your sight.

In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. So, now as we come to the end of this wonderful epistle and the conclusion, within the past weeks before the holidays, we have taken this time to see everything that Peter has been speaking to us of the warnings within the church.

There's been severe warnings about false teachers, so I'd like to give you an overview, and it's not gonna be a very long one,

I'm gonna try to summarize it, but we should all have in mind the question is this, what did we take away from this epistle, personally, that changed my life?

How did this epistle change my life as we have studied it?

What from this epistle, 2

Peter, gave me more desire to be more godly, to be more holy, to be more like Jesus, more of a desire to be more faithful and more diligent as a follower of Jesus Christ?

Those sorts of questions I'd like for us to set before us as we look at these applications, because it's personal application.

And this is really, as we will be looking at in 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 14 through 18, this is the conclusion, this is his application to everything that he has said in these three chapters.

So the epistle, as a quick overview, began with a wonderful affirmation in 2

Peter, if you look back to chapter 1 verse 3, that as a follower of Jesus Christ, and he's speaking to the church, that we have a present provision, a present provision.

That present provision God has given us through his Son, the

Lord Jesus Christ, in verse 3, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue.

All this that pertain to life and godliness is through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ himself.

It's that personal relationship with him. That communion that we have in Christ is really the foundation of everything that Peter speaks of.

I find this very interesting because it's so important the way he begins this letter is the way he concludes it, in a sense.

And we will see this. I'm going to try to tie that together. Now, everything we will ever need in this life to live a godly and holy life, as we looked at, and we've been looking at, and he speaks a lot of that.

Have you noticed in the Scriptures how many times it speaks about godliness and holy living?

This is a holy Bible. I like the way Ravenhill put it. This is a holy Bible that speaks about a holy

God that's from a holy God, by the Holy Spirit, to prepare us to be holy, to go and live in a holy city with holy saints and holy angels.

Everything about God is holy. Anything that's unholy, we're not in there.

We are to be holy. That is a command. And that command is that sanctification.

But first we're made holy in regeneration, because it's the

Holy Spirit that brings us into that holy nature and that communion with God.

Everything we will ever need in this life, this little life that we live, this little short life, to live godly, to live holy, in order to be all that God calls us to be in this life, and all to do that God has called us to do in our service to him, for his glory is ours, is mine, through Jesus Christ our

Lord and Savior. Isn't that wonderful? Just like Fannie Crosby said and sung it, blessed assurance,

Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, heir of salvation, purchased of God, born of his

Spirit, washed in his blood. Amen? Everything that we need is in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is mine. We can say that as saints, redeemed sinners,

I like to put it. Jesus said this in John 15.

You don't have to turn there, but verse 5 is one of the most key verses to that chapter. And in that whole chapter,

Jesus is speaking about his father is the husbandman. He is the head husbandman of the field, of the garden.

And Jesus says, I am divine. I am divine, in verse 5.

You are the branches. And he makes a connection here, which is a beautiful truth.

He says, he who abides. And Brother Keith mentioned that this morning, about abiding.

And there's another word, the old King James puts it, he who continues. He who abides.

It's synonymous. In me, in Jesus. And I in him, bears much fruit.

And then he says after that, for without me, you can do nothing.

Now that's where a Selah goes. Think of that. We, without Jesus Christ, we can do nothing.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No wonder, Peter says, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue.

It's all through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that knowledge, we looked at this, if you remember, it's not a head knowledge.

It is a personal knowledge of intimacy, knowing Christ, knowing him.

Paul said it, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which

I've committed unto him against that day. Jesus says, without me you could do nothing.

Paul the Apostle said something very familiar, very similar, I should say, to this in Philippians chapter 4, verse 12 and 13.

Listen to what he says here. I know how to be abased, that means to live humbly.

I know how to live humbly, I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound, that means live in prosperity, whether it be poor or rich, whatever state he's saying.

And by the way, when he wrote this, he was in a dungeon. Think of that. Everywhere and in all things, listen to that, does it matter the location?

And in all things I have learned, that's something we have to learn, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

And then in verse 13 he says it, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I'm so appalled how people take this verse out of context to apply to their little measly walk, and you abuse that scripture and take it out of context to apply it to something that doesn't even mean.

But Paul basically says I could do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and then what he was talking about, whatever state

I'm in, whether it's in the poorest of the poor situation or the richest of the rich, I'm content in God.

I'm content in God. That doesn't mean he's stagnant, he's basically saying

I'm resting in God, I'm resting in who God is and who Jesus is and I know who keeps me, even though I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and I'm not content in that sense, but I am content in my

God, whatever my situation may be. And think of it, he was in a cold dark dungeon, chained up, imprisoned for the gospel's sake when he said that.

Isn't that incredible? Isn't that incredible? So here's the overview, and so in chapter 1 of 2

Peter, we've seen how the Apostle Peter exhorts us to rise up, to rise up with complete confidence in God, our confidence in God, because our confidence is not in flesh, right?

The arm of flesh will let us down. Our confidence in God in anything that we do is our confidence in God.

That in that provision in and through Jesus Christ to build faithfully on the foundation of our faith, our faith in Jesus Christ, our faith in Jesus Christ of who he is, and that we'll be seeing this in the

Gospel of John, because who Jesus is is supremely important, isn't it? And isn't this what everybody that we look around in cults, they have it wrong?

Who Jesus really is according to the Bible? That he's not a created being, he is

God that has always existed with the Father, but he came in flesh? What a mystery.

But yet people say, the cults say, that he was a created being? That's heresy, folks.

And yet that is taught amongst so many places and deceives so many people.

Blind leaders of the blind, Jesus called them. They both fall in the ditch. But it's about the faith that was once delivered to the

Saints, as Jude says. And that faith is the raw material that God commands us to use.

That faith that God gives to us as a gift, he gives each and every one of us a measure of faith to grow in.

And this is how he ends in verse 18, but grow in the grace and the knowledge of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever. Amen. And at the end of the chapter 1 of chapter 1, we saw that Peter affirms us that we could build on that faith in Jesus Christ with the full assurance.

Why? That's a good question, isn't it? Why? Well, that question why is because according to verse 4, a second

Peter chapter 1, if you look at it, we have been given, again, notice that God is the one that does the giving.

It's not us that gives our heart. You hear that so often, don't you?

But it's God that is given, his Son. He has given us also exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be what?

Partakers. Isn't that beautiful? Partakers of what? Of the divine nature. Now, this boggles my mind that you and I, when

God takes up residence in us through the Holy Spirit by faith alone, our trust in Jesus Christ, something supernatural really happens.

What is the supernatural? It's regeneration. That's what he's talking about. He's talking about we are partakers of God's holiness, of the divine nature of God Almighty.

God takes up residence. God dwells within man. The habitation of God is not this structure here.

The habitation of God is within our soul. Isn't that wonderful? And then he says this, having escaped the corruption, that word corruption means depravity, we've escaped the depravity that is in the world through lust.

We've escaped that. That's repentance. That's conversion. Now, as we moved on and read in chapter 2, that's chapter 1.

Chapter 2, we found out through the Apostle Peter by the Holy Spirit that not everyone was faithful to the truth, right?

Not everyone was faithful to the truth that the Apostles taught about the

Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, in chapter 2, Peter then begins to give warning.

We looked at that. It's the heart of the epistle. He gives warning about these false teachers, who they are, what kind of foul character they have.

Applies today. We see many false teachers today. Actually, they're in abundance today, to be honest with you. We found out not everyone was faithful and these false teachers came along, and through their depravity and through their blindness and through their deceptions, they began to teach damnable heresies, damnable doctrines, who would rise up within the church.

Now, that's what Peter is addressing here. He's addressing the problems and the problems within the church, not outside.

First, Peter, as we looked at, he addressed what? Outside of the church. The world, the sufferings, and the conflicts there that's outside of the church.

But what about within the church? That's even more deadly. That's where Satan does his biggest work.

It's within the church. That's why Jesus mentioned about the tares, right? That grows up right next to the wheat, and you cannot even tell the difference between the two.

They look almost identical. And really, only God can separate them.

Only God can separate them. And he's going to do it, because God's not mocked.

But within the church, and what does these false teachers do? They mislead and they deceive.

The misleading is from the deception. And I really believe this, that Satan's biggest tool, his biggest tool is deception.

He takes the truth of God and he deceives and he twists the Scriptures. He twists the

Scriptures. And if you notice in verse 16, we're going to look at this later, in 2

Peter chapter 3, he mentions as also in all his epistles, speaking about Paul, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand.

Notice what he says, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the

Scriptures. Satan has not changed that strategy one iota. He uses that same strategy because he knows he's been very successful in that strategy, and saying, and questioning.

Yea, has God said? Yea, has God said? He's a liar and the father of it,

Jesus says. And he takes the Scripture, and even in the wilderness, when Satan was tempting our

Lord Jesus Christ for 40 days and 49 days, Satan came. Satan himself came. And what was he using?

The Scriptures. What was he doing? Twisting them. Twisting them.

So these false teachers would come and deceive God's people, twisting the Scriptures, seek to sway them from the faith that was once delivered unto the saints, which

Jude said. Peter went into great detail about this, and warning us, and oh such love of a shepherd to warn the flock, to warn the church against these wolves that will come, seeking to destroy the church.

Wolves eat sheep, and they are serious about it.

Now Peter went into great detail in warning the church about the character of these false teachers, and the harm they would cause within the church, and then we come to chapter 3.

That's the first two chapters, an overview. As you well know in chapter 3, the Apostle spoke about what?

The promise of the Lord's return. If you notice, everything that he speaks of is really centered on the person of Jesus Christ.

That Jesus will return, that Jesus made a promise that he will keep, and the false teachers said, no, no, no, no.

He doesn't really mean that. They twist it, and they cast doubt on it. They're mockers and scoffers.

But the Apostle said they're wrong, and he proves them wrong by the truth and the holy prophets and the scriptures.

So the Apostle spoke about the blessed hope, the promise of the Lord's return, and warned us that the way that many unbelievers would arise in the last days, and that's what they are, they're unbelievers, pretending to be something that they're not, within the church, goats, they will mock the coming and the promise of the

Lord's return. Jesus would return, and Jesus gave that sure word and that promise that he would, and he is.

Look at today. You really think that this is on the mind of people that's living?

Not on your life. It's not even on the radar. Sad to say, within the church, we will hear very few messages on the blessed hope of the return of Jesus Christ, that he's going to return in great power and glory as a thief in the night.

Sad to say. There are some churches that preach it. I'm not going to say I exclude all of them, but there are, that's the remnant that will preach it, because they believe in everything from Genesis to Revelation.

And you can't help but see it all through the Bible, of the promise of his second return.

Now Peter affirmed to us that in spite of these false teachers mocking God and giving false accusations and unbelief, that's what they're doing, that the great day of God Almighty, the day of the

Lord, will come as a thief in the night. We've seen that, and it's going to happen. And with all that being said, with all that being said, that brings us to today's passage.

And we're only going to look at one verse, and that will be verse 14. And I'm just going to want you to think about just one word.

Be diligent. Be diligent. And I'm thinking about this. I'm studying this. I said,

Lord, help me to apply this to my life, that I will be diligent, to be found faithful in Him, in everything

I do, whether it be at home, or at work, or abroad, in my daily conduct, in my daily life, that I will be faithful in the mundane, and faithful in the little things, that God has taken record and account of everything, and I'm going to give an account to this before the judgment bar of God, one day.

You know, Ravenhill is so right. Let me mention Ravenhill again here. He says, you put your eye, you have a single eye on God.

He says, this is the way he put it. I really thought this is so true. He said, the Apostle Paul had an eye on lost humanity, and he had an eye on eternity, on the judgment.

He said, you put your eye single -minded on that, and that will curb your life completely, folks.

An eye on lost humanity, and an eye on the judgment. And of course, our eyes is fixed on Jesus.

That's primarily what our eyes are upon, right? Jesus. But I don't know about you. When I think about the judgment, my eye is just not thinking about the surroundings, which will be devastating, because all the saints of glory will be there when

I stand before the bar of God. But to look into his eyes, that has the eyes are like a flaming fire and brighter than the sun, and I'm going to fall before him.

But you know, it's going to be a wonderful thing to see him face -to -face. It's not a terrifying thing, but at the same time, it's going to be an awesome thing.

We look forward to seeing him face -to -face, right? But what I'm saying is, at the judgment, knowing that, as Tozer says, it's not what terrifies me of the things that I did before the

Lord, it's the things that I didn't do that I could have did, and I didn't do it. Wow.

So, we need to be single -minded, single -eyed. I like what

Edwards said, Jonathan Edwards said, Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.

Stamp eternity on my eyeballs. Now, with that, that brings us to these exhortations to the church, the application, the conclusion.

And we're only going to look at this one verse, and I think this is going to have enough for us here today to take home with us and to chew on.

In light of the Lord's promised return and the promise of the new heavens and the new earth, in light of the fact and the truth that many deceivers and scoffers would arise in the last days and deceive many, which the

Bible says and Jesus said that is one of the biggest signs of the last days before his coming, that false prophets will arise and they would deceive many.

Peter exhorts us. Isn't it wonderful? He gives an exhortation. He gives us exhortations as what we should do with everything that he has said.

Application. What are we going to do with it? What are we going to do with all this truth?

Now, that sobers me up, folks, because I think about the truth and the light that I have,

I'm going to give an account, because Jesus said this, didn't he? He says, much is given with much will be required.

And we're going to give account to all that we are accountable to and required of.

He writes these powerful words of exhortations in how we could be faithful to our Lord and how we could be steadfast in the faith and how we could be diligent to the very end of our lives, excuse me, until Jesus or until Jesus returns.

Let me read it again. Notice what he says. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things.

What things is he talking about? Verse 13. Or let's go back to verse 12.

Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat, it's a question or explanation, either or.

Nevertheless, we according to his promise, the promise of his return. See, that's what this whole letter is about, is the second coming of Jesus.

And then he says, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Now, that's what he's talking about.

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things.

Are you looking forward to it? I am. I'm looking forward to see a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.

The battle will be over. It'll be no longer the church militant, right?

It will be the church with Jesus Christ forever and ever. These things be, then he says, we look forward to these things and then he says, be diligent.

Now, that's the word we need to get. Be diligent to be found in him in peace, without spot, blameless.

I like for us to look at that. Now, beloved, this is very practical shoe -leather -face.

We need to really ask ourselves these questions. How can we be more diligent? How can we be more diligent?

Peter has began his letter as as he affirmed to us that all we have and all we need is in Jesus Christ for life and godliness, right?

He ends the letter by exhorting us in the faith to use that provision and how to live godly and to stand firm on the promises of God and in the faith that was once delivered to the saints and now we can be found in him and how we could be found in him, how we could be faithful until our life ends on this earth or is a glorious return.

Now, think of this. Here's something else I'd like to set before you. If our

Lord Jesus Christ should return in our lifetime, wouldn't it be a glorious thing to see this?

We don't know exactly when he's because as we looked at his days and his hours is different than ours, totally different.

His calendar is completely different than our calendar. But the question comes to mind, what spiritual condition will we be when

Jesus comes back again? What spiritual condition will we be when he comes back again?

That's a sobering question. Would we be found faithful and living for him and doing his blessed will?

What he has commanded us to do? You know, I remember Teresa telling me, she said her mother always believed this and that's why she never ever would enter into a movie theater.

She always had in the back of her mind if I went into a movie theater entertaining my thoughts of my life, when

Jesus comes, would he take me out? What would he think about me if he found me there?

I know you could take that too far, but bless her heart. She's with the

Lord now and I think she was pretty much on track in a sense about that she wanted her life to please the

Lord. Amen? Now, I'm not saying to stay out of a movie theater to see a good picture, you know, if it's a good picture.

But I see what she's saying. She had in the back of her mind, and believe me, back then,

I've been in the Pentecostals, among the Pentecostals, and believe me, they preached the second coming of Jesus and they preached it with fervency and fire.

And I said, Lord, we need that. But she always would say that. That's what

Teresa mentioned to me. You know, did you know that Jesus himself was concerned about this?

Jesus himself was concerned about this. Before he left this earth, he urged us, he urged his followers to make sure that he will find us faithful at his coming.

We find this concern in the Gospel of Luke. Go with me very quickly to the

Gospel of Luke chapter 12. I'd like for you to see this. This is very pivotal of what

Peter is referring to, of our Lord's concern about his second return when he comes back, the blessed hope.

And let's see what our Lord has to say about this. So Jesus himself assured us that we cannot know the time of his return, right?

We don't know that. We don't know the time in the hour. But we do know that it will happen, and it will happen at a time when the world is least anticipating it and least expecting it, because the

Scripture says he will come as a thief in the night.

We, as his followers, must keep in a constant state of expectation. Another word would be anticipation of his second coming.

But we are to expect him to come and to be sober, as Paul said, and always living in a way that would be pleasing to him and be found by him to be faithful at his coming.

And he said that to his servants that followed him, speaking of being faithful to him.

Now this same Apostle Peter, whose letter we are studying, heard the words of our

Lord Jesus Christ here. Now let me read, let me read this in chapter 12.

Let me read verse 35 through 40. I want you to see this. He speaks about a faithful servant and an evil servant.

And Jesus said this, let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.

This is the way we could be diligent, folks. Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.

Don't let that fire go out. Be fervent. I like the way

Paul says, let your waist be girded with the truth and prepare for battle and action and let your lamps be burning.

And then he says this, and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return.

Now he's speaking about his second coming. When he will return from the wedding and that he comes and knocks that they may open to him immediately.

Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.

Assuredly, I say to you, that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them.

Isn't that glorious? He will serve them. Verse 38, and if he should come in the second watch, the second watch, or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants.

Verse 39, but know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

Notice he's speaking about his second coming because his second coming would be like a thief in the night.

Verse 40, therefore you also be ready, I think that's a key word, be ready, be ready, for the

Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. You know if Jesus said that, we better take it to heart.

He's coming in an hour, then when people, they're not going to be looking for him. They're not going to be looking for him.

And notice this, Peter, here's Peter. No wonder the second coming of Peter is in his mind on his last epistle that he writes to the church and he says, then

Peter said to him, Lord, do you speak this parable only to us or to all people?

What a question. That's really a good question.

And he answers it in verse 41. I'm sorry, verse 42. The Lord said, who then is that faithful, there it is, who is that faithful and wise,

Stuart? Not only have to be faithful, we have to be wise. Wise as serpents, harmless as doves.

Jesus is whom his master will make ruler of his household, this is a question, to give them their portion of food in due season.

This is the way Jesus is answering Peter's question. He comes back with the question.

He's making Peter think. And then he says this, blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

He's talking about the doing. He's talking about application, how to be faithful.

In verse 44, truly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has, but if that servant says in his heart, listen to that, in his heart, my master is delaying his coming.

That's a horrible thing to think of. That's unbelief. And begins to beat the male and female servants to eat and drink and be drunk.

The master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and he will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

And that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself, there it is, he didn't prepare himself or do according to his will.

I think that's two key major things we must get, folks, as children of God living life here for Jesus Christ and following him.

Number one, we must prepare ourselves and we must do his will. And then he says, he shall be beaten with many stripes.

You know, it's one thing to know about the will of God, it's another thing to do God's will. Verse 48, but he who did not know yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few.

He's talking about the punishment, the judgment. For everyone to whom much is given, for him much will be required.

And to whom much has been committed of him they will ask the more.

This is powerful, folks. There was much, there was much here in the words of Jesus that Peter did not understand, but perhaps he wondered if they involved something that would happen only in his lifetime, but Jesus expanded and said, no, it's just not your lifetime, it's all those who claim to know me, to identify with me, he says.

But Jesus made this very clear, beloved, that he meant the words for all those followers, not only in Peter's time, in Jesus' time, but also in our time.

His words would include us today. Let me, let me finish that out.

And then, and then notice in verse 49 to 53,

Jesus, when one follows Jesus and makes preparation for his coming, and that he's serious about doing this, causes division.

Notice what he said. This is incredible. You don't hear a lot on this. I came to send fire on the earth.

Good night. Listen to that. I came to send a fire, and how

I wished it would already kindled. Listen to our Lord speak. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed

I am till it is accomplished. You know what he's talking about? A baptism of suffering, a baptism of anguish, a baptism of pain.

Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you not at all, but rather division.

A lot of people get this wrong, but what he's talking about, Christ divides. You notice this. When you truly follow

Jesus Christ, there makes a division between the world, the goats and the sheep, and the light and the darkness.

There's no gray. Jesus makes it straight. And then he says, from now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two, and two against three.

Father will be divided against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother -in -law against her daughter -in -law, and daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law.

You know, Jesus, basically, it's going to hit the family somewhere. It hit mine.

I'm sure it's hit yours, too. So is the bee of your own household,

Jesus said. But we could be rest assured that, as we sung this morning, following him,

I know I'm right. He watches over me day and night. We know that our

Master leads right, because why? Because, as Philip says, show us the way, Master. And Jesus says,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Sobering words about the second coming of Jesus. Will we be found faithful? So Peter's final words of his second epistle tells us that we need to be ready.

We need to prepare. We need to be diligent. And that's the word

I want to set before you. Diligent. Diligence.

Diligence. That's the first exhortation in 2 Peter, chapter 3.

Therefore, beloved, he's speaking to God's beloved. Be loved.

You are loved of God. Looking forward to these things about the new heavens and the new earth.

Be diligent to be found in him in peace.

Now that does not contradict what Jesus just said about, I did not come to send peace, but a sword.

That's speaking about when we follow Christ, there's a division that takes place. But now what he's talking about, once he brings us division from the unbelievers, he brings unification amongst the believers.

Right? That's within the unity of the church.

That's different. And this is what Peter is speaking about. That you'll be found by peace in him,

I'm sorry, by him in peace. Without spot and blameless.

Now I want you to think of this. The peace that he's speaking of here, it's not a necessarily the peace of God, or the peace that passes all understanding, or the peace that we have in Jesus Christ in which we make peace with God in Christ.

Right? That is an inner peace. What he's speaking about here, and you could check me on this, please do so, he's talking about this outward external peace within the body of Christ.

Because Jesus is concerned the way we treat one another within the church.

If it was not so, we would not have all these commands, love one another as I've loved you.

Pray for one another as I've loved you. You would not have all these one another's. The one another's, the one another's.

Because it's the body of Christ, there's a unification of being concerned and loving one another.

It's built upon that love one to another. That's why Jesus said, this is a new commandment

I give unto you. Love one another as I have loved you. And out from that is having peace toward one another too.

I want you to see this. I'm going to touch on this, because this is part one.

We always have Lord willing part two, right? And part three, Lord willing. We'll eventually get to John.

And so, you know what scripture came to mind when I thought of this verse?

Hebrews 12, 14. It's a very familiar verse. Pursue peace.

Notice what it says, pursue peace. Another translation says, follow peace. Pursue peace.

Follow peace. With who? With all people. Now, Paul said in another,

I meant to write this down, but he says, if it be all possible that lies within you, live at peace.

I like that because he says, some people you can't, you can't get there.

You know what I'm saying? They're so contentious and they're so stubborn and obstinate.

They're going to do what they want to do and you can't, you can't get peace within them. Even within the church, sometimes it's hard to find people to want to come alongside and make it right.

But it says here, pursue peace with all people. Follow peace with all people. And the scripture then goes on to say, and holiness without which no one will see the

Lord. That's a powerful verse, isn't it? That's a verse of sanctification, by the way.

It's a verse of salvation as well, because God makes us holy. It's not our,

I like Spurgeon, what he said here, it's not our holiness that gets us to heaven, it's Jesus's holiness. He makes us holy, but we pursue holiness because holiness, we are partakers of the holy divine nature of God and that is

God's goal, right? To make us holy, to be more like Jesus. Remember the

Beatitudes? What did Jesus say in Matthew 5, 8? Blessed are the pure in heart.

This is so convicting right here. Jesus could sum it up in such short words and could strike our heart, the beatitude.

That's the way we're to be in our attitudes as followers of Christ and His kingdom.

Blessed are the pure in heart, in heart, for they shall see

God. They shall see God. What about verse 9?

Blessed, there it is, it's the blessing. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God, or the children of God.

The words of Jesus himself. Let me bring this to a close. So he's just not talking about an inner peace, which is important, that peace that passes all understanding, which

Paul says in Philippians, but he's talking about an outward peace that we're to follow among all people, especially

God's people within the household of faith, and this concerns our relationship with one another within the church, the unity of the body of Jesus Christ, and then he says this, without spot and blameless.

Now this is really so good, because it's speaking about our personal holiness before God.

I want you to notice with me here something that I found this interesting. As I was looking at this, when

Peter wrote this, he speaks also about immoral false teachers. Remember when he spoke in 2nd

Peter, notice, turn back with me one chapter, look at chapter 2 verse 13. Notice what he says, he's talking about the depravity of false teachers, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness and those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime, and what does he say?

They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you.

That's why they're hard, that the Apostles and the Lord was so hard on these false teachers, because they come and they pretend to be something that they're not, and they're feasting, they're sitting down and they're dining with you.

Wow, but notice the same language, and then he jumps, and in the closing here, he mentions without spot and blameless, but the false teachers are spots and blemishes.

God's people is opposite. They are holy, they're like our

Lord. 1st Peter 119, he spoke of Jesus being as a lamb without what?

Blemish and without spot. We are followers of our

Lord Jesus Christ, and that perfect Lamb of God that we follow is like a lamb without blemish and without spot.

That's the way the church is to be. Beloved, when

Jesus comes back, he's coming back after a bride that has prepared herself to be holy without blemish, without spot, without wrinkle, washed in the blood of the

Lamb. Praise God. Ravenhill said it, he said it right, he said,

I've never seen a dirty bride. Have you? He said,

I've seen all kinds of different brides, rich, poor, you name it, and variety, but he says,

I've never seen a dirty one. She will be clean, and that's the way we are to be when

Jesus Christ comes back. Beloved, we are to be like our

Lord without spot and blemish, not like these false, depraved false teachers who lived abominable lives with their secret sins, slaves to their lust of the flesh, but we are to be like our

Lord Jesus Christ who walked here and did his Father's will in purity and holiness.

The Lord desires a bride that is to be like this, without spot, without blemishes, without wrinkle, washed in the blood of the

Lamb. Be diligent. What does that mean? That means to be earnest, to be steadfast, to be faithful to our

Lord, to be committed in doing the Lord's will, and to make every effort to be characterized by a spirit of peace among the body of Christ, among one another, and personal holiness in our daily lives.

Let me close with this. Go with me to 1 Corinthians 9, and here is a very strong exhortation of striving for the crown that's before us, and this is so critical.

Paul says this, do you, in verse 24, 1 Corinthians 9, do you not know that those who run in a race, all run, but one receives the prize?

I love his analogy here. He's talking about running. We're running in a race.

He brings this up, by the way, in Philippians chapter 3, pressing toward the prize of the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He talks about a run, and then he says run. Notice he mentions the word run.

He run in such a way that you may obtain it. Obtain it.

He's talking about the athletic games, the exercising of it. Verse 25, and everyone who competes for the prize, notice what he says here, this is so convicting, it's temperate in all things.

It means he's self -controlled. He's self -controlled. He has a balance.

He's temperate in some things. That's not what

Scripture says, is it? He's temperate in all things. How convicting is that?

I think to myself, was I temperate and was I self -controlled in all things this past week? I can honestly tell you

I was not, and I confessed my sin before God, and I said, Lord give me more of Yourself and help me to be more diligent and more faithful and be intemperate and be wise and to watch my tongue and to sit back and stand back and think before I say something and not allow my emotions to get in my way and not to just spit something out, but to be temperate in all things.

And then he says this, now they do it to obtain a perishable crown. Now he's giving the comparison.

Watch this. A perishable crown and we for an imperishable crown. Something that's far more glorious than winning a game here on this earth.

And then Paul says, notice what he does, he brings himself into this. This is the Apostle Paul. Therefore I run thus.

I run thus. Not with uncertainty. In other words, he knows with certainty the truth.

Thus I fight. Now he's talking about fighting. Running and fighting. Not as one who beats the air.

I'm not going to fight as one beats the air. I got purpose. And I tell you, verse 27, he nails it.

Listen to what he says here. This is so powerful, not only to ministers. It does apply so much to men.

But this applies to all of God's people who's in this race and that we're fighting together and we've got a goal to make and to reach and by God's grace we're going to reach it.

But we must do something here. We must be diligent. But I, what does he do?

Discipline. My body. I like the way

MacArthur says it here. He says, I give my body a black eye.

I beat it down. I beat it down. Made me chuckle him saying this.

He said, I don't buffet my body, I buff it. Good night. In other words,

I don't pamper it. I'm hard on it. I do this in sanctification that it's

God working in me, but as Brother Keith mentioned earlier, it's the man's responsibility as we continue to abide in him as God has graced us in salvation.

We don't sit back and do nothing, right? God has provided all that we need in Jesus Christ.

Now we must put it to work. He's given us the equipment. He's given us the gifts. He's given us the grace.

Use it. Spurgeon says, you know, God gives us faith to believe and he gives us repentance to turn from our sin.

But God is not going to do that for us. He says you must do the believing and you must do the repenting.

That is good theology, folks. In other words, God sovereignly has regenerated us and brought us into the kingdom.

Now you use the gifts that he's given us. I discipline my body and bring it into subjection.

List. Why? When I have preached to others. Notice this. He's applying it to himself.

I, myself, should become a castaway. That means disqualified.

In other words, I would disqualify myself from this race. There's been many a preacher's, folks, that's been disqualified from the race because of immorality that's crept in.

At least, I should say, one that really stands out is Robbie Zacharias. There's been others.

And I'm telling you, it's sobering, isn't it? And these guys were very knowledgeable when it came to the truth.

But I'm telling you, they did not apply it to their personal holiness. They were not diligent to the end.

May God help us to be diligent and to be found faithful.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you and we praise you. Lord, help us.

You've given us so much and help us to truly be faithful. And when we stand before you on that great judgment morning, we long to hear your son say to us, well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of the Lord. Help us while we're all here on this earth, in our weaknesses and our failings, to be to persevere and to be diligent and to the end.

Lord, we need your grace and help, but help us to put it in operation and to obey you and to do everything we can by the means of grace that you have provided to strengthen ourselves and to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the

Lord Jesus Christ. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.