Delve into Peter's reflections in 2nd Peter, as we explore his last written words and the weight of his final message. A study of introspection, challenge, and remembrance.

Transcript

Good evening. If you would, go and open up your Bibles to 2nd Peter. or 2nd Peter, just in general. That's where we'll be at for our lesson tonight. 2nd Peter. Just before we get started we got a couple Colton and Camden right? Is that the right name? There we go. Alright. Got their names down, already put them to work. They're handing out a couple extra handouts for tonight, if you need one of those go ahead and grab one.

We probably, most of us, especially if you're a little bit older, you've had the experience where you have witnessed firsthand the passing of a loved one Or maybe a friend that you had, a spouse, a friend, a, a grandparent, different things like that. Maybe you were there actually to, to hear that person's last words.

Maybe you weren't present there for the actual passing of that loved one. But over some time, you know, when you recall your relationship with that person after they've passed on from this life. Generally, what people recall are those last words that they heard from that person. And a lot of these times, the words that we hear from, from our loved ones as they're passing on, if they're expecting that they're going to die, well, we hear words that might be challenging.

They may be telling you, Hey, you need to get your life right. Maybe you're on a path in your life that's not heading the right direction. They may be really challenging and and kind of disciplining you with their words to try and get you to get back in the right direction. Maybe they're retrospective.

Maybe they call to mind really important, precious memories that you may have experienced together. Or maybe they're uplifting to you. Maybe they're trying to remind you to stay the course or they're calling you to push on and to keep fighting. And whatever the case of your own experience as you're thinking about that is, that's the exact occasion for the letter of 2 Peter.

And so 2 Peter is the letter we're going to be looking at tonight. We're going to look at it in its entirety. But let's read really quick in Peter's own words. This is what Peter says about the occasion of this letter and why he wrote this letter.

He says, Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities. Though you know them and are established in the truth that you have, I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things. So, our lesson tonight is going to come from the last written words of Peter. The last words that we have. from this apostle. And I think it's what we'll find as we study it that his words are all at the same time challenging, they're introspective at times, and they're also uplifting to his readers.

And so tonight our goal is really simple. We're just going to be examining Peter's last words. We're going to exhume his last words in his last epistle, and we're going to kind of uncover what are the major, what's the thrust of the lessons. That he's trying to communicate to his audience. And of course, being Peter's last words, they ought to be something that we value and think are really important.

We pay close attention to. And so what we're going to do is examine second Peter in its entirety in a really brief way. So don't, don't freak out. We're going to contextualize and kind of illuminate the weight of Peter's final final words. And so to condense his message, what we're going to do is kind of look at it inside out.

I think this will be really helpful, maybe kind of confusing, and that's why I've provided a handout that you can kind of follow along, and hopefully it'll make sense as we go. And you're probably thinking, this is a super random lesson for Preston to be preaching, and you're probably And you would be right.

It is pretty random. And the reason being that I'm preaching this, I was preaching up in Waxahachie Friday night. They started a lectureship based on their theme passage for the year coming out of 2nd Peer 318, Growing in Grace and Knowledge. of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so I was preaching on that.

And when, you know, they give you one verse to preach on, what do you do? Well, you preach the entire epistle that they give you, even though they've only given you one verse. So I thought that there was some, I think there's, this will be a good practice for us to do. Not only to, to look at Peter's last words, but also just to kind of go through a letter in its entirety.

Second Peter is a fairly short epistle. And kind of help us see and uncover the kind of train of thought that Peter has throughout this letter. So, the structure is kind of as follows. At the heart of the letter is where we're going to begin. And it starts in in all the the entirety of chapter 2 is directed to these false teachers.

He talks about, Peter talks about false teachers in the past. And he talks about the false teachers that the church the Christians are facing in their midst. And then on the outside of both of these on the outside of the heart of the letter are two reminders. He starts with two reminders. We just read the first one where he kind of explains what he's trying to communicate in his final words.

And then after a, a reminder, what he does is he talks about two different kind of gospel events. The first being the transfiguration, and we'll talk about why he brings that up. And then lastly, in 2 Peter chapter 3, the second coming, the, the sure return of Christ. And he's going to talk about allegations kind of related to these two issues, but ultimately reassure the readers that these things have taken place in the past and are going to come to fruition in the future.

And then after kind of a more negative tone throughout the center of the letter, it's kind of bracketed with more positive reassurance and commands for, for his readers so they can continue growing in grace and knowledge. And what I think we'll find in each of these sections is in the heart, it's really challenging.

It's introspective outside of that, and then it's uplifting at the beginning and the end. So, that's kind of where we're at, and so follow that along as we're reading in your handouts if you have one of those. We'll start, let's just jump right in and look at the first section here. And so, Peter really spends the, the, the center part of the letter really pushing back against these false teachers that are among the brethren.

And he really kind of lays out a whole expose of what these guys look like. And these, this is on your handout, so don't worry about writing all these things down. But look at, look in chapter 2 and follow along in some of these verses. to kind of get a feel for what these false teachers were like. He describes them first in chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 if you'll read along with me there.

He says, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed.

And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. And so, Peter really kind of lays it out from there and describes them. And what we find out is these are Christians who have gone astray. They've forsaken the right way and gone astray, as verse 15 says.

They're people that have rejected authority. Just as we read, they denied the master who bought them. And it goes on to say that they despised authority explicitly in verse 10. But not only that, but they were sexually immoral and they were seemingly exploiting potentially the fellow Christians in sexual ways as well.

They followed their own sensuality in verse 2. They had eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin in verse 14. And so they were, they were engaged in immoral activity. And so not only that, but they continue on. He says that they have they're greedy. They have hearts trained in greed in verse 14. And not only that, but they're indulgent and they revel in their sins that they're committing.

In verse 13 it says, they count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you. They're, they're not just shy about the things that they're doing, but they're doing them publicly. And they're doing them in a way that they, they show that they, they enjoy what they're doing.

And it's one thing for them to do that themselves privately, but they're enticing their brethren to sin. These unsteady souls that verse 14 talks about, these those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They're, they're seeking out the weaker brethren within the congregation in order to destabilize their faith.

So, this is a really big problem. These, these guys, imagine having somebody that fit the bill of all these things in our congregation today. This would, this would be crazy for them to have somebody with this type of influence among the church. And so, Peter goes on from here. And he tries to reassure his readers, even in the face of all this opposition that they had before them.

And what he tells them is that history gives them assurance that God is going to judge the ungodly. And so he gives this claim in verse 3 that we just read, that their condemnation from long ago is not idle. and their destruction is not asleep. He says, you know, this is something, their, their destination, the destination of the ungodly and the wicked, this has been determined from long ago and it's going to come to pass.

And the evidence he gives for that is how God has acted previously in, in the story of God's people. He appeals to stories like in Genesis 6, when he looks at the angels who left their appointed place. He says, And then right after that, he mentions the flood that takes place in Genesis chapter six, where this world is condemned.

For their wickedness. And he mentions another famous wicked city, the most famous one we can think of in Genesis 19. He appeals to Sodom and Gomorrah. And then later in verse 15, he brings up Balaam, son of Beorah, a well known prophet we'll get into in a couple classes in our Sunday morning Bible class.

A pagan prophet who was a prophet of the Lord, who really was greedy and greedy and was willing to work with this king, Balak, to try and curse God's people as they're entering into the land. And so he looks at all these examples of these wicked people who ultimately were judged by God because they opposed His purposes, His promises, and His people.

But he also mentions Noah and Lot, two righteous individuals who were saved in spite of some difficult situations. And so the lesson that he brings to the Christians in verse 9 is this. He says, If all of these things are so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.

So, God's track record, it speaks for itself, in other words. And so, his first lesson, really, in regards to the false teachers, I think can be seen as we keep reading. Look in the last couple verses, 17 through 22, he really goes after the false teachers and kind of destabilizes their image of, I think, confidence, by describing some pretty pretty clear Clear ways.

He says, These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promised them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption.

For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after, after they have escaped the defilements of the world, listen to this, through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are entangled again in them and overcome. The last state has become worse for them than the first.

Fair would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them. The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.

Pretty gross picture, right? The dog returning to vomit. I almost put a picture of a dog vomiting on the screen. Reagan gave me a little bit of, eh, probably not. Probably shouldn't do that. Probably some wisdom in that, but, next time. But the implication, really for this, this section, I think, is found within that second half of verse 20.

We find a key here that helps us understand the thrust of Peter's last words. And what Peter tells the Christians here, the big issue with these false teachers, is the fact that they forsook their knowledge of Jesus Christ. And here, Peter connects knowledge with salvation. The knowledge of Christ that these false teachers had once received, it was something that was instrumental in bringing them to salvation.

But when they abandoned it, ultimately their lives fell to ruin as we just saw that long list. And so you might be thinking, well, you know, I'm not rejecting biblical truth. I mean, I'm, I'm here at church. I'm all good, right? Well, I think if we're not growing in our knowledge of Christ, well, we're likely weakening our relationship with Him in some way.

And a void of knowledge about Christ is ultimately going to be spilled by something that's corrupt, some sort of corrupt knowledge. And just like the false teachers in chapter 2, sinful living is going to follow. So, chapter 2. Really punching the false teachers in the mouth here and coming away with the lesson, bad knowledge leads to bad living.

Well, if we look outside, there was a passage over here if we look outside of kind of the heart of the letter here, what we get is we'll see in just a minute, is that Peter brackets this conflict with these statements of reminders, which are followed, with teachings about essential truths about who Jesus was and who he is and who he's going to be.

And so Peter follows his refutation or this attack on the false teachers with a refutation of allegations that are kind of made. by these false teachers. And he refutes them by looking retrospectively on his own time as apostle and also looking forward to Christ's return. And so what he does is, and if he addresses these allegations in verses 16 through 21 and verses 3 through 13 of chapter 3.

And I think we can see kind of the allegations once by the way that Peter directly quotes and refutes the first kind of charge in verse 16 of chapter 1, and then how he quotes specifically the other in chapter 3. And so, look in the verse 16 of chapter 1 here. He says, For we did not follow cleverly defies myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

So why do you think Peter felt the need to even include this in this letter? Why this statement? Well, I think it's because the false teachers are attacking his accounts and the apostles accounts of the transfiguration and questioning whether or not they happen. And most likely they probably question a lot of other aspects of the gospel itself and some of the claims and the eyewitness accounts that these apostles were making.

But then if you look in chapter 3, he makes he quotes directly. from these false teachers. And look in verses verse 3 and 4. It says, Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires, they will say, Where is the promise of his coming?

For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. And so, from here, Peter really goes on to kind of push back against this allegation. Essentially, what they're saying in chapter 3 is that God is not at work in the world. It's almost like, you think about like, deism in the 1700s, right?

That God has kind of, stepped back. He's not really engaged or involved in what's going on. And what Peter's just said in chapter 2 is that's not the case. God has been directly involved in history and in dealing with His people. And so, He goes on in chapter 3 to say that, hey, God has been at work. He has been at work in creation.

He reiterates the story of the flood. And not only His God has been active in creative ways, but also in judgment. He goes on in verse 8 and verses 9 as well to kind of lay out two reasons for why God is delaying His coming, why Christ is delaying. And He says first, He quotes Psalm 90 verse 4, and He says our sense of time is not the same as God's.

And then secondly, He says that God's delay is due to His patience and His mercy. That He's, He's patient and hoping that more people will be able to repent. and be saved. And how he ends chapter, or this section in chapter three, is, is reaffirming that God is still at work, and he's bringing that work to completion in the day of the Lord, in verses 10 through 13.

And so, he brackets even these two allegations that these false teachers with these, these reminders of essential truths that they need to hold on to. And so again, like I mentioned earlier, so far and kind of examining the core part of second Peter, it is kind of a negative letter. If you, you just kind of stop right there.

It's more about don't be like them. Don't do this, but here's where kind of there, the more positive elements of Peter's letter come out. And it's a teacher or excuse me. And so. Peter, remember, as we said at the beginning of this the whole title of our lesson, Peter's Last Words, Peter's about to die.

And so twice in his letter, he reminds the Christians of these essential truths, even in the face of these kind of allegations that are made towards Christ. And he begins, as we read in verse 12 of chapter 1, Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities. Though you know them and are established in the truth that you have, well, what is it the truth?

What is the truth that that Peter has delivered to them? What is the truth that they already have and they're established in? Well, if we look in verses one and two of chapter three, what we see is it's the predictions of the apostles and it's the command or the, excuse me, the prophets, and it's the commandments of Jesus says in verse one of chapter three.

This is now the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved. And both of them, I'm stirring you up by sincere mind and by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. And so Peter, in chapter 1, to anticipate these allegations that are going to come from these false teachers.

What he does is try to reassure his readers about the trustworthiness of his witness as an apostle. And so he tells them that these things that were delivered through the prophets and through the commandments of Jesus were delivered through the apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And so the false teachers, they're really, really going after Peter and the apostles credibility.

as witnesses. But in response, Peter contends and says over and over again that they, he says that they were eyewitnesses, that they heard the voice born from heaven. They were with Jesus on that holy mountain. And really Peter's goal in this bracketing of the, the attack on the false teachers is really to call to mind remembrance.

So that they will stay on the path of spiritual growth. He's combating the forgetfulness that we just talked about in those false teachers who forgot that knowledge that had been so instrumental in their salvation. And he does so, he, he combats that forgetfulness by cultivating trust in that truth that these Christians have been delivered by the apostles.

And so once he's kind of reestablished and reassured his readers, He calls them to remember these core essential truths about Jesus. Those two truths that we just talked about, that one, He was transfigured in the past. We witnessed that. That's a guarantee of what's to come. And not only His resurrection that took place, but also in the second coming as well.

That God is coming, that Christ is coming to judge the world and that they can bet on that. And so in his introduction, Peter really warned his his readers to not go down the same path of these false teachers. Look in chapter one in verse nine. These false teachers, they had gone down this path of bad knowledge and forgetfulness and or they went down the path of bad knowledge because they failed to remember foundational teachings and virtues that Jesus had taught them.

And look what he says as he warns the readers in chapter one, verse nine, Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind. having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. And so for Peter, a remedy, the remedy to this forgetfulness is remembrance. And remembrance and recollection of these established biblical truths are key they're key for our spiritual well being.

And this is something like you see on the screen. This isn't something new to Peter. This has been an age old tradition and mindset for God's people over the years. You don't have to look very far. I just pulled up the first couple I could find in the Old Testament and some of the stories that even we talked about this morning with the Passover in Exodus chapter 13 and Luke 22 and when Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper.

You know, we're given in the Old Testament as well in the New Testament, these different feasts or celebrations or things like the Lord's Supper that are instituted that are to remind us of acts of salvation. They're remind, they're reminding us of our former life, of where we were. As well as our freedom from that life for freedom from sin and death so that we'll Remember where we came from we won't want to go back that direction I love deuteronomy chapter 7 as well that as the people this new generation is coming into the promised land And god's trying to give them strength and courage to be able to take on these enemies within the land of canaan And he tells them, hey, remember what I did to Egypt in the ten plagues.

Remember how I, I, I totally defeated them. If I can defeat those enemies in your past, then I can take on these people in front of you in the land of Canaan in the future. And then Deuteronomy chapter 8 is another one as well that I really like that we don't have time to read it right now, but God talks about how he kind of gives Israel, he, he teaches them through the hard knocks.

And humbling them in the wilderness. I think a lot of times we need to remember those experiences in our lives, most probably when we were a little bit younger, hopefully, hopefully we've learned these things, but those stripes I think that we get from maybe doing things that were dumb or just we didn't really think through very much, or we weren't thinking with a spiritual mindset that we're trying to talk about this last quarter of the year.

And in those times, I think a lot of times we experience the discipline of God. And when we experience those things, a lot of times that rod of correction is something that really keeps us from falling back into those same mistakes twice. I think we've all heard that that old adage that familiarity breeds contempt.

And I think a lot of times what we do, and maybe this is what happened with these false teachers, is that it got more and more comfortable with the teachings of the gospel or the teachings of Jesus and his apostles. And as a result, they developed a contempt for God's word. And, you know, this same thing can possibly happen to us.

The more we get kind of comfortable with God's world word we may take our knowledge of Christ for granted. And so sincere remembrance is really a key practice for us to avoid developing contempt. for our faith and growing in the knowledge of Christ. And so if we value biblical truths, what we'll ultimately do is just like we have up on the screen, if we remember these core truths, we'll be secure in God's love and His saving grace for us.

We're going to be secure in His power and ability to act within our lives. And He's going to keep us from mistakes in life that might be sin induced through His word. So let's go on to our last point now. Let's look at the kind of the extra positive kind of bookends to Peter's letter here at the beginning and the end of his book.

And Peter lays out his purpose for the letter in verses 10 through 11. His his words are trying to get his readers to a destination. A destination that's filled with stability and confidence in their salvation. So read with me in verses 10 through 11 here. It says, Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.

For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ. And so Peter is wanting them to have this proper knowledge that we talked about in the core of the letter. He wants them to have this recollection of essential gospel truths as we talked about in our second point.

He wants all of these things for them because He wants them to be confident in their salvation. And He's going to use similar language even in chapter 3, verse 14, where He wants them to be found without spot and to be at peace. He wants them to be diligent in order that they'll be without spot or blemish and be at peace.

And you know, if they'll be diligent, if they'll supplement their faith with these virtues, and they'll hold their faith hold fast to the truth, They're going to have a confidence in their salvation that brings peace to their lives in a virtue that really is a shadow of the salvation that's going to come at Christ's second coming.

But, of course, if they want to get to this goal, this is going to require something of them. It's going to require them, as he says in verse 5, to make every effort. And so from the beginning, the apostles themselves and the mission that they were trying to was to show people that through Christ, they could be partakers of the divine nature that chapter 1 verse 4 talks about.

But he tells his audience that they could have been, or that they, they need to be reminded that they were saved from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. And because of this ability to share in the divine nature, to be saved from the the world, that came with a responsibility.

for his readers. And so look in verse 5 through 8 of 1st Peter. This is, or 2nd Peter, excuse me. This is definitely one of the more well known passages, I think, in this book.

So he says, after talking about their divine partaking of divine nature and escaping the corruption of the world because of these things, he says, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. And virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self control, and self control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And Reagan and I were talking this I think Thursday or Friday morning, one or the other, as I was kind of talking him through my lesson.

One of the things he said that I thought was really helpful was he talked about growth being like an orchestra and not like a ladder. And he told me that he ripped that off from Harold. And Harold said, or he said that Harold wouldn't claim it his own either. So it goes, it's somebody, it belongs to somebody back there.

Somebody Friday night told me it may have belonged to Dee Bowman, but I don't know. I think most of the time people are like, yeah, it's probably Dee Bowman, which is fair. But what I mean by that and what Reagan through Harold through possibly Debo would explain to me was, you know, a lot of times when we think about growth, we think about it like a ladder.

It's a, we're climbing a couple different rungs, right? And the higher we get, we can kind of leave these other rungs behind because maybe they're more elementary to us or maybe there's something there not as important or crucial to our faith. That's, that's baby stuff, right? But really that's not how Peter talks about the faith and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus here in verses 3 through 9.

What he talks about is more like an orchestra. And I don't personally listen to orchestral music. I'm not sure a lot of people do. I feel like Monty Ramsey might. He seems like the type that would listen to, to orchestral music, but. But my father in law does, actually. And so at Christmas time, we'll listen to it.

But what I like about orchestra music, when I do listen to it is, you know, it's one of those things that you kind of add parts. You add parts to it. A little bit, a little bit more, a little bit more. And it kind of comes to, I guess, crescendo. Music people, you may be like, you're totally using that word wrong.

But But it's one of those things, the more you add to it, the, the song builds and builds and builds, and it becomes, this is the kind of masterpiece that you're listening to, that even if you don't like orchestral music, you can recognize, wow, that's impressive. And if you go to a high school band competition or something, which I'm sure a lot of you have, you've probably heard that really squeaky kid who's got the bad trumpet, you know.

And he's trying really hard. But he's the odd one out. The band's impeccable, but he's, you know, and that's pretty easy to identify that there's something wrong there, right? But I think that's how we are in our growth as Christians, too, is we're adding to our faith. We're adding different parts that we're creating the symphony in our life through these different virtues that are given by God's grace that ultimately build, and, and lead to a well orchestrated life that gives honor and praise to our, our divine composer.

And in our own lives, we may not be able to see when those parts and those elements are missing from our lives, but other people, our brethren, probably do see those things. And if not, then our Father who's in heaven definitely sees those things. And so that brings us to Peter's last words at the beginning and the end of of 2nd Peter.

And Peter begins this letter, he wants him so bad to have this blessing of growth in their faith. Look at what he says in verse 2 of chapter 1. He says, May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. But we've talked about already, there's so many dangers, there's so many allegations that are being made against these Christians and against Jesus himself.

So maybe these, these Christians might be thinking, well, Peter, how in the world are we able to live a life that gives glory to God? How can we live a godly life in such a dark world? And Peter answers this very question with his last words in 2 Peter 3, verses 14 18. If you'll read along with me there.

It says, Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these things, be diligent to be found by him without speck 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 to 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're not carried away with the error 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. And so that stability and that peace that I think these Christians are wanting and that Peter wanted for them Well, there were things that could only be found ultimately in Christ and all of the virtues that allow them to share in this divine nature that Peter talked about.

Their freedom from actual sin and their future vindication in the second coming and the resurrection. These are all things that were only available to them through the grace of Christ. And so, when he talks about growing in grace, what I think he means is that we seek the things that can only be found in Christ.

Those things that are a result of the, the favor that he has for his people. His commandments and his virtues, those things that reflect his own character. and that allow us to take those on and to share in his divine nature. And those promises he made long ago that we've been reading about in our Bible readings for the last several weeks that he made to his people of old, they're now revealed through Jesus Christ.

They offer us salvation. They offer us forgiveness of sin and a future hope of life after death. Those are all things that can only be found in Christ. You can't have those. And then he talks about growing in knowledge. And I think when, what we see through the false teachers kind of, expose of them and the, the admonitions that Peter gives is that when he talks about growing in knowledge, it means we got to seek God Christ, not only in a deeper deeper understanding in an intellectual way, but also in a deeper relationship to God.

And we need to be people, people who care about truth and not just about what's right, but how it impacts our lives personally. We need to add knowledge to our faith ultimately so we won't be led away by these false teachers or by their falsehood. We need to seek not only to remember foundational truths, we don't need to shy away from those things or get bored or get annoyed when we talk about really crucial teachings to our faith.

But we need to, we need to remember those things. We need to add to them. We need to build on top of them. And we need to grow in knowledge so that we keep our minds and our hearts fresh, freshly tuned to Christ's commandments. And with ever growing knowledge, what we'll ultimately do is we'll fight off spiritual complacency.

So there's the letter of 2nd Peter. We've got it with a little bit of time left. That's a lot. I know I threw a lot at you. If you have more questions tonight afterwards, let me know. 2nd Peter is a really interesting letter to me, and I hope that tonight, I know this is maybe a little bit unorthodox lesson but hopefully it was beneficial to you just to kind of go through a book in its entirety, to kind of track down Peter's train of thought and his last words, and I hope that it gave a little bit more weight in meaning.

To some of those concluding verses of, of Peter's letter here. I think a lot of the times, those words can kind of be ones that we read when we get tired at the end of the letter and we kind of might cast away and like, oh, grove and grace and all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think when we look at the whole letter, we look at it inside out, I think what we see is the power.

In Peter's last words and the need and the challenge for all of us to see where we're at in our own journey as we're trying to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And so tonight, I don't know what your need is. Maybe you have not been able to commit yourself to, to this gospel message, to these essential gospel truths about who our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is, that he came to this earth, that he was a man, that he lived a sin, sinless life.

And that he was crucified for the sins of the world. He was in a grave and a tomb for three days and ultimately raised by the spirit and by God And and ascended to the right hand of the father where he now reigns Maybe you haven't been able to to subject yourself to our king jesus But tonight if you would like to do that, well i'd ask you now to come now as we stand and as we sing