Thanks for letting me share with you this morning. It's such a privilege, it's an honor. I'm sorry that you deserve a lot better than a teacher, but I appreciate the privilege, I really do. We'll begin this morning looking at 2 Peter. We had looked at 1 Peter, and it's logical, it's written about a year or so after 1 Peter, 2 Peter was. And by this time, Peter's actually in Rome, writing. Paul hasn't got there yet. Peter's in prison, waiting something to happen, which he talks about. But throughout the Bible, there are warnings against false teachers. I know we're aware of that. False teachers have been around since the beginning, as it were. attempting to damn souls to hell, you know, by deceiving them and with lies and masquerading as a spiritually, spiritual divine saving truth. I try to watch the pastor over the weekend, just watching a little bits of his things like, you know, it's always the pulling of false teachers to their emissaries of Satan and their liars are basically motivated by love of money or love of power, prestige, prominence, and all that kind of stuff. But there are the pawns of spiritual entities, namely demons, who lead them to propagate satanic lies to diseased souls and who will then perish in hell. I mean, and so they'll populate Satan's eternal domain, the lake of fire. And so this kind of deception has been around and all the way back into the garden and, So you see the beginning of it, and Satan comes in the form of a serpent, attempting to seduce man and woman to turn against God, and he was successful then, and he's still successful now, with his lying deception. And so it's an age-old problem, false teachers, false prophets, false doctrines, heresies, and all that stuff, because it's a constant problem in every age, And God has had his spiritual, if you will, consumer protection agency out, advocates, consumer protection advocates. God's always had those men and women who were around for the purpose of speaking his truth, whether it be a faithful mother who tells her children the truth, or a faithful father, or who speaks the truth to his family, or whether it be a prophet, whether it be a priest, whether it be a king, whether it be a judge, whether it be some significant person within the framework of Israel, an elder of the nation, whoever it might be, or whether it be an apostle, or a New Testament prophet, or a pastor, or a teacher, or an elder, or a deacon, or whoever it might be, there's always those calling whose calling seems to be to warn about deceivers and their deception. So no one stands more out in this in the New Testament in that regard than does Peter. And Peter's an instrument of God to write this epistle as a warning letter and it has as its purpose trying to help us to be able to square up against the kind of deception that's really prevalent. And so this letter, for the purpose of exposing and thwarting and defeating the invasion of false teachers in the church, it suited that purpose. And when he wrote it, it still suits that purpose today. It's very similar to the book of Jude, if you read the book of Jude. I mean, in fact, a great portion of it's almost repetitive, it repeats it. Jude 2 then is another of those special consumer protection advocates, if you will, whose purpose is to make sure people don't fall victim to lies and damning heresies. Now, Peter pulls no punches. It's precise and direct presentation of the truth. And in chapter two is the heart of the description of the false teachers. It's a generic description. He never identifies any labeled heresy. He doesn't identify some specific false religion. He doesn't identify some specific false cult or some false system of teaching. It's very generic what he says. And he says in this general about the false teachers that they teach destructive heresies. They tend to deny the Lord Jesus Christ and they twist the scriptures to do that. And they bring the true faith into disrepute, and they despise authority. They're driven by lust and evil desire. They arrogantly slander God's messengers. They're immoral. They're covetous exploiters. They're arrogant. They entice people with sensual pleasure. They promise the good life, but they cannot deliver it. They're filthy. They're very direct descriptions. I mean, he talks about the fact that they have absolutely nothing to offer, even though They pretend to offer everything and that their victims are unstable souls who love all the wrong things and thus they fall victim to them, you know, selling them the wrong things. And there's something really urgent in Peter's writing here at the heart of this as he writes it, because this is his last letter. This is Peter's last testament, if you will, in the Old Testament. You look at the first 12 of chapter one, therefore I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right as long as I'm in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of a reminder, knowing that the langous side of my earthly dwelling is imminent. So also our Lord Jesus has made clear to me. Jesus told him he was gonna die. when they were on the shore of Galilee in John 21. And she said, I'm not going to live very long, and if there's one thing I want to do is to make sure you remember these things. And so I'll remind you, and remind you, and remind you, and when I'm gone, you'll have them in mind, these matters regarding false teachers and their deceiving lies. And the terms of this epistle indicate that such false teachers were not just future, but they were already at work in his time, and they were already moving among the people to whom Peter wrote, and the ones to whom he wrote were the same ones to whom he wrote in the first epistle. And if you went over to chapter three, verse one of 1 Peter, So this is my second letter, the second epistle beloved I now write. And so we know this is the second one. And so the first one we went through in Sunday school. But even though we don't know the exact form of the Walsh teaching, it had already begun among those people to whom he had penned these two letters. And no specific details beyond this letter are revealed. There's no description of the heresy whatsoever. In fact, Peter's purpose here is not to deal with the doctrine of the heretics, it's so much to deal with their character. He's concerned about the kind of people that they are, as well as what they say. And the major thrust of chapter two describes them, not their doctrine. And it says that about their doctrine, it's damnable, and it's a destructive heresy. It says in chapter three about their doctrine, they mock the coming judgment of God. And beyond that, he really doesn't say much. He's more concerned to help us identify the character of their life, because the doctrine may change, but the heretic's character does not change. And the deceiver's character is the same, even though they don't know the exact form of the false teaching that was coming at these people. I mean, we don't know. And even though we don't know the specific details about it, we can, from this letter, learn how to spot a deceiver and how to spot a deception. But more than just being critical and analytical and viewing false teaching, this particular epistle, 2 Peter, it's a protectionist perspective. Peter wants to protect his sheep. Peter wants to protect the believer. He wants the church to be able to defend itself against the incessant onslaught. And historically, the church has had mixed success and failure with this, by the way. Look at history of the last 2000 years. succeeds, fail, mainly fail a lot of times. But for the most part, it seems that the church in the widest possible definition really has fallen to deception. And it seems that throughout history, the church is always a small remnant that are able to recognize it for what it is and stay true to the faith. And that's Peter's concern. His concern is that people not fall prey or victim to the dangerous attack of false teachers. Now there are basically three defenses that he gives us here in 2 Peter, and this is from an outline that I've got from somebody, very beloved pastor. But number one, he says, is know your salvation. As far as your defense, first one is know your salvation. And number two is know your scripture. Number three, know your sanctification. And those three things are things you need to know. Be sure you're saved. That's protection number one, verses one through 11 deal with that. Be sure you're standing with the Lord, you're standing with the Lord is settled. And it's a major line of defense. Number two, know your scripture, know the Bible. And then starting in chapter one, verse 12, he goes down to chapter three, verse two, with dealing with know your scripture. And then the thrust from there is about the scripture from the Holy Spirit. We don't really follow cleverly divine fables, Peter says, but we're eyewitnesses and moved by the spirit of God. We've written it down. And you better be sure you follow that and not the destructive heresies of sensual false prophets. So you must know your salvation. You must know your scripture. Be sure you're saved, number one. Be sure you understand the truth, number two. And then protection number three is to know your sanctification. And that's an issue of having to do with your own holiness. And starting in chapter three, verse three, moves all the way down through discussion in the matter of holiness. And in coming perhaps to a climax in verse 14, he says, therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace and spotless, blameless. Then in verse 18, he says, grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The last verse he has there. And the middle section, which I left out in chapter two, is the description of the false teachers. And we can also say your salvation, know your scripture, and then know your adversaries. But that's really what chapter two deals with. But three defensive lines for us are salvation, scripture, and sanctification. And each of these three cases, protection against false teachers, involve knowing something. We have to know something. And it involves knowing something. And if there's a key word in 2 Peter, it would be the word knowledge. You have to know the condition of your salvation, your relationship to God. You have to know the scripture. You must know your spiritual condition in terms of sanctification, that's protection, one, two, three. And you must know your adversary, and you must know how to recognize these people. That, of course, is the heart of the epistle in chapter two. But the word knowledge, it's really prominent in these three chapters, which is 2 Peter. in one form or another appears 16 times in 2 Peter. And so six of those times, it's an intensive form. I won't get into the Greek of it, but I said, we've said to you through the years, you have to have a, what we know, what we know, that it's what we know that protects us is what it comes down to. And we have to know the enemy. And he describes him for us very clearly in chapter two, how they're going to come and want their character to be, what their character is going to be. And we've got to be discerning and thoughtful and analytical and critical and evaluate them. But then in order to protect ourselves, we have to know our own salvation. We have to know the scripture. We have to know the condition of our spiritual life. If you don't have on the breastplate of righteousness, you are an easy target. So, I mean, confidence in our salvation, its resources, the true knowledge of God through Jesus Christ with assurance is the first line of defense. And this is the helmet of salvation, which when Satan comes at us wielding the sword of false doctrine, if you will, wielding the sword that wants to strike a death blow against us, that what insulates us and protects us from the fatality of that blow is the helmet of salvation, knowing that you're saved. And the protection or the defense of knowing that you're saved, knowing you belong to God, your defense, begins with a clear, confident comprehension of a salvation relationship to the Lord Jesus. And with that in view, Peter spends the opening section on the issue of salvation. In verses one through 11 of chapter one, he wants to remove any doubt, he wants to remove any confusion from the believer who may be doubting or may be confused about his salvation. He wants him to know where he stands so that he can stand where he stands. An insecure, doubting, confused Christian will become easy prey, easy target for false teachers. They're looking for that one. The baby sheeps when they want to steal. Anyone who's vulnerable to false doctrine who is, one, if they're not saved, or two, they're not sure they're saved, because you don't know what you stand on. You don't understand your resources. So comprehending our true spiritual condition with regard to our salvation is the first defense against the attack of satanic error. If you don't know you're in Christ, if you don't know that, if you don't know you're in Christ, then you're just easy prey. And the tone for this discussion of salvation is right off the bat in his greeting, we'll get there in verse one. Verse one, 1 Peter chapter one says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God, our God and Savior. The our shouldn't be in front of God. of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. Simon Peter's name there, the epistle begins with that name, Simon Peter. And we end our letters with our name. You write the whole letter, and then you put your name at the bottom. In ancient times, they started with the name, which to me makes a lot more sense. When I get a letter that says, Dear Bruce, And it's addressed to me, and I know it's coming to me. I mean, don't tell me that again. But I always have to look at the end to find out who it's from. I mean, they did it right, I believe, in the ancient times, in the Greek and the Roman times. Simon Peter, both names for him, by the way, are very important. Simon is a Greek term for Simeon, which is Hebrew. In ancient manuscripts, we have a second Peter. Some say Simon, and some say Simeon. And it's a very common name. It was a name after Simeon, who was the head of one of the 12 sons of Jacob, 12 sons of Israel, Simeon. Same name, and Simon's the same name. So the name was given to this man from birth. His father named him Simeon, no doubt. And the Greek word had identified it as Simeon, or Simon. Simon would be the closest in Greek to Simeon. So in the manuscripts, we have both. You have his name in the Jewish form, Simeon. It would not be enough to identify him, by the way. He just said, well, Simeon. Someone wrote this and said, well, what Simeon? I mean, and the Simeon or Simon was a common name in ancient times as any name. And for example, in the New Testament, nine people other than Peter are called Simon. Nine other ones with the same, so the second name is essential. And what's Simon or Simeon? Well, Simon Peter, here's the one. Peter means rock. And it's Aramaic, the Greek word Peter means rock. Aramaic for that is Cephas. Cephas, and so sometimes he's called Cephas in the Aramaic. He wanted his full identity to be expressed. He always wanted everyone to be sure who was writing this. It wasn't Simon Magnus. It wasn't Simon the Just. It wasn't any of the other seven Simons in the Bible. It was Simon Peter who wrote 1 and 2 Peter. There's another note with the two names. Simon was the name before he met Christ. And Peter was his name after he met Christ. Simon was kind of his name of dishonor and Peter was kind of the name of honor. And because he was so much Simon Peter, in other words, he often acted like his old self as well as acting like his new self. He never seemed to be able to shake his first name. In fact, when Jesus caught him in his disobedience there on the Lake of Galilee, He said to him three times, Simon, let us tell me, Simon, let us tell me, Simon. He called him by his old name. And when he acted like his old self there in John chapter 21. And the combination of Simon Peter occurs many times in the New Testament referring to this, our apostle. In the early church among the Gentiles who spoke Greek, he was commonly called Simon Peter. And you read the book of Acts, particularly chapter 10 and 11, Even the Gentiles called him Simon Peter. John, who wrote the gospel in Asia Minor, refers to him as Simon Peter 17 out of the 22 times that he mentions him. So he really got stuck with both names, and it would have been nice if he had just become Peter, but he so often acted like his old self that he seemed to always bear his old name. He's a wonderful picture for us because we often act like our old self too, don't we? Our old flesh. So I guess that's why we identify, I mean, I believe that's why we identify with Simon Peter. Just a comparison, would you, if you note the Apostle Paul was never called Saul Paul. He is for some reason or other not quite as real as Simon Peter. We're much more comfortable with the man who being the new once in a while acted like he was old. He is Simon when Jesus confronts him in his sin. He's Peter when preaches it with power at Pentecost. And we're all like that too. So he stands by virtue of his very name, a dramatic illustration of salvation, of a fitting guy to be writing on the subject. And so he writes here his last legacy, his final letter, And he wants the believers to be able to face the onslaught of false teachers triumphantly. He wants them to be confident in their salvation. And he wants them to be confident in the scripture and the revelation of God. He wants them to be confident in the second coming so that they live holy lives. And he further identifies himself as Simon Peter, a bond servant. The word servant, as Schofield points out, is a bondman, a bond slave. a bondservant of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Jesus Christ, a bondservant and an Apostle Jesus Christ, sorry. There's an excellent balance of humility and authority, humility and dignity, the perfect balance for a spiritual leader. He's a bondservant, first of all, a doulos, means slave. I'm a slave, he says. That puts him in the place of submission. That puts him in the place of humility. That puts him on the level All other believers who served the Lord Jesus Christ were all slaves, were all servants. Strange as it might seem, the title of humiliation was borne by the greatest men in the Word of God. Moses was a servant, was the leader. He got loggery. He was a servant of God, a bond slave. Joshua, the great commander of Israel, was a servant of God. David, the greatest of kings, and I believe the greatest of warriors that ever lived. was a servant of God, slave of God. Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ. James, the servant of Jesus Christ. Jude called himself the servant of Christ. And according to Amos 3, which we won't look it up, in Amos 3, in Isaiah chapter 23, those two sections say that all the prophets of the Old Testament were servants of God. They were slaves of God. Every believer in the New Testament becomes God's slave. So Peter has identified himself with all of us, and he's humble as Christ's slave. And though he was the greatest of the 12 and their spokesman, though he was the greatest preacher of them of all, and the leader at Jerusalem, he was a slave to Jesus Christ. William Barclay wrote this, I'm gonna read this from William Barclay. Says, to call the Christian the slave of God means that he is inalienably possessed by God. In the ancient world, a master possessed his slaves the same as he possessed his tools. A servant can change his master, but a slave cannot. The Christian inalienably belongs to God, and to call a Christian the slave of God means that he is unqualifiedly at the disposal of God. In the ancient world, the master could do whatever he liked with his slave, and he had the same power over his slave as he had over his other inanimate objects, or his animals. And the Christian belongs to God, for God to send him where he will, and to do what he will, and to do with him what he will. The Christian is the man who has no rights of his own. To call the Christian the slave of God means that the Christian owes an unquestionable obedience to God, without question, obey the Lord. To call the Christian a slave of God means that he must be constantly in the service of God. The slave had literally no time of his own, no holidays off, no working hours settled by a labor agreement, no leisure, and all his time belonged to the master. And the Christian is necessarily the man who, a man every moment of his life and time is spent in the service of God. This is William Barclay, end quote. That's the end of his quote. The slave was well-known in that ancient time. The slaves outnumbered the citizens in Rome, actually. And for Peter to say he's a slave of Jesus Christ means he's a humble servant bound by duty to do whatever his master told him, no matter what the cost. That was Peter. And John 21, again, the scene there where Peter met Jesus on the shore. The essence of what Jesus wanted from Peter If you love me, then do what I tell you. Feed my sheep, follow me. It'll cost you your life, Peter, but obey me. And then he says, turning from humility to dignity, he says he's also an apostle of Jesus Christ. So while on the one hand, he humbles himself to be equal with all believers, on the other hand, he represents himself as a spokesman for Christ. This elevates him to the unique office as divinely called and commissioned as a witness of the resurrection of Christ, the resurrected Christ. Christ, personally chosen messenger of the gospel to the place where he speaks officially. The term apostle means one officially sent forth, one sent. An apostle of Jesus Christ, is one officially sent forth by Jesus Christ, so he had all of Christ's authority with him. He served, and yet he had authority. He was under Christ, and yet he was the representative of Christ. And there's the model for spiritual leadership, the submissive, sacrificial, obedience, a slave joined with the strength and boldness and courage of an apostle. Finally, these little introductory notes, Simon Peter, a bondservant or slave, an apostle of Jesus Christ. So who were they, those, well, those, to them, who's to them? Well, chapter three, verse one says that he had written to them before, the second letter writing to them. And so if you go back to first Peter, it tells us who they were, chapter one, verse one and two. Now the first letter he's writing, it says, Peter and Apostle Jesus Christ to those, here again they are, those who are strangers and aliens, scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the four knowledge of God. In other words, the elect are scattered in the Gentile world, they're scattered over the Gentile world. And we don't know who they are any more specifically than that. Predominantly Gentiles, you know, we can take But certainly a lot of Jews were also in the fellowship. So probably 2 Peter is written, Peter was in Rome when he wrote this. He was actually, this is his prison letter. 1 Peter was like about a year before 2 Peter. Nero died in 68 AD. And tradition tells us that Peter died under Nero's persecution. And so Peter probably died before Paul, when Paul lost his head. Since Paul had his final letter from Rome, and Peter actually wasn't there when Paul wrote his letter, or Paul would have mentioned him. He must have already been dead already. So first Peter, around whatever it says, 64, 5, 6, 7, 8, I'm not sure. Schofield plants first Peter at 80, 60, and second Peter at 80, 66. Another brother's feels like less than a year between, but it had to be before 68 the year Nero died. because he died under an arrow. And it's likely Penn maybe, for some sake of some, most feel it's AD 65 is when he passed away. It's Penn that he passed away. Prison epistle, he was a prisoner facing death. If you read chapter one, verse 14, knowing this, a sure thing, I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus showed me. So again, tradition tells us he was crucified, but he refused to be crucified like his Lord. So he has to be crucified upside down. So final words to us from this bigger-than-life man, Peter was a man's man, about how to face false teachers triumphantly. He begins here with what he has to begin. First line of our defense is our salvation. So he's going to tell us three things about our salvation, the source of our salvation, the scope of our salvation. This will be our Sunday school lesson. That was kind of an introduction, I apologize. but the source of our salvation, the scope of our salvation, and the certainty of our salvation. Source, scope, and certainty. So if you look at the source, we've already seen it back in verse one, Simon Peter, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who receive the faith, the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, that identifies the indication as to the source of our salvation. who have received, and that means this salvation, it was a gift, is what this means. We received it. And the word is, it's not a common word, but it's a word, this receive, it means obtained by lot, by casting a lot. And remember when they casted lots, Back in, it was a way in which God could providentially control earthly circumstances to crystal clearly reveal his will. It came to mean given by allotment. It clearly refers to something not attained by personal effort. not attained by personal skill, not attained by personal worthiness, but something that came purely from God as God controlled the giving of it. So the fact is it was designed in that sense that most of all, I mean, the lexicon, most of the Greek lexicons say that it is to attain by divine will, to attain by divine will. So God used the casting of lots as a way to reveal his will. And so it became synonymous To receive a lot meant to receive by divine will. So Peter's writing to believers who've received their faith because God willed to give it to them. And it's just tremendous. The same verb is used in Acts 117 when they cast the lots for the missing deacon or the missing apostle. If you'd like to note that, Acts 117, same word. But what does he mean by faith? Or a faith. You have received faith. Like precious faith. Does it mean Christianity? It's doctrines? It's teaching? Is it objective but not subjective? He's talking about the, is he talking about the power to believe? The best way to understand it is to understand it as subjective. That is to say, he's talking about the power to believe. There would be no other reason to say he received faith of the same kind as ours if he's talking about doctrine. Of course, there's only one body of doctrine, so you wouldn't say this person got the same body of doctrine as that person got. There's only one body of doctrine in the Bible. So we wouldn't say that, there's only one. But if you mean subjective faith or the power to believe, to say this is a person received from God, the same power to believe as this person, now you've got something that makes sense. So no reason to say that the two have the same value if you're talking about the objective faith. which there's only one possibility. So Peter's saying salvation by faith, that faith comes from God, as to its initiation, saving faith is from God. So back in 1 Peter 1, he said that we're chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. Peter started out the first epistle talking about God's side. That was God's side of salvation. And Peter starts the second epistle talking about our side. We believed. But again, it's a faith which is received from God. Faith is the capacity to believe, and it's the capacity to trust God, and God gives it to us back in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. I mean, for grace you're saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God. Not of works, as Tony mentioned above. So according to, it's a gift from God. According to 2 Corinthians 4, our minds are blinded to the light of the glorious gospel. We cannot believe the truth. We're held captive in death, according to Ephesians 2. We're servants of the prince of the power of the air. We're children of disobedience, headed for eternal damnation. We're dead in trespasses and sins. We're blind in the darkness. We cannot see. And if we believe, it's because God's granted us an allotment of faith, an allotment of faith. So he gets all the glory. So even when it comes to the matter of spiritual gifts in Romans 12, through this grace given to me, I say to every man among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think as to sound judgment as God has allowed to each a measure of faith. Faith comes from God. It's measured out and granted to us for salvation and for service. Ephesians 6, 23, peace be to the brethren, and love and faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Love, faith, and peace come from God the Father. And I'm gonna take the last two minutes we have, okay? I know I'm way behind on getting my notes out, but we're just gonna try to use the last two minutes in a profitable way. Philippians 129 says, for you it's been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. It's been granted to you by God for Christ's sake to believe. That's a gift from God. Your ability to believe is given you from God. You can't believe unless God gives you the faith. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9, again it says, regarding the gifts of the Spirit to another faith by the same Spirit, the ability to believe for salvation, the ability to believe for service, the ability to believe in an incessant prayer, all given measures of faith that come from God, He's the one who gives that kind of faith. It's not a natural human faith that can apprehend salvation. We really don't need to be confused about that. Natural faith will not save you. It has to be God's supernatural faith. Acts 11.21, and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. Why did they believe? Because the hand of the Lord was with them. It was there. Human faith exists. We have power to believe some things, right? We all do some things. We believe we can put our keys in the ignition in our car, right? Back in the old days, we had a car, a V8. We used to have one. Eight cylinders. You crank it up, turn the key. With our spark plugs, there's an explosion in every spark plug. Eight explosions. And the car is full of gas. And so I've got this explosion with a tank full of gas, and I believe it's not going to blow up. I believe the guys who designed that, the guys at GM, they did their job right, and my car's not going to blow up. I mean, you can believe in whoever made your car. It won't blow up, and you have faith to fly an airplane. I've sat with people on airplanes before that say, I don't know how these things even fly. Can you try to explain to me how these things fly? I used to fly a lot. No, I can't. I can't see the pilot either, but I trust I'm going to get there. That's faith. That's not the faith that saves you. You can go to a restaurant and you can have the faith that the food's going to be great and healthy, even though you haven't gone to the kitchen. Or you can go into the kitchen and come out and have faith that you're going to be healthy. It's just one of those things. With that, I'll stop. You're saved by grace through faith. God's free gift is an allotment. God chose you. Our job is to believe. God's job is to provide the belief for us. He does that. Thanks for letting me share it with you.