I invite you to take your Bibles and turn in the New Testament to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3 is our scripture reading, but remember we'll be considering the entirety of the book this evening. This is God's word, and so give your attention to its reading. This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them, I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. 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. For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. And that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn? But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, and at peace. and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the 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. Let's pray. Gracious Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity we have this night to gather at the close of your day, to worship you, to sing your praises, to offer up our prayers, to hear your word, both read and proclaimed. We thank you for this epistle and for the scripture which we have heard. And now, God, we ask that you would give to us a discerning mind, that you would help us to understand your word, that you would continue to work within us by your spirit and with your word, that you would mark these things upon our hearts and our minds, that we might grow in godliness, in knowledge, and in faith. And bless our time of study tonight, and be glorified in our lives, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, this evening, after tonight, we have roughly six more sermons to get through until the end of the Bible. Of course, that doesn't mean that we're just done done in our overview series. We've just been looking at one book each night together, and so we've been going at it for quite a while now. and it's been, I hope, a profitable study, particularly as we looked at many of the Old Testament books that maybe we haven't had the opportunity to study together yet, but also many of the New Testament epistles as well. 2 Peter is one of those books that I have preached on in the past, in roughly, I think it was over a summer, about 12 sermons, but it's been profitable for me to go back this week and to consider the letter as a whole, to understand it, and to prepare this message. So I do hope and pray that it will be beneficial to you. But if you have questions about particular passages, you can either ask me or you can go back and listen to those sermons. As we begin, as we always do, with an introduction to the book, we begin with the authorship of this letter and its timing. It should come as no surprise that there was no dispute as to who wrote 2 Peter for quite some time. But in our modern sensibilities, of course, we doubt everything, including when a letter says that it's written by Simon Peter. And so the burning question, as one commentator put it, in 2 Peter is whether it is authentic. I want to deal with this only briefly by way of introduction this evening in case you have some of those questions. The author claims to be Simeon Peter. Simeon, another derivation of Simon. runs right along with what we have seen throughout the New Testament in various places for Peter being called Simon, Simeon, Cephas, and so on. He claims to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it would be odd if he were, in this letter, devising a clever myth Because he goes on to say in 2 Peter 1 verses 16 to 18, we did not follow cleverly devised myths. We made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. This is something we've considered most recently because last week on Sunday morning we looked at Matthew chapter 17 and the transfiguration. And Peter was present at the transfiguration. He's referencing here in 2 Peter that transfiguration. He heard the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Now some point out, and again this depends on how much you want to delve into the scholarship of the books, some point out the difference in literary style between 1st and 2nd Peter. Now there are reasons for that other than this is a fraudulent letter. He may have grown in his approach or written hastily due to the timing of his letter at the end of his life. He may have used a secretary, as was common in Paul's letters. Indeed, there are many reasons why it might have a different kind of literary structure, and especially we can't necessarily pick that up in the English, but in the Greek itself. But understand this, brothers and sisters, that writing under someone else's name, especially an apostle, would have been recognized as deception and rejected, the very opposite thing that Peter or that this letter is seeking to do. And so you usually didn't do that in order to write solid theological and pastoral letters to encourage your congregations to stay faithful to Christ. Those are the kinds of letters that pop up a little bit later in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th century AD. But there were some that floated around during even that first century. The Apostle Paul makes reference to this in 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 1 to 2. He writes, Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us. to the effect that the day of the Lord has come." There were letters circulating, as we see in Paul's words, that there were those saying that the day of the Lord had come. Clearly, 2 Peter wouldn't fall under that category. He is encouraging us to understand the day of the Lord in a way that I think is, in fact, pointing us forward and maybe even a long ways away from the day in which Peter wrote and maybe even still a long ways off from our day. As a matter of fact, for all the desire that believers have, quickening and hastening the day of the Lord, the desire to be reunited with loved ones, the desire to be resurrected and to be without sin, Peter gives us, I think, perhaps the most compelling reason why God waits to bring that day in chapter 3. And we'll come to that in time. As far as the occasion of 2 Peter, it's written to encourage the same churches that he wrote his first epistle to. He says there in 2 Peter 3 that we already read, this is the second letter that I am writing to you. In chapter 1, verses 12-15, he says, I intend always to remind you. Peter saw his job as a minister, as an apostle, to continually remind the people of what it is that he had already told them, what it is Christ had said, what it is they had learned from Paul's letters. to continually remind people of what they already know, to help them to recall these things to mind, because we all know that in those moments of suffering and struggle, we all know in those moments even of prosperity and joy, it is easy for us to forget. And so in some sense, this is the call of every minister of the Gospel throughout the ages, to remind people of the things that they know, Things they learned in Sunday school years ago. Things that they have been told over and over and over again. They must remind you. Because if you're like me, then it's so easy to forget. But beyond that, there were dangers in the church. We're going to come to some of those in chapter 2. But Peter goes on to talk about false teachers. Those that are hypocritical in morals. That is, they lived ungodly lives. And while persecution is often believed to be one of the greatest dangers to the Church, it is a danger, at least to our comforts. But it's not a danger to the Church in the way that false teachers from within are a danger. Some will ask why, for instance, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church goes to such great lengths to examine men for ministry. Why can't simply the local congregation make up their mind as to whether or not they want to call a man, and the Church does call a man, but to approve that man. It's very simply because we see in Scripture the call of the Church to be responsible for one another and the need to protect the Church from false teachers Well, like 2 Timothy, this epistle of 2 Peter is sort of a farewell discourse to the churches. It's most likely written sometime in the mid-60s A.D. before Peter will face execution at the hands of Nero. The central message is simply this, to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. To grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, or the way I like to think of it, is the best way to keep from moving backward is to move forward. And Peter lays out for us then in his epistle both the reality of this, that God is working this by His Spirit in believers, as well as the diligence that the believer is called to in pursuing this. We see this in the very first chapter. We'll turn now to the outline of the book. What begins in chapter 1, verses 1-11, after the introduction, Peter makes clear that God's grace is the foundation to a life of godliness. God's grace is the foundation to the life of godliness. It is not that godliness is what gives us God's grace. We always want to keep these things in order in our minds, and in our instruction to our children, and in our encouragement to one another. There are times that we must prod one another in order to encourage to a life of holiness. But it will always be the reality that it is God's grace that is the foundation to that movement. And Peter says this just as much there in verses 3 and 4 of chapter 1. He says that His, that is God's divine power, has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. Now, that partakers of the divine nature, I won't dwell on that tonight, but it is one of those phrases that kind of jumps out at us. What does that mean? How will we be partakers of the divine nature? Well, we can say first and foremost that man created in the image of God, the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. To behold our Savior face to face. to be those who live with Christ forever, for eternity moving forward. That is a kind of partaking in the divine nature. But clearly Peter has in mind also our growth in holiness and godliness as a partaking in that divine nature as well. And he stresses then that those who know God, those who are called by Him, indeed have everything that they need for life and godliness. This is the assumption throughout Scripture. It is not as though we are living a kind of Christian video game where we have to unlock the next ability and move forward and power up. God has given us all that we need. And so we pursue that life of godliness because He has granted it to us. The call to godliness then is rooted in and secured by God's grace. It is His gracious power that supplies what He demands. That is, that godliness does not come from our own inherent abilities. And yet, Peter moves on. Because this is true, he says, in verses 5-7, 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. John Calvin writes that Peter intimates that no place is to be given in this case to sloth, and that we ought to obey God calling us, not slowly or carelessly, but that there is a need of alacrity, that it is a cheerfulness, a readiness, as though he had said, put forth every effort and make your exertions manifest to all. God calls us to this. Peter reminds us of this reality. And he shows us the way in which our Christian faith, our Christian life actually progresses and grows as we build our faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Peter says that if we have these qualities, if they are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why I said the best way to keep from moving backward is to move forward. Is to seek this growth, is to pray that God would indeed increase your faith, increase your godliness. And He says, whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. This again is the message all throughout Scripture. For the believer who trusts in Christ, for the believer who is united to Christ, filled with His Spirit, to go back and live in a life of sin, it's to be forgetful. Worse than forgetful is to deny Christ. And indeed, those who are called, effectually called, they may find themselves in that position for a time, but God will never leave them there, because that is to fall away. Peter moves on in verses 12 to 21 of chapter 1, calling us to stability, or reminding us to stability, calling us to action, stirring us to action. He says, therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, that you know them and are established in the truth that you have. He speaks about the further foundation of this stability, or the further stability that we have. I've already read verse 16, we do not follow cleverly devised myths. the eyewitness testimony. But I want you to notice, he talks about the transfiguration, he talks about the glory that he beheld, the majesty of Christ, and how amazing it would have been to be there to witness the transfiguration. But he says in verses 19-21 of chapter 1, something that is worth our attention. He says, we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. It is not an experience or a lack of it that assures us of God's goodness to us. It is His Word, which we receive and believe, which we receive by faith. You could imagine, as one commentator wrote, how tempting it would be for Peter to write whatever he wanted. He'd lived with Jesus for three years. He saw many things that we have no knowledge about. But he didn't yield to this temptation, did he? This is the way it had to be. Because no man produced Scripture in and of himself. Yes, holy men were carried along by the Holy Spirit, and so each letter is, if you will, stamped, impressed with that person's personality and abilities. And some of the letters are easier to read than others. Some of the books of the Bible are easier to read than others. And yet, it is all God's Word. It is all Christ speaking to His church. It's one of those passages you want to remember when somebody says to you, you know, Jesus never talked about this, or He never said anything about that. It might be mentioned in other passages of Scripture, but in the words that we have recorded that are in red, Jesus didn't talk about those things. Don't fall for it, beloved. The whole Bible is the Word of our Savior. The whole Bible is God's Word given to us as something more sure. More sure than even being on that mount and seeing Jesus transfigured before our eyes. I know that might be hard to believe, but it is what Peter reminds us of and encourages us with. Each one of us has the opportunity to be confronted by the living God each time we open up the Scripture and we read it. Peter moves along then, as we do as well, reminding, giving reminders of judgment. And this is the second or the third major section in his epistle that says that it goes to the end of chapter 3. Judgment is spoken of in chapter 3, but it actually is supposed to be all of chapter 2 that Peter is looking at. here in this Reminders of Judgment. He reminds us of the reality of false teachers. And again, this is stamped all over the New Testament. I mean, after all, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes, what were they but false teachers? They were those that were leading people away from Christ. And so without surprise, Paul warns in Acts 20 that there are going to be false teachers who are going to come. He reminds us in many other of his epistles of those false teachers. First, in 2 Timothy especially, were told of them again in Titus. Peter here tells us of them as well. In chapter 2 beginning in verse 1 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. Now when he says here, false prophets arose among the people, he's undoubtedly looking back to the Old Testament. Because he's going to talk about all the various judgments that were given to us in the Old Testament. Chapter 3 speaks of the flood that comes in Noah's day. But chapter 2 also speaks of the false teachers. And again, those false teachers of the Old Testament were many. In fact, Moses warns of them in Deuteronomy chapter 13, about a prophet who prophesies in the name of the Lord. And yet his words are false. And so the people were called to be discerning. Perhaps that's one of Israel's biggest mistakes. I mean, of course, they had unbelief. They lacked faith in God, amazingly, because He traveled around with them in the wilderness. but also they listened to false teachers. Beloved, we should not be surprised in our own day that we have false teachers who want to tell us what itching ears want to hear. Hopefully not our itching ears, but let's not fool ourselves. It's much easier to hear a message that we like than one that confronts us, than one that reminds us that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that we are not here to live our best life now. Peter goes on, he says, many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And the false teachers carried with them not just false teaching, but also false living. And people followed them. They followed their teaching. They followed their sensuality. And the way of truth is blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you, Peter says, with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." And this is where Peter launches in to remind us of those Old Testament stories there, beginning in verse 4 of chapter 2. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, and here Peter most likely is thinking of the fall of the angels that we don't necessarily are privy to. This is why the This is why the Word of God is just that, it is God's Word. He did not spare them when they sinned, but cast them into hell, and committed them to chains. He goes on, if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserve Noah, a herald of righteousness. If by turning, verse 6, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, He condemned them to extinction. He rescued Lot, and so on. He's reminding us of the certainty of judgment. If God did not spare them, if God did not turn away from judgment in those days, how can we expect Him at the end of time, when Christ returns, to not judge those who have rejected His Son? To not judge those who have rejected their triune God? Peter is just as certain though, that just as judgment will come, so will salvation. Look at verse 9. In reference to saving Lot, he says, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. There's a sense, if you will, that our lives, even now, are experiencing this. God is rescuing us from trials. He is keeping the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment. The reality, though, is that we can't often see that. We can't often see that. Look with me in chapter 2, verses 10 to 11. We see the reasons for the judgment, or at least some of them. He says, especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones. Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. I'm reminded even of the demons who know that God is one and they shudder. The demons who confronted Jesus trembled and called Him the Son of God. It's amazing to think, not just the righteous angels, but the fallen ones, the demons have more sense than so many unbelievers in this world. Peter refers to the impact of these false teachers. This is verse 17. They are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. All, beloved, all serve a master. False teachers are not serving themselves. not even the demons. They are the epitome, that is false teachers, of those who gain the world, but lose their souls. And Peter makes very clear the judgment that is coming upon these false teachers. And again, I think he has in mind here those within the church that are causing not just troubles, not just squabbles, but leading people astray. It might be hard for us to understand, but maybe not. I mean, we see this even in our own day, but there were those inside the church claiming to be called by God, claiming to represent Christ, who would lead people astray. Peter says in verses 21-22, it 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 soul, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire or the mud. He shows first that false teachers are inexcusable He also shows that there is a call for believers to live lives of holiness. We are justified and we are sanctified. And He reminds us to keep our eyes open, to keep our ears open, indeed to trust only God's Word. For it is God's Word that leads us into truth by His Spirit working in our hearts. you might be wondering after Peter delivers this kind of judgment warning about yourselves. John Calvin, I think, is helpful here. He says, the faithful also do indeed sin, but as they allow not dominion to sin, they do not fall away from the grace of God, nor do they renounce the profession of sound doctrine which they have once embraced, for they are not to be deemed conquered while they strenuously resist the flesh and its lusts. And that again is that marker that we remember from the Apostle Paul's words in Romans 6, 7, and 8. that we are not under dominion of sin, even though we may not always do the things that we know we have to do, and even the things that we want to do. We find ourselves too often doing the things that we ought not want to do. And nevertheless, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Peter then turns to the end of his letter, the final words that he will give to these believers who were under persecution, who had false teachers rising up among them. He turns in chapter 3 then, which is where we turn here. He reminds us of the second letter. He's reminding us of everything that's going on. He's reminding them of the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior. And he says this, knowing this first of all, the scoffers will come in the last days with scoffers. with scoffings, sorry, following their own sinful desires. This is a reality. We must not be surprised, beloved. Just as we should not be surprised when we face suffering in our lives, as though this is something new or something out of God's plan, also we should not be surprised that there are those who preach a false gospel. We should not be captivated simply because something looks attractive or sounds attractive, how does it measure up to the Word of God? What Peter has in mind here, those who argue about the Second Coming, those scoffers who 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 this here is where Peter reaches back into the Old Testament and points to the world that then was under, before the flood, before Noah was called, and the ark was built, and the world was deluged with water, destroyed. In Genesis 6, 7, and 8, very interesting and helpful chapters in understanding what is going on there. Where we see, not just the, we read together in the responsive reading, the reality of judgment. God was going to send judgment. The intentions of man's thoughts, of their hearts, was only evil continually. And so He would indeed judge the world. But it was more than judge the world, it was destroy it. For we see in Genesis 6, 7, and 8, a de-creating of the world. That's why Peter refers to it as the world that then was. versus the world that now is. Because, again, in those chapters in Genesis, there's the recreation, and we looked at this when we went through Genesis. My goodness, that's a long time ago. very few were there. So, we might have to revisit that. But you parallel Genesis 6, 7, and 8 with Genesis 1 and 2, and you see the parallel of the language of the land appearing and the dry, sorry, the waters parting, and the dry ground appearing, and so on. It's the same kind of language to show that the world was, in fact, re-created. Well, Peter says that there are those who will say that ever since the creation of the world, things have just gone on. And he says, first of all, that's not right. It's not the case that things have gone on ever since the creation of the world. For there was indeed a climactic or a full judgment upon the earth that God rendered in the flood when he preserved Noah and his wife, and Noah's sons and their wives. So first of all, we must remember that there are going to be those who scoff, who scoff at our beliefs, who scoff at the reality that we are waiting for Jesus to return. We must not be turned aside from the truth of God's Word that we see there, the words of the prophets, the words of the apostles. But you might wonder, why does God wait? Why does He wait to bring the consummation of all things? And Peter tells us in verses 8 and 9, "...but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that what the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." So, first we must understand that God is not on our timetable. We might feel as though things are taking forever, but our lifespan is so short. And God is eternal. And just as, and just as a parallel or an example, just as someone in their older years has a different perspective on a day, a week, a month, or a year, versus a small child that just seems like Christmas is taking forever to get here, so also God, eternal, has a different perspective. But he goes on, the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come, all should reach repentance. There is a day when the end of history will come and the new creation will be ushered in. Peter uses the words that are found also in the prophet Isaiah to speak about this. The day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. But that day is postponed because today is the day of salvation. There will be no more opportunity for salvation when Jesus returns. All that awaits the mockers, all that awaits those who are not in Christ, is a fearful judgment. All that awaits those who reject Christ is eternal destruction. Peter is clear about that. But until that day, the gospel gates are opened wide. And the church's call is to be those laborers that Jesus sends into the field, gathering in those whom God calls from north, south, east, and west. Beloved, that's the reason. The reason why the consummation has not happened yet. The reason why the new heavens and the new earth have not broken in and begun full and finally, is because God is patient. And He is waiting for all those whom He has called to come to reach repentance. What an encouragement. You see, when we struggle, when we suffer in this life, we ought to remember that the only reason we are continuing to suffer, of course, because we're walking after our Savior, Jesus Christ, as we have learned in the Gospel of Matthew, but especially because God is waiting. He is waiting for more people, for all people, to be saved. And so how should we live? This is what Peter turns to in the rest of his epistle. Since these things, he says, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lies of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn? But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish and at peace. Since this world is temporary, Peter exhorts us to live godly lives. Perhaps he's reflecting on what Jesus had said and that he heard Jesus say, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Perhaps it's because Peter is facing the end of his life. There he is, ready to go before Nero, ready to be executed. He sees things in their proper perspective. This is indeed a very different Peter than we've been studying together in the Gospels, is it not? For that Peter was one who did not want Jesus to go to the cross, but this Peter is ready That Peter was one who was not content to wait. And that Peter, this Peter, is content to wait. He's not a different Peter. He's just a more mature Peter. He has grown even as he is calling us to grow, even as he is reminding us of these things. I think the lessons in 2 Peter, as I have gone through this, are pretty straightforward. The first is the centrality of the Word of God. Peter's letters include some of the clearest statements on the apostolic view of the centrality of Scripture. And by the way, these will be repeated throughout the early Church Fathers. The Word of God is the standard It is that which we look to over and over and over again. It doesn't mean that history is completely ruled out. It simply means that we hold it up to this standard always. In 1 Peter, he wrote that the Old Testament prophets knew of Christ and wrote to serve the Church. And here he writes that the prophetic word is more certain than witnessing the transfiguration. He teaches us that Scripture is not a mere human opinion, but is always inspired. And he puts the letters of the Apostle Paul on par with Scripture, with the other Scriptures, reminding us, of course, that what Paul writes is indeed inspired. So the centrality of the Word of God comes clear in 2 Peter, and in 1 Peter, but just this evening in 2 Peter. We also see the danger of false teaching. To always be on guard, whether it's from well-meaning people who knock on your door, or those who might belong to other faiths with whom you are friends, or those in your own church, including the pastor. Again, we must hold all things to the light of God's Word. I was reminded of that quote that we looked at in Matthew 17 by J.C. Ryle. I accidentally called him John Ryle, I think. I'm not on first name basis with him. I'm J.C. Ryle. He says, let us see in these words a striking lesson to the whole church of Christ. There's a constant tendency in human nature to hear man. Bishops, priests, deacons, popes, cardinals, councils, Presbyterian preachers, and independent ministers are continually exalted to a place which God never intended them to fill and made practically to usurp the honor of Christ. Against this tendency, let us all watch and be on our guard. Let these solemn words of the vision ever ring in our ears. Hear Christ. The best of men are only men at their very best. And thirdly, we see in 2 Peter the necessity of growing in godliness. This we can say is the whole purpose why he's writing it. The whole purpose why he's reminding us of the centrality of the Word and the danger of false teaching is because these things, if we sway from the Word, if we listen to false teachers, they will stunt our growth in godliness. We must seek to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and brotherly love. May we be reminded of these things tonight. May we remind ourselves often, and may we remind one another of these realities. It would be established in the truth that Christ, the Word of God has come, and that we wait for that glorious day when He returns, when final judgment will come, and when all things will be made new. Let's pray. Gracious Father,