All right, this evening we have the privilege of hearing from Mike Germany. And Mike is normally out with our junior high and high school on Wednesday night. And he helps Pastor Brian and teaches out there. He teaches our junior highs on Sundays as well. He has spoken to our men at Mary's Prayer Breakfast in the past. And normally you might see him up here in the orchestra playing the trumpet. as well, but we, and Mike's one of our elders this year, as well, he's our young one, young elder, right? And second, what, second youngest? Ah, I didn't know that. Wow, he's older than, Nate, Nate Torberson, wow. Yes, Mike, you look younger. In 20 years, you'll appreciate that. But anyway, so we will hear from Mike tonight in 2 Peter chapter 3. All right, am I on now? There we go. It is a privilege to speak here tonight, and I'm very, very honored to do so. I'm also very honored that my wife's grandparents have come over here to hear me speak. So again, thank you all very much for coming. If you would, please turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. I have no slides for you tonight. I was told that I'm not supposed to do slides unless they're good. So that one sentence right there saved me hours of work. I do computers for a living, but PowerPoint is not computers. Just point that out. That is software. Just because you do computers doesn't mean you can do everything related to a computer. I haven't done PowerPoint since college on a regular basis. So no slides? Fantastic. That's all I needed. So the only thing I have to entertain you with is me. That's it. No funny pictures or anything like that. Alright, 2 Peter 3, verses 1 and 2. That's right, two verses. I was all excited to preach and then I was told, you get two verses. How much can you squeeze out of two verses? We're going to find out. Alright, so here we go. Peter is speaking. He says, ìThis 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 our Lord and Savior through your apostles. Now the first thing I want to point out here is the word beloved. Peter loves his audience. He wants what is best for them. And what he's going to do in these verses and in the rest of this chapter is he's not going to introduce anything new to them. There is no new knowledge being presented as far as he's concerned. This is something that they should already know. This is things they have already been taught. And he wants to stir up their mind to remember these things. And he says, this is the second letter I've written to do this. The first of which is what we call 1 Peter. Now just so you know, there's a few theories out there that there is a missing book between 1 Peter and 2 Peter. That Peter wrote his first letter, which we have, then he wrote a second letter, which was completely lost, then he wrote a third letter, which is what we call 2 Peter. There's another theory that says, well, because of some of the thematic elements and the wording in Chapter 3, that Chapter 3 of 2 Peter is itself a separate book, a separate letter that Peter wrote, and it was just kind of mashed in to the other two chapters to give us what we have now. I personally don't buy it, but it's just something that you should be aware of. So there are two things that Peter really wants his people to focus on. That's the words of the Holy Prophets, or the predictions of the Holy Prophets, and we'll look at why there might be a difference there, and also the commandment of Christ. But before we get into that, let's do a quick review to see where we got here. Starting with 1 Peter. So a few things you need to remember about 1 Peter. And there's a reason I'm going through this, because I'm going to be reading a lot from 1 Peter. Again, I have two verses, people. I have to do something. So 1 Peter was written to Christians who were facing severe persecution. A lot of opposition was on the readers at that time. So Peter is writing to them to encourage them to be strong and courageous in the face of this opposition and this persecution which they're facing. He advises his readers how to endure during these very, very hard times. And finally, he's going to offer hope to those who are struggling. 1 Peter 5, verse 10 is a great verse that kind of sums up the entire theme of the book. He says, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. So to sum all that up, you have suffering now that you're going through. So suffering now, but glory later. And that glory is, of course, the revelation of Jesus Christ. See, one of the sub-themes of 1 Peter is the second coming. It is the revelation of Christ. And that's a theme that's expanded much greater in his second letter, what we're looking at tonight. Alright, so we've done 1 Peter, so let's catch up a little bit on 2 Peter. Not a chapter-by-chapter review, just some of the high points. Peter introduces us to the fruits of the Spirit. And you've all heard these. Virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. And he says that these fruits, these fruits of the Spirit, are evidence of what? Question for the audience. What are these supposed to be an evidence of? What's that? Our salvation, our calling and election. Now if that is true, then what would a lack of those fruits be evidence of? What's that? Possibly not saved. Possibly not saved. See, people like to evaluate themselves and compare themselves up to people. And they like to say things like, I'm a good person because of here are all the bad things that I haven't done. No, I haven't cheated on my taxes. I haven't beat my wife and kids that much. I haven't killed anyone. I haven't committed grand theft larceny. And you know what? That's great if you haven't done those things. But now let me ask a question. What have you done for Christ? Not that that saves you by any stretch of the imagination, but don't just praise yourself about the bad things you haven't done. What have you done for Christ? You know what? I'll go even further. What are you presently doing right now for the cause of Christ? Are you doing anything at all or are you resting on your laurels from 20 years ago? Because I think there are a lot of people who sit in pews and they think that their retirement years can be spent doing nothing. I serve my time. I'm going to coast to the finish line. And I don't think that that's what Peter would expect of his audience to do. Peter says he intends to remind his readers of these fruits of the Spirit very, very often. He says, I want to go over them and over them and over them, because repetition is the key to learning. And he fully expects his readers to exhibit these fruits of the Spirit in their own life. And he says, I want you to be able to recall them years after I'm gone, because Peter knows he's not going to be around forever. He wants the people who are reading his letters to take the instructions that he's given them, to remember them. That's going to be a key word for tonight. and to be able to produce those and remember those long after Peter's gone. Peter also reminds us of his apostolic authority in 1 Peter. He talks about the fact that, hey, I walked with Christ. I saw his transfiguration. I witnessed the resurrection and spoke and walked with him at that point. So Peter is reminding his readers of his apostolic authority. In chapter 2, he goes on to give a warning about false prophets and false teachers, which is what y'all heard last week, or two weeks ago. And here's how he describes them. They are sensual. They are greedy. They are liars. They despise authority. They are blasphemers, irrational animals. those who entice unstable people into sin, and finally, as those for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. So both 1 Peter and 2 Peter have been written to remind readers of the memories of the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of Jesus Christ. And he says, I want to stir up your memory. So what does this word stir up means? It means to awaken. It means to render active that which has been inactive or to things that have settled. You ever seen a snow cone? And you get those great snow cones you see, and the advertisement for it shows this little cone shape with the nice red strawberry flavored shaved ice on the top. And that's what you're expecting. But when you actually get in, you take it out of the wrapper, instead you have two inches of solid ice, and all the good stuff is down at the bottom. It's settled. So what you almost have to do is dump the whole thing into a big bowl and mash it up and eat it, and that's no fun. That's something that needs to be stirred up. Another one, but you buy this great hot mocha, right? And it's so hot you can't drink it, so you set it down. And you walk away, you come back a few minutes later. It's cooled off, but what's happened? All the good stuff has settled down to the bottom. You've got to stir it up. So that's what the word to stir means, is to render active that which has been inactive, to awaken. And Peter has warned us, back in 1 Peter, he says, be sober and be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. That word vigilant there, it means to stay awake, to be watchful. Kind of the same idea. So we have a little bit of discrepancy, depending on which translation you have here. He says, I want to remind you of the words of the holy prophets or the predictions of the holy prophets. Those are different words. They mean different things. So let's look at the idea, if it's words, if he wants you to remember the words of the holy prophets, well, that's a lot. I mean, think of all the things that the Old Testament prophets have spoken about. If you go with the word predictions, well, that's going to help you narrow it down a lot, particularly to the foretelling of future events. So let's go with both of them, because I think they both have merit, and we're going to look at that here. So what are some of the words spoken by the holy prophets which we ought to remember? Because the entire theme is remember what has been spoken. So now I'm going to give you guys a test. This is fun. I used to be a teacher. I work in junior high. I love to ask questions. And as I tell my junior high students, if I ask you a question and nobody answers, I'm going to stare at you awkwardly until you do so. Lauren, you remember hearing that, don't you? Yes, she does. You were one of my favorite students. Not that I had favorite students. Actually, I'm only saying that because you're agreeing with me now, just so you know. All right. Genesis chapter 12. Words of the Holy Prophet that have been spoken that are very important for us to know. Does anybody know what Genesis chapter 12 is all about? Abrahamic covenant. Very good, Pastor Sean. I'm very glad that you are aware of the Abrahamic covenant. Good, good, see, it works, it works. You threaten people with awkwardness, and oh man, gotta do something. All right, the Abrahamic covenant, what was that? What did God promise Abraham? I'm hearing mumbles. Land, people, there we go. Descendants, as numerous as the sea. So all of this was promised to Abraham. We as a church are part of fulfillment of that covenant. Because we have been grafted in to God's family. We are part of that fulfillment of that covenant. All right, so we got Genesis chapter 12. How about Exodus chapter 19? Someone besides Pastor Sean. Exodus chapter 19. Flip, flip, flip, or Google. Who's the main figure in the book of Exodus? Okay, Moses. We had the Abrahamic Covenant, so a good guess would be... Oh, the Mosaic Covenant. Wonderful, wonderful. Okay, the Mosaic Covenant. Genesis 19, verses 5 and 6. This is what God is telling Moses, and therefore the whole people of Israel. He says, "...you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." These are the words that you should speak to the people of Israel. Now Peter obviously thought that this one was something that was worth remembering, because in 1 Peter he all but quotes it directly. So in 1 Peter 2, verse 5, Peter says that you yourselves are living stones and built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. So right there, he calls us a holy priesthood. Back in Exodus, when talking to the people of Israel, he calls them a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. In verse 9, Peter says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation, a people of his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. So obviously, when Peter says, remember the words of the Holy Prophet, I would argue that he is definitely talking about these covenants. So we have the, what was the first one? Abrahamic covenant. What was the next one? The Mosaic Covenant. What's the next big covenant? The Davidic Covenant. 2 Samuel chapter 7. That's where he promises that someone on your line will sit on the throne forever. Your kingdom will be established forever. Now this one's a good one to branch off of because, obviously, who's the fulfillment of that prophecy? Jesus. So let's look at the predictions that are being spoken about. What would be some of the predictions of the coming Messiah that Peter would say, you, my readers, need to be aware of to be able to recall them at any time? Again, quiz in the audience here. Fancy word, proto-evangelium. Anybody know what that is? Go ahead, Lauren. You're nodding your head yes. The first mention of the gospel in the Old Testament. Anybody can give me a chapter and verse on that? Very good. See, repetition is the key for learning. I've heard all of these from the pulpit before. It's good to keep going over and over them again. All right, Isaiah chapter 9, 6. It's a Christmas song. For unto us. A child is born, a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulders. His name is Wonderful Counselor of the Almighty God and the Everlasting Father. Hundreds of years before Christ was born, we have these. And one that I would like to spend a little bit of time on, Isaiah chapter 53. This is a good one. So I would like you to open your Bibles, flip back to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2, starting in verse 23. And I'm going to read a few verses out of Isaiah 53, not quite in order. But you're going to see how well this lines up here. So you are looking at 1 Peter 2, verse 23. I'm going to be reading out of Isaiah 53. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. Now that should have been extremely similar to what 1 Peter 2, verse 23 was. Look at the next one. Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried. All of us are like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. You don't think Peter thought it was important for his readers to know about the predictions of the coming Messiah? Oh, you betcha. All right? A few more. My favorite book, Daniel, chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9, we've got the 70 weeks where Daniel lays out, here's where the Messiah is coming, here's what to expect. In Daniel chapter 12, he talks about the end of time, which lines up really, really well with Pastor Sean's series through Revelation right now. He speaks of a time of great tribulation. He speaks of a time of the judgment of the dead, both the wicked and the righteous. And he talks about the end of all time. All of these, I would argue, is what he had in mind when he said, remember the words of the holy prophets that were spoken. The next thing that he wants us to remember is the commandment of Christ given through your apostles. So when Peter's saying, I want you to remember the words of the holy prophets and the commandment of Christ given through the apostles, what is he doing right there? What is Peter saying about the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament writers? What is he saying? They're meshing, they're connected, and they're equal in authority. This is a big deal here. All right, so let's think, what are or what is the commandment of Christ? It doesn't say commandments. It says commandment. So this leaves room for people to argue back and forth about what it could be. So what are some of the possibilities? Mark chapter 1. verses 14 and 15. This is a possible one. It says, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Now that is definitely a command. Christ has given an imperative statement. This is something he expects you to do. Again, it's not a suggestion. I would say that's a very, very important commandment. Because if you don't repent and you don't believe in the gospel, then you're lost. There's no point in doing anything else. It could also be this one. Mark chapter 12, verse 30 and 31. It says, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and strength, and mind. He says, and the second one is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's a very important commandment. The reason Jesus quoted that is from the book of Deuteronomy is someone actually asked him, hey, what's the greatest commandment? Well, this was Jesus' answer right here. Now, an argument can be made that any commandment that Jesus gave is worth remembering. Would you agree? So let's look at some of these other commandments and evaluate our lives based on how well we do some of these. Matthew chapter 6, verses 9 through 13. It says, pray like this. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. How is our prayer life? Does it match up to that? Do we know that prayer well enough where we can say, yes, it does, or no, it doesn't? What about Luke chapter 22? This is a good one. Luke chapter 22, verse 19. It says, do this in remembrance of me. What is Christ speaking of right here? What event is this? This is the Lord's Supper. We just did this this past Sunday night. And it's always brought up, I don't want to say always, never use the word always, what is, it is frequently mentioned about the lack of attendance on Sunday nights. That's when we do the Lord's Supper. We are commanded to participate in the Lord's Supper. So therefore, when we don't participate in the Lord's Supper, what are we doing? We are disobeying. We are sinning. Again, this is not another suggestion. This is a commandment. So what excuses do people give for not showing back up on Sunday night? For not partaking in the Lord's Supper? Oh, I'm busy. Oh, it's too hard to get back on a Sunday night. None of these are going to fly when you're standing before God having to give an account for what you have and have not done with what He's given you. So what should we remember about Christ? If we are commanded, do this in remembrance of me, what should we be remembering during the Lord's Supper? Well, definitely, who saved us? I mean, who is Christ? The second person of the triune Godhead, the eternal Son of God, who came to earth, born of a baby, lived a perfect sinless life, died, rose again on the third day, was seen by several people. went up to heaven where He's currently interceding on our behalf and He's coming back again one day. You need to remember who it is that you're supposed to be remembering. Otherwise, you're just going through the motions. And I will admit, sometimes I'm guilty of that. Anything that you do over and over can become just routine. But we need to make sure that when we're doing the Lord's Supper that we're focused on the commandment. We're doing this for the sole purpose of remembering who Christ is. who saved us, and how we are saved. He paid the price for us that we could never pay ourselves. That's why we need saving, because we can't do it on our own. His body was broken. His blood was shed so that ours would not have to be. What are we saved from? That should be something that we focus on. That should be something that we contemplate while partaking of the Lord's Supper. We are saved from the power of sin. We're saved from death. We're saved from hell. All of these are things that should lead us to participate in this commandment of God in a holy, reverent manner. And finally, why were we saved? Why were we saved? Was it simply to not go to hell or is there something more to it? We have been saved to glorify God. And one of the verses we already mentioned, it says, you have been saved so you can proclaim the excellencies of him who has saved you. We are saved to glorify God. Another thing that we should focus on, Peter speaking, he says, focus on the words of the Holy Prophets and the predictions, focus on the command of Christ, and he says, as delivered by the Apostles. Now Peter here is speaking of the 12 Apostles, maybe 13 if you count Matthias. I don't know, that guy doesn't get a lot of press. But regardless, he says it's those apostles, those 12 apostles, possibly 13, and them alone that are equal in authority to the Old Testament, not any Tom, Dick, or Harry who claims the title apostle. These are the apostles, all caps, however you want to think about it. And it's also an emphasis on the plural. Peter says the apostles have this authority. Is Peter claiming any special authority that he alone possesses here? He is not. So if paper authority were an actual thing, this would have been a great place for Peter to claim it right here. But yet he doesn't. That's outside the scope of this course, but that's just something to think about. All right, so tonight we have discussed four things. We discuss what does it mean to be stirred up, to render that which is inactive, active. It should stir you to action. The things that should stir you to action, the things that you should remember, you have the words of the holy prophets. And we looked at the covenants. We looked at the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, and the Davidic covenant. We looked at the predictions of the holy prophets relating to the coming Messiah. And we spent a little bit of time there in Isaiah 53. And we also looked at the command of Christ and what that could be. So what do I want you to go home with? What do I want you to leave with? If you haven't written down anything else, write down this. Four things I want you to write down. Why do we need to remember these things? Number one, so we don't sin. Remembering God's word will help you not sin. Psalm 119, 11 says, I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin. It takes effort to do that. It doesn't just happen by circumstance, unless you're one of those people who has those memories like they make TV shows about. You have to put forth effort to memorize God's word. It's not just going to happen. All right, number two. So you do not fall under God's judgment, because God is still a God who punishes sin. Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, 12 through 15, says, take care lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are around you. For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God. Lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. Now I can already tell if somebody's going to listen to this on sermon audio ten years from now, they're going to be offended because I brought up the Old Testament wrathful, vengeful God. God's not like that in the New Testament, right? He's a warm, fuzzy, I'll tell you what you want to hear God. Not so. Book of Romans chapter 1, God gives warning about people who knew God. So again, they knew God. God's not hidden from them. He has not revealed himself from them. These are people who knew God, and yet they chose to not give him the glory they deserve. And here's what God did to them. He gave them up to impurity. He gave them up to dishonorable passions. And he gave them up to a debased mind. It's not good to be given up to any of those three things. It's not going to turn out well for you. Number three. So we do not fall victim to false teachers. Now you talked about this last week, and spoiler alert, I'm about to look a little bit further ahead in the chapter than I was supposed to, but that's OK. In chapter 2, Peter says that false teachers entice unsteady souls. What type of souls? Unsteady souls. Keep that word unsteady and all that it means in your mind. In chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, he says, there are some things in them, and he's speaking about the writings of Paul. Peter is speaking about Paul's writings. He says, these are hard writings. They are very 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. So you have this idea that the false teachers prey on those who are unstable, those who have no solid foundations on which they stand on. They prey after those people. The reason we keep going over the same verses, the same covenants, the same stories from the Bible over and over is so that you remember them and so you can build a solid foundation. And another thing to point out here, how does Peter refer to the writings of Paul? What does he call them? What's that? He calls them scripture. He says, the writings of Paul, which are hard to understand, he said, they get twisted by wicked people as they also twist the other scriptures. So Peter is taking the writings of Paul and the Old Testament scriptures and putting them right there. They're the same thing. That means Peter understood the authority of the New Testament while it was being written. Number four. So we are not caught unaware of the second coming. So we are not caught unaware of the second coming. And another spoiler alert, I'm about to read two more verses from chapter three. Verses 3 and 4 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. So in that passage, what's the thing that these scoffers are denying? The what what? The return of Christ. They're mocking the very idea of the return of Christ. These are the scoffers. Matthew 24, verse 44, Christ is speaking. He says, speaking to believers, Therefore you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. The scripture, the writings of the Old Testament, the holy prophets, the commandments of Christ should create in us an expectation for the coming of Christ. And we should be living our lives according to that. All the warnings, the parables of Christ talking about the virgins who are not ready for the bridegroom to come, the wicked servants who are not expecting the master to come home, All of these point to people who are just, whatever, it's not happening. It's not happening tonight. I can slack off. I can do what I want. I cannot take my time on this earth seriously because I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think Christ is really coming back. And that is what we should be motivated to do. That is what should stir us up as believers to do stuff for Christ now. Not rest on whatever we used to do in the past, but right now we should be stirred up. If anybody here is inactive, if anybody here is resting on their laurels, get stirred back up. You still have plenty of time to do work for the kingdom of God. If you've never done anything, if church to you is pretty much sitting on a pew, this is a Wednesday night crowd, this probably doesn't fit people here, but just in case, Knowing what the Bible says about the coming of Christ should stir you up. It should create in you a desire to want to serve the person who shed his blood for you. With that, let's go ahead and pray. I made it past 7.15, so I'm good. And we will be dismissed. Father, thank you today. Thank you for this opportunity to preach your word. Lord, I pray that if there's anyone here today who has become inactive in their walk with you, that you would stir up in their heart the desire to get back into your service. Light a fire underneath them. Lord, I ask that you keep us safe the rest of this week. Be of all those who are traveling, and may everything that we say and do glorify you. In your name we pray, amen.