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Good day, friends. Good day very much to our musicians that have come to help. They've just made many such good works, even after a little. We also have some playgrounds and plants. The plants are here. And they probably will help us last night. Others will be playing. And also those who have come that will be bringing you a special, special few. At this time, we'd like to ask Mr. Martin Greenfield, Mr. Thornton G. from Durham, to give us a special number that I know is right on top. ♪ ♪ All is the gift of thy peace, ♪ Peace in the reigning within. ♪ This I give thee, ♪ For God's sake's sake, ♪ Let me know happy I've been. ♪ I'm glad we meet thee, ♪ Good morning, good morning, ♪ Good morning, good morning, ♪ I'm glad we meet thee, ♪ Good morning, good morning, ♪ Good morning, good morning, ♪ I'm glad we meet thee, ♪ Good morning, good morning, ♪ I'm glad we meet thee. Thank you very much. Now we're gonna stand and sing just before our message number nine. Number 9-0. I've been hearing a lot of folks talking about this. Well, let's sing about it. Let's be right. ♪ ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ Be gracious, Father, and praise the Father, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ May, may, I give to Christ my gift of love, ♪ May, may, I give to Christ my gift of love, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ May, may, I give to Christ my gift of love, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, ♪ And bless my family and my children young, ♪ May my Father love me, my God, And I think that most of you have received a copy of the outline. If you haven't, perhaps as you raise your hand, one will be passed to you. For anyone who didn't receive a copy, they are a very efficient job by the ushers. This second epistle of Peter has to do with Paul's teachers in the last days. Peter's first epistle has to do with suffering with and for a well-known Christ. But now his second epistle comes to the fact that during the latter days, a great onslaught would be made against the truth of God. We've held onslaught against the truth. This country has seen it. Robert Ingersoll, the avowed infidel who went slashing against the Christian faith. But Peter is dealing with something different. He's dealing with men who would arise within the professing church and seek to undermine it while still taking their place within. And he saw their attack as taking neat forms. At least as you read this epistle, you find that it is rather a three-pronged attack. First of all, it's a face-to-face attack on the inspiration of the Word of God. And we expect to be speaking at some length on that subject as we come to it. But just to remind you as to how timely the epistle is, there's a seminary in the eastern part of this country that for thousands of years has always been noted for being true to the Word of God. And in the last few years, one of its professors has come out with a book entitled The Inspiration of the Church. And in that book, he teaches the very opposite. He teaches that the Bible is a fallible book. But after all, it does have contradictions in it. It does have errors in it. It's a good book, and you shouldn't get rid of it for that fact, but the sooner we're willing to face the fact that it is an errant book, the better, he says. As far as I know, he hasn't been asked to resign from the faculty of that church. This is what Peter is preaching. That this very thing would happen. That men in its theatrical office would arise to deny the inspiration of the Word of God. And then the second part of that attack would have to do with the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't think I have to say to anyone here today the fact that the coming again of the Savior is downgraded in Christendom today. And a great deal of controversy has gone on, so that by many this subject is just not evident. But the sad fact of it is that there are very few Christian fellowships, Christian schools, Christian colleges, Christian seminaries, that would be willing today to stand and be counted and to say outright that Jesus Christ would come back today to our services. That's what he was saying. And then the third area of the attack of these false teachers, Peter said, would be in the sphere of morals. He said, this wouldn't be ungodly people condoning immorality, but this would be religious teachers who would be spreading this false doctrine. And as we go on, we hope to be able to quote some leading authorities in the religious world today and hear some of the things that they're saying about the new morality. In fact, it's so bad that a lot of the specific leaders of our country aren't frankly shared. Just let's look at the outline, first of all, in its broader detail, and we'll see how Peter traces his subject. First of all, we have this malutation in the first two verses, every word of which is meaningful. It would be helpful to start our study of second Peter, but that's not the case. Every word of God is pure. Then you have God's wonderful provision for his people in name of apostasy, a fact that we're not left to our own devices, but God has made full and sufficient provision for us that we don't have to fall. Before the onslaught of these men. God has done his part. We have to do ours, too. The believer has a certain responsibility, and that responsibility lies in the area of Christian character. We're exhorted to go on and tell of it spiritually, so that we will not be prey for false teachings. Verses 12-15, the need is constantly mine to release known truths. And how true that is. I can remember Dr. Ironside saying that he used to go over the truths of the word of God again and again. For one thing, he realized he never had the same audience twice, but another thing, he realized that there's a danger of letting these things slip. Somebody came to me recently and said, You know, in our assembly, we never hear the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the Father. That was close to the significance. And said, Then you have the trustworthiness of the message concerning Christ's power and coming. And so, in this section, verses 16-21 of chapter 1, you have the Apostle Peter bringing together two things. First of all, the inspiration of the scriptures, and secondly, the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in the second chapter, he has the rise of these false teachers, and they're described in great detail. The word of God is wonderful. The word of God is wonderful. I would put a finger on these things, and one can only say, after reading a chapter like this, and looking about the world today, I stand in awe. That's body words. And then in chapter 3, you have believers forewarned of the last day's suffers. And then finally, you have Peter's closing exhortation and benediction, the last two verses of chapter 3. Now, this is a fairly short epistle, and I trust that the Lord will speak to all of our hearts through it. Shall we now turn to chapter 1, and we'll read the first 11 verses. Second Peter, chapter 1, verses 1-11. Says, And Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained life's precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, provider given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world to us. And beside this, giving all diligence, and to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity, or love. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rod of brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things ye shall never fall. For so an infant shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, first of all, you have Peter's salutation in the first two verses of this chapter. He introduces himself as Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I think that's beautiful. That word servant really means bond-servant, or bond-slave. And he even puts that here before an apostle. He's going to speak to believers on the subject of latter-day Christians. He's appealing to them first as a slave of Jesus Christ, then reminding them, too, that he speaks with the authority of an apostle of the Lord Jesus. But to me, the beautiful thing is that there's no pretension here. You know, some men today, or down through the years, have claimed to be successors of Peter. And it's quite amazing the names that they have taken to themselves, such as one of them is Pontifex Maximus, that means Chief Bridge Builder. I frankly don't get the connection, but that's one of his cousins. Another is Holy Father. Peter speaks of himself as a bond-slave, an apostle of the Lord Jesus. As a bond-slave, he reminds us that he and we do not belong to ourselves, that we've been purchased, that we belong to another. And as an apostle, he reminds us that he was divinely commissioned, he was one sent by the Lord. I suppose the parallel today would be the word missionary. And so, he speaks of him as a bond-slave missionary. Very, very beautiful. I think it's significant that the way a man thinks of himself tells us what he puts first in his life. What am I? What are you? What is central in our lives? One of the things we have to guard against today is putting a lot of other names, other words after our names. Things that really don't count in the annals of eternity. It's so easy to put after our names subordinate things. And forget the real purpose for which they are given. Some time ago, I went over to the library of a seminary near us, and they publish books giving the titles of all the theses that people have written in order to get a doctoral degree, a PhD degree. And so, just for my own information, and perhaps with a streak of naughtiness, I took down two of those volumes to see what men were spending their lives on today. And you know, it was quite amazing. I knew that there would be some things that wouldn't be too important, but I never guessed that men would make, as the aim and ambition of their lives, some of the things that I'm going to say. For instance, one man wrote a thesis on mineral deficiencies in the tomato and the poplar. And another one on sediments in Chesapeake Bay. And another on the browning reaction in potato chips. Now you think that's not good, but it is. I have a long list of them here, in fact, if you'd like to hear some more. The Sugar Mites of Kansas. The Nervous and Cold of Shivering. I wonder what he got out of that. And then this was in 3D. The Summer Habits of Wyoming Antelope. The Summer Habits of Wyoming Antelope. And I was thinking, a hundred years from today, what's this? I said, I like what Peter wrote. One servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I noticed that the Apostle Peter characteristically speaks of the Lord Jesus as Jesus Christ. Paul characteristically speaks of him as Christ Jesus. Peter accompanied with the Lord Jesus, and of course Jesus was the name given to him in humanity, and so he normally refers to him as Jesus Christ. Christ is his name, and ascension and glorification is his name as the anointed of God. But I guess it's not fair to say this, but I hope that we all have clear views on the fact that the Lord Jesus is a man with a glorified body in heaven today. People have such vague, mystical ideas of the Lord. They think of him as a spirit being, an ethereal being in heaven. But the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus, the one who was crucified on the cross of Calvary, is in heaven today with the mark of Calvary upon him. And that's the one who personally is going to come back for his waiting people, and that's the one whom the unsaved have to deal with. Not some mystical, vague thought of an infallible, but the God-man glorified at the right hand of the throne. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, he says to them that have obtained life's precious faith with us. Actually, we don't know exactly to whom this epistle was written. The first epistle was written to Jews of the dispersion, Jews that had been scattered throughout the countries of the then-known world, countries such as are named in Acts 2. I suppose it would be easy to assume that this epistle was written to the same people, but it doesn't say. It says to them that have obtained life's precious faith with us. And so that makes it very applicable to ourselves today. I like that expression, life's precious faith. You know, of course, that the word precious is used frequently by Peter. I think it's significant that he speaks of our faith as being precious, because we're living in a day when one of the great keywords is tolerance, or toleration. Doesn't get excited about anything. And after all, people are entitled to their opposing views. Now, Peter says here that our faith is precious, and it deserves to be guarded, and deserves to be defended. Those who obtain life's precious faith. That also has been translated to those who have obtained an equal standing with us. An equal standing with us. I think that's the way it is in some of the other versions of the New Testament. Now that's a nice thought too, isn't it? God in his wonderful grace has reached down salvation to Jews and Gentiles. He takes people up from the scrap heap, as it were, and he gives them equal standing before himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that that's one of the truths that makes me a worshiper more than the other. Dear, so very dear to God, I could not nearer be. For in the person of his Son, I could nearer be. Dear, so very dear to God, I could not nearer be. The love wherewith he loves his God. Such is his love to me. Now, Peter says that we who obtain life's precious faith are in equal standing even with us. Who do you think that us is? Well, it could mean the Apostles. And once again, that would be a blow at the pretension of those who claim to be Peter's successors. Or it could mean, us could mean Peter and those who were with him when he wrote the letter. Or, if you assume that this epistle was written to Gentiles, as some do, then the us could refer to the leading Jews. The fact that the leading Gentiles are brought into the same place of Peter as the leading Jews. But then the next thing he says is that we have obtained life's precious faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior. Now, this is lovely, and it teaches us that God didn't give us this precious faith unrighteously. He didn't save us through weeping at our sin or weeping at our guilt. The whole thing was carried on in the most righteous way. God caused our sin to be placed upon his own beloved son. Christ paid the penalty that our sins deserved, and God is absolutely satisfied, and now he has a righteous basis upon which he can go out to ungodly sins. So, that's a lovely expression, isn't it? Through the righteousness of God and our Savior. God could not pass a sinner by. The law demands that he must die, but in the cross of Christ he is raised. His righteousness yet wonders great. The sin of life from Jesus' head is in his blood. His debt is paid. Stern justice could demand no more, and mercy can dispense her sore. You know, there's something else very beautiful in this version of Scripture. You don't get it in this version, in King James Version, but it really says, Of our God and Savior. Of our God and Savior. Like all people, the Greeks had a way of saying things, and if they had wanted to express the idea of two different people, they could say, Of our God and of our Savior. But when they said, Of our God and Savior, that was a way to then say, They're one and the same, equal here in all respect. And that's really what you have in verse 1. Our God and Savior. And so I think it's wonderful that in the very first verse of his epistle, dealing with false teachers, that the Apostle Peter introduces us to the glorious truth. That our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is God over all, blessed forever. Then he says, To the great and each be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. A perfect grace that reached us in the first place when we were in our sins, and brought us near to God. Grace. God acting worthily and graciously toward those who did not deserve it. But grace here means something else. I think grace means undeserved favor along the way in Christian life, undeserved strength for all that is necessary. And peace, of course, is the calm and repose that comes to the heart that has been touched by the grace of God, and that knows the grace of God in a day-by-day experience. Now, it's interesting to know that grace and peace can be multiplied. It's not just a simple addition, it's a multiplication. And this holds up the possibilities of Christian growth. You know, they tell us that in a physical sense, that we don't use a fraction of the mental ability that we have. They say that our brains are so constituted that there's tremendous possibility there that even Einstein used it very, very little. But, you know, if that's true in a physical sense of the human brain, I often think how much more wonderful it is to think of spiritual possibility, and what a small fraction of that we ever use. It's wonderful to think that the power that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead has been placed at our disposal. Just think what a dynamo that is. But what kind of courage do we draw from it? 110? 220? Just what could it be? Well, I fear that most of us would have to say that we really haven't scratched the surface. The spiritual possibility. Grace and peace can be multiplied over the years. How? It is through the knowledge of God. Now, I say every word of God is pure, and nothing, not a word of Scripture is without significance. And I think it's very significant, once again, that in an epistle dealing with latter-day teachers, that Peter should use this expression, the knowledge of God, and mind you, he uses it over and over again. Grace and peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God. What does it mean? I think it means through coming to know God more and more. That's how you grow in the Christian life, through coming to know him. And, of course, that brings us right down to the word of God, because that is first and foremost where we come to know him. You know, all down through the history of the church, men have been professing to have greater knowledge than is contained in the Bible. And, of course, that's just what all teachers do. We'll come to that in chapter two. In the early days of the church, a group of people known as Gnostics arose, and they said, We have the knowledge. I mean, what you have is very nice. The Bible, well, it's good, but it isn't enough. It doesn't go far enough, and you'll be ever so happy when you are initiated into the deeper mystery that we have. And this goes on down through the years, and in every dispensation, in every generation, young people are caused by the world to feel that their Bible isn't enough, you know. You go off to college, and you feel, Well, you've got to have this in order to be effective in the world, and then you have to have this and that and the next thing. And Paul, in writing to the Colossians, speaks of those things. He says, Philosophy and high-sounding nonsense. Now, that's just about what they are. And I tell you, it is wonderful to realize the sufficiency that we have in the Word of God. God has given us all things that are necessary for life and godliness, as we shall see. So here he says that grace and peace are multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. You want to grow in the Christian life? You want to be able to resist the false teachers when they arise and as they arise? Well, Peter's answer is, Go on in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This is a knowledge that really counts. Other knowledge might be important in order to gain the livelihood here on earth, but this is a knowledge that will endure throughout all eternity. Once again, he says in verse 2, Peter doesn't hesitate to put God and Jesus our Lord on the same level. I can't understand, people, I can't understand the cultists denying the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, because all through the New Testament, the fact of his deity is stated and the fact of his deity is implied. I believe it's stated here in verse 1, Our God and Savior Jesus Christ. And I believe it's implied in verse 2, God, the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. In other words, he equates them, he makes them equal. The knowledge of God, the knowledge of Jesus our Lord. Then he says, verse 2, brings us to his provision for his people in days of apostasy. What has he done for them? It says, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto light and godliness. And how? Through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and truth. We think of the power of God stretched out in creation. We think of the power of God stretched forth to deliver his people through the Red Sea. We think of the power of God stretched forth in raising the Lord Jesus from the dead. Here's the wonderful thing, that divine power has been exercised in giving us all things that pertain unto light and godliness. God doesn't satisfy simply to save us, he makes full provision for us along the way. And so I refuse to develop an inferiority complex when the learned professors come and say that the Bible isn't sufficient. I find that I have all things that pertain unto light and godliness. Notice the order. Light first, and then godliness. He had to give us light before we could ever have godliness. Of course, this is the greatest mistake of illiberal Christianity today, and of the social gospel. They would put the godliness first. They would have been lifting themselves up by their own bootstraps, but God knows what he's doing, and he knows that if he didn't give us light as a sovereign gift through faith in his Son, we never would have it. He has given us light and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to his own glory and virtue. Now, there's the divine side of it, and there's the human side too. He has given us these things, and they're reserved through our coming to know him. He doesn't give us godliness on a platter and say, Here you are, my dear friend, take it. He's made the provision for us, but there must be the growth and development in our own lives. When a baby is born, that baby has, in a sense, all that it's ever going to have. It'll never get any more ears, eyes, nose, mouth, it'll never get any more brains, for that matter. But, God endows that infant with the possibility of growth and development. And, of course, the baby grows through food and through drink and through exercise and through reading, and that's exactly what we have here, I believe, a picture of God endowing us with spiritual light, making full provisions for us along this journey, and yet our responsibility is there. There's a wonderful merging of the divine and the human. God, he has his divine power, has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. And so, once again, we're sent back to the word of God. Get to know the Lord, meditate upon the Lord, gaze upon the Lord. It reminds us of what Paul wrote to the Christians, but we all with unveiled faith, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. And so that's what Peter is saying here. The days he's writing about are days of apostasy, when the voice would be heard, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? And Peter answers the question, go on being righteous. Go on growing in the knowledge of God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, the latter part of that verse is interesting, because he has called us to glory and virtue. And other translations say he has called us by his own glory and virtue. Now, if you take the first, it means that God has a glorious destiny for us. He's called us to be glorified with him. If you take the second, it means that it's by those attributes of his character, by his own glory and excellence, that he has called us. And it's by his glory and virtue that we are given unto us exceeding grace and precious promise. Here's the second mention of the word precious in this chapter. Precious promise. Peter has been saying, God has not left us defenseless. God has not left us without provision for the church. And now he's going to speak of that provision. What are the promises? I believe that these promises are promises that have to do with redemption, forgiveness of sin, adoption into the family of God, sanctification, and eventual glorification. Exceeding grace and precious promises. It says that through these we might be partakers of the divine nature. Here we are at the beginning again. God has made provision, promises in his word, that we might come into the possession of the divine nature. This can refer, first of all, to salvation, and then to our increasing conformity to Christ. First of all is the promise of salvation. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. When I avail myself of that, when I trust the Lord Jesus, I do become a partaker of the divine nature. But then there are other promises in the word of God that have to do with growth. And as I grow, I become more and more conformed to the image of God. I become more God-like in my behavior. What I'm especially interested in the latter part of that verse is having an escape from the corruption that is in the world through love. If you're a Christian and you ever tend to become discouraged, you can thank God for this alone to give us escape from the corruption that is in the world through love. Think of what lies behind those words. The corruption that is in the world through love. Think of the immorality. Think of the degradation. Think of the misery. Think of the uncleanness. All that goes with a life that lives without God and without Christ in the world. Now, mind you, it isn't by chance that Peter is using that expression here, because when we get to chapters 2 and 3, we'll find that the false doctrine of these latter-day false teachers lead people right into this type of behavior. The corruption that is in the world through love. I'm sure that no one of us is half aware of all that the Lord Jesus made us from, and probably eternity will be a perpetual unfolding of all that Calvary has meant in our lives that we didn't even know. And so may our hearts be spurred to go on for the Lord in the day when his name is being denied, and when the truth of his coming is being laid aside, and when men are turning aside from the foundations of the Word of God to humanism and a man-made religion. And above all, I pray that as a result of our studies together in second year, that we'll all go forth with a real determination to stand up and be counted for the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many who are wishy-washy about it today. It's a great day to be faithful to Him. Let us rise and sing two verses of 191, as we conclude this service. 191, standing on the promises of Christ my King. 191, standing on the promises of Christ my King. He is risen from the dead, He is risen from the dead, He is risen from the dead. He is risen from the dead, He is risen from the dead, He is risen from the dead, He is risen from the dead. He is risen from the dead. to be praised, and thy greatness is unsearchable. We pray thee, O Thou who didst bestow us food convenient during these days, we pray above all that Thou keep us, Lord, O keep us pleasing to thyself, and still feeding me, from the hour of our receiving, promised joy in heaven. The act is of the Savior's name.