UNMOVABLE UNTILL THE LORD'S COMING

the purpose of prophetic truth is not speculation but motivations

It is unfortunate when people run from one prophetic conference to another, filling their notebooks, marking their Bibles, drawing their charts, and yet not living their lives to the glory of God. Some of the saints battle one ANOTHER more over prophetiC interpretation than perhaps any other subject.

All true Christians believe that Jesus Christ is coming again. They may differ in their views of when certain promised events will occur, but they all agree that He is returning as He promised. Furthermore, all Christians agree that this faith in future glory ought to motivate the church. As one pastor said to me, "I have moved off the Planning Committee and joined the Welcoming Committee!" This does not mean that we should stop studying prophecy, or that every opposing view point is correct, which is an impossibility. But it does mean chat, whatever views we hold, they ought to make a difference in our lives.

"Be diligent is the admonition that best summarizes what BeTter wrote in this closing paragraph.

"Giving all diligence, add to your faiTh" (v. IIPETER 1:5

"Give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (v. 10);

"Moreover I will endeavor [be diligent] that ye may be able" (v. 15).

If we are going to be successful Christians, we must learn to be diligent.

Peter gave three admonitions to encourage the readers in Christian diligence in the light of our Lord's return.

1. STEADFAST HOLINESS

2 Peter 3:11–14 (KJV 1900)

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

The key word in this paragraph is look. It means "to await eagerly, to be expectant." You find it in Luke 3:15 ("And as the people were in expectation") and Acts 3:5 ("expecting to receive something of them").

It describes an attitude of excitement and expectation as we wait for the Lord's return. Because we realize that the world and its works will be dissolved and that even the very elements will be disintegrated, we fix our hope, not on anything in this world, but only on the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must constantly be ready because we do not know the day or the hour of our Lord’s return. The believer who starts to neglect the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) will gradually develop a cold heart, a worldly attitude, and an unfaithful life (Luke 12:35-48). If he is not careful, he may even become like the scoffers and laugh at the promise of Christ's coming.

This expectant attitude ought to make a difference in our personal conduct (2 Peter 3:11). The word translated "manner" literally means "exotic, out of this world, foreign." Because we have "escaped the corruption that is in the world" (2 Peter 1:4). we must live differently from the people in the world. To them, we should behave like foreigners. Why? Because this world is not our home! We are "strangers and pilgrims" (1 Peter 2:11) headed for a better world, the eternal city of God. Christians should be different, not odd. When you are different, you attract people; when you are odd, you repel them.

Our conduct should be characterized by holiness and godliness Be Diligent! / 109

-But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (behavior); because it is written, 'Be ye holy; for I am holy ( Peter 1:5-16). The word holy means "to separate, to cut off? Israel was a "holy nation" because God called the Jews out from among the Gentiles and kept them separated. Christians are called our from the godless world and are set apart for God alone.

The word godliness could be translated as "piety." It is the same word we met in 2 Peter 1:6-7, "to worship well." It describes a person whose life is devoted to pleasing God. It is possible to be separated from sin positionally and yet not enjoy living for God personally. In the Greek world, the word translated "godliness" meant respect and awe for the gods and the world they made." It is that attitude of reverence that says with John the Baptist,

'He must increase, but I must decrease" John 3:30).

Other New Testament writers also teach that an eager expectancy of the Lord's return should motivate us to live pure lives (see Rom. 13:11-14; 2 Cor. 5:1-11; Phil. 3:17-21; 1 Thess. 5:1-11; Titus 2:11-15;

1 John 2:28--3:3).

However, it is not simply knowing the doctrine in the mind that motivates the life; it is having it in the heart, loving His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8).

Not only should this expectant attitude make a difference in our conduct, but it should also make a difference in our witness. The phrase Looking for and hasting unto can be translated as "looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God." Peter affirmed that we can hasten the return of lesus Christ.

The word translated "hasting unto" means "hasten" in the other five places where it is used in the New Testament. The shepherds "came with haste" (Luke 2:16). Jesus told Zaccheus to "make haste and come down" and "he made haste and came down" (Luke 19:5-6). Paul "hasted ... to be at Jerusalem" (Acts 20:16); and the Lord told Paul to "make haste and Bet... our of Jerusalem" (22:18). To make this word a synonym for "eager 110 \ Be Alert

anticipation" is to have Peter repeat himself in 2 Peter 3:12, for that is what the word looking means.

There are two extremes in ministry that we must avoid. One is the attitude that we are locked into God's sovereign plan so that nothing we do will make any difference. The other extreme is to think that God cannot get anything done unless we do it! While God's sovereign decrees must never become an excuse for laziness, neither must our plans and activities try to take their place.

Perhaps two illustrations from Old Testament history will help us better understand the relationship between God's plans and man's service.

God delivered Israel from Egypt and told the people He wanted to put them into their inheritance, the land of Canaan. But at Kadesh-Barnea all except Moses, Joshua, and Caleb rebelled against God and refused to enter the land (Num. 13-14). Did God force them to go in? No. Instead, He had them wander in the wilderness for the next forty years while the older generation died off. He adjusted His plan to their response.

When Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh, his message was clear

"Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overchrown" Jonah 3:01 le was God's plan to destroy the wicked city, bur when the people repented, from the king on down, God adjusted His plan and spared the city. Neither God nor His basic principles changed, but His application of those principle changed. God responds when men repent.

How, then, can we as Christians hasten the coming of the day of Gal For one thing, we can pray as Jesus taught us, "Thy kingdom come" (Matt

6:10). It would appear from Revelation 518 and 8:3-4 chat the prayen d

God's people are related in some way to the pouring our of God's waid

on the nations.

IF God's work today is calling out a people for His name (Acts 15:14 then the sooner the church is completed, the sooner our Lard will return

Matthew 24:14 relates primarily to the tribulation, the principle is the same: Man's ministry cooperates with God's program so that promised events can take place.

Matthew 24:14 KJV 1900

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Our minds cannot fully understand or explain mysteries here, but the basic lesson is clear: The same God who ordains the end also ordains the means to the end, and we are a part of that means. Our task is not to speculate but to serve.

Finally, this expectant attitude will make a difference when we meet Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:14). It will mean chat He will greet us "in peace" and have no charges against us so that we are "ashamed before him at his coming" (1 John 2:28). The judgment seat of Christ will be a serious event (2 Cor. 5:8-11) as we give an account of our service to Him (Rom.

14:10-13).

It is better to meet Him "in peace" chan for Him to fight against us with His Word (Rev. 2:16)!

If we diligently watch for His return and live holy and godly lives, then we will not be afraid or ashamed. We will meet Him "wichout spot and blameless." Jesus Christ is "a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19), and we should be careful to follow His example. Peter had warned his readers against the defilement that the apostates bring:

"Spots they are and blemishes" (2 Peter 2:13). The separated Christian will not permit himself to be "spotted and blemished" by the false teachers! He wants to meet his Lord wearing pure garments.

How do we maintain this eager expectancy that leads to holy living?

By keeping "his promise" before our hearts (2 Peter 3:13). The promise of His coming is the light that shines in this dark world (2 Peter 1:19), and We must be sure that "he day star" is aglow in our hearts because we love

His appearing.

2. STEADFAST IN WITNESS

2 Peter 3:15–16 (KJV 1900)

15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Second Peter 3:15 ties in with verse 9, where Peter explained why the Lord had delayed fulfilling His promise. God had every reason long ago to judge the world and burn up its works, but in His mercy, He is longsuffering with us, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9

2 Peter 3:9 KJV 1900

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

This is the day of salvation, not the day of judgment.

Peter made reference to Paul's writings, because it is Paul, more than any other New Testament writer, who explained God's plan for mankind during this present age. Especially in Romans and Ephesians, Paul explained the relationship between Israel and the church. He pointed out that God used the nation Israel to prepare the way for the coming of the Savior. But Israel rejected its King and asked to have Him crucified. Did this destroy God's plan? Of course not! Today, Israel is set aside nationally, but God is doing a wonderful new thing: He is saving Jews and Gentiles, and making them one in Christ in the church!

For centuries, if a Gentile wanted to be saved, he had to come by way of Israel. This same attitude persisted even in the early church (Acts 15).

Paul made it clear that both Jews and Gentiles stand condemned before God and that both must be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, saved Jews and Gentiles belong to the one body, the church. The church is a "mystery" hidden in God’s counsel and later revealed through the New Testament prophets and apostles (see Eph. 3).

The Jewish nation was God's great testimony to law, but the church is His witness for grace (see Eph. 1-2). Law prepared the way for grace, and grace enables us to fulfill the righteousness of the law (Rom. 8:1-5)

This does not mean there was no grace under the old covenant of that new covenant believers are lawless! Anyone who was saved under the administration of law was saved by grace, through faith, as Romans 4 and

Hebrews 11 make clear.

Now, unlearned and unstable people have a difficult time understanding Paul's teachings. Even some learned and stable people who have spiritual discernment can find themselves foundering in great passages like Romans De Diligent / 113

9 - 111 Some Bible students attempt to harmonize seeming contradictions (law and grace, Israel and the church, faith and works). twist the Scriptures and try to make them teach what is really not there, The Greek word translated "wrest means "to torture on the rack, to distort and pervert."

Even in Paul's day, some twisted his words and tried to defend their ignorance. They accused Paul of teaching chat, since we are saved by grace, it makes no difference how we live! le was "Slanderously reported" that Paul taught, "Let us do evil that good may come" (Rom. 3:8; cf. Rom. 6:11). Others accused Paul of being against the law because he taught the equality of Jews and Gentiles in the church (Gal. 3:28) and their liberty in Christ.

Most heresies are the perversion of some fundamental doctrine of the Bible. False teachers cake verses out of context, wist the Scriptures, and manufacture doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God. Peter probably had the false teachers in mind, but the warning is good for all of us. We must accept the teaching of the Scriptures and not try to make them say what we want them to say.

Note that Peter classified Paul's letters as Scripture that is, the inspired Word of God. Not only did the apostles’ teaching agree with that of the prophets and our Lord (2 Peter 3:2). but the apostles also agreed with one another. Some liberal scholars try to prove that the apostles' doctrine differed from that of Jesus Christ, or that Peter and Paul were at variance with each ocher. The recipients of Peter's second letter had also read come of Paul's epistles, and Peter assured them that there was agreement.

What happens to people who blindly twist the Scriptures? "They do in 'unto their own destruction." Peter was not writing about Christians who have a difficule time interpreting the Word of God, because nobody understands all of the Bible perfectly. He was describing the false teachers Who 'tortured" the Word of God in order to prove their false doctrines. 1 once listened to a cultist explain why the group's leader was the "new Messiah" by manipulating the "weeks" in Daniel 9:23-27. He twisted the prophecy unmercifully!

The word destruction is repeated often in this letter (2 Peter 2:1-3; 37,

16). In the King James, it is translated "damnable,* "pernicious, and "perdition," as well as "destruction." It means the rejection of eternal life, which results in eternal death.

Since this is the day of salvation, we must diligently do all we can to win the lost. We do not know how long the Lord will be "longsuffering toward this evil world. We must not presume on His grace. We must understand what the Bible teaches about God's program for this present age, and we must be motivated by a love for the lost (2 Cot. S:140) and a desire to be pleasing to Him when He returns.

The false teachers are multiplying, and their pernicious doctrines an infecting the church. God needs separated men and women who will resist them, live godly lives, and bear witness of the saving grace of Jesus Chris The time is short!

3. STEADFAST IN GROWTH

2 Peter 3:17–18 (KJV 1900)

17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Four “beloved” statements in 2 Peter 3 summarize what Peter wanted to get across as he brought his second letter to a close.

Beloved ... be mindful (wv. 1-2).

Beloved, be not ignorant (v. 8).

Beloved ... be diligent (v. 14).

Beloved ... beware (v. 17).

The word translated "beware" means "be constantly guarding yourself"

Peter's readers knew the truth, but he warned them that knowledge alone was insufficient protection. They had to be on their guard; they had to Be Diligent! / 115

be alert. It is easy for people who know the Bible to grow overconfident and to forget the warning, "Wherefore let him that thinkeed he standech take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12).

What special danger did Peter see? That the true believers would be

*led away together with the error of the wicked" (literal translation). He warns us against breaking down the walls of separation between the true believers and the false teachers. There can be no communion between truth and error. The apostates "live in error" (2 Peter 2:18), while true believers live in the sphere of the truth (2 John 1-2).

The word wicked (2 Peter 3:17) means "the lawless." Peter's description of the apostates in 2 Peter 2 reveals how lawless chey are. They even speak evil of the authorities that seek to enforce God's law in this world (wv. 10-11)!

They promise their converts freedom (v. 19), but that freedom is lawlessness.

True Christians cannot fall from salvation and be lost, but they can fall from their own "Steadfastness." What was this steadfastness? Being Established in the present truth" (2 Peter 1:12). The stability of the Christian comes from his faith in the Word of God, his knowledge of that Word, and his ability to use that Word in the practical decisions of life.

One of the great tragedies of evangelism is bringing "spiritual babies" into the world and then failing to feed them, nurture them, and help them develop. The apostates prey on young believers who have "very recently escaped” from the ways of error (2 Peter 2:18). New believers need to be taught the basic doctrines of the Word of God; otherwise, they will be in danger of being led away which the error of the wicked" (2 Peter 3:17).

How can we as believers, maintain our steadfastness and avoid being among the "unstable souls" who are easily beguiled and led astray? By growing spiritually. "Bur be constantly growing" is the literal translation should not grow in spurts, but in a constant development experience.

We must grow "in grace." This has to do with Christian character traits in Galatians 5:22-23. We were saved by grace (Eph. 2:8-9), but grace does not end there! We must also be strengthened by grace (2 Tim. 2:1-4). God's grace can enable us to endure suffering (2 Cor. 12:7-10). His grace also helps us to give when giving is difficult (2 Cor. 8:1ff.) and to sing when singing is difficult (Col. 3:16).

Our God is "the God of all grace" (1 Peter 5:10), who "giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6). As we study His Word, we learn about the various aspects of grace that are available to us as children of God. We are stewards of "the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4:10). There is grace for every situation and every challenge of life. "But by the grace of God I am what I am." wrote Paul (1 Cor. 15:10), and that should be our testimony as well.

Growing in grace often means experiencing trials and even suffering.

We never really experience the grace of God until we are at the end of our own resources. The lessons learned in the "school of grace" are always costly lessons, but they are worth it. Growing in grace means becoming more like the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom we receive all the grace we need (John 1:16).

We must also grow in knowledge. How easy it is to grow in knowledge but not in grace! All of us know far more of the Bible than we really live.

Knowledge without grace is a terrible weapon, and grace without knowledge can be very shallow. But when we combine grace and knowledge, we have a marvelous tool for building our lives and the church.

But note that we are challenged to grow, not just in knowledge of the Bible, as good as chat is, but "in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It is one thing to "know the Bible. and quite another thing to know the Son of God, the central theme of the Bible. The better we know Christ through the Word, the more we grow in grace; the more we grow in grace, the better we understand the Word of God. Be Diligent! / 117

So, the separated Christian must constantly guard himself, lest he be led away into error; he also must be constantly growing in grace and knowledge. This requires diligence! It demands discipline and priorities.

Nobody automatically drifts into spiritual growth and stability, but anybody can drift out of dedication and growth. "For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it" (Heb. 2:1 NASB). Just as the boat needs the anchor, the Christian needs God’s Word.

Physical growth and spiritual growth follow the same pattern. To begin with, we grow from the inside out. "As newborn babes" is the way Peter illustrated it (1 Peter 2:2). The child of God is born with everything he needs for growth and service (2 Peter 1:3). All he needs is the spiritual food and exercise that will enable him to develop. He needs to kcep clean. We grow by nutrition, not by addition!

We grow best in a loving family, and chis is where the local church comes in. A baby needs a family for protection, provision, and affection.

Studies show that babies who are raised alone, without special love, tend to develop physical and emotional problems very early. The church is God's "nursery" for the care and feeding of Christians, the God-ordained environment that encourages them to grow.

We must grow in a balanced way. The human body grows in a balanced way with the various limbs working together; likewise the

"spiritual man" must grow in a balanced way. For example, we must grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). We must balance worship and service, faith and works. A balanced diet of the Word of God helps us maintain a balanced life.

The Holy Spirit of God empowers and enables us to keep things in balance. Before Peter was filled with the Spirit, he repeatedly went to extremes. He would bear witness to Christ one minute and then try to argue with the Lord the next (Matt. 16:13-23)! He refused to118 I Be Alert

allow Jesus to wash his feet, and then he wanted to be washed all over John 13.6-10)! He promised to defend the Lord and even die with Him, yet he did not dare to own the Lord before a little servant girl! But when he was filled with the Spirit, Peter began to live a balanced life that avoided impulsive extremes.

What is the result of spiritual growth? Glory to God! "To Him be glory both now and forever." It glorifies Jesus Christ when we keep ourselves separated from sin and error. It glorifies Him when we grow in grace and knowledge, for then we become more like Him (Rom. 8:29). In his life and even in his death, Peter glorified God John 21:18-19).

As you review this critical epistle, you cannot help but be struck by the urgency of the message. The apostates are here! They are busy! They are seducing immature Christians! We must guard, grow, and glorify the Lord, making the most of every opportunity to win the lost and strengthen the saved.

Be diligent; The ministry you save may be your own!