"Growing in Grace and Knowledge" | 2 Peter 3:14-18

14 Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace. 15 Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. 16 He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. 18 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.

Introduction

Season Finale versus Series Finale

If you’ve ever watched a show that lasted through several seasons, you know that season finales carry more weight and significance than normal episodes. They build the story to this point in order to purposely pull some aspects of the story together and resolve them, but also to create newer and bigger tensions which keep you on the edge of your seat. Usually, good season finales give you enough resolution to keep you satisfied, but also create enough tension to make you anticipate the first episode of the next season. In other words, season finales keep you looking for what’s going to happen next time.

Series finales are different. In a series finale, the producers aren’t just drawing together the threads from a single season; they’re bringing the entire series to a close. The goal is resolution, leaving the viewer with a gripping sense of what this show was all about, after all. When it ends, it ends, and you’re left to discuss if it did a good job resolving the series or not. There is no anticipation for the next season. When a series finale ends, there is no “next time.”

The book of 2 Peter is Peter’s series finale.

There will not be another letter. Peter knows this. He is — to use a sports phrase — leaving it all out on the field.

He’s not just writing to address the situation his churches are facing. He has bigger goals in mind, summarizing the things which he finds most important, most significant for his last word to these churches. As such, this letter carries weight.

More than that, we’ve reached the final message in this sermon series through the letter. Week by week you’ve had a different episode walking through Peter’s words, each ending with a nod to what’s coming next week.

Today is different. This is the series finale. We have Peter’s final words to the church community, and with that we need to acknowledge that they carry a weight and significance that we’d do well to pay attention to.

I want to start this morning by quickly commenting through this passage verse-by-verse and drawing your attention to what I think are the main teaching points. This will lead us to focus in on Peter’s charge in v. 18 to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” where we will spend the majority of our time as we end this letter.

Truths from 2 Peter 3:14-18

Go through these quickly!

Leave lots of room for teaching on grace & knowledge.

1. The future Day of the Lord and the promise of New Heavens and New Earth should inspire us to live holy lives today.

Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, . . . (v. 14a)

While you wait for these things — What things? The things mentioned in the passage before, verses 8-13.

The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The day of Christ’s return, where he comes as judge to finally bring justice to the powers of sin and evil.

Heavens and earth will burn away with a loud noise, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.

A New Heavens and New Earth — new creation — will come from the refining fire, creating an eternal home for God and his people where righteousness dwells.

(See Jason’s message from last week to go deeper.)

. . . make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace. (v. 14b)

Here Peter is summarizing the point he made in the previous passage, in 2 Pt. 3:11 — “Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness . . .”

Apply:

Knowing the future impacts how you live in the present.

If you know that God is intending for you to be growing in righteousness throughout your earthly life so that you feel “at home” in the New Heavens and New Earth, and if you know that significant judgement and destruction is coming for evil doers, then you will undoubtedly want to “make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in [Jesus’s] sight, at peace,” upon His return.

Make every effort — this is the third time he’s said this in a short amount of time. It must be important. We’ll come back to this.

Summary: Be the people today that you are going to be for all of eternity.

2. Jesus’s apparent “delay” in returning is not a sign that he’s never coming, but rather is a sign of God’s divine patience.

Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation . . . (v. 15a)

Remember what Peter says in 2 Pt. 3:9 — “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”

Peter, in concluding this section of teaching on the Day of the Lord, is reminding his audience once again: Jesus is coming back, there will be a judgment, and the apparent delay is due to one fact and one fact only—God is patiently enduring the evil of the world in order to more and more people the opportunity to turn to Him and be saved.

Every day that passes without Jesus returning is an act of divine grace for those who do not yet know Him.

Apply:

Change your perspective. What if your waiting doesn’t mean God is distant and uncaring, but that he’s working something incredible in His divine patience that you just can’t see?

Evidence of this teaching is found not just from Peter, but also from one of his contemporaries, the Apostle Paul:

. . . just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. He speaks about these things in all his letters. (v. 15b-16a)

Mentioning Paul has two effects: 1) it validates Peter’s perspective by showing that another widely regarded Apostle also taught the same thing, and 2) it authorizes Paul’s teaching on the subject, which Peter would have been eager to do knowing he was about to die.

Transition: As Peter introduces the writings of the Apostle Paul, he leads us to see another important teaching point:

3. Paul’s letters were as difficult to understand then as they often are now, were frequently misinterpreted and twisted, and were already regarded as Scripture.

There are some things hard to understand in them. (v. 16b)

This is not a low blow — in ancient culture, this phrase was frequently used as a sign of respect for the great intellect displayed in an author’s writing.

It’s likely, though, that the difficulty of understanding such incredible work as Paul’s letters was already causing confusion amongst the early church.

Isn’t that comforting, that when you read something in Romans or 2 Corinthians or Ephesians, and you scratch your head and think, “I have no idea what I just read,” you’re in the same boat as the Apostle Peter?

By definition, God must be the most complex subject in all of the universe. Why would we expect his words to always be simple and straight forward?

Unfortunately, in the history of the church we’ve seen people take advantage of this inherent complexity, and so Peter wants to make another point clear:

The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction . . . (v. 16c)

Then as in now, Paul’s words in Scripture were being twisted by false teachers for their own ends. We discussed much of this when we walked through 2 Peter 2. More on this later.

Finally, in this first block of passages, we see an incredible statement of belief in the inspired nature and divine authority of Paul’s letters:

. . . as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures. (v. 16d)

Gk graphe is almost always used in the New Testament for the Hebrew Scriptures, that collection of works recognized by the early church and synagogue as being inspired by God.

This is an incredible claim: Peter is saying that Paul’s letters are on the same level as the Hebrew Bible, the Scriptures, God’s Word!

This gives us an incredible confidence that the New Testament canon was not randomly decided up and authorized at Nicea in AD 325, as many skeptics claim in order to insert doubt into the authority of Scripture.

Rather, the canon— and specifically in this case Paul’s letters — were already being regarded as Scripture by the early church. The later councils just formalized what most Christians and church leaders already believed and practiced.

4. Being “on your guard,” ready and able to identify and withstand false teaching, will prevent you from being led away from a “stable position.”

Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. (v. 17)

Peter is recalling and summarizing the point of his letter here, drawing back to that teaching. It’s important for his readers to remember this as he gives his parting words. He wants them to be on their guard so that they can avoid the destructive teachings that are already present, and the others that are sure to come.

We spent three weeks walking through chapter 2 of Second Peter, in which Peter details how to identify and confront false teaching. Given that’s the case, we’re not going to rehash those messages here.

Story / Illustration: Offense vs. Defense

2017 Clemson football team was loaded with future NFL talent on defense.

Top 5 defense in almost every category that matters. We were nasty.

The problem: We couldn’t score any points. We had the best defense in the country, and we could withstand a whole lot of really good offensive teams.

But if you can’t move the ball yourself and score some points, you’re going to lose the game.

You can’t just sit at a standstill and play defense all day in your faith, fighting off false ideas and all the things you think are wrong.

If you’re not actively growing in your own faith, positively — playing offense — then you’re missing the point of the game.

We might categorize Peter’s commands to “be on your guard” as preparation in “defense.” He’s showing how to fight off the advances of the false teachers.

But that’s not how Peter closes his final letter. He doesn’t just want his readers playing defense. He wants them playing offense, too. He shifts from the negative to the positive in regards to how to fight off false teaching.

5. Growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ is the primary way you can build a stable faith that withstands false teaching.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (v. 18a)

This is turning the focus back on offense. Not only is he calling our focus back to This is where we need to camp out the rest of our time together this morning.

There are three primary concepts here that we have to understand correctly, both by themselves and as they relate to one another. First, we need to understand what it means to know Jesus Christ. Second, we need to know what Peter means by the grace of Jesus Christ. Finally, we need to know how to grow in this grace and knowledge.

The knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Story/Illustration: “Knowing” my kids but describing them incorrectly

Suppose one of our kids area volunteers came up to me after services today and said, “Gray, I got to meet one of your kids today. I met Finley.”

“Yeah, HE was in my third grade group this morning. He was so calm and collected the whole time compared to the other kids. And that blonde hair! Where’d that come from? Anyways, it was so great having him in my class.”

I’d say, “Well, I think you must have met another Finley.”

“No! It was your kid, I swear. I never get this wrong.”

I’d say, “Well, my Finley is a girl, she’s two, she’s almost certainly not going to be described as the most calm and collected at any point soon, and she has a head full of dark curls.”

“No, I promise it was your Finley, you have to believe me!”

Here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter how sincere their belief in the accuracy of their knowledge is, does it? It doesn’t matter how genuine they were in their belief. The fact of the matter is, they are mistaken — they clearly did not meet my Finley.

It is possible to be absolutely sincere about your belief that you know Jesus accurately. It is possible to be absolutely certain that your knowledge of him is genuine. But if your knowledge of who you think he is does not align with reality — who he is demonstrated to be through Scripture — then you’re mistaken. You might be sincere, but you are sincerely wrong.

The Importance of knowing the right Jesus

John 14:6 — Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father.”

2 Pt 1:2-3 — May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

There’s no knowledge of God without knowing Jesus (salvation).

There’s no understanding of truth (reality) or right living (ethics) without knowing Jesus.

There’s no divine power for life and godliness without knowing Jesus.

There’s no increase of grace and peace in our lives without knowing Jesus.

If you want to grow in grace, then, you have to know Jesus rightly.

But this leads us to unpack that other important word: GRACE.

The grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

I’m convinced that many of us struggle with our knowledge of Jesus, and as a result we struggle with recognizing what real grace is.

My guess is that for many of us today, we have succumbed to believing in a version of counterfeit grace.

Counterfeit Grace versus Real Grace

Counterfeit Grace:

- “Blue Collar Grace”

“I’ve earned everything I’ve got.”

You climb up the mountain to God by your good behavior and effort.

This is marked by pride and comparison, which often leads to judgment of others.

This isn’t grace at all.

Gal. 5:4 — “You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.”

This is performance based religion, just like every other religion on earth.

- “Trust Fund Grace”

“I can do what I want, my daddy will pay for it.”

This is a view of grace that says, “If God’s grace covers all my sins, then I can do whatever I want and I’m covered!”

This is likely the twisting of Paul’s teaching in Romans that Peter had in mind, because his audience was likely familiar with that letter.

In Romans 6, Paul has to refute claims that his gospel of grace meant people could live unholy, pleasure-seeking lives.

This is marked by a misunderstanding of Christian freedom, hedonistic living (or at least apathy towards God’s ethical commands), and an entitlement to God’s grace.

- “Bankruptcy Grace”

“God’s grace covers my past, but I better get it right from here on out.”

Your past debts are cleared, but your future debts are uncertain, so you better buckle down and work hard to stay out of debt.

This is a lot of church-going believers. This is how many of you might be hearing Peter when he says, “make every effort.”

This is marked by an acknowledgement and gratitude for Jesus’s death for your sins, but practically speaking there is no experience of grace for your present or future struggles. It still feels like it’s all on you.

**None of these represent the fullness of the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Real Grace:

- God’s grace is freely given, not earned.

It’s the trust fund that you receive on the basis of who you are when you know God and he calls you as his son or daughter. You didn’t earn it. You inherit it.

If you could earn God’s grace, then by definition it is not grace! It has to be free, otherwise it’s not grace.

Illustrate: Kids don’t pay their parents for the gifts they get on Christmas morning. That’s not how gifts work. They’re freely given.

Plus, at what point would you be deserving of God’s grace?

Take what Jesus says is the greatest commandment: “to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.”

Have you ever consistently, without hesitation or fail, loved God with all of your being?

If not, then at what point have you done enough for him to say, “Ah, you’re good, I’ll cover the rest”?

Is it after you hit 5 consecutive weeks at church? Ecclesiastical punch card like at TCBY? “Next sin is free!”

What about the second greatest commandment: "to love your neighbor as yourself.”

Have you ever done this consistently, without fail or hesitation?

At what point in your failure to not think about yourself first and foremost does God say, “It’s okay, I didn’t really mean they had to do it all the time”?

God’s grace has to be given, because we can’t earn it. We don’t have the ability.

- God’s grace clears your past, empowers your present, and guarantees your future.

It’s like bankruptcy in that it clears your past debt when you declare your need for help, but it’s not just coverage for your past — it covers your future as well.

The same Gospel message of God’s grace in Jesus’s death and resurrection which saved you from the sins of your past, is saving you now from the sins of your present and is guaranteeing that you will be saved from the sins you will commit in the future.

It’s full coverage!

You never graduate from the Gospel. It’s the gospel of God’s grace which sees you through your entire life.

- God’s grace is a catalyst for personal transformation.

Illustration: “Hit by an 18-wheeler”

What if I showed up late this morning, ran in right as Matt was finishing “Way Maker,” dirty, holes in my jeans, missing a shoe, scrapes on my face. I’m huffing out of breath and I say, “I’m so sorry I’m late. I got a flat tire on 160 on my way in this morning. I stopped to change the tire, and I didn’t realized how close to the road I was. I turned around and looked behind me and an 18-wheeler came barreling down the road and hit me head on. It ran right over me. So I got up and dusted myself off and finished changing the tire, and here I am.”

What would you say in response to that story?

You’d say “you’re a liar!”

Why?

Because you don’t get hit by an 18-wheeler and look the same . . .

You don’t meet Jesus and stay the same.

The surest sign that you’ve encountered the real grace of the living God is that you’re growing increasingly convicted by the sin in your life, you’re growing increasingly interested in pleasing God and loving others, and you’re growing increasingly grateful for the gift of God’s grace.

Real grace always leads to transformation.

Apply: If you’re here today and your life doesn’t look any different today than it did the day before you supposedly met Jesus, might I suggest that you haven’t yet understood and encountered real grace?

Peter, having given his readers an impassioned plea to avoid the false teaching that could so easily sway them, having exhorted them over and over again to “make every effort” to live godly lives, wants to ensure they do it the only way possible: by growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

You don’t drift towards godliness — you have to intentionally seek to grow in it.

You can’t just stand guard and fight against false teaching — you have to intentionally grow as well.

Transition statement: So, how do you grow? Practically, what can you do to obey Peter’s command to grow in grace and knowledge?

How you can grow in grace and knowledge.

J.C. Ryle

When I speak of a man “growing in grace,” I mean simply this,—that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual-mindedness more marked. He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart. He manifests more of it in his life. He is going on from strength to strength, from faith to faith, and from grace to grace.

Phil 2:16 — “. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.”

We make every effort, but we recognize that it is God who is ultimately working in us — both giving us the desire to grow, and strengthening us to carry out our work for his good purposes.

As my wife said this weekend when we were talking about this: We do the hard work, God does the heart work.

I hesitate to give a list, because we’re so prone to get a list of “to-dos” and fall into the trap of thinking we are earning God’s grace and favor by what we’re doing.

But, I also know that there are practical things that God calls us into through which, when done with a heart that is actively seeking to draw near to God, allows us to grow in our experience and understanding of who He is.

1. Prioritize a daily quiet time.

Silence and solitude, Scripture reading, prayer

Prioritize it. Commit to it. It is a habit that trains your heart.

Don’t only do it when it’s easy — that kind of faith will not prepare you for faithful living when life is difficult.

This helps you grow in your personal, relational knowledge of God, while shaping your heart to love Him more.

2. Study Scripture.

Personal — once a month or so, pick a Christian book or Bible study and seek to grow in your knowledge of who God is.

Life and culture is moving too far away from a biblical worldview and at too great a speed for just reading Scripture to be enough. We have to be people who saturate our minds with the knowledge of God in Scripture.

Learning Community on who God is — July 21, 28, Aug 4

3. Live in biblical community.

Seek to have close friends that you go to church with, meet with regularly to do life together, know each other, encourage one another

Live close enough with people that your toes get stepped on, people upset you, and you stick with them anyways because you love them and they’re part of your church family.

Commit to attending church every week. Majority of church-goers consider 1/3 Sundays “regular” attendance. This isn’t going to cut it. It’s also not going to pass onto your children a sense of the importance of being with God’s people.

4. Worship Jesus in all of your life.

Worship is a heart of loving obedience and service to God in all areas of your life.

Commit to cultivating an awareness of God’s goodness in your relationships, at work, in your family, on your commute, in your free time.

See all of life as His, and worship Him through all of it.

To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. (v. 18b)

Peter ends his letter with doxology — with praise.

Usually doxologies are in reference to God, but here he directs his doxology to Jesus, indicating from early on that Jesus was Himself God in the flesh, and the early churches worshiped Him as such.

Knowing what we know about the future, knowing what we know about the grace of God towards us in Jesus, the grace that saves us and seals us and sanctifies us, preparing us for eternity in a New Heavens and New Earth — to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

Let’s end this series as Peter ends his letter, in praise.

Transition to worship response.

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