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Dec 24 06 11:23 PM
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Quote:. Introduction. A. Letter was written by the apostle Peter (1:1). B. Letter written to "them that have obtained a like precious faith" (1:1). 1. The book of first Peter was written to Jews and Gentiles dispersed throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (1 Pet. 1:1). 2. The second letter of Peter was written to the same audience (1 Pet. 3:1). a. Faith is precious (valuable) (1:1). b. Faith is obtained in the righteousness of our God Jesus Christ (1:1). c. Righteousness is the quality of being right, or just, and is an attribute of God. Righteousness is whatever conforms to the revealed will of God. d. Jesus was made perfect by his obedience to the will of the heavenly Father. This was his righteousness. Our precious faith is in the righteousness of Christ. We are righteous when we, following the example of Jesus, obey the commands of God (See Psa. 119:172). C. Peter commends them to the good gifts of God (grace) and to magnified peace (1:1).II. Exhortation to Spiritual Growth (1:2-21). A. God gives us all things that belong to peace and righteousness (1:3). 1. The divine power of God gives us peace and righteousness (1:3). 2. This power works in us through the knowledge of Jesus who called through his gospel and by his power and honor (1:3). B The exceeding great promises of Christ (1:4). 1. Those who have the precious faith are made partakers of the divine nature (1:4). a. The divine nature in which the saved partake is not the natural qualities of God, for finite mortals cannot have these features, else they would be God. b. The divine nature we receive is the moral traits of God, which the writer proceeds to name. 2. Those who are made partakers in the divine nature have escaped the corruption that is in the world through human lust (1:4). C. The impressive beauty of Christian character (1:5-10). 1. We must work hard to develop the traits which God commands us to have (1:5). 2. Virtue is to be added to faith (1:5). Virtue in this verse means power or strength, and not moral excellence. 3. In our spiritual power we are to supply knowledge (1:5). a. Knowledge of Christ and his word, which is absolute truth, is necessary to salvation (John 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:23). b. God's truth given in his revealed word lives and tarries and is incorruptible (1 Pet. 1:23). 4. We are to add self-control to our knowledge (1:6). 5. To our self-control we are to add patience (1:6). 6. To our patience we must add the love of God (1:6). 7. To our love for God we add love of our brethren in Christ (1:7). 8. To our love of the brethren we are to add love for all mankind (1:7). D. The necessity of rigorous application of these teachings to our life (1:8-11). 1. If these virtues abound in your life, you are not slothful and unproductive in the knowledge of Christ (1: . 2. The person who does not add these characteristics to his faith is spiritually blind (1:9-11). a. He sees only what is near to him (1:9). b. He has forgotten the joy of salvation (1:9). 3. Work hard at adding these qualities to your faith to avoid falling from the grace of God (1:10). 4. Such conduct will assure your entrance into heaven (1:11). E. The need to be reminded of what we already know (1:12-14). 1. Those who have a precious faith are established in truth, but still need to recall foundational lessons (1:12). 2. Peter thought it necessary, as long as he was in his body of flesh on earth, to put us in remembrance (1:13). 3. Peter knew he would die suddenly and violently (1:14). He did not know when it would happen, and therefore, was earnest in pressing these lessons on his brethren (1:14). 4. He wanted them to be able to remember his teaching after he was dead (1:15). E. The reason for diligent application to Christian principles (1:16-21). 1. Peter and the other apostles did not follow cleverly cooked up myths (1:16). a. They were eyewitnesses of the majesty of Jesus (1:16). b. God the Father acknowledged Jesus and confirmed his claims (1:17-1 . c. Peter, James, and John heard the voice of God out of heaven validating Jesus as his son when they were on the mount of transfiguration (Matt. 17:5). 2. The voice of God confirming the deity of Jesus made the word of prophecy more sure (1:19). a. You will do well to listen to the teaching of Jesus and his apostles (1:19). b. God's revelation is like a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day of final judgment comes, and Christ appears in the glory of the morning star (1:19). 3. The words of the prophets were not their invention (1:20- 21). a. Prophecy does not come by the will of the prophet, but by inspiration of the Holy Spirit (1:21). b. Since it is the work of God, we must give careful attention to it.III. Warning Against False Teachers (2:1-22). A. False teachers will continue to appear (2:1-3). 1. False prophets came among the people in the past (2:1). 2. False teachers will also come to you (2:1). a. They will bring false teaching that destroys (2:1). b. They will deny Christ and bring swift destruction upon themselves and upon those who receive their false teaching (2:1). 3. The false teachers will have a big audience, and their conduct will cause the truth to be spoken against (2:2). 4. The false teachers will be mercenary and greedy, but their sure destruction is on the way; God will not fail to punish them (2:3). B. The judgment and punishment of God does not dwindle and waste away (2:4-19). 1. When angels sinned, God put them in pits of darkness awaiting the final judgment (2:4). 2. God destroyed the ancient world by a flood of water (2:5). 3. God burned to ashes the ungodly of Sodom and Gomorrah, but delivered righteous Lot (2:6- . 4. The preservation of Noah and Lot, and the destruction of the others, proves that God rescues the righteous and condemns the guilty (2:9). 5. The nature of ungodly sinners (2:10). a. They walk after the flesh in the unnatural lust of defilement (2:10). b. They despise the government of God, and in foolhardy self-will ridicule constituted authority (2:10). 6. The reaction of the angels in heaven (2:11). a. Righteous angels are greater in power than sinning angels but still do not rant and rave toward the fallen; they set an example of moderation which we must imitate (2:11). 7. The attitude and work of false teachers (2:12-19). a. They are like animals and cannot think (2:12). b. They are angry and abusive in matters in which they are ignorant (2:12). c. They set out to destroy, and shall themselves be destroyed (2:12). d. They will receive their just comeuppance (2:13). e. They carry vice to its greatest pitch and enjoy daytime debauches (2:13). f. They are spots and blemishes on the body of Christ (2:13). g. They wallow in their guile as they hypocritically participate in your love feasts (2:13). h. They have eyes full of adultery (2:14). i. They cannot stop sinning (2:14). j. They seduce the unstable (2:14). k. They are covetous and profane (2:14). l. They leave the right and do the wrong, following in the way of Balaam who could be paid to do evil (2:15-16). m. They profess to be able to teach, but are really wells without water and clouds without rain; they are reserved for the blackness of darkness (2:17). n. They use great, swelling words to cover their ignorance and entice new converts by lust and lasciviousness (2:1 . o. They promise to make men free from the restraint of law and commands, but are themselves the slaves of sin (2:19). C. Thoughts on fatal apostasy (2:20-22). 1. Saved by a knowledge of Jesus--by his truth--if they go back into sin, their last condition is worse than it was before they were saved (2:20). a. They would have been better off to have never known the truth than to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them (2:21). b. As the proverb says, they are like dogs eating their own vomit, or a washed sow wallowing again in the mire (2:22).IV. The Second Coming of the Lord (3:1-1 . A. Scoffers will deny his coming (3:1-7) 1. Peter wanted to stir up pure minds by putting them in remembrance (3:1-2). a. Remember the words of the prophets (3:2). b. Remember the commands of the Lord given through the apostles (3:2). 2. In the last days scoffers would deny that the prophecy concerning the second coming of Jesus would be fulfilled (3:4). a. These scoffers walk after their own lust (3:4). b. Scoffers would deny his coming on the grounds that all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation (3:4). 3. They willfully forget the flood of Noah's time (3:5-6). a. The world before the flood was "compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God" (3:5). b. There has been an alteration in the world's makeup since the time of the flood (3:5). c. The world before the flood was overflowed with water, and perished by the word of God (3:6). d. Therefore all things have not continued as they were from the beginning of creation. 4. The present world is doomed to destruction by fire (3:7). B. The reason for the delayed destruction of the world by fire (3:8-16). 1. With God one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3: . a. This does not mean that God cannot tell time nor read a calendar. b. It simply means that time has no meaning to God since he inhabits eternity. 2. God's promise is sure (3:9). a. Notice it is promise (singular) and points to the promise of the second coming of Jesus and the destruction of the world and the judgment (3:9). b. God delays the destruction to give sinners time to repent (3:9) c. Those who do not repent will perish (3:9). 3. The final day of the world will come without warning, like a thief (3:10-13). a. The atmosphere around the world will pass away with a great noise (3:10). b. The elements will dissolve with intense heat and the earth and all works therein will be burned up (3:10). c. Since all material things are to perish, what kind of person do you think you should be in all holy living and godliness (3:11)? d. We should look for and fervently desire the coming of the Lord and the destruction of the world (3:12). e. Christians look for a better world of perfect righteousness (3:13). 4. The hope of the coming of Christ should intensify our godly living (3:14-16). a. We should apply ourselves with great effort to be in peace, sinless and blameless in his sight (3:14). b. God's delay in destroying the present system is for our salvation (3:15). c. Paul wrote this same thing to you (3:15). d. Paul wrote things hard to be understood and the careless wrest this to their destruction (3:16). C. Closing remarks and appeal (3:17-1 . 1. Knowing the Lord is coming, the world will be destroyed, and we will be judged, do not be carried away by the false teaching of the wicked (3:17). 2. Grow in grace and knowledge through a painstaking study of the revealed word (3:1 .
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