II Peter 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
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.
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.
In the concluding verses of this short letter, Peter was directed to encourage the saints and warn of a very serious problem that existed in his time and is a plague in our time.
First of all, true saints need to learn to get along with one another. Our fight is not with each other. We are to contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints.
If another person truly trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ and is honestly looking for the return of Christ and the judgment upon the wicked and the new heavens and the new earth, we need to get along. That does not mean we compromise. That is never the way of peace, without spot and blameless. True saints come together, Bible in hand, and submission to the Word of God in tact and they want to grow in the Lord. Where there are differences, true saints need the humility to work through the difficulties by accepting God’s Word as the only and final authority.
The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit indwells every true believer. That is a fact, since He is in every true believer. He will work to bring unity among God’s people. That is what He is assigned to do in true saints.
Today we are seeing unity built upon a rejection of the importance of doctrine. We are not going to stand for an absolute, pure and perfect Word of God. We are going to accept any one of the over one hundred perversions in the English language, and we are going to reduce “Christianity” to: well at least we believe in Jesus. The question we do not want to have asked and we certainly do not want to answer is: which Jesus?
The confusion that the ecumenical movement is trying to smear over does not in any way lead to the true Jesus Christ. Christ is not divided. He exposed the false teaching of the Pharisees. They hated Him for it. He was not wrong, they were wrong. He came to open the eyes of the blind and He did that. Nicodemus came to see that his ritualistic religion was worthless. Saul/Paul came to see the same things. Many others had the same testimony. It was not through compromise that they were brought into true faith. It was when they surrendered to the absolute Truth which is God’s Word. That is what made the difference.
Thus, the challenge to be found in peace, without spot and blameless will take work, humility and faithfulness. God will bring about peace, a beautiful peace in the hearts of those who truly know the Lord.
In verse 15 Peter mentioned the apostle Paul. The apostle Paul had to confront Peter earlier in his life, regarding false doctrine. Galatians 2 speaks to that. Peter was in the wrong, and God directed Paul to expose him and publicly correct him. Yet here we find Peter speaking highly of Paul. What happened? Both men were true saints and they had the humility needed to hear the truth and respond properly to it.
Salvation comes because God is longsuffering. We are born as lost sinners. We fight and resist the Truth. Some longer than others. God keeps working. He is longsuffering. That is why Saul was saved. He was a violent man prior to being saved. But God was gracious and Saul was saved, and God even changed his name.
The apostle Paul was given wisdom from God. In verse 16 we read that Paul spoke of things that were hard to understand. God’s Word is not meant to be read like a newspaper and then put aside. It will take disciplined study to understand God’s Word.
The problem Peter was led to address here was a problem then and it is a problem now. Unlearned people, they might have degrees, but degrees don’t necessarily make you learned. In fact often times degrees lock the person into ignorance.
When a person takes God’s pure and sure Word and twists it to make it say something that scratches the itching ears, you know there is a problem. The important thing is not to sit by and allow that unlearned man to continue to twist the Scriptures unchallenged. We don’t lock them up. We do not beat them up. However we expose them just like Paul did to Peter in Galatians 2. We expose them just like Jesus did to the Pharisees in the Gospels. We do that because the love of God is in us, and we love the deceived and the deceiver.
Peter was directed to remind us that these twisters are doing so to the their own destruction. You cannot go around twisting God’s Word and think there are no consequences for that. God does not strike every false teacher dead immediately. Some live to be old men. Every time they open their mouth, they prove themselves to be fools. The internet has many of them. Many religious people are led by them. They foolishly submit to these twisters, because it suits the sin they want to live in. God warns that the twisters will face destruction.
In verse 17 Peter again reminded the true saints to beware. We know these things. In order to know these things we need to be in true churches that are not afraid or ashamed to teach the whole counsel of God.
Peter reminds us that we, true saints, can be led into the error of the wicked. A true saint cannot lose their salvation, but they can certainly get sidetracked.
The antidote to that is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You notice here again, that true saints must understand that Jesus Christ must be the Lord of our lives. He is in charge. We do not tell Him what to do. We need to submit to Him and serve Him faithfully.
All glory belongs to Him both now and for ever. We have no bragging rights. Anything good we have learned has come from God. He sent His Holy Spirit to open the understanding of the true child of God and the result is spiritual growth. What a blessing and what a privilege.
Are you being fed the truth? If not, why not humble yourself and turn to the true God and settle the matter now. If you are not saved, then get saved. If you are saved, listen to God and get into a real church. That is the way of blessing.
Pastor Bartel