Sunday School | 2 Peter

Introduction

Alright. Second Peter. Is Harrison in the room? There's no Harrison, is there? Harrison, Harrison, you're not here? Okay. Or Elizabeth? Elizabeth, who I met last week? No? Okay. Very good. Alright. So you guys, here's what we're doing. For the last couple of months, we've been walking through the books of the New Testament one at a time. One a week. And if you missed it and you wanted to catch up on them, I have two resources for you.

First of all, every week we produce a one page to two page summary of each book of the New Testament. Shows you the text we were looking for. Okay, every week we do a new thing, and all the past weeks are up here. And you've got one of these little yellow cards. A couple of folks have asked me for these on PDF, just to kind get the digital file. And so I put those all in a folder. You can find them here, whatever this is, tinyurl.com/ntsummaries. I will warn you, though, most of them are printed on ledger paper, 11 by 17, and that's just a pain in the butt. And I don't think you can print from these PDFs onto regular paper. So they're fine if you want to look at them on your, you know, what do you call them, iPad or something. But otherwise, I'll print them. We've always got them here, so you can grab them. You're welcome to grab them digitally. This will be a little bit less useful. And then the audio is all here. This is the Sunday School class that kind of captures our discussions on these. So those resources are available to you whenever you want them. And grab them. What's up, buddy? Good to see you. Thank you. All right.

The Focus of 2 Peter

So this week we're going to be doing 2 Peter. What last did we week? It all blurs. Did we do 1 Peter last week or something else? Acts. What? We didn't do Acts last week. That was like two months ago. Matthew. Okay. But we did 1 Peter a couple weeks ago, I guess. Right? Okay. So we're gonna finish up the Peter set by looking at 2 Peter. And 2 Peter, you guys, of all the books we've looked at so far, I feel like 2 Peter is maybe the simplest, most direct, most obvious. If you read it—what I always try to do, as you know from these documents, is just there's very few words for me on here. I just try to put the text in, try to organize it and bold it so you can see what the message is. My goal is that when you go back and you read 2 Peter—2 Peter is only three chapters. It would take you eight minutes to read it.

When you read it, though, I want you to be like, oh, it's all true. There it is. Here's what you're looking for. It's very obvious if you read 2 Peter. The whole thing, Peter's keen interest, what he's desperately talking about over and over and over again is knowledge. It's information. It's true things. It's things that you should remember. It's things that you should not forget. It's data. It's truth. It's knowledge. Okay? Over and over and over again. So when you read through 2 Peter, I kind of listed a bunch of these passages and highlighted these terms. He uses words like—he says things like this:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

So if you are seeking, if you need grace and peace, Peter is saying the source, the means, the box that carries the grace and peace is information. There's things that you can know. Right? He says this. This is, I think, the central verse in 2 Peter.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

That's a pretty big promise. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Well, great. Where do I go to find the life and godliness? What is the container that contains everything I need for life and godliness? Next line.

Through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Through these he's given us his very great and precious promises so that through them—again, through these promises, this data, this words that he has said—you can do these two really weird things: participate in the divine nature, and number two, escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Okay? Now, this is gonna be—this is gonna pervade what Peter's gonna talk about. He's gonna use a range of vocabulary for this, but over and over he's gonna do this. Does anybody happen to have—does anybody know the Greek word for knowledge? You might have it—it bleeds into English a little bit. Do you know this?

Yeah, John, I'm sure you do. Gnosis. Gnosis. Right? So it's G N O S I S. You know the word agnostic? It means a gnosis. No knowledge. Right? The gnostics is a kind of worldview cultish thing with specialized knowledge. Usually what Peter's going to say here is not merely gnosis, but he's to put a little prefix on it.

Anybody know this? The prefix on gnosis that John uses? It's epi, e p i, epi. And what epi gnosis means, it goes from being just data, merely data, just raw information, to this kind of basically means like knowledge upon. It's an experiential knowledge. It's not just that I memorized this thing.

Lots of you might have had to memorize the 10 Commandments. You might have to memorize any number of things. Did I say John? What Peter was talking about is epi gnosis, that there is this knowledge that transcends just your head. It's not less than your head. There's stuff you need to know. You'll see the language he uses. But then it becomes a knowledge that wraps up your life, that you surrender to it, you experience it, you try it, you've proven through your own life experience that it's real.

That is what he's talking about. You've got to have the information, but then you have to interact with it. You have to receive it into yourself. Robin?

Go a little click up higher. What Robin is saying is that if we take this into a strictly not even materialistic strictly intellectual place, right—there's knowledge that's just data, and what I'm saying is that that knowledge, that intellectual thing, has to affect your volition. It has to affect your emotion. It has to become part of you. And Robin is saying, yeah, but it's also not even—that's still very individualistic. There's another party involved—the Holy Spirit. Take a look. And Robin's exactly right.

If you go back to 1 Corinthians, we did that, right? We did 1 Corinthians already? Go to 1 Corinthians and look at what he's going to say. We'll go to chapter two. One of the central texts on the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2 is about this intersection between information and the Spirit of God.

He says this, let's see, verse 11:

For who among men knows, again knowledge, the thoughts of a man except man's spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except by the Spirit of God.

We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit is from God that we may understand what God has freely given us. One of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit is to light this up. So it's like, oh, I get it. And we've all had that experience where somebody tells you something and it's like, blah blah blah, and then the penny drops, the light comes on, you're like, oh, that's what you're saying. That is a particular work of the Holy Spirit. Not only did he inspire the writing of this book, this thing that contains all this knowledge, his divine power has given us everything we need for life and knowledge through our knowledge of him, called us by his own glory and goodness, all of that, that corpus of data, of information that Peter's talking about was written by the Spirit.

But then it's also, according to Paul here in 1 Corinthians, it's illumined by the Spirit. He lights it up. Right? He says, where was I? Verse 13: This is what we speak, not in words taught to us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit expressing spiritual truths and spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. Why? Because it's total idiocy to him. They're foolishness to him. And he can't understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Right? So Robin's exactly right. When Peter is all about knowledge, data, information, not forgetting but remembering, we'd be toast if we were doing that absent the illuminating work of the Spirit of God. He lights it up so that we can see it, so that it makes sense. He convicts our hearts to receive it. All those things are true. Absolutely.

Now, as you read through Peter, just look at this, though. He says, I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them because, of course, we know a lot of stuff that we forget. Have you noticed this? Right? There's this truth that you have. He's like Peter has his own knowledge. He wants them to always remember things. And then he's going to say this:

This is very important. As you go through, if you take this, by the way, what I'm hoping you might do is take this document. This is for every book of the New Testament. Some of you maybe are collecting these. Somebody mentioned they're keeping them in a trapper with a trapper keeper.

Right? Do you remember the days? This is like classic '80s high school, the trapper keeper. Was it you, Helen? Were you the one that's using it? My name is Kevin. Is that what you're doing? Okay.

But what I really want you to do is transfer this into your actual Bible. Right? You can go through your Bible, and next time you read 2 Peter, maybe this week, just underline knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, know, remember, truth, information. Grab all this so that this stuff you're basically creating an annotated study Bible with all these things just embedded in.

If you do that, one of the things you're going to find is it's not just random data, but he's very particular. Peter's going to be very insistent that you remember the things that we told you. Right? Oh, and by the way, not just that I told you, me being Peter, but Paul is the same way. You've got to remember Paul's letters. You need to remember the things that Jesus said. And he's going to just constantly go back to this, right? And when he does, this is going to be— I think this is a really interesting thing. Peter is going to say this:

Look down in the, like, two-thirds of way down that first column. He says, We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Does anybody know what he is talking about when he says that? When he says, We were not making this up, what was he saying? I'm going to give somebody else a crack at this, John. I'm sure you know. I know you know. Who else? What is he talking about? You want to take a guess, Lily?

He is not refuting pagan mythology. Look at it in context. It might be a little bit more obvious to you if you go to the context. 1 Peter 1. Transfiguration. There you go, Ray. Say it loud.

The transfiguration.

Yes. Listen to how he—or not 1 Peter, 2 Peter. 2 Peter 1, verse 16:

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Look at the next line.

For he received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the majestic glory saying, this is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

All three of the synoptic gospels reference this. We call it the transfiguration. It's the moment where Jesus takes Peter—remember who was there? John. Peter, John, and who? And James. Peter, James, and John, and Jesus, and who else? Elijah. Elijah and Moses.

Okay. So Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up on this mountain on this little private field trip. And then while they're there, Elijah shows up, Moses shows up. But what was the most startling thing that happened? The cloud. He just lights up. Right?

And I think the way we understand that is that in some way, when Jesus came to earth—right, Philippians 2 says that he though he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. The Greek's term for this is the kenosis, that in some way Jesus, who is fully God, either veiled his godness in some regard or he undressed from the full glory of his deity, and something happened. And there on the mountain, it unhappened.

And what Peter, James, and John had in that moment was a more real picture of Jesus than they had ever seen before. And it was such a startling event. Elijah shows up, and that's weird. Moses shows up, and that's weird. And perhaps they're all pleased to be on the inner circle that they're the three of the twelve that got to come. But the thing that blew them away is that in some regard Jesus pulled back the curtains and revealed himself.

Right? The way that Peter characterizes it again. Listen to it. He says, We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. We heard the voice on that sacred mountain. That moment for Peter is what basically for him is like, it's all true. I'm not making this up. I was there. I saw like reality fracture and Jesus stepped through the crack and something happened there. Okay? And we're not making this up. It's all true.

And then he says, and that, by the way, prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. What he's saying there is that we always knew Isaiah was true, and we've read Daniel, and we've read the books of Moses, and we believed that it was true. But you're not listening to me, I'm telling you, it's all true, because I was there and I saw Elijah with my own eyes, and Jesus lit up. So it's all true.

Do you understand what he's doing here? That moment was so galvanizing for Peter that this stuff is real and you have got to pay attention. Don't treat this like it's just one more book on shelf. This knowledge, this information, this wisdom, this is what we must understand. Stop treating this like it's just another book. There's more going on here than you can possibly imagine. I saw reality fracture. We've got to get this. You with me? That's what drives through this whole book. You keep going through this front page, we didn't follow stories. Were with them on the mountain. Hey, we've escaped corruption by knowing things. It would have been better for those that have known the way of righteousness and then walked away never to have known it. He says, I want to remind you of this. You must understand these things. He said, bad guys. We'll come back to the bad guys in a minute. They deliberately forget, but you must not forget. You need to bear in mind. Recognize wisdom, understand, know, you must do this. Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and forever.

The Importance of Knowledge and the Holy Spirit

Okay? So I've said it a thousand times, but the reason we're doing this whole thing, this whole study, is not just so you can get the cliff notes of a bunch of New Testament books, but because I want you to develop the habit, deepen the habit, continue the habit, spread to others the habit, that I'm just gonna be in this book. That in ten years, I'm gonna know it better than I know it today. And in twenty years, I'm gonna know it better still. That I will make it a point that the flow of all of these books we're doing in the New Testament. It's true for the old. I just don't have the courage to actually commit to doing every single book in the Bible yet. But for the New Testament, for the time being, you could know this book. I could wake you up in the middle of the night and say, what is 2 Peter about? You'd be like, it's about knowing stuff. It's about not forgetting stuff. You could remember that. That I could ask you, you know, in a month or in six months or in nine months or in five years, hey, what's the main flow of, I don't know, pick a book that we've done. What's the main deal going on in 1 Peter? Could you say it? Could you answer that? What's 1 Peter about? Give me like what's the essence of it?

What is it? Hope is good. Strangers and aliens is excellent. How about one more key term that will summarize that book? Okay. That was a fantastic summary of 1 Peter. Right? But then could you also take that and say, but I've applied it because in my life, I need hope. Right? Because in my life, I sometimes feel like an alien and a stranger. And when I don't feel like an alien and a stranger, it almost makes me wonder what's wrong. Am I capitulating? And when I find myself suffering, do I know where to go in the scriptures to find that hope that matches suffering? Right? Because this—because you are convinced. You're convinced that God has given you everything you need for life and life and godliness. And the place that he gave it to you is through your knowledge of him who called you by his own glory and goodness. Right? That those great and precious promises that he has embedded in his word, you're like, I want them. I'm going to memorize them. I'm going to believe them. I'm going to live as if they're true because I know that I need help to escape the world caused by evil desires. And I don't actually know what it means to participate in the divine nature, but it sounds fun, and I want to do that, and so I'm going to become one of the people walking around this planet that knows this book. I eat it. It is what Jeremiah says, I ate your words and they were sweet to me because I'm just going to take it in every day.

And as Quigg likes to say, the three things you need to have, Quigg, if you're going have daily time in the Scriptures: what are they? A place, and a method. A place, and a method. I'm just going to lock it in so that it's not been a week and two weeks and three weeks and eight weeks and twelve weeks since I last cracked this book. I'm gonna know it.

Alright? That is what 2 Peter is all about. It's a great big call. All the information, all of the data that is not just intellectual but is epi gnosis around my life that the spirit lights up, I'm gonna drink it. I'm gonna take it. And it's gonna change my life and the lives of those around me. You with me?

Yep. That is what 2 Peter is about.

The Warning Against False Teachers

But there is a villain. Do you know what is the villain of 2 Peter? False teachers. Who said that? Robin, it is about false teachers. So on the one hand, Peter is saying, know this stuff, don't remember this stuff, we're not making this up. But he's going to say, but somebody is making stuff up. And you need to not listen to them because they are liars. They are wrong. They're filling your head with nonsense. Don't read the bad books. Or—or—or if you read the bad books, read them with discernment. I'm not a big censorship guy. I like to know what the bad guys are saying. But I'm not going to read it in the same manner. I'm going say, you—this is what you have said. This is what the other guys have said. I'm going to read their stuff discerningly, if at all.

Flip the page here. Go to the back and you'll see what he does with the false teachers. His whole point: we are telling the truth. They are lying. You'll see the parallel here. We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For we did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

All three of the synoptic gospels reference this. We call it the transfiguration. It's the moment where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up on this mountain on this little private field trip. And then while they're there, Elijah shows up, Moses shows up. But what was the most startling thing that happened? The cloud. He just lights up. Right? And I think the way we understand that is that in some way, when Jesus came to earth, right—Philippians 2 says that he though he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. The Greek's term for this is the kenosis—that in some way Jesus, who is fully God, either veiled his godness in some regard or he undressed from the full glory of his deity, and something happened. And there on the mountain, it unhappened. And what Peter, James, and John had in that moment was a more real picture of Jesus than they had ever seen before. And it was such a startling event. Elijah shows up, and that's weird. Moses shows up, and that's weird. And perhaps they're all pleased to be on the inner circle that they're the three of the twelve that got to come. But the thing that blew them away is that in some regard Jesus pulled back the curtains and revealed himself.

Right? The way that Peter characterizes it again. Listen to it. He says, We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. We heard the voice on that sacred mountain. That moment for Peter is what basically for him is like, it's all true. I'm not making this up. I was there. I saw like reality fracture and Jesus stepped through the crack and something happened there. And we're not making this up. It's all true.

And then he says, and that, by the way, prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. What he's saying there is that we always knew Isaiah was true, and we've read Daniel, and we've read the books of Moses, and we believed that it was true. But you're not listening to me, I'm telling you, it's all true, because I was there and I saw Elijah with my own eyes, and Jesus lit up. So it's all true. Do you understand what he's doing here? That moment was so galvanizing for Peter that this stuff is real and you have got to pay attention. Don't treat this like it's just one more book on shelf. This knowledge, this information, this wisdom, this is what we must understand. Stop treating this like it's just another book. There's more going on here than you can possibly imagine. I saw reality fracture. We've got to get this. You with me? That's what drives through this whole book. You keep going through this front page, we didn't follow stories. Were with them on the mountain. Hey, we've escaped corruption by knowing things. It would have been better for those that have known the way of righteousness and then walked away never to have known it. He says, I want to remind you of this. You must understand these things. He said, bad guys. We'll come back to the bad guys in a minute. They deliberately forget, but you must not forget. You need to bear in mind. Recognize wisdom, understand, know, you must do this. Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and forever.

The Call to Live and Teach the Truth

Okay? So I've said it a thousand times, but the reason we're doing this whole thing, this whole study, is not just so you can get the cliff notes of a bunch of New Testament books, but because I want you to develop the habit, deepen the habit, continue the habit, spread to others the habit, that I'm just gonna be in this book. That in ten years, I'm gonna know it better than I know it today. And in twenty years, I'm gonna know it better still. That I will make it a point that the flow of all of these books we're doing in the New Testament. It's true for the old. I just don't have the courage to actually commit to doing every single book in the Bible yet. But for the New Testament, for the time being, you could know this book. I could wake you up in the middle of the night and say, what is 2 Peter about? You'd be like, it's about knowing stuff. It's about not forgetting stuff. You could remember that. That I could ask you, you know, in a month or in six months or in nine months or in five years, hey, what's the main flow of, I don't know, pick a book that we've done. What's the main deal going on in 1 Peter? Could you say it? Could you answer that? What's 1 Peter about? Give me like what's the essence of it? What is it? Hope is good. Strangers and aliens is excellent. How about one more key term that will summarize that book? Okay. That was a fantastic summary of 1 Peter. Right? But then could you also take that and say, but I've applied it because in my life, I need hope. Right? Because in my life, I sometimes feel like an alien and a stranger. And when I don't feel like an alien and a stranger, it almost makes me wonder what's wrong. Am I capitulating? And when I find myself suffering, do I know where to go in the scriptures to find that hope that matches suffering? Right? Because this—because you are convinced. You're convinced that God has given you everything you need for life and life and godliness. And the place that he gave it to you is through your knowledge of him who called you by his own glory and goodness. Right? That those great and precious promises that he has embedded in his word, you're like, I want them. I'm going to memorize them. I'm going to believe them. I'm going to live as if they're true because I know that I need help to escape the world caused by evil desires. And I don't actually know what it means to participate in the divine nature, but it sounds fun, and I want to do that, and so I'm going to become one of the people walking around this planet that knows this book. I eat it. It is what Jeremiah says, I ate your words and they were sweet to me because I'm just going to take it in every day.

And as Quigg likes to say, the three things you need to have, Quigg, if you're going to have daily time in the Scriptures: what are they? A place, and a method. A place, and a method. I'm just going to lock it in so that it's not been a week and two weeks and three weeks and eight weeks and twelve weeks since I last cracked this book. I'm gonna know it.

Alright? That is what 2 Peter is all about. It's a great big call. All the information, all of the data that is not just intellectual but is epi gnosis around my life that the Spirit lights up, I'm gonna drink it. I'm gonna take it. And it's gonna change my life and the lives of those around me. You with me?

Yep. That is what 2 Peter is about.

The Villain: False Teachers

But there is a villain. Do you know what is the villain of 2 Peter? False teachers. Who said that? Robin, it is about false teachers. So on the one hand, Peter is saying, know this stuff, don't remember this stuff, we're not making this up. But he's going to say, but somebody is making stuff up. And you need to not listen to them because they are liars. They are wrong. They're filling your head with nonsense. Don't read the bad books. Or—or—or if you read the bad books, read them with discernment. I'm not a big censorship guy. I like to know what the bad guys are saying. But I'm not going to read it in the same manner. I'm going to say, you—this is what you have said. This is what the other guys have said. I'm going to read their stuff discerningly, if at all.

Flip the page here. Go to the back and you'll see what he does with the false teachers. His whole point: we are telling the truth. They are lying.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

All three of the synoptic gospels reference this. We call it the transfiguration. It's the moment where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up on this mountain on this little private field trip. And then while they're there, Elijah shows up, Moses shows up. But what was the most startling thing that happened? The cloud. He just lights up. Right? And I think the way we understand that is that in some way, when Jesus came to earth, right—Philippians 2 says that he though he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. The Greek's term for this is the kenosis—that in some way Jesus, who is fully God, either veiled his godness in some regard or he undressed from the full glory of his deity, and something happened. And there on the mountain, it unhappened.

And what Peter, James, and John had in that moment was a more real picture of Jesus than they had ever seen before. And it was such a startling event. Elijah shows up, and that's weird. Moses shows up, and that's weird. And perhaps they're all pleased to be on the inner circle that they're the three of the twelve that got to come. But the thing that blew them away is that in some regard Jesus pulled back the curtains and revealed himself.

Right? The way that Peter characterizes it again. Listen to it. He says,

We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. We heard the voice on that sacred mountain.

That moment for Peter is what basically for him is like, it's all true. I'm not making this up. I was there. I saw like reality fracture and Jesus stepped through the crack and something happened there. And we're not making this up. It's all true.

And then he says, and that, by the way, prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. What he's saying there is that we always knew Isaiah was true, and we've read Daniel, and we've read the books of Moses, and we believed that it was true. But you're not listening to me, I'm telling you, it's all true, because I was there and I saw Elijah with my own eyes, and Jesus lit up. So it's all true.

Do you understand what he's doing here? That moment was so galvanizing for Peter that this stuff is real and you have got to pay attention. Don't treat this like it's just one more book on shelf. This knowledge, this information, this wisdom, this is what we must understand. Stop treating this like it's just another book. There's more going on here than you can possibly imagine. I saw reality fracture. We've got to get this. You with me? That's what drives through this whole book.

You keep going through this front page, we didn't follow stories. Were with them on the mountain. Hey, we've escaped corruption by knowing things. It would have been better for those that have known the way of righteousness and then walked away never to have known it. He says, I want to remind you of this. You must understand these things. He said, bad guys. We'll come back to the bad guys in a minute. They deliberately forget, but you must not forget. You need to bear in mind. Recognize wisdom, understand, know, you must do this. Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and forever.

Final Exhortation and Connection with Jude

Okay? So I've said it a thousand times, but the reason we're doing this whole thing, this whole study, is not just so you can get the cliff notes of a bunch of New Testament books, but because I want you to develop the habit, deepen the habit, continue the habit, spread to others the habit, that I'm just gonna be in this book. That in ten years, I'm gonna know it better than I know it today. And in twenty years, I'm gonna know it better still. That I will make it a point that the flow of all of these books we're doing in the New Testament. It's true for the old. I just don't have the courage to actually commit to doing every single book in the Bible yet. But for the New Testament, for the time being, you could know this book. I could wake you up in the middle of the night and say, what is 2 Peter about? You'd be like, It's about knowing stuff. It's about not forgetting stuff. You could remember that. That I could ask you, you know, in a month or in six months or in nine months or in five years, hey, what's the main flow of, I don't know, pick a book that we've done. What's the main deal going on in 1 Peter? Could you say it? Could you answer that? What's 1 Peter about?

Give me like what's the essence of it? What is it? Hope is good. Strangers and aliens is excellent. How about one more key term that will summarize that book? Okay. That was a fantastic summary of 1 Peter. Right? But then could you also take that and say, but I've applied it because in my life, I need hope. Right? Because in my life, I sometimes feel like an alien and a stranger. And when I don't feel like an alien and a stranger, it almost makes me wonder what's wrong. Am I capitulating? And when I find myself suffering, do I know where to go in the scriptures to find that hope that matches suffering? Right? Because this—because you are convinced. You're convinced that God has given you everything you need for life and life and godliness. And the place that he gave it to you is through your knowledge of him who called you by his own glory and goodness.

Right? That those great and precious promises that he has embedded in his word, you're like, I want them. I'm going to memorize them. I'm going to believe them. I'm going to live as if they're true because I know that I need help to escape the world caused by evil desires. And I don't actually know what it means to participate in the divine nature, but it sounds fun, and I want to do that, and so I'm going to become one of the people walking around this planet that knows this book. I eat it. It is what Jeremiah says, I ate your words and they were sweet to me because I'm just going to take it in every day.

And as Quigg likes to say, the three things you need to have, Quigg, if you're going to have daily time in the Scriptures: what are they? A place, and a method. A place, and a method. I'm just going to lock it in so that it's not been a week and two weeks and three weeks and eight weeks and twelve weeks since I last cracked this book. I'm gonna know it.

Alright? That is what 2 Peter is all about. It's a great big call. All the information, all of the data that is not just intellectual but is epi gnosis around my life that the Spirit lights up, I'm gonna drink it. I'm gonna take it. And it's gonna change my life and the lives of those around me. You with me?

Yep. That is what 2 Peter is about.

The Villain: False Teachers

But there is a villain. Do you know what is the villain of 2 Peter? False teachers. Who said that? Robin, it is about false teachers. So on the one hand, Peter is saying, know this stuff, don't remember this stuff, we're not making this up. But he's going to say, but somebody is making stuff up. And you need to not listen to them because they are liars. They are wrong. They're filling your head with nonsense. Don't read the bad books. Or—or—or if you read the bad books, read them with discernment. I'm not a big censorship guy. I like to know what the bad guys are saying. But I'm not going to read it in the same manner. I'm going to say, you—this is what you have said. This is what the other guys have said. I'm going to read their stuff discerningly, if at all.

Flip the page here. Go to the back and you'll see what he does with the false teachers. His whole point: we are telling the truth. They are lying.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

All three of the synoptic gospels reference this. We call it the transfiguration. It's the moment where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up on this mountain on this little private field trip. And then while they're there, Elijah shows up, Moses shows up. But what was the most startling thing that happened? The cloud. He just lights up. Right? And I think the way we understand that is that in some way, when Jesus came to earth—right, Philippians 2 says that he though he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. The Greek's term for this is the kenosis—that in some way Jesus, who is fully God, either veiled his godness in some regard or he undressed from the full glory of his deity, and something happened. And there on the mountain, it unhappened.

And what Peter, James, and John had in that moment was a more real picture of Jesus than they had ever seen before. And it was such a startling event. Elijah shows up, and that's weird. Moses shows up, and that's weird. And perhaps they're all pleased to be on the inner circle that they're the three of the twelve that got to come. But the thing that blew them away is that in some regard Jesus pulled back the curtains and revealed himself.

Right? The way that Peter characterizes it again. Listen to it. He says,

We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. We heard the voice on that sacred mountain.

That moment for Peter is what basically for him is like, it's all true. I'm not making this up. I was there. I saw like reality fracture and Jesus stepped through the crack and something happened there. And we're not making this up. It's all true.

And then he says, and that, by the way, prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. What he's saying there is that we always knew Isaiah was true, and we've read Daniel, and we've read the books of Moses, and we believed that it was true. But you're not listening to me, I'm telling you, it's all true, because I was there and I saw Elijah with my own eyes, and Jesus lit up. So it's all true.

Do you understand what he's doing here? That moment was so galvanizing for Peter that this stuff is real and you have got to pay attention. Don't treat this like it's just one more book on shelf. This knowledge, this information, this wisdom, this is what we must understand. Stop treating this like it's just another book. There's more going on here than you can possibly imagine. I saw reality fracture. We've got to get this. You with me? That's what drives through this whole book.

You keep going through this front page, we didn't follow stories. Were with them on the mountain. Hey, we've escaped corruption by knowing things. It would have been better for those that have known the way of righteousness and then walked away never to have known it. He says, I want to remind you of this. You must understand these things. He said, bad guys. We'll come back to the bad guys in a minute. They deliberately forget, but you must not forget. You need to bear in mind. Recognize wisdom, understand, know, you must do this. Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and forever.

Final Exhortation and Connection with Jude

Okay? So I've said it a thousand times, but the reason we're doing this whole thing, this whole study, is not just so you can get the cliff notes of a bunch of New Testament books, but because I want you to develop the habit, deepen the habit, continue the habit, spread to others the habit, that I'm just gonna be in this book. That in ten years, I'm gonna know it better than I know it today. And in twenty years, I'm gonna know it better still. That I will make it a point that the flow of all of these books we're doing in the New Testament. It's true for the old. I just don't have the courage to actually commit to doing every single book in the Bible yet. But for the New Testament, for the time being, you could know this book. I could wake you up in the middle of the night and say, what is 2 Peter about? You'd be like, it's about knowing stuff. It's about not forgetting stuff. You could remember that. That I could ask you, you know, in a month or in six months or in nine months or in five years, hey, what's the main flow of, I don't know, pick a book that we've done. What's the main deal going on in 1 Peter? Could you say it? Could you answer that? What's 1 Peter about?

Give me like what's the essence of it? What is it? Hope is good. Strangers and aliens is excellent. How about one more key term that will summarize that book? Okay. That was a fantastic summary of 1 Peter. Right? But then could you also take that and say, but I've applied it because in my life, I need hope. Right? Because in my life, I sometimes feel like an alien and a stranger. And when I don't feel like an alien and a stranger, it almost makes me wonder what's wrong. Am I capitulating? And when I find myself suffering, do I know where to go in the scriptures to find that hope that matches suffering? Right? Because this—because you are convinced. You're convinced that God has given you everything you need for life and life and godliness. And the place that he gave it to you is through your knowledge of him who called you by his own glory and goodness.

Right? That those great and precious promises that he has embedded in his word, you're like, I want them. I'm going to memorize them. I'm going to believe them. I'm going to live as if they're true because I know that I need help to escape the world caused by evil desires. And I don't actually know what it means to participate in the divine nature, but it sounds fun, and I want to do that, and so I'm going to become one of the people walking around this planet that knows this book. I eat it. It is what Jeremiah says, I ate your words and they were sweet to me because I'm just going to take it in every day.

And as Quigg likes to say, the three things you need to have, Quigg, if you're going to have daily time in the Scriptures: what are they? A place, and a method. A place, and a method. I'm just going to lock it in so that it's not been a week and two weeks and three weeks and eight weeks and twelve weeks since I last cracked this book. I'm gonna know it.

Alright? That is what 2 Peter is all about. It's a great big call. All the information, all of the data that is not just intellectual but is epi gnosis around my life that the Spirit lights up, I'm gonna drink it. I'm gonna take it. And it's gonna change my life and the lives of those around me. You with me?

Yep. That is what 2 Peter is about.

The Villain of 2 Peter

But there is a villain. Do you know what is the villain of 2 Peter? False teachers. Who said that? Robin, it is about false teachers. So on the one hand, Peter is saying, know this stuff, don't remember this stuff, we're not making this up. But he's going to say, but somebody is making stuff up. And you need to not listen to them because they are liars. They are wrong. They're filling your head with nonsense. Don't read the bad books. Or—or—or if you read the bad books, read them with discernment. I'm not a big censorship guy. I like to know what the bad guys are saying. But I'm not going to read it in the same manner. I'm going to say, you—this is what you have said. This is what the other guys have said. I'm going to read their stuff discerningly, if at all.

Flip the page here. Go to the back and you'll see what he does with the false teachers. His whole point: we are telling the truth. They are lying.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

All three of the synoptic gospels reference this. We call it the transfiguration. It's the moment where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up on this mountain on this little private field trip. And then while they're there, Elijah shows up, Moses shows up. But what was the most startling thing that happened? The cloud. He just lights up. Right? And I think the way we understand that is that in some way, when Jesus came to earth—right, Philippians 2 says that he though he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. The Greek's term for this is the kenosis—that in some way Jesus, who is fully God, either veiled his godness in some regard or he undressed from the full glory of his deity, and something happened. And there on the mountain, it unhappened.

And what Peter, James, and John had in that moment was a more real picture of Jesus than they had ever seen before. And it was such a startling event. Elijah shows up, and that's weird. Moses shows up, and that's weird. And perhaps they're all pleased to be on the inner circle that they're the three of the twelve that got to come. But the thing that blew them away is that in some regard Jesus pulled back the curtains and revealed himself.

Right? The way that Peter characterizes it again. Listen to it. He says,

We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. We heard the voice on that sacred mountain.

That moment for Peter is what basically for him is like, it's all true. I'm not making this up. I was there. I saw like reality fracture and Jesus stepped through the crack and something happened there. And we're not making this up. It's all true.

And then he says, and that, by the way, prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. What he's saying there is that we always knew Isaiah was true, and we've read Daniel, and we've read the books of Moses, and we believed that it was true. But you're not listening to me, I'm telling you, it's all true, because I was there and I saw Elijah with my own eyes, and Jesus lit up. So it's all true.

Do you understand what he's doing here? That moment was so galvanizing for Peter that this stuff is real and you have got to pay attention. Don't treat this like it's just one more book on shelf. This knowledge, this information, this wisdom, this is what we must understand. Stop treating this like it's just another book. There's more going on here than you can possibly imagine. I saw reality fracture. We've got to get this. You with me? That's what drives through this whole book.

You keep going through this front page, we didn't follow stories. Were with them on the mountain. Hey, we've escaped corruption by knowing things. It would have been better for those that have known the way of righteousness and then walked away never to have known it. He says, I want to remind you of this. You must understand these things. He said, bad guys. We'll come back to the bad guys in a minute. They deliberately forget, but you must not forget. You need to bear in mind. Recognize wisdom, understand, know, you must do this. Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and forever.

Final Words: The Judgment and Next Steps

Okay? So I've said it a thousand times, but the reason we're doing this whole thing, this whole study, is not just so you can get the cliff notes of a bunch of New Testament books, but because I want you to develop the habit, deepen the habit, continue the habit, spread to others the habit, that I'm just gonna be in this book. That in ten years, I'm gonna know it better than I know it today. And in twenty years, I'm gonna know it better still. That I will make it a point that the flow of all of these books we're doing in the New Testament. It's true for the old. I just don't have the courage to actually commit to doing every single book in the Bible yet. But for the New Testament, for the time being, you could know this book. I could wake you up in the middle of the night and say, what is 2 Peter about? You'd be like, It's about knowing stuff. It's about not forgetting stuff. You could remember that. That I could ask you, you know, in a month or in six months or in nine months or in five years, hey, what's the main flow of, I don't know, pick a book that we've done. What's the main deal going on in 1 Peter? Could you say it? Could you answer that? What's 1 Peter about?

Give me like what's the essence of it? What is it? Hope is good. Strangers and aliens is excellent. How about one more key term that will summarize that book? Okay. That was a fantastic summary of 1 Peter. Right? But then could you also take that and say, but I've applied it because in my life, I need hope. Right? Because in my life, I sometimes feel like an alien and a stranger. And when I don't feel like an alien and a stranger, it almost makes me wonder what's wrong. Am I capitulating? And when I find myself suffering, do I know where to go in the scriptures to find that hope that matches suffering? Right? Because this—because you are convinced. You're convinced that God has given you everything you need for life and life and godliness. And the place that he gave it to you is through your knowledge of him who called you by his own glory and goodness.

Right? That those great and precious promises that he has embedded in his word, you're like, I want them. I'm going to memorize them. I'm going to believe them. I'm going to live as if they're true because I know that I need help to escape the world caused by evil desires. And I don't actually know what it means to participate in the divine nature, but it sounds fun, and I want to do that, and so I'm going to become one of the people walking around this planet that knows this book. I eat it. It is what Jeremiah says, I ate your words and they were sweet to me because I'm just going to take it in every day.

And as Quigg likes to say, the three things you need to have, Quigg, if you're going to have daily time in the Scriptures: what are they? A place, and a method. A place, and a method. I'm just going to lock it in so that it's not been a week and two weeks and three weeks and eight weeks and twelve weeks since I last cracked this book. I'm gonna know it.

Alright? That is what 2 Peter is all about. It's a great big call. All the information, all of the data that is not just intellectual but is epi gnosis around my life that the Spirit lights up, I'm gonna drink it. I'm gonna take it. And it's gonna change my life and the lives of those around me. You with me?

Yep. That is what 2 Peter is about.

Conclusion: The Connection to Jude

But there is a villain. Do you know what is the villain of 2 Peter? False teachers. Who said that? Robin, it is about false teachers. So on the one hand, Peter is saying, know this stuff, don't remember this stuff, we're not making this up. But he's going to say, but somebody is making stuff up. And you need to not listen to them because they are liars. They are wrong. They're filling your head with nonsense. Don't read the bad books. Or—or—or if you read the bad books, read them with discernment. I'm not a big censorship guy. I like to know what the bad guys are saying. But I'm not going to read it in the same manner. I'm going to say, you—this is what you have said. This is what the other guys have said. I'm going to read their stuff discerningly, if at all.

Flip the page here. Go to the back and you'll see what he does with the false teachers. His whole point: we are telling the truth. They are lying. You'll see the parallel here. We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We heard the voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

All three of the synoptic gospels reference this. We call it the transfiguration. It's the moment where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up on this mountain on this little private field trip. And then while they're there, Elijah shows up, Moses shows up. But what was the most startling thing that happened? The cloud. He just lights up. Right? And I think the way we understand that is that in some way, when Jesus came to earth—right, Philippians 2 says that he though he didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. The Greek's term for this is the kenosis—that in some way Jesus, who is fully God, either veiled his godness in some regard or he undressed from the full glory of his deity, and something happened. And there on the mountain, it unhappened.

And what Peter, James, and John had in that moment was a more real picture of Jesus than they had ever seen before. And it was such a startling event. Elijah shows up, and that's weird. Moses shows up, and that's weird. And perhaps they're all pleased to be on the inner circle that they're the three of the twelve that got to come. But the thing that blew them away is that in some regard Jesus pulled back the curtains and revealed himself.

Right? The way that Peter characterizes it again. Listen to it. He says,

We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory when the voice came to him from the majestic glory. We heard the voice on that sacred mountain.

That moment for Peter is what basically for him is like, it's all true. I'm not making this up. I was there. I saw like reality fracture and Jesus stepped through the crack and something happened there. And we're not making this up. It's all true.

And then he says, and that, by the way, prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. What he's saying there is that we always knew Isaiah was true, and we've read Daniel, and we've read the books of Moses, and we believed that it was true. But you're not listening to me, I'm telling you, it's all true, because I was there and I saw Elijah with my own eyes, and Jesus lit up. So it's all true.

Do you understand what he's doing here? That moment was so galvanizing for Peter that this stuff is real and you have got to pay attention. Don't treat this like it's just one more book on shelf. This knowledge, this information, this wisdom, this is what we must understand. Stop treating this like it's just another book. There's more going on here than you can possibly imagine. I saw reality fracture. We've got to get this. You with me? That's what drives through this whole book.

You keep going through this front page, we didn't follow stories. Were with them on the mountain. Hey, we've escaped corruption by knowing things. It would have been better for those that have known the way of righteousness and then walked away never to have known it. He says, I want to remind you of this. You must understand these things. He said, bad guys. We'll come back to the bad guys in a minute. They deliberately forget, but you must not forget. You need to bear in mind. Recognize wisdom, understand, know, you must do this. Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and forever.

Final Exhortation and Connection to Jude

Okay? So I've said it a thousand times, but the reason we're doing this whole thing, this whole study, is not just so you can get the cliff notes of a bunch of New Testament books, but because I want you to develop the habit, deepen the habit, continue the habit, spread to others the habit, that I'm just gonna be in this book. That in ten years, I'm gonna know it better than I know it today. And in twenty years, I'm gonna know it better still. That I will make it a point that the flow of all of these books we're doing in the New Testament. It's true for the old. I just don't have the courage to actually commit to doing every single book in the Bible yet. But for the New Testament, for the time being, you could know this book. I could wake you up in the middle of the night and say, what is 2 Peter about? You'd be like, It's about knowing stuff. It's about not forgetting stuff. You could remember that. That I could ask you, you know, in a month or in six months or in nine months or in five years, hey, what's the main flow of, I don't know, pick a book that we've done. What's the main deal going on in 1 Peter? Could you say it? Could you answer that? What's 1 Peter about?

Give me like what's the essence of it? What is it? Hope is good. Strangers and aliens is excellent. How about one more key term that will summarize that book? Okay. That was a fantastic summary of 1 Peter. Right? But then could you also take that and say, but I've applied it because in my life, I need hope. Right? Because in my life, I sometimes feel like an alien and a stranger. And when I don't feel like an alien and a stranger, it almost makes me wonder what's wrong. Am I capitulating? And when I find myself suffering, do I know where to go in the scriptures to find that hope that matches suffering? Right? Because this—because you are convinced. You're convinced that God has given you everything you need for life and life and godliness. And the place that he gave it to you is through your knowledge of him who called you by his own glory and goodness.

Right? That those great and precious promises that he has embedded in his word, you're like, I want them. I'm going to memorize them. I'm going to believe them. I'm going to live as if they're true because I know that I need help to escape the world caused by evil desires. And I don't actually know what it means to participate in the divine nature, but it sounds fun, and I want to do that, and so I'm going to become one of the people walking around this planet that knows this book. I eat it. It is what Jeremiah says, I ate your words and they were sweet to me because I'm just going to take it in every day.

And as Quigg likes to say, the three things you need to have, Quigg, if you're going to have daily time in the Scriptures: what are they? A place, and a method. A place, and a method. I'm just going to lock it in so that it's not been a week and two weeks and three weeks and eight weeks and twelve weeks since I last cracked this book. I'm gonna know it.

Alright? That is what 2 Peter is all about. It's a great big call. All the information, all of the data that is not just intellectual but is epi gnosis around my life that the Spirit lights up, I'm gonna drink it. I'm gonna take it. And it's gonna change my life and the lives of those around me. You with me?

Yep. That is what 2 Peter is about.

Conclusion: The Connection to Jude

But there is a connection. Next week we'll look at Jude. Jude is a short little book. When we look at Jude, it will be obvious to you that there's enormous correspondence. One of these men read the other's letter. Absolutely. No doubt about it. And next week we'll do a little more of a comparison of how these two letters work.