BIG IDEA:
DILIGENT WATCHMEN ALWAYS STAND GUARD
– OVER PERSONAL CHARACTER
– OVER GOD’S TRUTH
INTRODUCTION:
“Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things”
Our Motivation for Standing Guard and Persevering
I. (:14-15) STAND GUARD OVER PERSONAL CHARACTER
A. Cultivate Peace
“be diligent to be found by Him in peace”
not the absence of turmoil — because Satan is attacking you
Rest in God’s Promises; peace in place of anxiety
Requires concentrated effort
Nieboer: “This is the third time in this epistle that Peter urges his readers to diligence. In 1:5 it is to be diligent in developing Christian character; in 1:10, to be diligent in making our calling and election sure. In our verse we are exhorted to be diligent in our preparation in view of future events, that we may be found of Him in peace. Diligence speaks of hard, honest, persevering effort. Certainly if Christ is worth anything, He is worth a life of diligent service on our part. We represent Him in this world; we have a great work to do and little time to do it.”
B. Remain Spotless and Blameless
“spotless and blameless”
same words used of the Blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-19)
God’s goal is that we escape the corruption that is in the world
Paine: “Peace and holiness are associated in Heb. 12:14.”
McNab: “As under the old covenant the offering made to God must be whole and sound, so the consecration of the Christian to God must be free from any taint of self.”
C. Persevere In:
1. Waiting for God’s Promises
with respect towards His goal of bringing salvation to all of the elect
2. Witnessing While You Still Have Opportunity
this is our role in hastening the day of the Lord
“and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you”
II. (:16-17) STAND GUARD OVER GOD’S TRUTH
(which is under attack from false teachers)
Preserves you in your own steadfastness
World full of people trying to erode God’s Truth:
-Truth can be taken away
-Truth can be eroded over time
– Truth can be diluted with error — no longer pure or effective
Application: we need to preserve the truth as it has been handed down to us; don’t take this responsibility lightly; sometimes you get tired standing for the truth; your words will be distorted; your character will be attacked
cf. Paul — he had to constantly battle false teachers and unprincipled men all the time;
Paul starts a church and then has to revisit it and refute the false teachers who have crept in
Mentality of a Watchman:
moment by moment vigilance; on guard on alert
does not assume that just because things have been peaceful they will continue that way
cf. the alertness and readiness of the Secret Service
A. Difficulty of the Task — Complexity of the Scriptures
“as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand”
Piper:
– Point1: Being inspired, the scriptures reveal the mind of God.
– Point 2: The mind of God is vastly greater than our mind and will often be perceived by us as strange and complex, not familiar and simple.
– Point 3: Therefore the scriptures will sometimes be strange and complex and hard to understand.
– Point 4: The continued selection only of what is simple in the Bible would be a sin in the regular preaching of the church, because Hebrews 5:13 says, ‘Everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness; for he is a child.’
– Point 5: Therefore preaching which aims to deliver the whole counsel of God in Scripture (and which does not presume to be wiser than the apostles), will sometimes be complex and will demand from God’s people the utmost in humility and mental effort.
B. Danger (to Others) of the Task — Distortion Leading to Destruction
“which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
C. Dedication to the Task — Stay on Guard
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard”
D. Danger (to You) of the Task — Deceivers who would Lead You Astray
“lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness.”