All right, now, my text this
morning is the passage that Brother Aaron Wiles just read, 2 Peter
chapter 3. And I want you to start off with
me. I want you to go to the book of Mark chapter 13 to start off
with. The title of this message is
this. What about the last days? What about the last days? That
term, the last days, is used quite often in the New Testament. Peter used it as he opened that
third chapter, talking about verse three, knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after
their own lust. And so what I'm planning to do
is preach several messages on this subject about the last days. What about them? And you know,
when people hear that term, you know, most people normally will
think of the second coming of Christ. And that's okay. That's the culmination of the
last days. The last days technically in
the New Testament refer to a time period, not just one month or
one year or set of years out of it, but a whole time period
that began with the first coming of Christ. and his accomplishing
his work of redemption on the cross, his death, his burial,
his resurrection, and his ascension into glory. We read in John chapter
14, he said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. to do that,
and ascending unto His Father, He is in heaven ever living,
and He is in heaven as God-man, as the mediator, ever living
to make intercession for us. And when He ascended into glory,
that was the beginning of the last days. Now when He comes
back the second time, and He is coming back, that's the culmination,
that's the end of the last days, and the New Testament is the
last days, the New Testament days. Now, there are things that
people think of when they think of the last days. We all have
said we're living in the last days, and that's not wrong, we
are. Most people, when they say that, they think, well, they
really believe that the Lord's coming back before they die.
And I thought about that a little bit because, you know, when I
think about the last days, there's really And there's really two
last days that I want to think about, as far as one day. And that is either the day that
I die and go to meet the Lord, or the day if I'm alive that
he comes back again. But either day it's the same.
I want to be prepared. How about you? I want to be ready
for that day. And I got a little note in the
mail where a fella's telling me that the Lord's coming back
May 21st, 2011. Now you laugh at that. And somebody told me, he said,
well, I know he's not coming back that day, because that fella
said that. But you know, you could line up people to pick every
day. I don't know when he's coming
back, but I know he is. But if he were to come back May
21st, 2011, what happens if I die May 20th? You know, I wanna be prepared
for that day. Either way, it's gonna be the
same. But the Bible has a lot to say about the last days. Paul
had a lot to say about it. We've been studying that in 2
Timothy. Peter had a lot to say. John had a lot to say about it.
The Holy Spirit spoke of the last days. So if you're interested
in that subject that I'm gonna be preaching on in the next few
weeks today, beginning, we're living in the last days. What
should we, who claim to know and believe the gospel of Christ,
who claim to be his disciples, what should we know about that? What should we be concerned with? What should take up our minds
and our time, our study? All right? That's what I want
to deal with in these messages. And I want to know what God's
word says. I don't want to know what what
the Reverend Dr. Pastor So-and-so said. I want
to know what God's Word says here on this subject of the last
days. And when we consider the second
coming of Christ, should we be concerned with when He's coming? Well, that's certainly something
that's on your mind. But I don't believe we can know when the
exact day that he's coming. I believe he said that. We're
gonna look at that beginning next week in Mark 13. There are
people who believe they can figure it out. And I know they're wrong
because the scripture says they're wrong. But we really don't need
to be concerned with figuring out the exact day and time. only to know that he is coming. He's coming. It may be, before
I finish this message, it may be a hundred years from now.
I know these time period things that people get into in figuring
out time, you know, it's a little different. You know, one scholar
has his way of figuring out and another scholar has his way.
So those are things we can't be sure of. Peter's going to
be talking about things we can be sure of. And those are the
things we need to know. But I know he's coming back,
and it could be any time. It could be any day. Should we
be concerned with who the Antichrist is? That's a big thing today. Well, I'll be honest with you,
not really. Not really. I know this. We should
be concerned with this. Now, this is what the scripture
says, and this is what we know. We should be concerned with understanding
and knowing and discerning what the Bible calls the spirit of
Antichrist that is now among us. It's now among us. And what is that spirit? Well,
the spirit of Antichrist is that spirit that comes in the name
of Christ. Now mark this down in your minds
or somewhere else where you can find it. It's that spirit that
comes in the name of Christ but denies the truth of Christ. Now that's the spirit of Antichrist. In the book of Revelation, you
know, it speaks of those who are in opposition to Christ.
It speaks of Babylon and that kind of thing. That's false religion.
That's That's what Babylon is. That's what Babylon represents. The word Babylon, the name Babylon
has its roots all the way back to the Tower of Babel. And we
get our word babbling from that. That's not what it originally
meant. It originally had to do with really searching out and
seeking the Lord. But man corrupted it, you see. And so it turned into a spirit
of babbling and vain jangling, as Paul called it. just gibberish
that had nothing to do with truth. So you have the spirit of false
religion, and then you have another specific spirit called Antichrist. Now, some people believe that
that's one particular individual. Some disagree. I don't care. I know this. What does the Bible
tell me that I need to know about Antichrist? That's what I want
to know. That spirit of Antichrist is the spirit that comes in the
name of Christ. We'll see this here in Mark 13,
that denies the truth of Christ, okay? And we'll see that more. You see, should we be concerned
with that? We should be. We should be because
we need to be able to recognize it. And then let me ask you this
question, should we be concerned with what's going on in the Mideast
with the nation Israel? Well, certainly I think we should
be concerned with events in our world, but not in a religious
way. Not in a religious way. The main
thing that we as professing believers in Christ should be concerned
with in consideration of the last days, in consideration of
the second coming of Christ is this. And I'll put it to you
this way, since I mentioned this before. When I die and go meet
the Lord, or if I'm alive when he comes again, here's what I
need to be concerned with. How will he find me? How will he find me? Will he find me believing, trusting,
resting in him? For all my salvation, for all
my eternal life, for all my righteousness, for all my holiness, for all
glory, is that the way he'll find me? In hopeful and joyous
expectation of his coming? Or will he find me forsaking
him, ignoring him, scoffing him? How will he find me? That's the
key. Paul said, Oh, that I may know him and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith. that I may know the fellowship
of his suffering, the resurrection, if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection, oh, that I may know him. I must have Christ. I want to be found in him. And
let me tell you something, to be found in him is to believe
in him as the as the God-man mediator, the incarnate Word
of God. He is God and man. Anything less
is not to be found in Him. You deny His deity, you deny
His humanity, His sinless humanity is not to be found in Him. That's
a false Christ. I want to be found in Him. To
be found in Him is to rest in His finished work alone at the
cross. for my whole forgiveness, His
blood, my whole justification, His righteousness. That's what
it is to be found in Him. To be found in Him is to be found
feeding upon His Word, worshiping. That's right, following Him as
my Lord and Savior. Last week I preached from Matthew
22, 42, where Christ posed this question. to his detractors. He said, what think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? And
that's the crux of the whole matter. In my salvation, here's
where it all hinges, right here, what do I think of Christ? First
Peter chapter 2 and verse 7 says, unto you therefore which believe
he is precious. He's my honor. He's my all and
all. He's the Lord my righteousness.
What think ye of Christ? When the Lord comes back, what
will he find concerning my thoughts towards him? And our thoughts
towards him must be right. Now let me show you why. Look
at Mark 13. First of all, look at verse 5. Now, as I said, my
plan is I'm going to come back here next week and I'm going
to start through Mark 13. This is what they call the Olivet
Discourse. And the reason they call it that
is a sermon that was preached to the disciples by the Lord
from the Mount of Olives. And if you wanna get ahead, read
this. Read this sermon in Mark 13. If you wanna read the parallels
in Matthew and Luke, read Matthew 24. That's where it is in Matthew
24. I'll be referring to that too.
And then Luke 21. So you got Matthew 24, Mark 13,
and Luke 21. Read that. Study that out for
yourselves. And then I'm gonna come back
and I'm gonna use Mark 13 as the basis of my messages on this,
but we'll be going to Luke and to Matthew. But here's why it's
so important when we consider the last days and these issues
of the second coming of Christ and Antichrist, why it's so important
that we understand what we really think of Christ. He says in verse
5, he says, they asked him, they said, when shall all these things
be fulfilled, the things that he predicted? And it says in
verse 5, and Jesus answering them began to say, take heed
lest any deceive you. For many shall come in my name. Now here's the spirit of Antichrist.
They'll come in his name. In other words, he's not talking
about people standing up behind pulpits or lecterns like this
and just openly denying Jesus. But they'll come in his name.
And they'll say, I am Christ and shall, listen to this, and
shall deceive many. Now I don't wanna be deceived,
how about you? And then look over at Mark 13 verse 20. Look
at verse 20. He says in verse 20, and accept
that the Lord had shortened those days. Now that language there,
it may not give you the idea of what he's really saying. It's
not that the Lord had a set length of time for those days, and then
because of the wickedness of man, he made them shorter than
he originally intended. All it's simply saying, the days
being shortened, is that there is a set time set by the Lord,
and it won't go beyond or below that. And it's a very short time,
it is. He says, except the Lord had
shortened those days, no flesh should be saved. Wow. That's an amazing thing now.
There's a lot of people on earth at this time. And he says, but
for the elect's sake. Now remember I did all those
messages now about assurance of salvation, making your calling
and election sure. Now for the elect's sake, who's
elect? God's elect. That's the number
I want to be in. How about you? He says, whom
he hath chosen, he hath shortened those days. There's a set number
of time, number of days that God set. And he says in verse
21, and then if any man shall say to you, lo, here is Christ
or lo, he is there, believe him not for false Christ and false
prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders. Oh my,
now listen to it. Listen to the word of God now.
They'll show signs and wonders, impressive. And he says, to seduce. That's the seduction of religion. And he says, if it were possible,
even the elect. Thank God it's not possible.
But if it were, this is how close these fellows will come. This
is how impressive they'll be. And he says, but take ye heed. You listen up. Behold, I foretold
you all things. I've told you this beforehand.
Now go to 2 Peter 3. Now this is the exact same thing
that Peter is saying here, and here's what I wanna get to. Let's
just do a read through on this passage, and I'll make a few
comments, but he says in verse one, now listen to this, let's
lead up. Here's what he's saying. Now knowing that I've told you
these things, and just like Christ said there in Mark 13, behold
I, listen up, I've told you now, ignorance can be no excuse here.
And he says, now here's the kind of people we ought to be. That's
what Peter's saying. Here's the kind of people we
ought to be. Now look at in verse one, he says, this second epistle,
beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance. He's writing to people who have
pure minds here. Somebody says, well, he sure
isn't writing to me then. I could say that, couldn't I?
Well, the pure mind, what is a pure mind in the Bible? What
is a pure heart? What is a purified conscience?
It's not a sinlessly perfect mind. If he's writing to people
here who have a sinlessly perfect mind, he's writing to people
who are already in heaven, not anybody on earth. And if you
don't believe that, you're just deceived yourself. Am I right? Be honest. The pure mind is a
mind of faith. It's a mind set on Christ. That's
what it is. It's a heart of faith, believing
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he's writing to. That's
the purified mind, purified by the blood of Christ. And I'm
a sinner, and my sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ. That's
a pure mind. You see that? And so he's writing, I wanna
bring you into remembrance. Verse two, he says, that you
may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord
and Savior. In other words, what I'm telling
you is nothing new. This has always been, it's the same gospel,
it's the same truth. I'm gonna remind you of it. The
prophets, they preached it. Not just Daniel now. I know Daniel
had a lot to say about the second coming. I agree with that. I
think a lot of people take some of those things too far and apply
it here and there where it shouldn't be. But listen to me, Isaiah
preached it, Jeremiah preached it, Samuel preached it, Elijah,
you can go right on. It's the same gospel because
all these prophets pointed sinners to Christ for salvation, for
life, for righteousness, for glory. And that's our only hope,
that was their only hope when he comes again. And he says the
apostles, The church is built upon the foundation of the prophets
and the apostles. That's the preaching of Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. So he says in verse 3, knowing
this first that there shall come in the last days, those days
that we've already talked about, scoffers. Now a scoffer is one
who stands against or denies the truth of the grace of God
in Christ. And you can scoff in a lot of
different ways. You can make fun of it. That's a scoffer.
Somebody who scoffs at it, somebody who makes fun of it. They tell
jokes about it because they don't believe it. They think it's ridiculous. They think the person who believes
this is a nut. And they scoff at it. Another
way to scoff at it is to deny it. Another way to scoff at it
is to ignore it. You don't think the Lord takes
that personally? When we ignore it, He sure does. A person who
claims to believe it but they ignore it, They don't really
believe it, that's what he says. And that's a scoffer, and he
says they walk after their own lust, that's their own appetites,
their own ideas, their own thoughts, their own desires, whatever those
desires may be. That's not just talking about
sexual lust here, that's talking about any unlawful desire that
denies the glory of God, denies the preeminence of Christ, Denies
the the salvation of sinners by his grace and denies the edification
of the church the unification of the church now I'm not talking
about the unification church capital you that's a bunch of
bull I'm talking about I'm talking about the union of the church
All right, the church being united together and growing up together
in Christ And that's, they walk after their unlawful lust. And here's what he says, here's
the specific problem he's dealing with here. He says, and they're
saying, verse four, where is the promise of his coming? It's
almost like they're saying, well, you say he's coming again. Well,
look around, he hasn't come yet. That looks like a promise that's
failed. You believe a lie. And they say, for since, now
listen to their reasoning. Now listen, he says, for since
the fathers fell asleep. Now who are the fathers? Well
that usually, in the Jewish community, would go back to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. So he'd say, since the fathers fell asleep, all
things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Everything's just like it always has been. That's just stupid. Do you think
everything has been just like it always has been? And he uses
two points here about God's truth to prove them wrong. Creation
and the flood. Creation and the flood. And he
says in verse five, for this they willingly are ignorant.
In other words, this is a willful ignorance. This is not even reasonable.
That's what he's saying. In other words, they're just
denying the obvious. He said, that by the word of
God, now that's the key. By God's word, the heavens were
of old and the earth standing out or consisting out of the
water and in the water. That's referring to the original
creation where you had the waters above like a mist and the waters
below underneath the earth. In other words, the earth was
watered like a greenhouse back then. It hadn't rained, you say. That didn't happen until the
flood. And it was watered and nourished like a greenhouse.
before the fall. And so he said, God spoke that
into existence. God, by his word, created this
world, this universe. And he says in verse 6, whereby
the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.
Now that's the flood. This world fell. We fell in Adam. That's why we by nature and by
practice deserve condemnation, damnation, all of these things,
you see. But the flood came, he says in
verse 7, but the heavens and the earth which are now by the
same word are kept in store. There's a preservation going
on right now as I speak, right now. It was in Peter's time,
all this time, this is a preservation. It's kept in store for a purpose. In other words, it's preserved
for a purpose. purpose. Let me show you. He said, first
of all, the purpose is for judgment. This world is reserved by God's
Word for judgment. He says, reserved unto fire against
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. God is going
to punish the guilty. And that fire I believe is a
literal fire that God is going to burn this earth up. And the
day of judgment is the day of his judgment against the guilty
and perdition is eternal damnation. And it's against ungodly men.
Now, what is an ungodly man? What is a godly man? In the Bible,
an ungodly man is a man without Christ, without grace. A godly man is a man with Christ,
with grace, period. It's that simple. An ungodly
man is an unbeliever. A godly man is a man who's been
given faith to receive and rest in Christ. So he says in verse
8, But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day. Don't ever fall into the error of thinking that God
thinks about and is subject to time as we are. Somebody said, When you're young,
you think a week is long. Your middle age, you think a
year is long. When you're old age, 50 years,
like that. Like a weaver's shuttle, Job
said. Like the vapor that comes off
of a steam pot. That's right, and that's the
way it is. See, our time perspective changes as we get older. But
God, with God, it's not like that. You see, we may think,
oh, it's been such a long time. God doesn't think that way at
all. One day is 1,000 years with Him, and 1,000 years is a day.
Now, some people take that literally. They say, well, if it's one day
and they try to figure it out mathematically, they do what
they call biblical math. Biblical math is really suspect
now. Don't get involved in all that. But I don't believe it's
literal. I believe it's just simply saying
that it's not been very long. It may seem to us like it has,
but it's not. But here's the key, verse 9,
the Lord is not slack or negligent concerning His promise. What's
His promise? His promise, number one, to save
His people by His grace through Christ. His promise, number two,
to send Christ again to judge this world and to gather His
people unto Himself. Remember I said that it was a
two-fold purpose? He's going to bring judgment
against the ungodly, those who are without Christ. Well, here's
the second. Here's the second purpose. He
says, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count
slackness. In other words, it's not a long
time, it's not a delay as some people think it is. He said,
you know, some people say, well, he's delayed in his coming because
the Jews are not yet obedient and the temple's not rebuilt
in Jerusalem. And I've actually heard people
say this, say, oh man, let's pray that the Jews will get obedient
so that the Lord won't delay his coming any longer. That is
not scriptural. That's reasoning from the ground
up and not from God's truth down, you see. Well, he says, but God
is long-suffering. Now listen to this. God is long-suffering
to usward. God is long-suffering. He's suffering
long. All right, he's counted, he's
brought in this time factor to usward, not willing that any
should perish. Who's the any there? That's the
usward. It's not all without exception, but that all, all
who, the usward, should come to repentance, the salvation
of his people. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. That's the elect, for the very
elect's sake, all who come to repentance. Not all without exception. God is a just God. But look at
verse 10, he says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief
in the night. Now that doesn't mean, now let
me say this, I believe who he's got in mind there are the scoffers.
Now we don't know the exact day and time the Lord's coming, but
we know he is coming. And we're to live every day as
if that's the day he's coming. so that we won't be surprised
and ashamed like a thief that breaks into your house. But now
to these scoffers, they're going to be surprised and they're going
to be ashamed. It's going to hit them just like a thief breaking
into their home. They're laying in their bed sleeping
peacefully and somebody broke into their home and stealing
everything they've got and they're amazed. So he won't overtake
me or you who believe as a thief in the night. Like I said, we
don't know when exactly he's coming, what day, but we know
he is. And we're prepared for him because we know Christ. we
look to Him and rest in Him. So he says in verse 10, that
as the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the
which the heaven shall pass away with a great noise and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. You know, a lot of people
think that's describing nuclear holocaust. I don't believe it
is, but I don't know how the Lord's going to do all this,
but He's going to do it. But he says in verse 11, now
listen to this, he says, seeing then that all these things shall
be dissolved, everything that we put so much stock in, all
right, everything that we love so dearly and try to hold on
to, it's gonna be dissolved. He says, what manner of persons,
what kind of people ought you to be in all holy conversation
and godliness? Now let me give you these words
as I read through this. Number one is grace, saved by grace. Because he says, what manner
of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? What is holy conversation? That's
a holy walk. What does holy mean? Well, most
people, when they go to that word holy, they think of moral
perfection. That's not what it means. Now,
should we strive to be morally perfect? Yes, we should strive
to be like Christ. But what does that holy mean?
It means separate. It means distinct. It has to
do with a certain kind of walk. that believers are engaged in
and unbelievers aren't. You know what it is? It's the
walk of faith in Christ. It's a disciple of Christ seeking
to worship Him and follow Him. That's what it's talking about,
living by faith. That's what that holy conversation
is. And in order to do that, the
first thing that we need is to be saved by the grace of God
in Christ. Without that, there is no holy
conversation. He says godliness. Peter had
already said back over in 2 Peter 1 and verse 3, how he has begotten
us into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. to an inheritance incorruptible,
undivisible." That's 1 Peter. In 2 Peter where he says in verse
3, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness. Godliness is walking by faith
in Christ. It's following Christ. It's resting
in Christ. It's not trying to make yourself
righteous before God. A person who is doing their best
to try to make themselves righteous before God by their works is
not walking in godliness. That is ungodliness according
to the Scriptures. I'm serious now. That's what
God's Word says. They're bringing forth fruit
unto death. Paul said, before I knew Christ, I was doing everything
I could to keep the law in order to be saved. He said, but I count
all that but done for the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in Christ. The Jews were trying to be righteous
by their works under the law, but they didn't make it, and
they stumbled at the stumbling stone, for Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So
the first word is grace. We've got to be people of grace.
That's number one. What kind of people should we
be? People of grace. I'm saved by grace, I'm kept
by grace, I'm made righteous by grace, I'm forgiven by grace,
I'll be preserved by grace, and I'll enter glory by grace. Christ,
Christ, Christ, Christ. It's all conditioned on Him.
He fulfilled the conditions. Look at verse 12. Here's the
next word, expectant. We expect something to happen.
He says, verse 12, looking for and hasting unto the coming of
the day of God. Now that hasting means eagerly
expecting. And the day of God is the day
of Christ's second coming. That's the day of judgment. And
he says, where in the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. We ought to be
a people of expectation, people of grace and a people of expectation. We ought to live our lives every
day as those who expect him to come back any day now, any time
now, any hour now. That's right. Now that doesn't
mean we're going to quit our jobs and go live in a cave. Listen, we're to do what God
says. We're to worship God. We're to seek him. We're to fellowship
with God's people. And we're to go about our lives,
taking care of ourselves and our family in a way that's godly,
expecting him to come back any day, any time now. Verse 13,
here's the next word, assured. We're to be people of assurance.
Now that assurance is not presumption. It's based on the word of God.
He says in verse 13, nevertheless, we according to his promise. Our assurance is based on his
promise. It's not based upon what I feel. It's not based upon
what's going on in the world around me. It's not based upon
what I read in the headlines today. It's based upon what God
promised. And what did He promise? He promised
that everyone who stands before Him at judgment in Christ will
be declared what? Not guilty, forgiven, righteous
before the whole universe. That's right. All the promises
of God in Christ are yea and in Him, amen. And so we look
for a new heavens and a new earth. That word new there is not new
chronologically in time, it's new in quality. Somebody asked
me one time, said, well, is it going to be the same earth just
burnt up and made new, or is it going to be this one going
to be obliterated and a new one completely going to be made?
I don't know. You don't either. I just know
it's going to be new. It's not going to be like this. That's what we know. And he says,
look here, verse 13, where in dwelleth righteousness? Nobody's
going to dwell in this new heaven and new earth. Whatever place
God sees fit to give us, unless they're righteous. Now the question
is, how can I get prepared for that? How can I be righteous
before God? There's only one way in the Bible
and that's in Christ. I'm righteous in Him. He took
my sins and nailed them to the cross and He gave me His righteousness. I stand before God complete in
the righteousness of Christ imputed, charged, accounted to me. Verse 14, here's the next word,
diligent. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent. That means don't be
lazy. Don't quit. Don't quit working. What are we working for? We're
not working for salvation. We're not working for righteousness.
What are we doing? We're bringing forth fruit unto
God, that you may be found in Him, of Him in peace without
spot and blameless. We're seeking to be like Christ.
In verse 15, an account that the longsuffering of our Lord
is salvation. Here's the next word, patient.
As long as Christ hasn't come back yet, you know what that
means? That means He still has some people to bring into the
kingdom. His longsuffering is salvation. He's still saving
people. Even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom
given unto him hath written unto you, has also in all his epistles
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to be understood." Now, Peter doesn't really elaborate on that.
He might be talking about these issues of Jew and Gentile that
he had so much of a problem with that Paul didn't. But he says,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, that word
rest means to twist, as they do also the other scriptures
under their own destruction. People taking the scriptures
and twisting them to their own destruction. Verse 17, he says,
you therefore, beloved, seeing that you know these things before
us, we read that in Mark 13, beware. Well, to be a careful
people. Beware lest you also being led
away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness. We ought to be a steadfast people,
steady, careful about what we hear, what we follow, what we
listen to, steady. And then he says in verse 18,
here's the next one, growing, but grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be glory,
both now and forever. We ought to be growing. How do
we grow? Well, Peter said it, we grow
by feeding upon the word of God. We grow by prayer. We grow in
fellowship. That's how we grow in grace and
in knowledge of the Lord. All right.