August 3, 2025 • 46 mins
The paradox at the heart of Christian life can feel impossible to resolve: how can we strive diligently for holiness while simultaneously experiencing deep peace? In this final sermon on 2 Peter, we explore the apostle's parting wisdom to believers awaiting Christ's return and a world "in which righteousness dwells."
Peter challenges us with seemingly contradictory instructions: "Be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish and at peace." This tension between extreme effort and complete rest captures the unique essence of Christian spirituality. While acknowledging that some spiritual truths are "hard to understand," Peter warns against both abandoning Scripture as too difficult and manipulating it to fit our preconceptions.
The solution emerges in Peter's final charge: "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." Grace isn't simply a one-time gift but a dynamic reality we continuously grow into. As we mature spiritually, we discover how to pursue holiness while resting in Christ's finished work.
This message offers three practical applications: First, don't waste your waiting time – invest it wisely in eternal purposes. Second, embrace the paradox that while perfection remains beyond reach in this life, genuine transformation is guaranteed for true believers. Finally, find peace by becoming a better receiver of God's grace rather than striving to achieve it through your own efforts.
Unlike Buddha's reported final words—"strive without ceasing"—Christ's last declaration was "it is finished." Our spiritual journey isn't about endless effort but about learning to live from the victory already won for us. What would change if you truly believed God is keeping you while enabling you to participate in your own spiritual growth? How might this understanding transform your daily walk with Christ?
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning.
Please turn in your Bibles to 2Peter 3, 14-18.
It's page 1019 in the PewBibles and follow along as I
read God's Word.
Therefore, beloved, since youare waiting for these, be
diligent to be found by Himwithout spot or blemish and at
(00:23):
peace.
Found by him without spot orblemish and at peace, and count
the patience of our Lord assalvation, just as our beloved
brother Paul also wrote to youaccording to the wisdom given
him, as he does in all hisletters when he speaks in them
of these matters.
There are some things in themthat are hard to understand,
which the ignorant and unstabletwist to their own destruction,
(00:45):
as they do the other scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, knowingthis beforehand, take care that
you are not carried away withthe error of lawless people and
lose your own stability, butgrow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, jesusChrist.
To him be the glory, both nowand to the day of eternity.
(01:06):
Amen.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Amen, thank you.
Well, guys, we finish a book ofthe Bible this morning, which
is always something worthcelebrating, so praise God for
that Also.
Yeah, excited about who else isexcited here?
Also a couple of things I wantto mention to you Out of
curiosity.
How many of you sit in justabout the same space every
Sunday?
Just by show of hands, you'vekind of got your space Out of
(01:35):
curiosity.
Who couldn't get their seatthis morning because you got
here a little later than you?
I'm just curious, like you'renot in trouble, yeah, who's like
?
I feel displaced this morning,so sometimes it's really good
for us to be displaced.
If I could give you anencouragement I think there is a
beautiful thing about youhaving sort of like your spot I
would encourage you, everycouple of months, intentionally
(01:56):
sit somewhere else, whether youshow up late or on time or
otherwise, just to meet folks inthe church that you may not
otherwise meet.
Second question by show ofhands, how many of you are
usually first service people?
By show of hands, okay, do wehave any second service people
that snuck in this morning?
Okay, a couple of you.
Now, all I want you to notice isthe disparity between how many
(02:21):
of you are normally firstservice and how many are
normally second.
There's not a lot of crossover.
We get some in the summer,depending on how late your night
was or if you're driving to orfrom the beach.
So what we're gonna be doingnext week I'm looking for a
staffer.
Here is one another Sunday nextweek.
Yes, every now and then we tryto do this where, much to your
chagrin and just difficulty, I'mgoing to preach a little
(02:44):
shorter next week and, quiteeasy, easy, I felt a clap coming
on and I didn't need it.
I'm going to preach a littleshorter next week.
We're going to finish about 10or 15 minutes earlier than usual
so that you guys can have timeto fellowship, not only with
folks who we do church with wecan celebrate the birthday of
(03:06):
our church as we finish yearseven and begin year eight but
we're also inviting folks whoare typically second service
folks to come a little early andwe would love to have a half an
hour where you just hang out.
I think we're going to havecotton candy and popcorn and
stuff like that, which it soundsearly to me, but we own cotton
(03:27):
candy and popcorn machines.
This is like how it's going togo.
I think we have something else.
Josiah, is the icy girl pullingup, maybe.
Yeah, okay, so we're going tobe celebrating our birthday, but
more than just celebrating ourbirthday, man, would I love for
you to meet some folks that youdo church with, that you may not
even know, and so plan to staya little later and hang out and
meet some folks next week.
(03:49):
It would be a blessing to me ifyou made that a priority, so
please do.
All right.
So here we are.
We're in 2 Peter.
We are going to finisheverything that you see on the
screen.
That is all that we have leftin 2 Peter.
About four or five verses leftin the entirety of 2 Peter.
Joanna already read it to us.
What I want you to understand is, usually, when we work through
(04:12):
a scripture, we kind of workthrough it like this, straight
down.
If you're following along inyour own Bible, here's what
you're going to notice.
You're going to notice that weactually start in this sort of
middle section and then we go upto A and we finish at C.
It'll make sense why we do that, as we sort of begin working
through the text.
But I hate it when I'm tryingto follow along with a pastor
(04:36):
and I'm like wait a minute,didn't you already read that?
Why are you going back?
So I'm just giving you a headsup.
We're going B, a, c as we sortof navigate this text this
morning.
And here is.
I just said that and I'm goingto read to you A, just don't
settle in on it yet.
Therefore, beloved, since youare waiting for these, what is
(04:59):
Peter talking about?
If you weren't here last week,there's no way for you to know,
unless you know 2 Peter quitewell.
The way 2 Peter ended was thisGod is creating a world in which
something dwells.
Does anybody want to guess, orlook one verse up from what I've
shown you A world in whichrighteousness dwells.
(05:21):
Now, a very clean way to definerighteousness is just as God
intended it.
What is a righteous husband?
It's a husband as God intendedit.
What's a righteous family?
A family as God intended it.
What's a righteous business?
What's a righteous church?
What's a righteous nation?
It is as God intended it.
So Peter's saying therefore,people whom I love, if you're
(05:42):
looking in your Bibles aboveverse 14, many of you are going
to have in italics, final wordsPeter is in prison, the end of
his life is coming, and theseare the last thing he wants to
leave the Christians he sodearly loves with Beloved.
Since you are waiting for aworld as God intended it that's
(06:02):
what he's saying.
While you're longing for aworld in which there isn't
brokenness and war and famineand death and struggle and
stress and depression andanxiety, while you're waiting
for this, hey, christians, bediligent to be found by him, be
found by God without spots orwithout blemish, and at peace.
(06:23):
And I think, ironically, thisis one of the hardest scriptures
Peter wrote to us in his entireletter.
The reason I say it's ironic isbecause in just a minute he
says I have troubleunderstanding some of Paul's
writing.
Did you notice that If you go alittle bit further in the text,
(06:45):
you're going to see him saythis Paul also wrote to you
according to the wisdom givenhim, as he does in all his
letters when he speaks in themof these matters.
There are some things in themthat are hard to understand.
Peter's, like Paul's, kind ofcomplicated guys, and I'm like
(07:06):
Peter.
Yeah, paul is sort ofcomplicated, but so are you.
And let me tell you why.
You're a little complicated,peter.
You just told me to be diligentto be found by God without a
spot or a blemish.
And then you said and be atpeace.
It's like, well, hang on.
Flag on the field here.
Time out for a minute.
(07:34):
How am I supposed to be diligent, to be found by God?
Not like pretty good, betterthan the person next to you,
david Blanchard?
What a beautiful call toworship.
We're here to be little.
We're not here to compareourselves.
How on earth am I supposed tolike be serious, diligent,
hardworking about nobody findinga spot or a blemish in me and
be peaceful?
To me, those are mutuallyexclusive things.
If I am trying to like get ridof all the brokenness in me, it
(07:58):
is not usually peace that I find.
How can I possibly find peacewhile I'm diligently striving to
be without blemish?
Now, some of you are alreadyanswering this question.
Some of you are like well, willI know some theology?
And the word grace is anexcellent thing to apply to this
question right now.
You're not wrong, but beforeyou just, real quick, grab a
(08:19):
theological statement, becareful of knowledge that comes
without faith and you slam it onhere.
I want you to feel what Peterjust said.
What Peter just said was I wantGod to find you without a spot.
I want him to find you withouta blemish, which means here's
the fruit of the spirit.
How are you doing?
Oh, spotless fruit.
(08:40):
You just take a look.
How's everybody doing in thelove and joy this morning?
Peace snuck in there, by theway.
These are things that the Biblesays you can never have too
much of.
Against such things there is nolaw.
But it isn't just the fruit ofthe Spirit.
What if, all of a sudden, I sayhow's your love game?
How's that patience?
(09:01):
You're resenting anybody rightnow Dealing with any boastful
thoughts?
Are you believing and hoping inall good things?
Does your love to your spouse,to your children, to your
co-workers, never end?
I'm just telling you, when Willreads this without spot and
blemish is not how he feels.
But the Bible doesn't stopthere.
(09:22):
Bible's got lists, like my wifegot lists Philippians 4.8.
Let me tell you what your brainshould be thinking about.
Hey, believer, I only want youto think about what is true,
just pure.
That one will get you Lovely,commendable and excellent If
it's worthy of praise.
Think about that, but that's it.
(09:43):
That's what I want you to thinkon.
How's your spotless,blemishless self?
And, as you can probably tellfrom the slide that I've built.
There's a fourth, but there'snot.
But there is.
This is Peter's list.
We call it the list of virtues.
Y'all remember this.
Hey, if you're going to havefaith, that's great, but add to
(10:03):
it virtue, knowledge,self-control, steadfastness,
godliness, affection for yourbrother.
I'll just tell you, guys, wecould keep adding scripture to
this if we wanted to, but Idon't think we have to.
When you think of your home life, when you think of your work
life, when you think of yourplay life this is not rhetorical
(10:23):
.
Please don't answer out loud.
Who's feeling spotless rightnow?
Who's feeling without blemishwhen we see these things?
And yet that's exactly whatPeter says, which is why I am so
glad.
The next thing he says is somethings in the Bible are a little
difficult to understand.
Count the patience of our Lordas salvation.
(10:45):
Aren't we glad that he ispatient with us in the midst of
our spots and our blemishes?
Thomas, did you take the waterwith you or am I about?
I do not want to drink yourwater.
Yeah, but I don't know how do Iknow which one's yours?
Did you drink out of this one?
I just don't.
I'll be honest with you.
I don't trust drinking afteryou.
I'll drink after some people Idon't trust drinking after you.
Okay, that isn't my tea.
(11:08):
I don't know whose that is,count the patience of the Lord
as salvation, just as ourbeloved brother Paul, who also
wrote to you according to thewisdom given him, as he does in
all his letters when he speaksto them in them of these matters
(11:32):
.
I cannot tell you how much Ilove this Bible verse.
I don't know when it happens,when you feel like you're
supposed to know what scripturemeans and like all things.
Certainly, if you decide to goto seminary, people expect you
to have the answers.
If you become a youth pastor,at least the teenagers expect
(11:54):
you to have the answers.
The adults are like whatever,what do you know about life?
But, thomas, tell them I'mwrong.
I'm not wrong.
It could be just whenever youstand up in front of somebody
with a Bible.
If you've ever led a Biblestudy or led a small group or
something like that, do you knowhow freeing it is and I hope
(12:14):
you feel this freedom for Peterto say the Bible sometimes is
just difficult to understand.
Peter could literally say Iwalked around with Jesus for
three years.
I listened to him teach, Iwatched people's faces as the
light bulb was clicking and theBible is just tough sometimes
(12:35):
and one of the gifts that Ithink Peter gives us in this is
the understanding that this isnot only true.
But it is good for you to knowbeforehand, because the ignorant
and the unstable do somethingto Scripture that they ought not
to do.
You therefore, beloved, knowingthis beforehand, take care that
(12:58):
you are not carried away withthe errors that come from
ignorant, unstable people whotwist the word of God, of
lawless people, because Peterdoesn't want them to lose their
own stability.
All of us come to scripture witha little bit of a twisted
thinking.
There's no way for you not to.
Your brain, your mind, yourexperiences, your world, your
(13:20):
relationships are not spotless.
They are not without blemish.
The way that you look at orunderstand anything is somehow
tainted by your imperfection,your fallibility and how small
you actually are.
But there's a problem if youthink the Bible will always be
too hard to understand.
And there's also a problem ifyou think the Bible will never
(13:41):
be too hard to understand, ifyou think that the Bible is
always going to be too hard tounderstand.
If you think that the Bible isalways going to be too hard to
understand, you are going totwist away from it and you're
just going to walk away and findsomething else.
But I think the second thoughtis actually more potentially
condemning.
If you think the Bible is neversupposed to be too hard for you
(14:01):
to understand, you're not goingto twist yourself away from it.
You're going to twist it tomeet your expectations of what
it is.
And I'll tell you when it's thesneakiest.
When it is the sneakiest iswhen you feel like you can open
up your Bible without prayer andunderstand it.
When it is the sneakiest iswhen you feel like you can give
(14:21):
someone advice, even give themscripture, without prayerfully
coming to God and saying Lord,am I understanding this
correctly?
If I believe that the Bible issometimes too hard to understand
, if I believe that it'ssometimes easy to understand but
sometimes far too hard, itchanges the way that I approach
(14:42):
it.
I'm gonna pray before I do.
Dwight, I'm thinking about yourtestimony two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, when you saidsomething to the effect of the
Bible was really easy until Ibecame a Christian.
And then, once I realized thatthese things are spiritually
understood, I realized that thisBible is so much deeper than I
could ever imagine.
(15:03):
Beautiful quote here by StJerome.
If you don't know St Jerome, hetranslated the Bible into Latin
.
You've never read his version.
It's not the LIV, so you'venever read it.
But here is what St Jerome saidthe scriptures are shallow
enough for a babe to come anddrink without fear of drowning
and deep enough for a theologianto swim in without ever
(15:26):
touching the bottom.
When we go to God's word, whatPeter and Paul want you to
notice is how quickly ignorantpeople and unstable people are
going to twist his word.
Please notice that difference.
You will twist God's word notjust if you're unstable, not
(15:49):
just if you want it to saysomething different.
You're prone to twist God'sword just out of sheer ignorance
, out of spiritual ignorance orignorance in the sense that you
haven't really spent timestudying it.
This word twist actually comesfrom the word by which we get
torture from.
(16:09):
What Peter's saying is we areprone to torture scripture.
The idea here is of a torturerack.
I tried to find a real picture.
They're hard to find real onesnowadays.
Believe it or not.
I guess the practice has goneout of vogue.
But this is what a rack wouldhave looked like, and the reason
(16:31):
I show you this picture from atextbook in 1884 is because it
was actually the clearestpicture I could find.
But what I want you to noticeis this the concept was you
would lay a subject out on sortof this large wooden table.
Their hands would be attachedto a crank on one side and their
feet would be attached to theother.
(16:52):
Now, for whatever reason, thisperson was being tortured.
There were a million differentreasons that humans came up with
to harm and hate others.
But when the Bible says, twist,what would happen here is, as
it was cranked, the body wouldbe pulled out of its natural
form, tendons would break,joints would dislocate.
(17:16):
And when you think of this ideaand you look at this scripture,
I think it gives us a real goodpicture of what Peter's saying.
He's saying might you be prone,out of ignorance or just
because you want to find whatyou want to find in there, to
pull scripture outside of itsoriginal design, to dislocate it
(17:36):
from where God would actuallyhave it to be?
And the reality is all of usare prone to do this.
But if Peter can point to thisand if Peter can say, man, you
have got to come to the Biblehumbly.
If Peter can say I don't fullyunderstand this, but I do want
to make sure that I handle itwith care, then I think that is
(17:58):
exactly how he would have usmove forward.
As we consider what it is thathe means to be diligent, to be
without spot, but also to be atpeace.
The first thing that I think hewould have us find is that you
not waste the waiting of life.
As you are waiting, be diligentNow.
(18:24):
Honestly, I don't think this ismuch of a stretch, pun intended
.
I don't think this is much of astretch on many of you.
If you're in line at Target andthe line is long.
If you're in line atChick-fil-A no offense and the
line is long, most of you aregoing to do something.
What are you going to do whileyou're standing in line?
(18:44):
Yeah, you're gonna pull outyour phone.
Now.
Y'all mumbled that one, but I amcorrect in saying I'm not the
only one who pulls out my phonewhen I'm standing in line,
correct?
Y'all are either pulling outyour phone or you're
evangelizing the person in frontof and behind you, correct?
We're all doing the same thing,right?
So you pull out your phone andyou make an immediate decision
(19:05):
as soon as it comes out, andsometimes the notifications, if
you're not careful, are going todictate.
You are either going to doom,scroll into nothingness and you
are not going to be diligent.
You are going to waste thewaiting.
Or you're going to say I'mgoing to catch up on some emails
, I'm going to look over therecipe that I'm thinking about
cooking for dinner tonight, I'mgoing to hop onto my text
(19:25):
messages because I have far toomany blue dots and red
notifications.
I am not going to waste thewait.
Am I correct that you guys dothis?
Right?
This is a human thing, allright.
While we're standing in line,peter is saying the same thing,
since you are in the midst ofwaiting, and what he's pointing
at is waiting on the return ofChrist, waiting on the world to
(19:45):
be made righteous by God.
While we're waiting on thingsto be as God intended for them
to be, be diligent, make thebest use of the time.
Ephesians 5.
Hey, christian, look carefullythen how you walk, not as unwise
, but as wise.
Make the best use of the timethat God has given you.
(20:07):
And that would be enough of theverse, but notice the very end
of it why?
Why, when we pull out ourphones, should we be thinking
about memorizing Scripture?
Why, when you're standing inline, is it good for you to have
a Scripture memory band on.
Why should we look at our livesas though every day counts and
matters?
Because you and I are living indays that are not righteous.
We're living in days that areevil.
(20:27):
Every moment of every day.
There is a war that is going on, and the question is on which
side of it are you?
There is a war to lull peopleto sleep that spiritual
realities exist, that their soulis eternal, that they will one
day stand before God, thatliving a life of righteousness
accrues the kind of blessingsthat you want in your life,
while living a life of sinfuldisobedience does the opposite
(20:49):
that you want in your life,while living a life of sinful
disobedience does the opposite.
And believe it or not, tuesdayat two o'clock in a line at
Chick-fil-A is when you livethis out Every day, when you
pull out your phone because youhave nothing else to do.
That's when Ephesians 5 comesto play.
God, do I believe that the daysare evil enough that if I'm not
(21:09):
conscious enough, I will wastethem away?
And I think Peter says yes,while you are waiting, be
diligent.
Tozer has a beautiful quote onthis.
He says time is a resource thatis non-renewable and
non-transferable.
When it comes to time, youcannot store it, slow it up,
(21:32):
hold it up, divide it or give itup.
You can only do three thingswith it Use it, waste it or
invest it.
I'm going to leave that up fora minute because I think the
three things that Tozer puts atthe end of the quote, two of
them are going to be easy foryou to identify with, and one is
not.
Take a look at the bottom whenit comes to the time you have
(21:57):
been given.
You know, one of the crazythings about being human and not
being God is all of us have atimer that none of us can see.
I'm not trying to be crude, I'mnot trying to be dark.
I think this is actually apretty uplifting passage to make
your days matter.
But all of you have a clockover your head.
It's just you can't see it.
Yet we assume that the numberof wrinkles on our face tell us
(22:18):
how far we are from the clock,but if you've been around the
world for a number of years, yourealize that is not the case.
I think a lot of you know howto use your time wisely.
I think a lot of us know how towaste our time wisely.
How do we invest it?
How do you invest your time?
I think there are a lot ofdifferent answers that I could
give to this, but can I give youone really simple application
(22:40):
that I think would be such agift to your soul Whenever you
leave church, whether it'smid-tree or if you go to another
church in the weeks or yearsahead, as soon as you walk out
of hearing what God is doing inthe lives of people, william
singing truths about God, whichhe has commanded us in Psalms to
(23:01):
do and hopefully ignites yoursoul, have heard the word of God
, hopefully preached in a waythat is true to the text and
hits home with you.
Before you hop in your car, pullout your phone.
I don't know what you Androidpeople do.
Sorry, I used to be one of you.
Here's what I would do my handtouches the knob, the handle on
(23:23):
my car, and I would say, hey,siri set a three hour timer.
Why am I wanting you to do that?
Siri set a three-hour timer.
Why am I wanting you to do that?
Because if you want to let theinvestment of time with God's
people, time in God's word andtime worshiping him to grow,
don't allow yourself to soquickly jump back into the world
, because these days are evil.
(23:43):
What would it look like for youto give yourself three hours
where your phone is not talkingto you?
How would it change theconversation in to you?
How would it change theconversation in your car?
How would it change theconversation around the lunch
table?
What might those three hours do?
That multiply the 90 minutesthat you spend here.
That might actually do morethan the 90 minutes that you
spend in here simply becauseyou're willing to say you know
(24:06):
what.
I trust what God's word says inEphesians 5, and I want to
invest time.
Guys, there are a lot of otherthings that you could do, but
that would be by far one of thesimplest.
The second thing that we see isnot only that we would not waste
our time, but that we shouldgrow in holiness.
Guys, if you're a Christian,you want to be found in him
without a single spot andwithout a single blemish.
(24:28):
Just because please hear me onthis, just because you know you
will never attain, it does notmean it is not worth the effort
of attaining.
If you believe that you havebought into one of the most
pervasive lies that the enemysays.
By the way.
It is only a cousin to you.
Don't need to worry aboutgetting saved until you're older
(24:48):
and toward the end of your life.
It's the idea that salvation isonly good for the life to come.
Holiness and righteousness isgood for you today.
It is good for the way you actand interact, it's good for the
way you think, it's good foryour marriage, it's good for
your kids, it's good for yourwork, it's good for everything.
And so Peter is saying guys, bediligent to be found without a
single spot.
Be diligent to be found withouta single spot.
Be diligent to be found withouta blemish.
(25:11):
And now comes the part of thesermon that I dislike the most.
You'll see why in a second.
John writes to Christians andhe uses this terminology.
Blanchard did not know that Iwas going to point to this, but
what a gift that the Holy Spirithas already brought us here.
Christians, you are little andyou will never be anything other
(25:32):
than little.
When you make it to heaven andyou have bodies that are perfect
, you will be standing in frontof a holy God and you will feel
smaller than you feel today.
Our goal is to realize howsmall we are and how great God
is, and recognize that thedisparity between the two is
called grace, that he would loveus with such an amazing grace.
Little children, let no onedeceive you, ie.
(25:52):
There's something that's goingto try to fool you and in many
cases, will be successful.
No one born of God makes apractice of sinning, for God's
seed abides in him.
Theologians argue is this seedthe word of God or the Holy
Spirit?
But the answer is yes to both.
The spirit of God, if you're aChristian, resides in you.
(26:13):
The word of God abides in you,and that person cannot keep on
sinning, can't do it.
How could they Do?
You want to know why?
Because the genome inside ofyou is being remade.
That's why John talks to themas children.
That's why verse 9 says if youare born of God, the concept
(26:34):
here is the older you become,the more you begin to look like
men your father.
The older you become, the moreyou begin to look like ladies
your mother.
We grow into the people that weare born from and for those of
us who have been reborn inChrist, we begin to look more
like him.
(26:55):
Verse 10,.
By this it becomes evident whoare the children of God and who
are the children of the devil.
Whoever does not practicerighteousness is not of God, nor
is the one who does not lovehis brother.
I want to tell you somethingthat is so encouraging and so
discouraging all at the sametime.
You are never going to bewithout spot or blemish until
(27:17):
your heart stops and Godcompletely remakes you.
That's the sad news.
Can I give you the good news?
If you are truly in Christ andthe spirit of God resides in you
, it is unstoppable that as youage, you are going to look more
like your heavenly father.
It is 1,000, batting 1,000,undefeated.
(27:37):
The work of the spirit in thelife of a believer always yields
fruit.
This is a picture of me and mydad.
I don't know how many of youguys know my dad.
This is a picture of me and mydad.
You can tell that's an oldpicture because neither of us
have beards.
I don't like showing picturesof me without a beard because,
well, I just don't like it.
I don't know how long ago thatpicture was, but this one is
(27:59):
more recent.
Here is what I do not like.
The picture on the right is mewith an old filter put up.
I'm taking it down because Ilegitimately struggle with the
fact that I may end up lookinglike my dad.
Okay, y'all can giggle, I am soon board with y'all giggling.
(28:20):
You just need to know I'm dyinginside, all right, not in a in
a non like jokey way.
I am dying inside.
But do you know what the gospelhas given me?
Do you know what the good newsof Christ has given me?
It has given me this promisethat, regardless of what is
tucked into my chromosomes,tucked into my spirit, which is
(28:42):
eternal, is this guarantee Will?
You are going to look likeJesus, unbelievable.
You are going to look like yourheavenly father.
I think.
So many times, christians, weread a verse like be diligent to
be found without spot orwithout blemish, and our thought
is all right, cowboy up, getyour Bible out, not missing
(29:06):
another quiet time.
I'm going after it.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
But do you realize this otherreality that is saying you can
fight it if you want?
God is going to make youpatient.
You can fight it as much as youwant.
You are going to find morepeace in life than you ever
thought you were going to beable to.
This is the good news of beingborn by God and as we grow in
(29:31):
that holiness.
The final thing, he says, is tobe formed by peace, which
really does bring us to thatdifficult question we started
with how can I possibly findpeace while I am diligently
striving to be without blemish?
Well, one answer is if you're aChristian, it is tucked into
(29:52):
you automatically.
If you're not a Christian, thisis going to feel absolutely
impossible If you are not aChristian.
It's one of the reasons I putthis passage up.
I want you to realize howimpossible it is to live life
God's way.
(30:12):
That's how impossible it is.
Four little paragraphs, that'show impossible it is.
And when you say what if Goddoesn't find me without spot or
blemish?
What if he finds me and herealizes I don't have joy, that
I'm not putting out goodness?
What if he finds me and I amarrogant and rude?
What if God comes and he looksat my life and I stand before
(30:37):
him one day and, instead ofhaving virtue or knowledge, I
have mushed my brain out withdoom scrolling?
What if he doesn't find methinking about pure things?
And when you begin to wrestlewith that, this is where Peter
steps in and he says I want youto wrestle with this, but my
great desire is that you wouldfind peace.
Well, how can I do that?
(30:59):
My favorite verse in all of theBible it's two of them is in
Jude.
Jude is a one chapter book John, john, jude, revelation.
You can find it easily.
It's the next to the last bookin your Bible.
Watch this.
Watch God's word work.
Keep I'm using a highlighter.
I want you to feel this Keepyourselves in the love of God.
(31:23):
Who is responsible to keep youin the love of God?
Out loud answer.
If you don't mind, okay, youare right.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod.
Out loud answer.
If you don't mind, okay, youare right.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod.
Then Jude uses a word that Peterused right here waiting.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod while you're waiting for a
world in which you're no longerhaving to be diligent.
(31:44):
It is who you are.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod, waiting for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ that leadsto eternal life.
And then he goes to close hisbook, and here's how he closes
it.
Now to him.
Who is able to keep you, who iskeeping you in the love of God?
God is, you are.
(32:05):
God is you are.
This is what it means to bediligent.
This is what it means to bediligent.
This is what it means to be atpeace.
It means not resting and sayingthis is all God's
responsibility.
Sanctification is a guarantee,so I'm just going to let it
happen.
No, that would be twisting theword of God, but so would be
saying keep myself, keep myself,hold this thought, do this,
(32:28):
read scripture, barely look up.
No, where's your faith in thesanctifying work of Christ?
We keep ourselves while God isin the midst of keeping us.
And as confusing as that soundsone of the quotes from John
Piper that I will probably,there are two that I will
probably remember for the restof my life.
I didn't even fact check myselfbecause I had been quoting this
from Piper for so long.
(32:49):
So if one of you wants toGoogle it and tell me that I got
it wrong, I don't care.
That's fine.
Piper puts it this way Godkeeps me by enabling me to do
self-keeping things.
Does God keep you by you beingin the word?
Yes, and he enables you to beable to read it and understand
it and enjoy it and desire it.
Do I stay in the word of God?
(33:12):
Do I stay kept because of myprayers?
Yes, and you are able to pray,desirous to pray, because God is
in the midst of keeping you,and on and on it goes with every
single spiritual discipline.
Therefore, beloved, since youare waiting, be diligent, be
(33:33):
found without spot or blemish,be at peace.
Here is how you do it.
We grow in grace.
Grow in grace in the knowledgeof our Lord and Savior, jesus
Christ, peter's last words tothe Christians before the sun
sets on his life To him be glory, both now and to the day of
(33:53):
eternity, which I am about to goand see.
Amen, may God make it so.
How is it that we do this?
We grow in grace.
If your first answer to thequestion that I asked was grace,
well, how can I possibly findpeace while I'm diligently
(34:17):
striving to be without blemishGrace?
Jesus did this, you're right,but do you know that grace is
not just a static thing that youclaim and place on yourself?
Do you know that?
It's something that Peter saysyou grow in.
This is something that you haveyet to see the depths of
Christian who's been walkingwith the Lord for 50 years.
(34:37):
It's something you have neverseen the heights of believer for
the past five minutes.
The grace of God is bigger andwider and greater than anything
that you can imagine.
All Peter is basically saying isthis be diligent to be a
receiver of God.
That is how you do this.
It is not being diligent withwhat you do.
(35:00):
It is being diligent to keepyour hands open when you want to
do something with them yourself.
It is being diligent to sayFather, I desire to receive from
you today, in this moment, inthis situation, in this broken
thing.
This is what Peter wants us todo.
(35:21):
So are you supposed to beworking or are you supposed to
be resting?
Yeah, and I'll prove it to youright now.
If I told you I want you tostand up from this place and go
rest, well, I want you to gofind peace.
I can tell you what most of youwould do.
Most of you would go to sleep,am I right?
Just by show of hands.
(35:42):
How many of you would be likeI'll take a morning nap?
Okay, a lot.
Oh, really, y'all are betterthan I would have thought.
Okay, how about at about twoo'clock this afternoon?
You feeling it?
Then there we go.
I would be willing to bet thatif I had the ability to just
speak out of the ether into yourworld at two o'clock this
afternoon and I said, nardi,rest here is not what you would
(36:07):
do.
You would not say, okay,maniacs would do that, crazy
people would do that.
Rest, absolutely rest modeengaged.
Do you know what you would do?
First you would get excitedright, I'm not feeling guilty.
All right, I'm going to rest,that's great.
Then you would probably go to aplace.
You probably care what thelights are like in that place.
(36:28):
You probably care if you haveon shoes or not.
You might even care if you'reclose to your kids or if you're
far from your kids, because ifyou really want to be at peace,
if you really want to rest, it'sgoing to take work for you to
get there.
That's what Peter is saying.
If you want to find peace andrest with God, put yourself in a
(36:49):
place to be able to receive it.
I know speaking well enough toknow that if I do this, y'all
are going to start freaking outfor time.
You've got to be kidding me.
Four points Will and communionteam are poking their head in.
Can I just tell you this?
I do think if you want to growin peace, these are the ways to
(37:12):
do it.
I made it as easy for you as Icould, by making all of them
start with ours, and I did usechat GPT for a little help.
I was struggling on one of them.
But instead of walking throughall of these and teaching you a
lesson, instead I want to tellyou what happened to me last
night.
This never happens to me when Iwant to rest.
I'll tell you what I do.
(37:33):
I take off my shoes.
That is a prerequisite for me.
I go lateral and I close myeyes To my wife's absolute
frustration.
I can be asleep in about 15seconds or less.
Y'all may know this about me.
I always say clear consciences,sleep well and sleep quickly.
So I was like all right, shedoesn't love that either.
(37:54):
Last night I had four or fivenightmares back to back.
Never happens.
Thank you for the awe for themotherly person over.
Thank you.
I know that I'm in my 40s.
I still receive that.
I appreciate it.
Horrible dreams people breakinginto my house, my kids screaming
(38:16):
, horrible dream number.
And then you wake up and youcan't go right back to sleep.
I'm literally checking thehouse.
I'm walking around and lookingfor cars in the driveway.
I go back to sleep and I have adream that my wife is walking
out on me.
Then I go back to sleep and Iwake up and, for whatever reason
, I'm in charge of a gymnasticteam that has to get to a pizza
place and none of the girls canagree on what they want.
(38:38):
And I'm just like we've got toget somewhere.
Girls figure it out it's allpepperoni, what's the problem?
And then I have another dream.
I can't even remember now whatit was, but I woke up because
the night before I wasstruggling with how do I present
this Lord to people in a waythat they even care or relate?
And then I can't sleep allnight and every one of my dreams
(39:00):
lines up with something that Ihad already written down.
What does it mean for you to beable to rest and find peace in
your striving?
It means you can rely on thesufficiency of Christ.
It means you can realize thatyou are so far from who God
wants you to be, but Christ, hisgrace, his sacrifice, will
(39:21):
always be bigger than yourimpediment.
It means that you can rememberthe promises of God when you
feel like you're not going tomake it, when life feels unsafe,
when you are fearful of thingscoming in the world, when the
storm or the season, thedifficulty, the circumstance,
the situation is too big andit's too oppressive.
(39:42):
And Psalm 139, every one ofyour days was written before one
of them came to be.
Isaiah 26, 3,.
He keeps in perfect peace, himwhose mind has stayed on him
because he trusts in him.
It means you can rest in theperson of Christ, even in all
the relational instability thatyou may have with a mom or with
(40:02):
a dad, or with a child, or witha spouse, or with somebody that
is a friend or was a friend.
That you can rest in the personof Christ.
That we simultaneously havepeace from God and we have peace
with him.
Romans 5,.
Philippians 4.
When we feel like there's norest to be found, jesus tells us
he Matthew 11, gives us rest.
(40:23):
Christianity is unlike everyreligion on the planet.
Do you know what Buddha's lastwords were?
Strive without ceasing.
He took a note out of Peter's,but he could never get to the
next line Strive without ceasing.
But Peter can say that and thenhe can say and be at peace, why
(40:45):
?
Because while the last words ofBuddha were strive without
ceasing, the last words ofChrist on the cross were it's
finished, the work is done,struggle no more.
My child, son, daughter.
I have done the work.
I've done the work for 60 to 80years.
(41:07):
I've done the work for 150.
I've done the work.
If you have a nine-month lifeand I've done the work if you
have a 19-year life, I havefinished it.
And when life feels out ofcontrol, when you get to the end
of the day and it's not eventhe end of the day, it's three
o'clock and you're just like Ijust want tomorrow to come,
(41:29):
because I can't handle any moreof this.
Want tomorrow to come because Ican't handle any more of this.
Rejoice in the sovereignty ofGod, that you do not have
control and that that is anabundantly good thing, that you
can rest in the sovereign willof God.
When Peter tells us to bediligent, to strive to be found
(41:49):
without spot or blemish and tobe at peace, what he is saying
is believer, non-believer, growin your ability to receive from
God.
And that's what we do thismorning, it's what we do every
morning, but it's especiallywhat we do on a morning where we
bring these things out.
You know, the Bible says thatyou can actually receive this
(42:12):
wrongly.
And if you receive this wrongly, if you twist it, you drink and
eat condemnation on yourself.
That's what we don't usuallyread.
The end of first Corinthians 11.
It just doesn't close thesurface out quite as beautifully
.
It's what it says before wecome to this place, as you begin
pondering, and we put up somequestions for you to think about
(42:32):
as you get ready to come tocommunion.
Guys, you're good to go ify'all want to go ahead and come
on in as you think about thesethings.
How might you be twisting theword of God?
How might you be twisting yourunderstanding of it?
How might you be twistingyourself to work in a way that
Christ is finished?
But how might you be twistingyourself to say there is no work
for me to do?
But how might you be twistingyourself to seek peace by your
(42:53):
own making rather than simplysay God has called me to grow in
this, that I would receive fromhim?
What is it going to take foryour heart and mind to be in a
place where you can receive wellfrom God?
Let's do that together.
If you need prayer, if you needencouragement, if you want to
(43:16):
talk, we'll have some folks onthe back porch.
Just come and join us.
Stokes is going to lead us inworship.
This meal is a family meal.
It is for Christians.
If you're not a believer, we'renot trying to make you feel
excluded.
We just don't want you topartake of something that you
don't fully understand, becausethose who are trusting in Christ
look at this and they rememberthat cross.
(43:37):
They remember a hammer that wasswung and nails that went
through and thorns that werepressed on a head so that they
didn't have to happen to you.
They remember blood that wasshed so that you can stand
before God unashamed because youstand on the work of Christ.
If you're a believer, this isfor you.
If you're not, we would ask youto watch people respond and
(43:58):
pray that you would grow in yourability to receive from the
Lord.
And Josh, I wasn't going toforget, but I appreciate you
staring me down.
If you need gluten-free bread,josh has it correct and Matt All
right, both of these are glutenfree.
The rest are not.
And so, as you feel able andwilling, let's respond to the
(44:19):
Lord, take the elements, butwait and we will eat and drink
them together If you wouldponder these things and let's
grow in receiving the Lord.
Good morning.
Please turn in your Bibles to 2Peter 3, 14-18.
It's page 1019 in the PewBibles and follow along as I
read God's Word.
Therefore, beloved, since youare waiting for these, be
diligent to be found by Himwithout spot or blemish and at
(00:23):
peace.
Found by him without spot orblemish and at peace, and count
the patience of our Lord assalvation, just as our beloved
brother Paul also wrote to youaccording to the wisdom given
him, as he does in all hisletters when he speaks in them
of these matters.
There are some things in themthat are hard to understand,
which the ignorant and unstabletwist to their own destruction,
(00:45):
as they do the other scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, knowingthis beforehand, take care that
you are not carried away withthe error of lawless people and
lose your own stability, butgrow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, jesusChrist.
To him be the glory, both nowand to the day of eternity.
(01:06):
Amen.
This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Amen, thank you.
Well, guys, we finish a book ofthe Bible this morning, which
is always something worthcelebrating, so praise God for
that Also.
Yeah, excited about who else isexcited here?
Also a couple of things I wantto mention to you Out of
curiosity.
How many of you sit in justabout the same space every
Sunday?
Just by show of hands, you'vekind of got your space Out of
(01:35):
curiosity.
Who couldn't get their seatthis morning because you got
here a little later than you?
I'm just curious, like you'renot in trouble, yeah, who's like
?
I feel displaced this morning,so sometimes it's really good
for us to be displaced.
If I could give you anencouragement I think there is a
beautiful thing about youhaving sort of like your spot I
would encourage you, everycouple of months, intentionally
(01:56):
sit somewhere else, whether youshow up late or on time or
otherwise, just to meet folks inthe church that you may not
otherwise meet.
Second question by show ofhands, how many of you are
usually first service people?
By show of hands, okay, do wehave any second service people
that snuck in this morning?
Okay, a couple of you.
Now, all I want you to notice isthe disparity between how many
(02:21):
of you are normally firstservice and how many are
normally second.
There's not a lot of crossover.
We get some in the summer,depending on how late your night
was or if you're driving to orfrom the beach.
So what we're gonna be doingnext week I'm looking for a
staffer.
Here is one another Sunday nextweek.
Yes, every now and then we tryto do this where, much to your
chagrin and just difficulty, I'mgoing to preach a little
(02:44):
shorter next week and, quiteeasy, easy, I felt a clap coming
on and I didn't need it.
I'm going to preach a littleshorter next week.
We're going to finish about 10or 15 minutes earlier than usual
so that you guys can have timeto fellowship, not only with
folks who we do church with wecan celebrate the birthday of
(03:06):
our church as we finish yearseven and begin year eight but
we're also inviting folks whoare typically second service
folks to come a little early andwe would love to have a half an
hour where you just hang out.
I think we're going to havecotton candy and popcorn and
stuff like that, which it soundsearly to me, but we own cotton
(03:27):
candy and popcorn machines.
This is like how it's going togo.
I think we have something else.
Josiah, is the icy girl pullingup, maybe.
Yeah, okay, so we're going tobe celebrating our birthday, but
more than just celebrating ourbirthday, man, would I love for
you to meet some folks that youdo church with, that you may not
even know, and so plan to staya little later and hang out and
meet some folks next week.
(03:49):
It would be a blessing to me ifyou made that a priority, so
please do.
All right.
So here we are.
We're in 2 Peter.
We are going to finisheverything that you see on the
screen.
That is all that we have leftin 2 Peter.
About four or five verses leftin the entirety of 2 Peter.
Joanna already read it to us.
What I want you to understand is, usually, when we work through
(04:12):
a scripture, we kind of workthrough it like this, straight
down.
If you're following along inyour own Bible, here's what
you're going to notice.
You're going to notice that weactually start in this sort of
middle section and then we go upto A and we finish at C.
It'll make sense why we do that, as we sort of begin working
through the text.
But I hate it when I'm tryingto follow along with a pastor
(04:36):
and I'm like wait a minute,didn't you already read that?
Why are you going back?
So I'm just giving you a headsup.
We're going B, a, c as we sortof navigate this text this
morning.
And here is.
I just said that and I'm goingto read to you A, just don't
settle in on it yet.
Therefore, beloved, since youare waiting for these, what is
(04:59):
Peter talking about?
If you weren't here last week,there's no way for you to know,
unless you know 2 Peter quitewell.
The way 2 Peter ended was thisGod is creating a world in which
something dwells.
Does anybody want to guess, orlook one verse up from what I've
shown you A world in whichrighteousness dwells.
(05:21):
Now, a very clean way to definerighteousness is just as God
intended it.
What is a righteous husband?
It's a husband as God intendedit.
What's a righteous family?
A family as God intended it.
What's a righteous business?
What's a righteous church?
What's a righteous nation?
It is as God intended it.
So Peter's saying therefore,people whom I love, if you're
(05:42):
looking in your Bibles aboveverse 14, many of you are going
to have in italics, final wordsPeter is in prison, the end of
his life is coming, and theseare the last thing he wants to
leave the Christians he sodearly loves with Beloved.
Since you are waiting for aworld as God intended it that's
(06:02):
what he's saying.
While you're longing for aworld in which there isn't
brokenness and war and famineand death and struggle and
stress and depression andanxiety, while you're waiting
for this, hey, christians, bediligent to be found by him, be
found by God without spots orwithout blemish, and at peace.
(06:23):
And I think, ironically, thisis one of the hardest scriptures
Peter wrote to us in his entireletter.
The reason I say it's ironic isbecause in just a minute he
says I have troubleunderstanding some of Paul's
writing.
Did you notice that If you go alittle bit further in the text,
(06:45):
you're going to see him saythis Paul also wrote to you
according to the wisdom givenhim, as he does in all his
letters when he speaks in themof these matters.
There are some things in themthat are hard to understand.
Peter's, like Paul's, kind ofcomplicated guys, and I'm like
(07:06):
Peter.
Yeah, paul is sort ofcomplicated, but so are you.
And let me tell you why.
You're a little complicated,peter.
You just told me to be diligentto be found by God without a
spot or a blemish.
And then you said and be atpeace.
It's like, well, hang on.
Flag on the field here.
Time out for a minute.
(07:34):
How am I supposed to be diligent, to be found by God?
Not like pretty good, betterthan the person next to you,
david Blanchard?
What a beautiful call toworship.
We're here to be little.
We're not here to compareourselves.
How on earth am I supposed tolike be serious, diligent,
hardworking about nobody findinga spot or a blemish in me and
be peaceful?
To me, those are mutuallyexclusive things.
If I am trying to like get ridof all the brokenness in me, it
(07:58):
is not usually peace that I find.
How can I possibly find peacewhile I'm diligently striving to
be without blemish?
Now, some of you are alreadyanswering this question.
Some of you are like well, willI know some theology?
And the word grace is anexcellent thing to apply to this
question right now.
You're not wrong, but beforeyou just, real quick, grab a
(08:19):
theological statement, becareful of knowledge that comes
without faith and you slam it onhere.
I want you to feel what Peterjust said.
What Peter just said was I wantGod to find you without a spot.
I want him to find you withouta blemish, which means here's
the fruit of the spirit.
How are you doing?
Oh, spotless fruit.
(08:40):
You just take a look.
How's everybody doing in thelove and joy this morning?
Peace snuck in there, by theway.
These are things that the Biblesays you can never have too
much of.
Against such things there is nolaw.
But it isn't just the fruit ofthe Spirit.
What if, all of a sudden, I sayhow's your love game?
How's that patience?
(09:01):
You're resenting anybody rightnow Dealing with any boastful
thoughts?
Are you believing and hoping inall good things?
Does your love to your spouse,to your children, to your
co-workers, never end?
I'm just telling you, when Willreads this without spot and
blemish is not how he feels.
But the Bible doesn't stopthere.
(09:22):
Bible's got lists, like my wifegot lists Philippians 4.8.
Let me tell you what your brainshould be thinking about.
Hey, believer, I only want youto think about what is true,
just pure.
That one will get you Lovely,commendable and excellent If
it's worthy of praise.
Think about that, but that's it.
(09:43):
That's what I want you to thinkon.
How's your spotless,blemishless self?
And, as you can probably tellfrom the slide that I've built.
There's a fourth, but there'snot.
But there is.
This is Peter's list.
We call it the list of virtues.
Y'all remember this.
Hey, if you're going to havefaith, that's great, but add to
(10:03):
it virtue, knowledge,self-control, steadfastness,
godliness, affection for yourbrother.
I'll just tell you, guys, wecould keep adding scripture to
this if we wanted to, but Idon't think we have to.
When you think of your home life, when you think of your work
life, when you think of yourplay life this is not rhetorical
(10:23):
.
Please don't answer out loud.
Who's feeling spotless rightnow?
Who's feeling without blemishwhen we see these things?
And yet that's exactly whatPeter says, which is why I am so
glad.
The next thing he says is somethings in the Bible are a little
difficult to understand.
Count the patience of our Lordas salvation.
(10:45):
Aren't we glad that he ispatient with us in the midst of
our spots and our blemishes?
Thomas, did you take the waterwith you or am I about?
I do not want to drink yourwater.
Yeah, but I don't know how do Iknow which one's yours?
Did you drink out of this one?
I just don't.
I'll be honest with you.
I don't trust drinking afteryou.
I'll drink after some people Idon't trust drinking after you.
Okay, that isn't my tea.
(11:08):
I don't know whose that is,count the patience of the Lord
as salvation, just as ourbeloved brother Paul, who also
wrote to you according to thewisdom given him, as he does in
all his letters when he speaksto them in them of these matters
(11:32):
.
I cannot tell you how much Ilove this Bible verse.
I don't know when it happens,when you feel like you're
supposed to know what scripturemeans and like all things.
Certainly, if you decide to goto seminary, people expect you
to have the answers.
If you become a youth pastor,at least the teenagers expect
(11:54):
you to have the answers.
The adults are like whatever,what do you know about life?
But, thomas, tell them I'mwrong.
I'm not wrong.
It could be just whenever youstand up in front of somebody
with a Bible.
If you've ever led a Biblestudy or led a small group or
something like that, do you knowhow freeing it is and I hope
(12:14):
you feel this freedom for Peterto say the Bible sometimes is
just difficult to understand.
Peter could literally say Iwalked around with Jesus for
three years.
I listened to him teach, Iwatched people's faces as the
light bulb was clicking and theBible is just tough sometimes
(12:35):
and one of the gifts that Ithink Peter gives us in this is
the understanding that this isnot only true.
But it is good for you to knowbeforehand, because the ignorant
and the unstable do somethingto Scripture that they ought not
to do.
You therefore, beloved, knowingthis beforehand, take care that
(12:58):
you are not carried away withthe errors that come from
ignorant, unstable people whotwist the word of God, of
lawless people, because Peterdoesn't want them to lose their
own stability.
All of us come to scripture witha little bit of a twisted
thinking.
There's no way for you not to.
Your brain, your mind, yourexperiences, your world, your
(13:20):
relationships are not spotless.
They are not without blemish.
The way that you look at orunderstand anything is somehow
tainted by your imperfection,your fallibility and how small
you actually are.
But there's a problem if youthink the Bible will always be
too hard to understand.
And there's also a problem ifyou think the Bible will never
(13:41):
be too hard to understand, ifyou think that the Bible is
always going to be too hard tounderstand.
If you think that the Bible isalways going to be too hard to
understand, you are going totwist away from it and you're
just going to walk away and findsomething else.
But I think the second thoughtis actually more potentially
condemning.
If you think the Bible is neversupposed to be too hard for you
(14:01):
to understand, you're not goingto twist yourself away from it.
You're going to twist it tomeet your expectations of what
it is.
And I'll tell you when it's thesneakiest.
When it is the sneakiest iswhen you feel like you can open
up your Bible without prayer andunderstand it.
When it is the sneakiest iswhen you feel like you can give
(14:21):
someone advice, even give themscripture, without prayerfully
coming to God and saying Lord,am I understanding this
correctly?
If I believe that the Bible issometimes too hard to understand
, if I believe that it'ssometimes easy to understand but
sometimes far too hard, itchanges the way that I approach
(14:42):
it.
I'm gonna pray before I do.
Dwight, I'm thinking about yourtestimony two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, when you saidsomething to the effect of the
Bible was really easy until Ibecame a Christian.
And then, once I realized thatthese things are spiritually
understood, I realized that thisBible is so much deeper than I
could ever imagine.
(15:03):
Beautiful quote here by StJerome.
If you don't know St Jerome, hetranslated the Bible into Latin
.
You've never read his version.
It's not the LIV, so you'venever read it.
But here is what St Jerome saidthe scriptures are shallow
enough for a babe to come anddrink without fear of drowning
and deep enough for a theologianto swim in without ever
(15:26):
touching the bottom.
When we go to God's word, whatPeter and Paul want you to
notice is how quickly ignorantpeople and unstable people are
going to twist his word.
Please notice that difference.
You will twist God's word notjust if you're unstable, not
(15:49):
just if you want it to saysomething different.
You're prone to twist God'sword just out of sheer ignorance
, out of spiritual ignorance orignorance in the sense that you
haven't really spent timestudying it.
This word twist actually comesfrom the word by which we get
torture from.
(16:09):
What Peter's saying is we areprone to torture scripture.
The idea here is of a torturerack.
I tried to find a real picture.
They're hard to find real onesnowadays.
Believe it or not.
I guess the practice has goneout of vogue.
But this is what a rack wouldhave looked like, and the reason
(16:31):
I show you this picture from atextbook in 1884 is because it
was actually the clearestpicture I could find.
But what I want you to noticeis this the concept was you
would lay a subject out on sortof this large wooden table.
Their hands would be attachedto a crank on one side and their
feet would be attached to theother.
(16:52):
Now, for whatever reason, thisperson was being tortured.
There were a million differentreasons that humans came up with
to harm and hate others.
But when the Bible says, twist,what would happen here is, as
it was cranked, the body wouldbe pulled out of its natural
form, tendons would break,joints would dislocate.
(17:16):
And when you think of this ideaand you look at this scripture,
I think it gives us a real goodpicture of what Peter's saying.
He's saying might you be prone,out of ignorance or just
because you want to find whatyou want to find in there, to
pull scripture outside of itsoriginal design, to dislocate it
(17:36):
from where God would actuallyhave it to be?
And the reality is all of usare prone to do this.
But if Peter can point to thisand if Peter can say, man, you
have got to come to the Biblehumbly.
If Peter can say I don't fullyunderstand this, but I do want
to make sure that I handle itwith care, then I think that is
(17:58):
exactly how he would have usmove forward.
As we consider what it is thathe means to be diligent, to be
without spot, but also to be atpeace.
The first thing that I think hewould have us find is that you
not waste the waiting of life.
As you are waiting, be diligentNow.
(18:24):
Honestly, I don't think this ismuch of a stretch, pun intended
.
I don't think this is much of astretch on many of you.
If you're in line at Target andthe line is long.
If you're in line atChick-fil-A no offense and the
line is long, most of you aregoing to do something.
What are you going to do whileyou're standing in line?
(18:44):
Yeah, you're gonna pull outyour phone.
Now.
Y'all mumbled that one, but I amcorrect in saying I'm not the
only one who pulls out my phonewhen I'm standing in line,
correct?
Y'all are either pulling outyour phone or you're
evangelizing the person in frontof and behind you, correct?
We're all doing the same thing,right?
So you pull out your phone andyou make an immediate decision
(19:05):
as soon as it comes out, andsometimes the notifications, if
you're not careful, are going todictate.
You are either going to doom,scroll into nothingness and you
are not going to be diligent.
You are going to waste thewaiting.
Or you're going to say I'mgoing to catch up on some emails
, I'm going to look over therecipe that I'm thinking about
cooking for dinner tonight, I'mgoing to hop onto my text
(19:25):
messages because I have far toomany blue dots and red
notifications.
I am not going to waste thewait.
Am I correct that you guys dothis?
Right?
This is a human thing, allright.
While we're standing in line,peter is saying the same thing,
since you are in the midst ofwaiting, and what he's pointing
at is waiting on the return ofChrist, waiting on the world to
(19:45):
be made righteous by God.
While we're waiting on thingsto be as God intended for them
to be, be diligent, make thebest use of the time.
Ephesians 5.
Hey, christian, look carefullythen how you walk, not as unwise
, but as wise.
Make the best use of the timethat God has given you.
(20:07):
And that would be enough of theverse, but notice the very end
of it why?
Why, when we pull out ourphones, should we be thinking
about memorizing Scripture?
Why, when you're standing inline, is it good for you to have
a Scripture memory band on.
Why should we look at our livesas though every day counts and
matters?
Because you and I are living indays that are not righteous.
We're living in days that areevil.
(20:27):
Every moment of every day.
There is a war that is going on, and the question is on which
side of it are you?
There is a war to lull peopleto sleep that spiritual
realities exist, that their soulis eternal, that they will one
day stand before God, thatliving a life of righteousness
accrues the kind of blessingsthat you want in your life,
while living a life of sinfuldisobedience does the opposite
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that you want in your life,while living a life of sinful
disobedience does the opposite.
And believe it or not, tuesdayat two o'clock in a line at
Chick-fil-A is when you livethis out Every day, when you
pull out your phone because youhave nothing else to do.
That's when Ephesians 5 comesto play.
God, do I believe that the daysare evil enough that if I'm not
(21:09):
conscious enough, I will wastethem away?
And I think Peter says yes,while you are waiting, be
diligent.
Tozer has a beautiful quote onthis.
He says time is a resource thatis non-renewable and
non-transferable.
When it comes to time, youcannot store it, slow it up,
(21:32):
hold it up, divide it or give itup.
You can only do three thingswith it Use it, waste it or
invest it.
I'm going to leave that up fora minute because I think the
three things that Tozer puts atthe end of the quote, two of
them are going to be easy foryou to identify with, and one is
not.
Take a look at the bottom whenit comes to the time you have
(21:57):
been given.
You know, one of the crazythings about being human and not
being God is all of us have atimer that none of us can see.
I'm not trying to be crude, I'mnot trying to be dark.
I think this is actually apretty uplifting passage to make
your days matter.
But all of you have a clockover your head.
It's just you can't see it.
Yet we assume that the numberof wrinkles on our face tell us
(22:18):
how far we are from the clock,but if you've been around the
world for a number of years, yourealize that is not the case.
I think a lot of you know howto use your time wisely.
I think a lot of us know how towaste our time wisely.
How do we invest it?
How do you invest your time?
I think there are a lot ofdifferent answers that I could
give to this, but can I give youone really simple application
(22:40):
that I think would be such agift to your soul Whenever you
leave church, whether it'smid-tree or if you go to another
church in the weeks or yearsahead, as soon as you walk out
of hearing what God is doing inthe lives of people, william
singing truths about God, whichhe has commanded us in Psalms to
(23:01):
do and hopefully ignites yoursoul, have heard the word of God
, hopefully preached in a waythat is true to the text and
hits home with you.
Before you hop in your car, pullout your phone.
I don't know what you Androidpeople do.
Sorry, I used to be one of you.
Here's what I would do my handtouches the knob, the handle on
(23:23):
my car, and I would say, hey,siri set a three hour timer.
Why am I wanting you to do that?
Siri set a three-hour timer.
Why am I wanting you to do that?
Because if you want to let theinvestment of time with God's
people, time in God's word andtime worshiping him to grow,
don't allow yourself to soquickly jump back into the world
, because these days are evil.
(23:43):
What would it look like for youto give yourself three hours
where your phone is not talkingto you?
How would it change theconversation in to you?
How would it change theconversation in your car?
How would it change theconversation around the lunch
table?
What might those three hours do?
That multiply the 90 minutesthat you spend here.
That might actually do morethan the 90 minutes that you
spend in here simply becauseyou're willing to say you know
(24:06):
what.
I trust what God's word says inEphesians 5, and I want to
invest time.
Guys, there are a lot of otherthings that you could do, but
that would be by far one of thesimplest.
The second thing that we see isnot only that we would not waste
our time, but that we shouldgrow in holiness.
Guys, if you're a Christian,you want to be found in him
without a single spot andwithout a single blemish.
(24:28):
Just because please hear me onthis, just because you know you
will never attain, it does notmean it is not worth the effort
of attaining.
If you believe that you havebought into one of the most
pervasive lies that the enemysays.
By the way.
It is only a cousin to you.
Don't need to worry aboutgetting saved until you're older
(24:48):
and toward the end of your life.
It's the idea that salvation isonly good for the life to come.
Holiness and righteousness isgood for you today.
It is good for the way you actand interact, it's good for the
way you think, it's good foryour marriage, it's good for
your kids, it's good for yourwork, it's good for everything.
And so Peter is saying guys, bediligent to be found without a
single spot.
Be diligent to be found withouta single spot.
Be diligent to be found withouta blemish.
(25:11):
And now comes the part of thesermon that I dislike the most.
You'll see why in a second.
John writes to Christians andhe uses this terminology.
Blanchard did not know that Iwas going to point to this, but
what a gift that the Holy Spirithas already brought us here.
Christians, you are little andyou will never be anything other
(25:32):
than little.
When you make it to heaven andyou have bodies that are perfect
, you will be standing in frontof a holy God and you will feel
smaller than you feel today.
Our goal is to realize howsmall we are and how great God
is, and recognize that thedisparity between the two is
called grace, that he would loveus with such an amazing grace.
Little children, let no onedeceive you, ie.
(25:52):
There's something that's goingto try to fool you and in many
cases, will be successful.
No one born of God makes apractice of sinning, for God's
seed abides in him.
Theologians argue is this seedthe word of God or the Holy
Spirit?
But the answer is yes to both.
The spirit of God, if you're aChristian, resides in you.
(26:13):
The word of God abides in you,and that person cannot keep on
sinning, can't do it.
How could they Do?
You want to know why?
Because the genome inside ofyou is being remade.
That's why John talks to themas children.
That's why verse 9 says if youare born of God, the concept
(26:34):
here is the older you become,the more you begin to look like
men your father.
The older you become, the moreyou begin to look like ladies
your mother.
We grow into the people that weare born from and for those of
us who have been reborn inChrist, we begin to look more
like him.
(26:55):
Verse 10,.
By this it becomes evident whoare the children of God and who
are the children of the devil.
Whoever does not practicerighteousness is not of God, nor
is the one who does not lovehis brother.
I want to tell you somethingthat is so encouraging and so
discouraging all at the sametime.
You are never going to bewithout spot or blemish until
(27:17):
your heart stops and Godcompletely remakes you.
That's the sad news.
Can I give you the good news?
If you are truly in Christ andthe spirit of God resides in you
, it is unstoppable that as youage, you are going to look more
like your heavenly father.
It is 1,000, batting 1,000,undefeated.
(27:37):
The work of the spirit in thelife of a believer always yields
fruit.
This is a picture of me and mydad.
I don't know how many of youguys know my dad.
This is a picture of me and mydad.
You can tell that's an oldpicture because neither of us
have beards.
I don't like showing picturesof me without a beard because,
well, I just don't like it.
I don't know how long ago thatpicture was, but this one is
(27:59):
more recent.
Here is what I do not like.
The picture on the right is mewith an old filter put up.
I'm taking it down because Ilegitimately struggle with the
fact that I may end up lookinglike my dad.
Okay, y'all can giggle, I am soon board with y'all giggling.
(28:20):
You just need to know I'm dyinginside, all right, not in a in
a non like jokey way.
I am dying inside.
But do you know what the gospelhas given me?
Do you know what the good newsof Christ has given me?
It has given me this promisethat, regardless of what is
tucked into my chromosomes,tucked into my spirit, which is
(28:42):
eternal, is this guarantee Will?
You are going to look likeJesus, unbelievable.
You are going to look like yourheavenly father.
I think.
So many times, christians, weread a verse like be diligent to
be found without spot orwithout blemish, and our thought
is all right, cowboy up, getyour Bible out, not missing
(29:06):
another quiet time.
I'm going after it.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
But do you realize this otherreality that is saying you can
fight it if you want?
God is going to make youpatient.
You can fight it as much as youwant.
You are going to find morepeace in life than you ever
thought you were going to beable to.
This is the good news of beingborn by God and as we grow in
(29:31):
that holiness.
The final thing, he says, is tobe formed by peace, which
really does bring us to thatdifficult question we started
with how can I possibly findpeace while I am diligently
striving to be without blemish?
Well, one answer is if you're aChristian, it is tucked into
(29:52):
you automatically.
If you're not a Christian, thisis going to feel absolutely
impossible If you are not aChristian.
It's one of the reasons I putthis passage up.
I want you to realize howimpossible it is to live life
God's way.
(30:12):
That's how impossible it is.
Four little paragraphs, that'show impossible it is.
And when you say what if Goddoesn't find me without spot or
blemish?
What if he finds me and herealizes I don't have joy, that
I'm not putting out goodness?
What if he finds me and I amarrogant and rude?
What if God comes and he looksat my life and I stand before
(30:37):
him one day and, instead ofhaving virtue or knowledge, I
have mushed my brain out withdoom scrolling?
What if he doesn't find methinking about pure things?
And when you begin to wrestlewith that, this is where Peter
steps in and he says I want youto wrestle with this, but my
great desire is that you wouldfind peace.
Well, how can I do that?
(30:59):
My favorite verse in all of theBible it's two of them is in
Jude.
Jude is a one chapter book John, john, jude, revelation.
You can find it easily.
It's the next to the last bookin your Bible.
Watch this.
Watch God's word work.
Keep I'm using a highlighter.
I want you to feel this Keepyourselves in the love of God.
(31:23):
Who is responsible to keep youin the love of God?
Out loud answer.
If you don't mind, okay, youare right.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod.
Out loud answer.
If you don't mind, okay, youare right.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod.
Then Jude uses a word that Peterused right here waiting.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod while you're waiting for a
world in which you're no longerhaving to be diligent.
(31:44):
It is who you are.
Keep yourself in the love ofGod, waiting for the mercy of
our Lord Jesus Christ that leadsto eternal life.
And then he goes to close hisbook, and here's how he closes
it.
Now to him.
Who is able to keep you, who iskeeping you in the love of God?
God is, you are.
(32:05):
God is you are.
This is what it means to bediligent.
This is what it means to bediligent.
This is what it means to be atpeace.
It means not resting and sayingthis is all God's
responsibility.
Sanctification is a guarantee,so I'm just going to let it
happen.
No, that would be twisting theword of God, but so would be
saying keep myself, keep myself,hold this thought, do this,
(32:28):
read scripture, barely look up.
No, where's your faith in thesanctifying work of Christ?
We keep ourselves while God isin the midst of keeping us.
And as confusing as that soundsone of the quotes from John
Piper that I will probably,there are two that I will
probably remember for the restof my life.
I didn't even fact check myselfbecause I had been quoting this
from Piper for so long.
(32:49):
So if one of you wants toGoogle it and tell me that I got
it wrong, I don't care.
That's fine.
Piper puts it this way Godkeeps me by enabling me to do
self-keeping things.
Does God keep you by you beingin the word?
Yes, and he enables you to beable to read it and understand
it and enjoy it and desire it.
Do I stay in the word of God?
(33:12):
Do I stay kept because of myprayers?
Yes, and you are able to pray,desirous to pray, because God is
in the midst of keeping you,and on and on it goes with every
single spiritual discipline.
Therefore, beloved, since youare waiting, be diligent, be
(33:33):
found without spot or blemish,be at peace.
Here is how you do it.
We grow in grace.
Grow in grace in the knowledgeof our Lord and Savior, jesus
Christ, peter's last words tothe Christians before the sun
sets on his life To him be glory, both now and to the day of
(33:53):
eternity, which I am about to goand see.
Amen, may God make it so.
How is it that we do this?
We grow in grace.
If your first answer to thequestion that I asked was grace,
well, how can I possibly findpeace while I'm diligently
(34:17):
striving to be without blemishGrace?
Jesus did this, you're right,but do you know that grace is
not just a static thing that youclaim and place on yourself?
Do you know that?
It's something that Peter saysyou grow in.
This is something that you haveyet to see the depths of
Christian who's been walkingwith the Lord for 50 years.
(34:37):
It's something you have neverseen the heights of believer for
the past five minutes.
The grace of God is bigger andwider and greater than anything
that you can imagine.
All Peter is basically saying isthis be diligent to be a
receiver of God.
That is how you do this.
It is not being diligent withwhat you do.
(35:00):
It is being diligent to keepyour hands open when you want to
do something with them yourself.
It is being diligent to sayFather, I desire to receive from
you today, in this moment, inthis situation, in this broken
thing.
This is what Peter wants us todo.
(35:21):
So are you supposed to beworking or are you supposed to
be resting?
Yeah, and I'll prove it to youright now.
If I told you I want you tostand up from this place and go
rest, well, I want you to gofind peace.
I can tell you what most of youwould do.
Most of you would go to sleep,am I right?
Just by show of hands.
(35:42):
How many of you would be likeI'll take a morning nap?
Okay, a lot.
Oh, really, y'all are betterthan I would have thought.
Okay, how about at about twoo'clock this afternoon?
You feeling it?
Then there we go.
I would be willing to bet thatif I had the ability to just
speak out of the ether into yourworld at two o'clock this
afternoon and I said, nardi,rest here is not what you would
(36:07):
do.
You would not say, okay,maniacs would do that, crazy
people would do that.
Rest, absolutely rest modeengaged.
Do you know what you would do?
First you would get excitedright, I'm not feeling guilty.
All right, I'm going to rest,that's great.
Then you would probably go to aplace.
You probably care what thelights are like in that place.
(36:28):
You probably care if you haveon shoes or not.
You might even care if you'reclose to your kids or if you're
far from your kids, because ifyou really want to be at peace,
if you really want to rest, it'sgoing to take work for you to
get there.
That's what Peter is saying.
If you want to find peace andrest with God, put yourself in a
(36:49):
place to be able to receive it.
I know speaking well enough toknow that if I do this, y'all
are going to start freaking outfor time.
You've got to be kidding me.
Four points Will and communionteam are poking their head in.
Can I just tell you this?
I do think if you want to growin peace, these are the ways to
(37:12):
do it.
I made it as easy for you as Icould, by making all of them
start with ours, and I did usechat GPT for a little help.
I was struggling on one of them.
But instead of walking throughall of these and teaching you a
lesson, instead I want to tellyou what happened to me last
night.
This never happens to me when Iwant to rest.
I'll tell you what I do.
(37:33):
I take off my shoes.
That is a prerequisite for me.
I go lateral and I close myeyes To my wife's absolute
frustration.
I can be asleep in about 15seconds or less.
Y'all may know this about me.
I always say clear consciences,sleep well and sleep quickly.
So I was like all right, shedoesn't love that either.
(37:54):
Last night I had four or fivenightmares back to back.
Never happens.
Thank you for the awe for themotherly person over.
Thank you.
I know that I'm in my 40s.
I still receive that.
I appreciate it.
Horrible dreams people breakinginto my house, my kids screaming
(38:16):
, horrible dream number.
And then you wake up and youcan't go right back to sleep.
I'm literally checking thehouse.
I'm walking around and lookingfor cars in the driveway.
I go back to sleep and I have adream that my wife is walking
out on me.
Then I go back to sleep and Iwake up and, for whatever reason
, I'm in charge of a gymnasticteam that has to get to a pizza
place and none of the girls canagree on what they want.
(38:38):
And I'm just like we've got toget somewhere.
Girls figure it out it's allpepperoni, what's the problem?
And then I have another dream.
I can't even remember now whatit was, but I woke up because
the night before I wasstruggling with how do I present
this Lord to people in a waythat they even care or relate?
And then I can't sleep allnight and every one of my dreams
(39:00):
lines up with something that Ihad already written down.
What does it mean for you to beable to rest and find peace in
your striving?
It means you can rely on thesufficiency of Christ.
It means you can realize thatyou are so far from who God
wants you to be, but Christ, hisgrace, his sacrifice, will
(39:21):
always be bigger than yourimpediment.
It means that you can rememberthe promises of God when you
feel like you're not going tomake it, when life feels unsafe,
when you are fearful of thingscoming in the world, when the
storm or the season, thedifficulty, the circumstance,
the situation is too big andit's too oppressive.
(39:42):
And Psalm 139, every one ofyour days was written before one
of them came to be.
Isaiah 26, 3,.
He keeps in perfect peace, himwhose mind has stayed on him
because he trusts in him.
It means you can rest in theperson of Christ, even in all
the relational instability thatyou may have with a mom or with
(40:02):
a dad, or with a child, or witha spouse, or with somebody that
is a friend or was a friend.
That you can rest in the personof Christ.
That we simultaneously havepeace from God and we have peace
with him.
Romans 5,.
Philippians 4.
When we feel like there's norest to be found, jesus tells us
he Matthew 11, gives us rest.
(40:23):
Christianity is unlike everyreligion on the planet.
Do you know what Buddha's lastwords were?
Strive without ceasing.
He took a note out of Peter's,but he could never get to the
next line Strive without ceasing.
But Peter can say that and thenhe can say and be at peace, why
(40:45):
?
Because while the last words ofBuddha were strive without
ceasing, the last words ofChrist on the cross were it's
finished, the work is done,struggle no more.
My child, son, daughter.
I have done the work.
I've done the work for 60 to 80years.
(41:07):
I've done the work for 150.
I've done the work.
If you have a nine-month lifeand I've done the work if you
have a 19-year life, I havefinished it.
And when life feels out ofcontrol, when you get to the end
of the day and it's not eventhe end of the day, it's three
o'clock and you're just like Ijust want tomorrow to come,
(41:29):
because I can't handle any moreof this.
Want tomorrow to come because Ican't handle any more of this.
Rejoice in the sovereignty ofGod, that you do not have
control and that that is anabundantly good thing, that you
can rest in the sovereign willof God.
When Peter tells us to bediligent, to strive to be found
(41:49):
without spot or blemish and tobe at peace, what he is saying
is believer, non-believer, growin your ability to receive from
God.
And that's what we do thismorning, it's what we do every
morning, but it's especiallywhat we do on a morning where we
bring these things out.
You know, the Bible says thatyou can actually receive this
(42:12):
wrongly.
And if you receive this wrongly, if you twist it, you drink and
eat condemnation on yourself.
That's what we don't usuallyread.
The end of first Corinthians 11.
It just doesn't close thesurface out quite as beautifully
.
It's what it says before wecome to this place, as you begin
pondering, and we put up somequestions for you to think about
(42:32):
as you get ready to come tocommunion.
Guys, you're good to go ify'all want to go ahead and come
on in as you think about thesethings.
How might you be twisting theword of God?
How might you be twisting yourunderstanding of it?
How might you be twistingyourself to work in a way that
Christ is finished?
But how might you be twistingyourself to say there is no work
for me to do?
But how might you be twistingyourself to seek peace by your
(42:53):
own making rather than simplysay God has called me to grow in
this, that I would receive fromhim?
What is it going to take foryour heart and mind to be in a
place where you can receive wellfrom God?
Let's do that together.
If you need prayer, if you needencouragement, if you want to
(43:16):
talk, we'll have some folks onthe back porch.
Just come and join us.
Stokes is going to lead us inworship.
This meal is a family meal.
It is for Christians.
If you're not a believer, we'renot trying to make you feel
excluded.
We just don't want you topartake of something that you
don't fully understand, becausethose who are trusting in Christ
look at this and they rememberthat cross.
(43:37):
They remember a hammer that wasswung and nails that went
through and thorns that werepressed on a head so that they
didn't have to happen to you.
They remember blood that wasshed so that you can stand
before God unashamed because youstand on the work of Christ.
If you're a believer, this isfor you.
If you're not, we would ask youto watch people respond and
(43:58):
pray that you would grow in yourability to receive from the
Lord.
And Josh, I wasn't going toforget, but I appreciate you
staring me down.
If you need gluten-free bread,josh has it correct and Matt All
right, both of these are glutenfree.
The rest are not.
And so, as you feel able andwilling, let's respond to the
(44:19):
Lord, take the elements, butwait and we will eat and drink
them together If you wouldponder these things and let's
grow in receiving the Lord.
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