August 21, 2026 • 25 mins
God’s patience is not a reason to relax, it’s a reason to get serious. We wrap up a hard-hitting message from 2 Peter 3 where Dr. Timothy Mann presses one command home: be diligent. That diligence shows up in real life as we live differently, refuse to treat grace like a loophole, and stay motivated to reach others while it is still the day of salvation.
We also zoom out to the big biblical picture Peter points to when he references Paul’s writings. Romans and Ephesians help us understand God’s program in this present age, including how Jews and Gentiles are made one in Christ, and how law and grace fit together without contradiction. When we try to force the Bible to say what we want, we end up twisting Scripture, and Peter’s warning is sobering: people can distort the Word to their own destruction.
Then the spotlight turns to spiritual stability in a culture of biblical illiteracy. We talk about why knowledge alone is not enough, why “beware” is a daily posture, and why many believers drift when the walls between truth and error get blurred. The answer is steady growth: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Grace without knowledge can stay shallow, and knowledge without grace can become a weapon, but together they shape a mature life that glorifies God.
If you care about sound doctrine, gospel urgency, and practical Christian growth, this is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find Foundations of Truth.
How can we pray for you? Text us and tell us how the episode helped you, as well.
Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy Mann is supported in part by:
Cat Care Clinic, located in Ormond Beach
AMN Plumbing serving the Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna and surrounding areas.
Enjoying this episode? Subscribe to the show!
Dig deeper into biblical truth with articles from Pastor Tim! — Click Here
Get Pastor Tim’s book Saved: Understanding God’s Work In Us — available now at Xulon PressAmazonBarnes and Noble
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:15):
Dr.
Timothy Mann open up the Bibleto crack everything open for
everyday life.
Yesterday we began a powerfulstudy for 2 Peter chapter 3
entitled Be Diligent.
Today we conclude that messageand we conclude our series,
Truth in a World of Fair.
So take your Bible, turn onceagain to 2 Peter chapter 3.
And here's Dr.
(00:36):
Timothy Mann with part two of BeDiligent on Foundations of
Truth.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
And so if we're going to be diligent, as we
ought, as he says here, it's tobe diligent to live differently.
Not only that, though, it'sverses 15 and 16 teaches us to
be diligent to reach others.
To be diligent to reach others.
2 Peter 3.15 ties back to verse9.
I'm not going to repeat that,but that explains why the Lord
(01:02):
had appears and delayedfulfilling his promise.
God has had every reason, andyou know this to be the case,
he's had every reason long agoto judge the world, burn up its
works, but in his mercy he'slong suffering with us.
This is the day, and we ought tobe grateful for this.
This is the day of salvation,not judgment.
It's a wonderful thing.
This is the day of salvation.
(01:23):
And here what happens, it'sinteresting.
Peter makes reference to Paul'swritings as well, because it's
Paul who, more than any otherNew Testament writer, explained
God's plan for mankind duringthis present age.
Especially in the book of Romansand especially in the book of
Ephesians.
If there's any New Testamentletters you ought to master, you
(01:43):
ought to know as a Christian, asa Bible student, it's the book
of Romans and the book ofEphesians.
You ought to know those.
You ought to master them.
He teaches that.
And he points out, in thosebooks, the Apostle Paul explains
the relationship between Israeland the church.
And he points out that God usedthe nation of Israel to prepare
(02:04):
the way for the coming of ourSavior.
But what happened?
We read the Gospels.
Those of you who are with us aswe went through the Gospel of
John, you know that Israelrejected its king and
specifically asked to have himcrucified.
Did that destroy God's plan?
Of course not.
We know that.
And today, I don't care to tellyou, today, Israel is set aside
(02:25):
nationally.
But God is doing a wonderful newthing.
What he's doing is he's savingJews, he's saving Gentiles, and
He is making them into one inChrist.
And for centuries, if a Gentile,if you wanted to be saved, you
know what you had to do?
You had to come by way ofIsrael.
That's what had to happen.
And that same attitude persistedeven in the early church when
(02:49):
they formed.
But the Apostle Paul made itclear that both Jews and
Gentiles stand condemned beforeGod.
That's tough language, but it'strue.
And that both must be saved byfaith in Jesus Christ.
And in Jesus Christ, saved Jewsand Gentiles belong to one body.
One.
Not two, one.
(03:12):
And the Bible says that this isa mystery that was hidden in
God's counsels and laterrevealed through the New
Testament prophets and apostles.
You say, well, what's the pointin all of this?
Well, the Jewish nation, OldTestament, was God's great
testimony to law.
And the church, his people, ishis witness to grace.
(03:35):
Talked about this a little bitthis past Wednesday night.
What happened was law preparedthe way for grace, and grace now
enables us to fulfill therighteousness of the law.
That does not mean that there'sno grace under the old covenant
or that the new covenantbelievers are lawless, not at
all.
Now, he says, the apostle Petersays, there's some unlearned and
unstable people who have a hardtime, difficult time
(03:58):
understanding Paul's writings.
See that in verse 15 and 16here?
Have a difficult time with that.
Even, by the way, I would sayeven some learned and stable
people who have spiritualdiscernment sometimes find
themselves floundering in greatpassages like Romans 9, 10, and
11, for example.
And some Bible students, I'venoticed, in their attempt to
(04:19):
harmonize seemingcontradictions, isn't it amazing
how we want to harmonize what wethink is contradictory?
We just got to make it fitsomehow.
We've got to get all of thesethings put together.
We've got to fill in all theblanks, we've got to cross every
T, we have to dot every I.
We just have to figure it out.
Somehow we've got to make lawand grace work and Israel and
the church and faith in works.
(04:40):
And we got to figure out God'ssovereignty and man's
responsibility.
We've got to make this all fit.
And usually what happens when wego down that road and we try to
do that, what happens is we endup twisting the scriptures and
we try to make them teach what'snot really there.
Over and over again.
As a matter of fact, that's whatPeter says.
He said they twist, verse 16,they twist to their own
(05:01):
destruction.
Not only what Paul said, butlook what he says, as they do
also the rest of the scripturesas well.
Even in Paul's day, there werethose who twisted his words, and
they tried to defend their ownignorance, and they accused Paul
of all kinds of things, liketeaching, since we're saved by
grace, it doesn't matter how youlive, doesn't matter how you
live.
Let me tell you, let me justtake a moment here and say this.
(05:24):
I don't care if you've got acertificate on the wall that
gives you a date, time, hour,and place that says you did
something that somehowguaranteed you now that you're
saved, if you live any way youwant to and you have no regard
whatsoever to the truth of God'sword and what it means to live
differently by the power of Godbecause you've been born again.
I'm not saying you're gonna beperfect, nobody's gonna be
(05:45):
perfect.
A Christian can fall into sinand impair God's graces and
suffer the consequences of that.
But you will not have theattitude of, does it matter what
I do?
Because I got saved back therewhen I did this thing.
I prayed that prayer, I took atrip to the ocean, I went in the
(06:05):
baptistry, I signed the churchcard, I became a member of the
church, and after all, oncesaved, always saved.
So it doesn't matter how I live,it doesn't matter what I do, I'm
saved.
You're perverting the grace ofGod, and you're not living your
life according to the truth ofScripture.
Doesn't work that way.
I mean, the idea was they'rethey're saying that Paul said,
(06:27):
Well, let us do evil that goodmay come.
No, no, not at all.
As a matter of fact, the way theapostle Paul responded to that,
he said, God forbid, may itnever be so.
I found out that most heresiesare the perversion of some
fundamental doctrine of theBible.
Most are.
And what happens is falseteachers take verses out of
context, and sometimes maybeeven teachers who are not
(06:51):
meaning to be false, take versesout of context and they twist
the scriptures and theymanufacture doctrines just as
the one I gave reference to thatare contrary to the word of God.
Peter probably had all thesefalse teachers in mind, but the
warning is good for all of us.
What does that mean?
That means this we must acceptthe teaching of the scriptures
(07:12):
and not try to make them saywhat we want them to say.
If anything, better adjust it,better be us.
And so, what happens to peoplewho blindly twist the
scriptures?
Peter says they twist it totheir own destruction.
Now, I don't think he's writinghere to Christians about who
have a difficult timeinterpreting the Word of God.
Because nobody understands allof the Bible perfectly.
(07:36):
We don't.
I don't.
What he's doing here is he'sdescribing the false teachers
who twisted, by the way, thatword could be translated,
tortured.
Tortured the word of God inorder to prove their false
doctrines.
And so what we're seeing here isthis word destruction.
It's very clear, it's strong.
In the King James Version, it'stranslated, and I looked this up
(07:58):
this week, it's translateddamnable, pernicious, perdition,
as well as destruction.
What does that mean?
It means the rejection ofeternal life, which means the
results in eternal death.
And so, since this is the day ofsalvation right now, this moment
that we have in time, for youand for the church, since it's
the day of salvation, then wehave to be diligent to do all we
(08:19):
can to reach others with thegospel as the church.
We don't know how long our Lordis going to be long-suffering
toward this evil world, and wemust not presume on his grace.
We must understand what theBible teaches about God's
program in this present age, andwe must be motivated by love for
the Lord and love for the lost,and we must desire to be
pleasing to him when he returns.
(08:40):
I don't know if you've noticedthis or not, but false teachers
are multiplying, multiplying.
Turn on the television.
They're multiplying, and they'repernicious.
That's old King James Word.
I wanted to use it today.
They're pernicious doctrines areinfiltrating the church all
across this land.
And I tell you what, what'sneeded, God needs men and women
(09:01):
who will resist them, who livedifferent lives, and who will
bear witness to the saving graceof Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because the time is short.
SPEAKER_02 (09:10):
At Foundations of Truth, we believe the gospel
still changes lives.
In a world filled withconfusion, fear, and false
promises, people desperatelyneed the truth of God's word.
And that's why this ministryexists.
If these broadcasts arestrengthening your faith and
encouraging your walk withChrist, please prayerfully
(09:30):
consider supporting thisministry financially.
Your gift helps keep Foundationsof Truth on the air and online
so that more people can hear thehope of the gospel.
You can give securely today atfoundationsoftruth.net.
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
And thank you for your prayers,your encouragement, and your
faithful partnership withFoundations of Truth.
(09:51):
Now let's return to today'smessage with Dr.
Timothy Mann.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
So we have to be diligent, not only to live
differently, but to also seek toreach others.
And then he says in verses 17through 18.
This really gets down home wherewe live, even more so.
We have to be diligent to growspiritually.
Diligent to grow spiritually.
Four beloved statements in firstin 2 Peter chapter 3, which
(10:18):
really summarizes what Peterwanted to get across as he
brought this second letter to aclose.
Verses 1 and 2, he says,Beloved, be mindful.
Verse 8, he says, Beloved, don'tbe ignorant.
Chapter 3, verse 14, he says,Beloved, be diligent.
And then in verse 17, he says,Beloved, beware.
Be mindful, don't be ignorant,be diligent and beware.
(10:41):
That word translated beware inverse 17.
It means to be constantlyguarding yourself.
Peter's readers knew the truth,but he wanted to warn them that
knowledge alone was notsufficient protection.
They had to be on guard.
They had to be alert.
It's so easy for people who havea knowledge of the Bible to go
(11:03):
overconfident and to forget thewarning that we're given in 1
Corinthians 10, verse 22, whichsays, Wherefore let him that
thinks he stand take heed lesthe fall.
As I read this, I think, whatspecial danger did Peter see
here?
What's he concerned about?
Well, it's that the truebelievers would be led away by
(11:26):
the error of the wicked.
Verse 17, led away by the errorof the wicked.
He's warning us against breakingdown the walls of separation
between truth and error.
Research I did last week workingon a project in my doctoral work
related to postmodern cultureand biblical illiteracy.
(11:49):
I was shocked to find out bygood research, Gallup and Varna,
that 51%, 51% of all Protestantpastors in this country do not
have a biblical worldview.
51%.
We wonder what's happening toour churches.
SPEAKER_00 (12:11):
When you can't trust what's in the pulpit.
How in the world?
What kind of an effect do youthink it's going to have on
those in the pew?
And evidenced in our children.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
Let me tell you about kids and teenagers.
Christian kids and teenagers whoare going to who are in church
going to church right now.
Research done by Barna Grouprecently indicates that while
professing Christian teenagersare very involved in church
activities and participate, whenasked would they continue going
(12:45):
to church when they graduate andare on their own, only three in
ten said they would.
Only three in ten.
Why?
They don't see any relevance.
They don't see any foundationaltruth.
Because what they hear and whatthey get is Jesus will make your
life better.
In a lot of situations, theydon't see that working.
(13:06):
And so they're like, I see otherpeople who have lives that look
just fine, and they're notreally into church, and they're
not into Jesus, and their lifeis made better by other things.
I'm gonna try those things.
Led away together with theerror.
We have to be so careful aboutbreaking down the walls that
(13:27):
stand between truth and error.
There really can be nocommunication between truth and
error.
These apostates, false teachers,live in error.
And while true believers aresupposed to live in the sphere
of truth.
He says, led away by the errorof the wicked.
It means lawless.
That's the description of thesefalse teachers, these apostates.
(13:47):
Lawless.
They promise freedom, but theirfreedom turns out to be
lawlessness.
And while it's absolutely true,I want you to notice this.
He says, we have to be aware ofthis, lest you fall from your
own steadfastness, lest you fallfrom your own steadfastness.
True Christians cannot fall fromsalvation and be lost, but they
can fall from their ownsteadfastness.
(14:09):
What was this steadfastness?
It's being established in thepresent truth.
That's what he talked aboutalready, being established in
the present truth.
The stability of the Christian.
If you're a genuine Christian inhere this morning, the stability
of the Christian comes from yourfaith and your trust in the Word
of God, your knowledge of theWord, and your ability to use
(14:30):
that word in all the practicaldimensions of your life.
That's where your stabilitycomes from.
One of the great tragedies ofevangelism, of so-called
evangelism, is bringingspiritual babies into the world
and then failing to feed them,failing to nurture them, and
failing to help them develop.
(14:52):
Tragedy.
New believers, new converts mustbe taught the basic doctrines of
the Word of God.
And if they're not, they'regoing to be in danger of being
led away with the air of thelawless.
So how can we?
Here's the question.
As a pastor, I want to thinkabout this.
How can we, as believers,maintain our steadfastness?
How can we avoid being among theunstable souls who are easily
(15:14):
deceived and led astray?
Well, it's by growingspiritually.
Growing spiritually.
Be constantly growing.
That's what he said, verse 18.
Grow.
Be constantly growing in thegrace and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
We should not just grow inspurts, but there should be a
constant experience ofdevelopment.
(15:34):
Now look what we should grow in.
First, he said we should grow ingrace.
Grow in grace.
That has to do with Christiantraits.
That has to do with everythingthat Peter wrote about in 2
Peter 1, verses 5 through 7.
Paul writes about it inGalatians 5.
See, here's the thing.
We're saved by grace, but itdoesn't end there.
It just doesn't stop there.
(15:54):
We must also, at least this ismy experience and what I've
encountered in my own life.
We have to be strengthened bygrace.
We have to have God's grace thatenables us to endure suffering.
His grace also gives us theability to give when giving is
difficult, not just money, butin any situation.
His grace gives us the strengthto give when giving is
(16:15):
difficult, to sing, when singingis difficult, all kinds of
things.
And our God is the God of allgrace, the Bible says.
And I'm pleased to announce toyou this morning, the Bible says
that he gives grace to thehumble, not to the proud.
As a matter of fact, it says heresists the proud.
He gives grace to the humble.
(16:38):
And as you study the Word ofGod, you'll see, you'll learn
all about the various aspects ofgrace that are available to us
as the children of God.
And we ourselves, we're to bestewards or managers of the
manifold grace of God.
There is grace for everysituation and every challenge of
life.
And everyone in this, everysingle one of us in this room
that's saved by Jesus Christ, weought to be able to declare, by
(17:01):
the grace of God, I am what Iam.
That ought to be the testimonyof our lives.
Not look what I did, not look atall my accomplishments.
Let me give you the litany andlist of everything I've done in
Christian service, all theaccolades I have, go in my home
and look at my I love me wall.
No, listen, we ought to be ableto say, By the grace of God, I
(17:22):
am what I am.
Nothing else.
God's grace.
I'm not saying you shouldn'tstrive for excellence or try to
be the best you can.
I like what Kathy had to say onetime.
He said, just be your best.
Why not be your best at alltimes?
Just be your best.
And he's done pretty well,hadn't he?
Nothing wrong with that.
The problem is, is we thinkthat's the source sometimes.
(17:48):
My hard work, my talents, my thethings I've done.
Oh, friend, you you couldn'thave done anything if God didn't
let you.
You understand?
He could take your health today.
He could take your resourcestoday.
He could take your very lifetoday.
The very next breath that youbreathe.
The day that calendars tomorrow,if God gives it to you, it's by
(18:11):
God's grace.
Jonathan Edwards said one timethe very reality that we do not
fall into hell immediately isbecause the grace of God
restrains us and holds us back.
It's God's grace.
And I have to tell you, we'renever really going to experience
(18:32):
the grace of God until we are atthe end of our own resources.
Not only growing grace, we haveto grow in knowledge.
Have to grow in knowledge.
It's easy to grow in knowledge,but not in grace, I found.
I don't know about you, but Ithink all of us know far more of
the Bible than we really live.
And the other thing I've seen,I've seen it so prevalent in
(18:53):
churches, I've seen it in my ownlife in the past, and it may
never be so again.
Knowledge without grace is aterrible weapon.
I see self-righteous, pridefulreligious people use their
knowledge without grace and hurtothers.
Knowledge without grace is aterrible weapon.
But grace without knowledge canbe very shallow.
(19:15):
But when we combine grace andknowledge, we have a marvelous
tool for building our lives andthe Holy Spirit building the
church.
And I want you to knowsomething, though.
And you know me, I believe inthe Bible, man.
I believe you ought to know theBible.
I believe you need to understandthe Bible.
But notice we're not challengedto grow just in knowledge of the
(19:37):
Bible.
As good as that is, it's to growin the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Lord and Savior Jesus, it's onething to know the Bible, but
it's quite another thing to knowthe Son of God, who is the
central theme of the Bible.
And the better we know Christthrough his word, the more we're
going to grow in grace, the morewe grow in grace, the more we're
going to understand the word ofGod.
See how that works.
And so what does that mean forus?
(19:58):
That means that you as aChristian, I as a Christian, we
must be constantly guardingourselves lest we be led away
into error.
We have to be constantly growingin grace and knowledge, and that
requires discipline anddiligence.
That requires diligence, anddiligence demands discipline and
priorities.
Nobody is ever going to justautomatically drift into
(20:19):
spiritual growth and stability.
But I'll tell you what you cando, you can drift out of
dedication and growth.
You can.
Just as a boat needs an anchor,we need the word of God.
Physical growth and spiritualgrowth follow pretty much the
same pattern.
You see that in the Bible.
As newborn babies, on and on andon.
(20:42):
Let me tell you an idealsituation.
It's not perfect.
But we grow best in a lovingfamily.
We really do.
And that's where the localchurch ought to come in.
Because a baby needs a familyfor protection, for provision,
and for affection.
(21:03):
Tests prove that babies who areraised alone, without special
love, they tend to developphysical and emotional problems
very early.
The church.
I know I'm on the vergesometimes of sounding negative
and critical, and I don't meanthat.
It just disheartens me to see somany local assemblies in the
(21:24):
name of Jesus and in the name ofGod's Word go down a path that I
think is so much in oppositionto what I think God's Word
teaches.
The church is not just to be aconcert with a little message
that meets once a week on aSunday morning.
The church is to be God'snursery, God's home, where the
(21:49):
care and feeding of Christianstake place.
SPEAKER_00 (21:52):
It's to be the God ordained environment that
encourages them to grow.
SPEAKER_01 (22:06):
It's important that we grow in a balanced way.
Because as the human body growsin a balanced way, it works
well.
There has to be a balancebetween worship and service.
There has to be a balancebetween faith and works.
A balanced diet of the wholeword of God helps us to maintain
a balanced life.
Well, last phrase, verse 18.
(22:29):
What's the result of spiritualgrowth?
To him be the glory.
Both now and forever.
Amen.
That really is supposed to bethe result of spiritual growth.
The glory of God.
It glorifies Jesus Christ whenwe keep ourselves living
differently, separated fromerror.
(22:50):
It glorifies him when we grow ingrace and knowledge.
Why?
Because we become more like him.
And in fact, even in his lifeand his death, Peter glorified
God.
I would encourage you sometimeat one sitting, go back.
At one sitting, you could do itin 30 minutes, probably.
At one sitting, go back andreread 2 Peter all the way
through.
And as you review this importantepistle, it is an important
(23:13):
letter.
You can't help but be struck bythe urgency of this message.
He says, the false teachers arehere.
They're busy.
They're seducing immatureChristians.
And we must be guarding andgrowing and glorifying the Lord,
making the most of everyopportunity to win the lost and
(23:33):
strengthen the saved.
And he wraps it up saying to youand me, be diligent.
Be diligent.
You never know, it may be verywell your own ministry that you
save, your own family, your ownlife, your own testimony that
you save, because you arediligent.
SPEAKER_02 (23:53):
Thank you for joining us today for Foundations
of Truth, the biblical teachingministry of Dr.
Timothy Mann.
If you'd like to hear thismessage again or hear back
episodes, or get more biblicalresources, or give a financial
gift, you can do so atfoundationsoftruth.net.
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
Remember, God's truth does notchange, even when the world
(24:15):
around us does.
We're thankful for AMN Plumbing,a local ministry partner serving
the Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach,Fort Orange, New Smyrna Beach,
and surrounding areas withDefendable Plumbing Service.
Their support helps makeFoundations of Truth available
to more listeners each week.
Foundations of Truth with Dr.
Timothy Mann is supported inpart by Luther Rice College and
(24:37):
Seminary, equipping men andwomen for ministry through
biblically faithful theologicaleducation.
As a leader in online learning,we are grateful for their
partnership in helping carrybiblical truth farther.
Foundations of Truth with Dr.
Timothy Mann is supported inpart by Cat Care Clinic, located
in Ormond Beach, and servingfamilies with thoughtful and
(24:58):
compassionate veterinary carefor cats.
We're grateful for theirpartnership in helping carry
biblical truth farther.
SPEAKER_01 (25:05):
Before we close today, I want to tell you about
a resource that I believe willbe a genuine help to you.
I've recently published my firstbook, Saved, Understanding God's
Work in Us.
In over 30 years of pastoralministry, one of the questions
I've encountered more thanalmost any other is this How can
I know that I am truly saved?
It is a question that deserves acareful, biblical answer.
(25:26):
And that is exactly what thisbook is designed to give.
You can find it on Amazon,Barnes Noble, and Books a
Million, and pretty muchanywhere you buy books.
I pray it strengthens yourfaith.
Thanks for being with us today.
God bless you.
Dr.
Timothy Mann open up the Bibleto crack everything open for
everyday life.
Yesterday we began a powerfulstudy for 2 Peter chapter 3
entitled Be Diligent.
Today we conclude that messageand we conclude our series,
Truth in a World of Fair.
So take your Bible, turn onceagain to 2 Peter chapter 3.
And here's Dr.
(00:36):
Timothy Mann with part two of BeDiligent on Foundations of
Truth.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
And so if we're going to be diligent, as we
ought, as he says here, it's tobe diligent to live differently.
Not only that, though, it'sverses 15 and 16 teaches us to
be diligent to reach others.
To be diligent to reach others.
2 Peter 3.15 ties back to verse9.
I'm not going to repeat that,but that explains why the Lord
(01:02):
had appears and delayedfulfilling his promise.
God has had every reason, andyou know this to be the case,
he's had every reason long agoto judge the world, burn up its
works, but in his mercy he'slong suffering with us.
This is the day, and we ought tobe grateful for this.
This is the day of salvation,not judgment.
It's a wonderful thing.
This is the day of salvation.
(01:23):
And here what happens, it'sinteresting.
Peter makes reference to Paul'swritings as well, because it's
Paul who, more than any otherNew Testament writer, explained
God's plan for mankind duringthis present age.
Especially in the book of Romansand especially in the book of
Ephesians.
If there's any New Testamentletters you ought to master, you
(01:43):
ought to know as a Christian, asa Bible student, it's the book
of Romans and the book ofEphesians.
You ought to know those.
You ought to master them.
He teaches that.
And he points out, in thosebooks, the Apostle Paul explains
the relationship between Israeland the church.
And he points out that God usedthe nation of Israel to prepare
(02:04):
the way for the coming of ourSavior.
But what happened?
We read the Gospels.
Those of you who are with us aswe went through the Gospel of
John, you know that Israelrejected its king and
specifically asked to have himcrucified.
Did that destroy God's plan?
Of course not.
We know that.
And today, I don't care to tellyou, today, Israel is set aside
(02:25):
nationally.
But God is doing a wonderful newthing.
What he's doing is he's savingJews, he's saving Gentiles, and
He is making them into one inChrist.
And for centuries, if a Gentile,if you wanted to be saved, you
know what you had to do?
You had to come by way ofIsrael.
That's what had to happen.
And that same attitude persistedeven in the early church when
(02:49):
they formed.
But the Apostle Paul made itclear that both Jews and
Gentiles stand condemned beforeGod.
That's tough language, but it'strue.
And that both must be saved byfaith in Jesus Christ.
And in Jesus Christ, saved Jewsand Gentiles belong to one body.
One.
Not two, one.
(03:12):
And the Bible says that this isa mystery that was hidden in
God's counsels and laterrevealed through the New
Testament prophets and apostles.
You say, well, what's the pointin all of this?
Well, the Jewish nation, OldTestament, was God's great
testimony to law.
And the church, his people, ishis witness to grace.
(03:35):
Talked about this a little bitthis past Wednesday night.
What happened was law preparedthe way for grace, and grace now
enables us to fulfill therighteousness of the law.
That does not mean that there'sno grace under the old covenant
or that the new covenantbelievers are lawless, not at
all.
Now, he says, the apostle Petersays, there's some unlearned and
unstable people who have a hardtime, difficult time
(03:58):
understanding Paul's writings.
See that in verse 15 and 16here?
Have a difficult time with that.
Even, by the way, I would sayeven some learned and stable
people who have spiritualdiscernment sometimes find
themselves floundering in greatpassages like Romans 9, 10, and
11, for example.
And some Bible students, I'venoticed, in their attempt to
(04:19):
harmonize seemingcontradictions, isn't it amazing
how we want to harmonize what wethink is contradictory?
We just got to make it fitsomehow.
We've got to get all of thesethings put together.
We've got to fill in all theblanks, we've got to cross every
T, we have to dot every I.
We just have to figure it out.
Somehow we've got to make lawand grace work and Israel and
the church and faith in works.
(04:40):
And we got to figure out God'ssovereignty and man's
responsibility.
We've got to make this all fit.
And usually what happens when wego down that road and we try to
do that, what happens is we endup twisting the scriptures and
we try to make them teach what'snot really there.
Over and over again.
As a matter of fact, that's whatPeter says.
He said they twist, verse 16,they twist to their own
(05:01):
destruction.
Not only what Paul said, butlook what he says, as they do
also the rest of the scripturesas well.
Even in Paul's day, there werethose who twisted his words, and
they tried to defend their ownignorance, and they accused Paul
of all kinds of things, liketeaching, since we're saved by
grace, it doesn't matter how youlive, doesn't matter how you
live.
Let me tell you, let me justtake a moment here and say this.
(05:24):
I don't care if you've got acertificate on the wall that
gives you a date, time, hour,and place that says you did
something that somehowguaranteed you now that you're
saved, if you live any way youwant to and you have no regard
whatsoever to the truth of God'sword and what it means to live
differently by the power of Godbecause you've been born again.
I'm not saying you're gonna beperfect, nobody's gonna be
(05:45):
perfect.
A Christian can fall into sinand impair God's graces and
suffer the consequences of that.
But you will not have theattitude of, does it matter what
I do?
Because I got saved back therewhen I did this thing.
I prayed that prayer, I took atrip to the ocean, I went in the
(06:05):
baptistry, I signed the churchcard, I became a member of the
church, and after all, oncesaved, always saved.
So it doesn't matter how I live,it doesn't matter what I do, I'm
saved.
You're perverting the grace ofGod, and you're not living your
life according to the truth ofScripture.
Doesn't work that way.
I mean, the idea was they'rethey're saying that Paul said,
(06:27):
Well, let us do evil that goodmay come.
No, no, not at all.
As a matter of fact, the way theapostle Paul responded to that,
he said, God forbid, may itnever be so.
I found out that most heresiesare the perversion of some
fundamental doctrine of theBible.
Most are.
And what happens is falseteachers take verses out of
context, and sometimes maybeeven teachers who are not
(06:51):
meaning to be false, take versesout of context and they twist
the scriptures and theymanufacture doctrines just as
the one I gave reference to thatare contrary to the word of God.
Peter probably had all thesefalse teachers in mind, but the
warning is good for all of us.
What does that mean?
That means this we must acceptthe teaching of the scriptures
(07:12):
and not try to make them saywhat we want them to say.
If anything, better adjust it,better be us.
And so, what happens to peoplewho blindly twist the
scriptures?
Peter says they twist it totheir own destruction.
Now, I don't think he's writinghere to Christians about who
have a difficult timeinterpreting the Word of God.
Because nobody understands allof the Bible perfectly.
(07:36):
We don't.
I don't.
What he's doing here is he'sdescribing the false teachers
who twisted, by the way, thatword could be translated,
tortured.
Tortured the word of God inorder to prove their false
doctrines.
And so what we're seeing here isthis word destruction.
It's very clear, it's strong.
In the King James Version, it'stranslated, and I looked this up
(07:58):
this week, it's translateddamnable, pernicious, perdition,
as well as destruction.
What does that mean?
It means the rejection ofeternal life, which means the
results in eternal death.
And so, since this is the day ofsalvation right now, this moment
that we have in time, for youand for the church, since it's
the day of salvation, then wehave to be diligent to do all we
(08:19):
can to reach others with thegospel as the church.
We don't know how long our Lordis going to be long-suffering
toward this evil world, and wemust not presume on his grace.
We must understand what theBible teaches about God's
program in this present age, andwe must be motivated by love for
the Lord and love for the lost,and we must desire to be
pleasing to him when he returns.
(08:40):
I don't know if you've noticedthis or not, but false teachers
are multiplying, multiplying.
Turn on the television.
They're multiplying, and they'repernicious.
That's old King James Word.
I wanted to use it today.
They're pernicious doctrines areinfiltrating the church all
across this land.
And I tell you what, what'sneeded, God needs men and women
(09:01):
who will resist them, who livedifferent lives, and who will
bear witness to the saving graceof Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because the time is short.
SPEAKER_02 (09:10):
At Foundations of Truth, we believe the gospel
still changes lives.
In a world filled withconfusion, fear, and false
promises, people desperatelyneed the truth of God's word.
And that's why this ministryexists.
If these broadcasts arestrengthening your faith and
encouraging your walk withChrist, please prayerfully
(09:30):
consider supporting thisministry financially.
Your gift helps keep Foundationsof Truth on the air and online
so that more people can hear thehope of the gospel.
You can give securely today atfoundationsoftruth.net.
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
And thank you for your prayers,your encouragement, and your
faithful partnership withFoundations of Truth.
(09:51):
Now let's return to today'smessage with Dr.
Timothy Mann.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
So we have to be diligent, not only to live
differently, but to also seek toreach others.
And then he says in verses 17through 18.
This really gets down home wherewe live, even more so.
We have to be diligent to growspiritually.
Diligent to grow spiritually.
Four beloved statements in firstin 2 Peter chapter 3, which
(10:18):
really summarizes what Peterwanted to get across as he
brought this second letter to aclose.
Verses 1 and 2, he says,Beloved, be mindful.
Verse 8, he says, Beloved, don'tbe ignorant.
Chapter 3, verse 14, he says,Beloved, be diligent.
And then in verse 17, he says,Beloved, beware.
Be mindful, don't be ignorant,be diligent and beware.
(10:41):
That word translated beware inverse 17.
It means to be constantlyguarding yourself.
Peter's readers knew the truth,but he wanted to warn them that
knowledge alone was notsufficient protection.
They had to be on guard.
They had to be alert.
It's so easy for people who havea knowledge of the Bible to go
(11:03):
overconfident and to forget thewarning that we're given in 1
Corinthians 10, verse 22, whichsays, Wherefore let him that
thinks he stand take heed lesthe fall.
As I read this, I think, whatspecial danger did Peter see
here?
What's he concerned about?
Well, it's that the truebelievers would be led away by
(11:26):
the error of the wicked.
Verse 17, led away by the errorof the wicked.
He's warning us against breakingdown the walls of separation
between truth and error.
Research I did last week workingon a project in my doctoral work
related to postmodern cultureand biblical illiteracy.
(11:49):
I was shocked to find out bygood research, Gallup and Varna,
that 51%, 51% of all Protestantpastors in this country do not
have a biblical worldview.
51%.
We wonder what's happening toour churches.
SPEAKER_00 (12:11):
When you can't trust what's in the pulpit.
How in the world?
What kind of an effect do youthink it's going to have on
those in the pew?
And evidenced in our children.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
Let me tell you about kids and teenagers.
Christian kids and teenagers whoare going to who are in church
going to church right now.
Research done by Barna Grouprecently indicates that while
professing Christian teenagersare very involved in church
activities and participate, whenasked would they continue going
(12:45):
to church when they graduate andare on their own, only three in
ten said they would.
Only three in ten.
Why?
They don't see any relevance.
They don't see any foundationaltruth.
Because what they hear and whatthey get is Jesus will make your
life better.
In a lot of situations, theydon't see that working.
(13:06):
And so they're like, I see otherpeople who have lives that look
just fine, and they're notreally into church, and they're
not into Jesus, and their lifeis made better by other things.
I'm gonna try those things.
Led away together with theerror.
We have to be so careful aboutbreaking down the walls that
(13:27):
stand between truth and error.
There really can be nocommunication between truth and
error.
These apostates, false teachers,live in error.
And while true believers aresupposed to live in the sphere
of truth.
He says, led away by the errorof the wicked.
It means lawless.
That's the description of thesefalse teachers, these apostates.
(13:47):
Lawless.
They promise freedom, but theirfreedom turns out to be
lawlessness.
And while it's absolutely true,I want you to notice this.
He says, we have to be aware ofthis, lest you fall from your
own steadfastness, lest you fallfrom your own steadfastness.
True Christians cannot fall fromsalvation and be lost, but they
can fall from their ownsteadfastness.
(14:09):
What was this steadfastness?
It's being established in thepresent truth.
That's what he talked aboutalready, being established in
the present truth.
The stability of the Christian.
If you're a genuine Christian inhere this morning, the stability
of the Christian comes from yourfaith and your trust in the Word
of God, your knowledge of theWord, and your ability to use
(14:30):
that word in all the practicaldimensions of your life.
That's where your stabilitycomes from.
One of the great tragedies ofevangelism, of so-called
evangelism, is bringingspiritual babies into the world
and then failing to feed them,failing to nurture them, and
failing to help them develop.
(14:52):
Tragedy.
New believers, new converts mustbe taught the basic doctrines of
the Word of God.
And if they're not, they'regoing to be in danger of being
led away with the air of thelawless.
So how can we?
Here's the question.
As a pastor, I want to thinkabout this.
How can we, as believers,maintain our steadfastness?
How can we avoid being among theunstable souls who are easily
(15:14):
deceived and led astray?
Well, it's by growingspiritually.
Growing spiritually.
Be constantly growing.
That's what he said, verse 18.
Grow.
Be constantly growing in thegrace and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
We should not just grow inspurts, but there should be a
constant experience ofdevelopment.
(15:34):
Now look what we should grow in.
First, he said we should grow ingrace.
Grow in grace.
That has to do with Christiantraits.
That has to do with everythingthat Peter wrote about in 2
Peter 1, verses 5 through 7.
Paul writes about it inGalatians 5.
See, here's the thing.
We're saved by grace, but itdoesn't end there.
It just doesn't stop there.
(15:54):
We must also, at least this ismy experience and what I've
encountered in my own life.
We have to be strengthened bygrace.
We have to have God's grace thatenables us to endure suffering.
His grace also gives us theability to give when giving is
difficult, not just money, butin any situation.
His grace gives us the strengthto give when giving is
(16:15):
difficult, to sing, when singingis difficult, all kinds of
things.
And our God is the God of allgrace, the Bible says.
And I'm pleased to announce toyou this morning, the Bible says
that he gives grace to thehumble, not to the proud.
As a matter of fact, it says heresists the proud.
He gives grace to the humble.
(16:38):
And as you study the Word ofGod, you'll see, you'll learn
all about the various aspects ofgrace that are available to us
as the children of God.
And we ourselves, we're to bestewards or managers of the
manifold grace of God.
There is grace for everysituation and every challenge of
life.
And everyone in this, everysingle one of us in this room
that's saved by Jesus Christ, weought to be able to declare, by
(17:01):
the grace of God, I am what Iam.
That ought to be the testimonyof our lives.
Not look what I did, not look atall my accomplishments.
Let me give you the litany andlist of everything I've done in
Christian service, all theaccolades I have, go in my home
and look at my I love me wall.
No, listen, we ought to be ableto say, By the grace of God, I
(17:22):
am what I am.
Nothing else.
God's grace.
I'm not saying you shouldn'tstrive for excellence or try to
be the best you can.
I like what Kathy had to say onetime.
He said, just be your best.
Why not be your best at alltimes?
Just be your best.
And he's done pretty well,hadn't he?
Nothing wrong with that.
The problem is, is we thinkthat's the source sometimes.
(17:48):
My hard work, my talents, my thethings I've done.
Oh, friend, you you couldn'thave done anything if God didn't
let you.
You understand?
He could take your health today.
He could take your resourcestoday.
He could take your very lifetoday.
The very next breath that youbreathe.
The day that calendars tomorrow,if God gives it to you, it's by
(18:11):
God's grace.
Jonathan Edwards said one timethe very reality that we do not
fall into hell immediately isbecause the grace of God
restrains us and holds us back.
It's God's grace.
And I have to tell you, we'renever really going to experience
(18:32):
the grace of God until we are atthe end of our own resources.
Not only growing grace, we haveto grow in knowledge.
Have to grow in knowledge.
It's easy to grow in knowledge,but not in grace, I found.
I don't know about you, but Ithink all of us know far more of
the Bible than we really live.
And the other thing I've seen,I've seen it so prevalent in
(18:53):
churches, I've seen it in my ownlife in the past, and it may
never be so again.
Knowledge without grace is aterrible weapon.
I see self-righteous, pridefulreligious people use their
knowledge without grace and hurtothers.
Knowledge without grace is aterrible weapon.
But grace without knowledge canbe very shallow.
(19:15):
But when we combine grace andknowledge, we have a marvelous
tool for building our lives andthe Holy Spirit building the
church.
And I want you to knowsomething, though.
And you know me, I believe inthe Bible, man.
I believe you ought to know theBible.
I believe you need to understandthe Bible.
But notice we're not challengedto grow just in knowledge of the
(19:37):
Bible.
As good as that is, it's to growin the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Lord and Savior Jesus, it's onething to know the Bible, but
it's quite another thing to knowthe Son of God, who is the
central theme of the Bible.
And the better we know Christthrough his word, the more we're
going to grow in grace, the morewe grow in grace, the more we're
going to understand the word ofGod.
See how that works.
And so what does that mean forus?
(19:58):
That means that you as aChristian, I as a Christian, we
must be constantly guardingourselves lest we be led away
into error.
We have to be constantly growingin grace and knowledge, and that
requires discipline anddiligence.
That requires diligence, anddiligence demands discipline and
priorities.
Nobody is ever going to justautomatically drift into
(20:19):
spiritual growth and stability.
But I'll tell you what you cando, you can drift out of
dedication and growth.
You can.
Just as a boat needs an anchor,we need the word of God.
Physical growth and spiritualgrowth follow pretty much the
same pattern.
You see that in the Bible.
As newborn babies, on and on andon.
(20:42):
Let me tell you an idealsituation.
It's not perfect.
But we grow best in a lovingfamily.
We really do.
And that's where the localchurch ought to come in.
Because a baby needs a familyfor protection, for provision,
and for affection.
(21:03):
Tests prove that babies who areraised alone, without special
love, they tend to developphysical and emotional problems
very early.
The church.
I know I'm on the vergesometimes of sounding negative
and critical, and I don't meanthat.
It just disheartens me to see somany local assemblies in the
(21:24):
name of Jesus and in the name ofGod's Word go down a path that I
think is so much in oppositionto what I think God's Word
teaches.
The church is not just to be aconcert with a little message
that meets once a week on aSunday morning.
The church is to be God'snursery, God's home, where the
(21:49):
care and feeding of Christianstake place.
SPEAKER_00 (21:52):
It's to be the God ordained environment that
encourages them to grow.
SPEAKER_01 (22:06):
It's important that we grow in a balanced way.
Because as the human body growsin a balanced way, it works
well.
There has to be a balancebetween worship and service.
There has to be a balancebetween faith and works.
A balanced diet of the wholeword of God helps us to maintain
a balanced life.
Well, last phrase, verse 18.
(22:29):
What's the result of spiritualgrowth?
To him be the glory.
Both now and forever.
Amen.
That really is supposed to bethe result of spiritual growth.
The glory of God.
It glorifies Jesus Christ whenwe keep ourselves living
differently, separated fromerror.
(22:50):
It glorifies him when we grow ingrace and knowledge.
Why?
Because we become more like him.
And in fact, even in his lifeand his death, Peter glorified
God.
I would encourage you sometimeat one sitting, go back.
At one sitting, you could do itin 30 minutes, probably.
At one sitting, go back andreread 2 Peter all the way
through.
And as you review this importantepistle, it is an important
(23:13):
letter.
You can't help but be struck bythe urgency of this message.
He says, the false teachers arehere.
They're busy.
They're seducing immatureChristians.
And we must be guarding andgrowing and glorifying the Lord,
making the most of everyopportunity to win the lost and
(23:33):
strengthen the saved.
And he wraps it up saying to youand me, be diligent.
Be diligent.
You never know, it may be verywell your own ministry that you
save, your own family, your ownlife, your own testimony that
you save, because you arediligent.
SPEAKER_02 (23:53):
Thank you for joining us today for Foundations
of Truth, the biblical teachingministry of Dr.
Timothy Mann.
If you'd like to hear thismessage again or hear back
episodes, or get more biblicalresources, or give a financial
gift, you can do so atfoundationsoftruth.net.
That's foundationsoftruth.net.
Remember, God's truth does notchange, even when the world
(24:15):
around us does.
We're thankful for AMN Plumbing,a local ministry partner serving
the Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach,Fort Orange, New Smyrna Beach,
and surrounding areas withDefendable Plumbing Service.
Their support helps makeFoundations of Truth available
to more listeners each week.
Foundations of Truth with Dr.
Timothy Mann is supported inpart by Luther Rice College and
(24:37):
Seminary, equipping men andwomen for ministry through
biblically faithful theologicaleducation.
As a leader in online learning,we are grateful for their
partnership in helping carrybiblical truth farther.
Foundations of Truth with Dr.
Timothy Mann is supported inpart by Cat Care Clinic, located
in Ormond Beach, and servingfamilies with thoughtful and
(24:58):
compassionate veterinary carefor cats.
We're grateful for theirpartnership in helping carry
biblical truth farther.
SPEAKER_01 (25:05):
Before we close today, I want to tell you about
a resource that I believe willbe a genuine help to you.
I've recently published my firstbook, Saved, Understanding God's
Work in Us.
In over 30 years of pastoralministry, one of the questions
I've encountered more thanalmost any other is this How can
I know that I am truly saved?
It is a question that deserves acareful, biblical answer.
(25:26):
And that is exactly what thisbook is designed to give.
You can find it on Amazon,Barnes Noble, and Books a
Million, and pretty muchanywhere you buy books.
I pray it strengthens yourfaith.
Thanks for being with us today.
God bless you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.