{"id":1206,"date":"2021-04-06T02:50:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T02:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/?page_id=1206"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:38:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:38:59","slug":"2-peter-61st-book","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2-peter-61st-book\/","title":{"rendered":"2 PETER \u2013 61st BOOK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2 PETER (Letter 61, Larry Crabb\u2019s 66 Love Letters)<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I Know How to Rescue My Children From Their Worst Problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We now share His nature. We have within us the power necessary to resist every natural impulse that stands in the way of loving others as He loves us. Neither fear, failure, nor temptation is stronger than the divine power available to us that can keep us walking the narrow road to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot escape from the desire for our own happiness and well-being. And he doesn’t want us to. But we can escape from the demand<\/em> to arrange for our own happiness and well-being. We can do so by trusting Him with our life and devoting ourselves to revealing His nature to others by how we relate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of God’s followers are nearsighted and blind. They see only the possibility of socializing their self-centeredness into what they mistakenly regard as an acceptable way for His followers to live. He calls them and us to crucify our old way of relating, not to disguise it beneath a friendly Christian looking veneer. But false teachers come along with stories they have made up that pervert His story into an opportunity to use Him for the satisfaction of their self-obsessed desires. If we buy into their lives, we will relate out of self-interest and see nothing wrong with it. We won’t even realize we’re relating from that energy. We will recognize no conflict between relating in a way that gains personal advantage and living as a follower of His Son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second error in thinking leads to a greater concern for making this life work well than for personal holiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we listen to such false teaching we will not be rescued from our worst problem of selfish relating into selfless relating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 PETER<\/strong>: From Ray Stedman<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Click here for entire Bible Summary from Ray Stedman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 PETER: In The Face of Falsehood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a considerable difference between Peter\u2019s two letters. The first one was full of rejoicing hope in the face of suffering. But the theme of this second letter is that of faithful truth in the face of falsehood; how to detect error, how to live in the midst of deceit, how to distinguish between right and wrong, when wrong is subtly alluring and deceptive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, let me give you just a brief outline of the letter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first chapter, the apostle is giving his readers a word of exhortation on what the Christian life is all about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second chapter, he gives a word of warning on how to recognize and handle false teachers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the third chapter, he gives us a word of certainty about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the facts
that underlie our faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then he draws a conclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord Jesus had said to Peter that there would come a time when men would bind his hands and lead him where he did not desire to go. Peter understood this to mean that he was to suffer and die as our Lord died, on a cross. And tradition tells us that Peter was indeed crucified, that he was so humbled by the fact that he was counted worthy to die the same kind of a death that the Lord Jesus did, that he begged his captors to crucify him upside down.
He is not in this letter trying to encourage them with how to rejoice in the face of suffering, but rather he is trying to help them to be true in the face of falsehood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would all be caught inextricably in a mesh of lies and deceit without the truth from God. Corruption is in the world because of passion. Three passions are at the root of all human evil:
\u00b7 Lust, which means sexual passion, in a wrong sense \u2013 which destroys the body;
\u00b7 Greed, which is materialism;
\u00b7 Ambition, the pride of spirit that seeks popularity and fame and the praise of man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those are the three things which the truth of God particularly delivers us from as we understand and obey it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you want a recipe for success as a Christian? Faith and obedience. The knowledge of the promises of God and the application of them in specific situations – these will keep you from being unfruitful and ineffective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two things – eyewitnesses, and prophetic words – underlie our faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second chapter, Peter gives us a warning against certain false teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then follows a very vivid description of the characteristics of these false teachers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, they will be eloquent with impressive words about things having to do with life and death and salvation and other great themes, but they will really be ignorant \u2013 they will not know what they are talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, they are like animals, says Peter, who are \u201cmatters of which they are ignorant,\u201d {2 Pet 2:12b RSV}. The second characteristic, then, is ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third is shamelessness; they will encourage licentiousness and sexual misconduct. They will openly urge people to indulge their lusts freely and shamelessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth mark is that they will be greedy; They have hearts trained in greed. {2 Pet 2:14 RSV} For the sake of money, they will teach almost anything they think people want to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifth and finally, they are pretentious: They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the apostle concludes with some of the most sobering words in Scripture:
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. {2 Pet 2:20-21 RSV}
They themselves deny all they have taught and learned, and become victims of their own delusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he says, you need
to remember two things about this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First – Remember that the past has proved what the future will be and the record of the flood is the guarantee that God is going to move as he said he would in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, God withholds his hand in order that men might have a chance to think things over and change their ways, repent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since this is how the world is going to end, what kind of a person ought we to be right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people of God, have the ability to hasten the coming of this day.
Three primary things are suggested in the Scriptures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, prayer: Remember what the Lord Jesus taught us to pray? \u201cThy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,\u201d {Matt 6:10, Luke 11:2 KJV}. That is a prayer for hastening the day of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, by witnessing: This gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all the nations, and then shall the end come, says the Lord Jesus {cf, Matt 24:14}. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, by obedience: There is a saying among the Jews that if all of Israel would obey the Law fully for one day, the Messiah would come. What God is looking for is men and women who will be obedient, who will be His. That is the only choice afforded to us is to either serve God of serve the Devil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stability is based on knowledge, Peter says \u2013 knowledge of all the unchangeable truth as it is in Jesus Christ. Since we have the facts then, we must not allow ourselves to be carried away, deceived, by those who seek to undermine us. In a time of very real attacks on the truth, now as in Peter\u2019s time, we must exercise our freedom in Christ and choose to remain faithful and obedient to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        2 PETER<\/strong> \u2013 David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Key thought: While awaiting our Lord’s return, we must stand on His great and precious promises, which provide all we need for life and godliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Key Verse: Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. 2 Peter 1:10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Key Action: Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, wihout spot and blameless 2 Peter 3:14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        2 PETER (Letter 61, Larry Crabb\u2019s 66 Love Letters) I Know How to Rescue My Children From Their Worst Problem We now share His nature. We have within us the power necessary to resist every natural impulse that stands in the way of loving others as He loves us. Neither fear, failure, nor temptation is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1206","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3436,"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1206\/revisions\/3436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/truth-talk.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}