The Second Letter of Peter- 5

Subtitle: The Problem of False Prophets 2

2 Peter 2:3b-5.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 9, 2026.

Today’s subject connects with 1 Peter 3:19-20.  We preached on this verse on March 8, 2026.

Peter brings up the rebellion of certain angels before The Flood of Noah’s days in order to make the point that false teachers will not get away with their rebellion against the truth of God.

Chapter 2 starts with the point that false prophets and false teachers will be a problem for churches.  However, verse 3 makes it clear that their judgment from God will catch up with them.  Thus, Peter follows this statement up with several examples from the Old Testament demonstrating just how certain the judgment of God is.

In our modern world, science and technology tend t create in us a snobbery towards things in the Bible, i.e., an attitude that we know better than what is recorded.  It also tends to create a myopia in which we only see things that our “greatness” will allow us to see while ignoring (or missing completely) other important things.

We can end up reinterpreting what the Bible says and what the apostles believed because we are smarter and know better.  An example of this is how many Christians follow in the footsteps of the Sadducees before them by denying the existence of demons.  They believe that mental illness was misunderstood and called demon possession in the biblical days.  Of course, this undermines the veracity of the Bible which is supposed to be the very words of God.

The reality of what Peter is talking about in this passage is another area where modern Christians tend to reinterpret so as to make the passage more palatable to our senses.

God has revealed in His Word that there are things in our future that He has been restraining.  Real, spiritual enemies who have been locked up for thousands of years by God will eventually be released upon a world that has rejected Jesus.

This restraining of particular spirits is of a greater nature than the restraints placed on Satan.  Satan is not locked up right now.  Yet, there are limitations on what he can do, as we see in the book of Job.

Only those who read the Word of God and believe it have a true picture of where this world is headed.

Let’s look at our passage.

Peter warns about false prophets and teachers

Their judgment will come (v. 3b-5)

All false prophets will be judged by God.  If we look at a particular individual, that judgment may come quickly or appear to never come at all.  However, all false prophets will find themselves in torments in the grave at their death.  Eventually, they will stand before the Great White Throne of God to receive the judgment upon their wicked actions.  We don’t know when, but we do know their judgment is certain.

Peter parallels the ideas of judgment and destruction.  Their judgment is not idle.  If you imagine a car idling, you may get the wrong idea.  An idling car is a picture of a car that is ready to go.  Whereas an idle worker or an idle officer of the law is a picture of something that is inactive or not operating.  The judgment of God is His decision about the things the people do.  A person who misleads others through false prophecies or false teaching will be held accountable for destroying the lives of others.  They are not “getting away with it.”

Peter also says that their destruction is not sleeping.  This is the same image as the idle judgment.  Their destruction is alive, awake, and coming for them. 

All false teachers and those who mislead others will be destroyed by God Himself.  They have destroyed the lives of people in the now and also destroy their future.  They are one with The Destroyer, whether we think of the devil or the angel king held in the bottomless pit of Revelation 9.  Whoever works with the devil to destroy people’s lives will find themselves participating in God’s judgment that the devil and his followers will be destroyed.

A similar picture is given in the book of Revelation.  All humans must pick a side.  Who is your champion?  Is it the ferocious beast, or is it the slain lamb?  Through the prophets of Israel, God has made His decision clear to all the world.  A day is coming when all the rebels of the heavens and of the earth, angelic and human, will be removed from God’s good creation.

Peter gives an example of God pouring out His judgment in the past.  He mentions God not sparing the “angels who sinned,” but instead casting them down to hell.  Verses 4 through 11 parallel Jude chapter 1.  Both Peter and Jude use the judgment on the pre-flood world and the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah as examples and warnings to us today.

What is this mention of angels who sinned before the flood and were cast down to hell?  We can piece some of it together with Scripture.  Genesis 6:2-4 states that the Sons of God took wives from among humans and created giant, hybrid offspring. 

It is common today to claim that these Sons of God were actually sons of the godly line of Seth, or that they were human kings.  The problem with this is that the phrase Sons of God elsewhere in the Old Testament is used of spiritual beings and not humans.  Also, it is hard to imagine how the intermarriage of godly people and ungodly people would give rise to giants.

The truth is that until the late AD 300’s most bishops and teachers taught that these were fallen angels.  Over time, it became more and more uncouth to believe and teach such things.

By the way, this is what Jude 1:6 is talking about.  “The angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day…”  Their proper domain was the spirit realm.  Any interactions with humans and the earth would have to be sanctioned by God for His purposes. They abandoned their posts in the heavenlies and interfered with humans on earth for their own purposes in rebellion against God’s.

This is also connected to the “spirits in prison” to whom Jesus proclaimed his victory after his death (1 Peter 3:19-20).

You could say that Genesis 1 through 11 is depicting the fallenness of humanity as not just a problem of human sin.  Rather, at all three points, there is some spiritual interference.  Genesis 3 depicts the devil interfering in God’s relationship with Adam and Eve causing the fall.  Genesis 6 depicts a group of angels who also follow the devil in his rebellion.  Genesis 11 is not as clear, but the fact that Nimrod was trying to build a tower into the heavens begs this question.  What did he really think he would accomplish?  We know from the ancient writings in this area that they used pyramidal structures to serve as a gate or portal for connecting with the spirit realm.  Humanity has a sin problem, but it also has a problem of spiritual entities who are working to separate us from God.

Genesis does not tell us exactly what spirits were imprisoned for their sin.  However, the Old Testament does show God giving judgment and punishments upon these spiritual interlopers.  Genesis 3 actually gives God’s judgment against the ancient serpent, the devil.  Isaiah 14:12-15 also uses the imagery of judgment against a spiritual being.  We see it again in Ezekiel 28:12-17.

It is in the book of 1 Enoch that we have the details filled in for us.  1 Enoch is being referenced by Peter and Jude.  In fact, Jude even quotes from 1 Enoch at Jude 1:14-15.  Let’s be clear that 1 Enoch was never regarded as Scripture.  Just like we would not treat a modern commentary on the Bible as Scripture itself, so the Jews did not treat 1 Enoch as Scripture.  Yet, it represented a commentary on the Genesis 6 event that was in existence at least 200 years before the apostles and Jesus.  It isn’t scripture, but it tells us what is in the minds of men like Peter and Jude as the Holy Spirit directs them to warn us about the reality of the judgment that lies ahead for all who join in league with these fallen spirits.

In 1 Enoch, it is the fallen angels of Genesis 6 who are imprisoned.  God did not spare them.  Instead, He had them cast into a pit and bound there.  Almost all translations of 2 Peter 2:4 say that they were cast into “hell.”  This is an unfortunate translation because it masks the reality of what is being said.

In fact, three different Hebrew and Greek words were all given the same translation of “hell.”  The Hebrew word “Sheol” (Greek Hades) is probably best translated as the grave.  The Grave is a spiritual holding place for the spirits of departed humans.  Jesus pictured it as having 2 compartments in his story of The Rich Man and Lazarus.  One side was for the wicked and sounds a lot like what we imagine in “hell.”  However, the other side was for the righteous and was a paradise called Abraham’s Bosom.

The word translated as hell in our passage today is literally to be cast into Tartarus.  If you know your Greek mythology, then you know that Tartarus was pictured as being as far below Hades (the holding place for human spirits) as Hades was beneath the earth.  It corresponds to the Hebrew concept of The Pit.  In the book of Revelation, it is called the Abyss or Bottomless Pit.  So, the rebel angels of Genesis 6 were chained in the bottomless pit in order to be held until the great judgment day.

Thus, Peter pictures these angels as committed into pits of darkness, being held for judgment.  This is the background to the opening of the bottomless pit in Revelation 9 which allows a horde of scorpion beings to exit with their king being an angel named Apollyon (Abaddon in Hebrew), which means The Destroyer.

Revelation is depicting the end times judgment of God upon mankind as a kind of spiritual copy of The Flood.  Just as flood waters fell upon the earth from the heavens and also shot up as geysers from under the earth, so the spiritual rebels will be pushed out of the heavens down onto the earth.  At the same time, the bottomless pit (Tartarus) is opened, and spiritual rebels flood the earth with a fury.  Both these spiritual beings and the wicked humans they torment will then come under the judgment of God.

Just as these angels were not spared, so too the humans of the ancient world who followed them were not spared.  Those who turn away from God’s ways and follow the powerful rebels will receive a rebel’s reward, aka destruction. 

A judgment of global proportions may evoke fear in those who are righteous.  However, the flip side of the judgment of those who lead others into wickedness is the protection (vs. 5) and the rescue (vs. 7) of those who were spared.

In the flood, Noah and his family were spared.  Genesis 6:5 shows us the effect of the Genesis 6 rebel-angel incursion.  “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”  Yet, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD!”  How?  By trusting God in the midst of a world that was falling away from truth into apostasy.

Noah is described as a preacher of righteousness, a proclaimer of following God’s ways and not the ways of the fallen angels and their gigantic, wicked offspring.  Through the wisdom of God, Noah constructed an ark and saved his family.  He is a type of Christ.  Jesus is the Greater Noah who has constructed a means by which all his family (those who believe on him) can be protected and rescued from the coming judgments upon humanity.  In fact, the seven family members represent the whole group of the righteous, however many that will be.

Humans seem bent on rejecting the Father and His Messiah, Jesus.  In doing so, they ally (whether knowingly or unknowingly) with the devil and his rebel angels.  Part of the wrath of the Lamb (see Revelation 6:16-17) will be to stop restraining all the wickedness that the devil wants to bring forth upon this earth.  When the rejection of the love of the truth (that is found in the Gospel of Jesus) is completed, then God will allow these things to come forth.  This will be the final days of the world as we know it.

Let us remain faithful to the Lord.  Let it not be because we imagine this will procure for us a future absent any suffering.  Rather, let us suffer whatever it takes now to join in the glory that is coming for all the righteous!

False Prophets 2 audio

The Second Letter of Peter- 4

Subtitle: The Problem of False Prophets

2 Peter 2:1-3a.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 2, 2026.

In chapter one, Peter has shared some things that he does not want believers to forget.  However, he now turns to encouraging them to be vigilant in defending these things from false apostles, false prophets, false teachers, false Christs etc.

The devil doesn’t want us to know and live out the truth because it is a threat to him and his purposes.  Thus, he attacks believers through the temptation of false teaching.  It is important for Christians to be aware of this and to guard against it.

Let’s look at our passage.

Peter warns about false prophets and teachers

One way that the enemy of our souls robs us of truth is by undermining its foundations.  Once the foundation is greatly removed, then greater truths can be supplanted and replaced by lies and twisted truths.

False teachers can come in a multitude of ways, and this is made more complex by the sheer number of them.  They can be deceptive with partial lies, and they can be bold with complete lies.  I’m reminded of Miss Poppin’s song that says, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”  We should always understand that a spoonful of “sugar” can help the poison (lies and half-truths) go down as well.

Though believers were receiving the pure and true teachings of the Messiah from his apostles, they should not expect to be somehow protected from false apostles.  In this age, Christ himself commands us to beware of false prophets and their false teachings.  His apostles went on to not only warn against them but also to rebuke them.  Essentially, we must not be deceived.

In Matthew 24:4, Jesus says, “Take heed that no one deceives you…”  He then warns of false christs in verse five, “many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.  In verse 11, he warns of false prophets, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” Later in verse 24, he again warns, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

The Church will have false teachers just as Israel did. (v. 1-3a)

Deception was a big concern for Jesus.  He not only points to the real threat of deception but also speaks to it being a powerful deception.  Of course, we can overcome it, if we pay attention and guard against it.  This is what Peter is doing here.  He is passing on the Lord’s concern that we be not deceived.

It is easy to think that you cannot be deceived, but that is itself the beginning of deception.  I can be deceived, so I take care to watch carefully.

Peter’s description doesn’t use the words Church and Israel, but it is the natural understanding of what he is saying.  He uses tenses here that emphasize what has happened in the past and the expectation that it will continue into the future.  The Church will have false prophets just as Israel did.  We are not immune from it.

I do not believe Peter is making a distinction between false prophets and false teachers here.  Both of these words recognize that there are real prophets and real teachers.  Yet, false ones will also show up.  The word false here emphasizes lying and deceiving.

A person could be promoting the teachings of a false teacher.  He would be a false teacher as well.  We can make a distinction between false teachers who are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” versus those who are simply deceived.  Both are dangerous and need to be rebuked, but the simply deceived group may be saved.  We need God’s wisdom in calling people on false teaching.

The best defense against false teaching is to be focused on being a true follower of Christ.  To do this we must be students of the words of our Lord and his apostles.  We must be a faithful brother or sister in the Lord.  We see this in the life of Jesus.  He spoke the truth while loving the disciples to the end.  They all made mistakes and their flesh often was in the way of spiritual maturity.  However, Jesus was a true brother even to Judas.  Jesus knew who was going to betray him and who wouldn’t. We don’t have that same knowledge.  All we can do is be faithful in the truth to one another.  If a person is a wolf, or simply deceived, the truth in you will eventually provoke it into the open.

Peter then explains the work and effect of false teachers.  They will introduce destructive heresies in a secretive or crafty way.  They are generally not honest in the way they promote their ideas.

Heresy is a word that we rarely use outside of church.  Heresy refers to a teaching or idea that is outside of the truth and captures people from within the truth.  A person can still desire to love Jesus but have a weakness for a heretical idea.  It depends how foundational the lie is.

It is called destructive for many reasons.  Heresy, or false teaching, misleads us and affects us spiritually.  Even heresies about small matters need to be corrected.  However, some heresies are far more destructive than others. 

Paul dealt with this in the letter to the Galatians.  If it was simply a matter of choice, circumcision was not a bid deal.  In Galatians 5:6, he states, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.”  However, this was precisely the point.  The Galatians were not being motivated to circumcise themselves out of faith in Jesus, or love for others.  They were being motivated to do so as a necessary work for salvation.  Paul recognized that the importance of Jesus was being diminished and the importance of our work was taking its place.  Thus, he strongly states in 3:1, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”  Their desire to be circumcised was in order to be acceptable to certain false teachers.  Yet, Paul saw this as a bewitching.  Somehow, they were so impressed by these false teachers that they were willing to let the cross of Christ be diminished in their lives.  Paul saw this as a separation from Christ himself.  To let yourself be separated from Christ is to be separated from the grace that is found only in him (5:3-4).  Paul is not being contradictory.  He is sifting the motivations behind the actions.

Peter then says that these destructive heresies can be to the point that they are “denying the Master who bought [them].”  I believe this is the main point of the Galatian heresy.  They were beginning to turn their back on Christ.  Peter doesn’t give examples of what he is thinking.

There is no question that the Master he has in mind is the Lord Jesus.  How does false teaching “deny” Jesus?  It can do so as a full rejection of Jesus.  Peter actually was guilty of this on the night of the betrayal of Jesus.  He denied knowing Christ.  Of course, this was a dangerous thing to do.  Jesus had warned his disciples that those who deny him before men will be denied by him before the Father.  How thankful we can be that this is not about ever doing it once.  If Peter had never repented and believed upon the Lord later, then he would have had to face that fearful denial of Jesus before the Father.  However, Peter did repent.  He believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ and faithfully confessed him before men.

To deny the Lord Jesus can also be to contradict particular things about Jesus that were revealed to the apostles.  In the words of Galatians, this is following “another Jesus” or “another Gospel.”  (See Galatians 1:6-10). 

Throughout history many heresies have centered on the true person of Jesus.  They will either reject his divinity, or they will reject his humanity.  Heresies have even developed around the cross and exactly what Jesus was doing.  Some diminish the price that is being paid (1 Corinthians 6:20).  They teach that Jesus was only showing us an act of love.  His lordship is often challenged.  He may be the first in time, but now that he has shown the way, we can take it from here and eclipse him.

Such heresies always diminish a core truth about our Lord Jesus.  Today, it has become vogue for society to co-opt ideas from Christ and reinterpret them.  Thus, Christ taught that a love for God and a love for one another is the whole of the Law of God.  The modern world reinterprets love to mean that you approve of all that a person chooses.  You must even approve of sinful lifestyles, otherwise you are not loving them.  This is heretical.  Jesus is the very definition of love.  He who said, “Go and sin no more.”  It is not love to pat the homosexual on the back and tell them to just be a loving homosexual.  Love speaks the truth in love.  Love challenges us to see their bondage to the flesh and its desires.  It challenges us to plead with them and love them enough to warn them.

The flip side of this is some callous Christians who so despise homosexuals that they can’t show them even the least bit of Christian love.  Jesus demonstrates what this could look like with the woman at the well in John 4.

Peter then states that these false teachers are bringing swift destruction upon themselves.  The word swift is a related form of the word used in Revelation 22:7 (one is an adjective and the other is the adverbial form).  Some versions translate the Rev 22:7 passage as “I am coming soon.”  You may note that other versions have, “I am coming quickly.”

This word can mean both.  It essentially means to be quick.  That quickness can be emphasizing the timing between now (when the statement is made) and then (when the event happens).  In this case, I am coming soon translates that meaning well.  However, it can also emphasize the quickness of the event when it happens, whenever that may be.  In such case, I am coming quickly would be a better translation.

Why is this important?  There are some who like to emphasize that Jesus and his apostles thought that he would be coming back within days, weeks, months, at most years.  However, this does not fit with many of the parables of Jesus that he used to explain the kingdom of God.  He commonly speaks of a king who is gone for a very long time.  It is so long that the stewards put in charge of his estate begin to act as if he will never return.  They drink the master’s supply and beat their fellow servants.  In each of these parables, the master shows up and quickly dispatches justice upon their heads.  The emphasis is not on the length of his absence but on the quickness of his arrival.  No one will be able to get ready once he arrives.  Judgment will be quick and swift.  Now is the day of repentance, while there is still time.

I believe that the swift destruction here should be seen in a similar way.  Many false teachers have lived long lives and did not appear to have “swift destruction.”  All judgment is in the hands of our lord Jesus.  His slowness to judgment may challenge our faith because of its timing. In fact, God may allow a false prophet to live to an old age just to test our faithfulness to His Word and the witness of His Apostles.

Every false teacher who neglects to repent before Christ will find themselves standing before Jesus one day.  They will not have a long, drawn-out appeals process. Their destruction will come swiftly.

In verse two, Peter makes it clear that false teachers will affect many, causing the Way of Truth to be maligned.  It would be one thing if false teachers only affected their own salvation.  However, they can affect the destinies of people we love.  Peter emphasizes many just as Jesus did in Matthew 24.  We cannot over-emphasize that even among those who embrace the Gospel of Jesus, many are susceptible and will succumb to these deceptions.  The word “many” says nothing about the percentage.  Yet, it should still be concerning.  Our being on guard against false teaching is not just for our own sake but also for the sake of our brothers and sisters.

Peter says that many will follow their “sensuality.”  They are living for the senses of their flesh: what tastes good, what feels good, what looks good, etc.  Of course, bodily pleasures are a part of God’s design.  There is nothing wrong with enjoying them properly.  However, we must never let the desires of our flesh become more important to us than the will of God and pleasing Him.  These false teachers live for their flesh and not for Christ.  They are led by their appetites and not by the Spirit of God.  Those who follow their teaching are being led astray into such sensuality as well. 

Jesus told us that we would know false teachers, false prophets, by their fruit (Matt 7:16).  What is produced in their lives and the lives of people who follow them?  It is not always evident immediately, but it will eventually surface.  A good tree does not produce bad fruit.  Jesus described them as those “who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”  A wolf may put on pretense around the sheep, but eventually a ravenous wolf will satisfy his belly with one of the sheep, however that comes about.

These false teachers will always have trouble in the area of the desires of the flesh.  They may be sexually immoral, but they may also appear quite moral in that area.  Whether they are hiding it, or they simply have other appetites, the point is not about any one sin.  The lust for money, the lust for power, or the lust for sexual immorality, all of these things can be a part or most of the motivation.

Ultimately, they give the Way of Truth (i.e., Jesus) a bad reputation.  The word for maligned is the word for blasphemy.  People will think and say untrue things about the Gospel of Jesus when we do not do a good job at exposing false teachers and protecting the body of Christ.

Verse 3a states that they will “exploit you with false words.”  The lust of their flesh will push them to use their followers for their own gain in many ways.

They obtain this through false words.  The word false here is not the same as the false prophets and false teachers.  The false teachers are liars and deceivers.  “False” in this verse is a different word that is the root for our word “plastic.”  It speaks of words that are shaped and formed not for veracity but for the ensnaring of those who will swallow and believe them.  Scammers employ these methods today.  In fact, they are most effective when we are not controlling our own greed and strong desires.

We must beware of deceptive teaching that leads us away from following Christ in righteousness by faith in him.  Or, as Paul put it, we must have faith in Christ working itself out in actions of love for God and for one another.

The deception in this world is only going to become worse.  Yes, charlatans may be somewhat easy to spot.  Like the spiritists and their seances in the 1800’s, they can employ a modern equivalent of “spirit knocking” and “smoke and mirrors.”  Yet, Jesus and the apostles all warn of great and powerful signs and wonders done by deceivers in the end times.  We must not bank on our ability to sniff out liars because of their tricks.  We must continually feed upon Christ’s Word and His Spirit so that when the day comes of great delusion, we will not become casualties.  Instead, we will rescue others from the jaws of the wolf!

False Prophets 1 audio

The Second Letter of Peter- 3

Subtitle: Eyewitnesses of His Glory

2 Peter 1:16-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, July 26, 2026.

This passage is among several in the New Testament that speak of the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ our Lord.

In Hebrews 1:1-3, Jesus is called “God’s Son” and is described as the “Radiance of God’s Glory” and the “Exact Representation of His nature.”  In Colossians 1:15, Jesus is called the “Image of the Invisible God.”

All of these emphasize that Jesus is far more than just a man.  His glory and majesty are themselves a manifestation of the Father’s glory and majesty.  We will see similar descriptions in our passage today.

Let’s look at our passage.

Peter gives a final exhortation

We have given you a witness of our Lord Jesus Christ. (v. 16-18)

Though Peter does not explain who the “we” are in verse 16, it seems obvious from the context that he is speaking about the other apostles, but particularly the three of them who witnessed the event called The Transfiguration.

It is important for us to understand what men like Peter had been given for our sake.  Peter is important.  He needs to speak and be led by the Holy Spirit as a witness, especially since he would not live forever in his mortal body.  Yet, Peter could not do what he has done and say the things he has said unless God hadn’t given him the experiences in the first place.

Everyone in Israel during the days of Jesus saw some remarkable things.  However, the twelve disciples of Jesus saw many things beyond what others saw.

This sharing from Peter (and the rest) to others was a critical part of God’s plan for humanity.  Peter could do nothing before God did what He did.  But, once God gave a witness to him and others, Peter had an imperative to share it.  God would not do it for him.

Peter also emphasizes that the witness given by those Apostles of Jesus were not cleverly devised tales.  Instead, they spoke of things they had seen with their own eyes.  Today, there are many who state that these things were not written down for a long time.  This is not the case.  Paul was writing his letters within 15 to 20 years from Christ’s resurrection.  Even this letter from Peter was written in the early 60’s AD, i.e., at most 30 years after the resurrection.  It would make sense that these men would write things down as they neared their deaths.  In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote down many of his letters because he was in prison.  They were eyewitnesses of powerful things.

Peter is alluding to the fact that it was common in those days for charlatans to travel from town to town seeking people who would pay to hear their lectures.  They used cleverly designed tales that were designed to capture the imagination of people (their attention) and to loosen their purse strings.  These kinds of men did not set people free from their sins and give them an inheritance in God’s kingdom.  They did not raise humanity from its fallen state to become the children of God.

We have a similar thirst for nice stories today.  Whether we buy it, or enrich people through interactions online, we can be hungry for things that are not truth.  Peter was not such a man.

Peter only focuses on The Transfiguration, but before we talk about that, let’s walk through some of the amazing things he saw.

He saw Jesus cast demons out of people with just a word of command.  These men went from tormented souls to being in their right mind within seconds.  Modern man can try to diminish these miracles by stating they were only psychological problems.  However, modern psychiatrists would love to have the power Jesus had.  They too are often impotent in the face of troubled minds, much less demon possession.

Peter also saw Jesus feed thousands of people with only the lunch of a boy.  He saw Jesus walk on water, even command a storm to stop, and it obeyed. 

Jesus told his disciples that he would be put to death but would rise again on the third day.  The resurrection of Jesus rocked their world, as he appeared to them multiple times over the course of 40 days.  On top of that, they witnessed Jesus ascend into heaven before their eyes.  Just one of these things would be unbelievable.  However, Peter witnessed each and every one of them.  They were all left with the truth that this is not just a normal man.

It was on the mountain (vs. 18) that Peter, James and John saw the Transfiguration of Jesus.  The descriptions in the Gospels can be found in Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-13; and Luke 9:28-36.

The word “transfiguration” is somewhat strange in modern English.  The word “transformation” might serve us better.  In our passage, Peter describes two aspects to this event.  Jesus was visibly honored and glorified in front of them as well as God speaking from heaven about him.  What they saw and what they heard pointed to the glory and majesty of Jesus.

Matthew 17 gives the description that his “face shone like the sun.”  His “garments became white as light.”  Mark gives the description that his clothes were “exceedingly white like snow…” and as “no launderer on earth can whiten them…”  Luke states that his “face was altered” and “his robe became white and glistening.”

Now, Jesus did not normally shine.  He walked around in human flesh looking and doing human things.  However, there was something greater about Jesus that was cloaked by his humanity.  Similar to the way the face of Moses was shining when he came down from the mountain where he talked with God face to face, this shining of Jesus is described in greater terms.

The voice that comes from heaven is clearly that of God the Father.  He says, “This is My Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased!”  Though Peter doesn’t mention this in his letter, the voice added at the end, “Listen to him!”

This is similar to the voice from heaven that spoke at the water baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:17).  Yet, this connects back to Israel coming out of Egypt.  When they arrived at Mt. Sinai, God spoke to them from the mountain.  A close study of this event makes it clear that the ten commandments were spoken by God from the mountain to Israel.  This so freaked them out that they asked Moses to go and speak to God for them.  They were too scared to hear God’s voice.  All true revelation has its source in God.  However, because we humans are commonly not close to God, He speaks through prophets.  The voice from heaven in these three events appear to emphasize that it is God who is speaking.  No one doubted that God spoke to Moses after that event.  Similarly, those who heard the voice from heaven regarding Jesus did not doubt that they needed to listen to Jesus.

It is one thing to read the Scriptures your whole life about God’s promise of a Messiah.  It is quite another thing to have the experiences that Peter and his fellow disciples had with Jesus.

We now have the prophetic word made even more sure. (v. 19-21)

Verse 19 presses the point home.  It may come across as if Peter is saying that the prophecies of Scripture weren’t certain before, but they are now.  This is incorrect.  The Scriptures were retained by Israel because they had proven to be true, and the men who spoke them had proven to be true.  Of course, these proofs were in the past, but it was the national history of Israel and God’s revelation to them.

Thus, the proven, trustworthy Scriptures were now even more proven by the events surrounding Jesus.  Peter witnessed Jesus demonstrating his glory and power on that day.  It was a demonstration that underscored all that had been said and all that Jesus taught his disciples.  It was a demonstration that exampled what the glorified Jesus would look like at his Second Coming.  Thus, the effect of what Peter is saying is this.  The Scriptures were already sure, but now they are even more sure!

Because it is so certain, he tells them that they would do well to pay attention to it.  The clarity of God’s Word through the work and person of Jesus puts even more responsibility upon those who hear it.

Peter uses the imagery of a lamp in a dark place.  The eyewitness testimony of Peter, especially the written record of it, is the lamp here.  Jesus is the light of the world, but he told his disciples that they too were the light of the world.  This is because Jesus had witnessed to them of the Father.  Peter then could witness to others what was told to him and what he saw.  This lamp metaphor is very important.  The light does not come from Peter or from us.  We are simply containers.  Yet, we must be faithful to share the witness that we have received for the light of Christ to shine through us.  We also need to be careful to live a godly life as Peter has just exhorted us to do in order to be a light.  We today need to take up this torch of truth and continue to spread the light of God.

Of course, the dark place is this world.  Even after 2,000 years of the Gospel light of Jesus, we see humanity pursuing their own dark ways over the top of it.  It is as if they have fingers in their ears saying, “We don’t want to hear it.”  It is as if they have hands over their eyes, “We don’t want to see it!”

If we don’t pay attention to the revelation of Jesus found in the New Testament, then we will not do well (the failure to listen to Peter’s command in verse 19).  In light of what Peter said in verse 11, to not do well is to have the “entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [not] supplied to you.”  We ignore God’s Word to our own peril.

Not to pay attention to these things is to be shut out of His eternal kingdom.  To follow our flesh will lead to destruction, but to follow the Spirit of God will lead to eternal life.  In fact, both the destruction and the eternal life are partially experienced on those two alternate paths.  In many different ways, God supplies eternal life to those who believe, and the consequences of unbelief supply countless small destructions leading up to a final destruction.

In verse 19 we have the word “until.”  So, we would do well to pay attention to the witness of men like Peter “until” the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.  This represents an ending point to paying attention to the eyewitness testimony of Peter and others.  This may sound strange or even heretical, but there will come a day when we won’t have to read a passage about what Peter saw.  Why?  We won’t because we will witness something even greater.

The daybreak here is a reference to the Second Coming of Jesus.  All prophecy points to a coming in great glory, riding on the clouds.  This will be a spectacular event.  It is understandable that some may read the phrase, “the morning star arises in your heart,” as a reference to a person being saved (having faith in Jesus).  However, this does not make sense.  Peter would be saying that we should pay attention to his witness until we are saved.  This is contrary to all the other places that emphasize the importance of the Word of God in our Christian walk.  Jesus is the morning star, but he is also the glory of the dawning day.  The picture is of a person witnessing the glory and majesty of Jesus for themselves in an event that will remove the false governments of this world.  This is not talking about our salvation today, but about the solidifying in our hearts that will happen on that day.

No one will have to explain to you how glorious Jesus is anymore.  No one will need to convince you that his words are trustworthy and should be obeyed.  It will rise up in your hearts the same way that it did to the apostles as they received a glimpse of his glory on that day.

We are still before the “until” of this passage.  Therefore, we need to continue paying close attention to the witness of Peter and the other apostles.  We need to closely follow the words of God given to us by these men.

In verse 20, Peter reminds us that true prophecy (that was written down) has never been the result of a prophet’s own interpretation or idea.  In fact, that is the definition of false prophets and false prophecy.  There were many false prophets throughout the world and even in Israel.  Their words proved to be false and untrustworthy.  Those who truly heard from God were proven to be true and trustworthy.  Thus, true prophecy is not something men can make happen.  It can only have its source in God.

Israel often did not listen to the prophets while they were alive.  Yet, their words would prove true.  They didn’t listen then, but later they understood that the words were from God.  It also helped that there was always a remnant who clung to the words of God and refused to let them be lost.

Thus, Peter says that true prophecy was not made by an act of human will.  It came about as men were moved by the Holy Spirit.  The word moved has the sense of being carried.  Some use the image of a river, and this would be fair.  They were carried along by the current of the Holy Spirit to say the things they said.  However, it could also simply be the Spirit of God carrying them as a young child needs to be carried by an adult.  In themselves, they would have given up or fallen short, but the Holy Spirit carried them and enabled them to give the message that God the Father wanted Israel (and us) to have.

The death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus become the exclamation point on why His words can be trusted, and why the words of Peter as an eyewitness can be trusted.

We should recognize that not all false prophets are religious.  We have many voices today shilling truth to those who will listen.  They prophesy a coming dawn that is antichrist, not connected to Jesus (or at least the True Jesus).  They seek to lead the world into a new age by tossing the Jesus and God of the Bible aside and recreating them in a different form.

If we continue to listen to God’s word and follow the Christ of the New Testament, then we will do well and be abundantly supplied the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  What a day that will be!

Eyewitnesses audio

The Second Letter of Peter- 2

Subtitle: Growing in Godliness- 2

2 Peter 1:10-15.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, July 19, 2026.

Today’s passage transitions from Peter’s list of virtues that we need to be adding to our lives in verses 5-7.  Peter had then warned in verse 9, “he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”  This leads to our passage today which begins with the word “therefore.”

Today’s message is the logical imperative to those who understand this warning.

Let’s look at our passage.

Peter gives a final exhortation

Make certain your calling and choosing by Jesus. (v. 10-11)

Whether we view our calling and choosing as something the Father does or something Jesus does (as it says in this passage), it is all the same.  What the Father wills the Son and the Spirit go forth to do.  Jesus is the executor of the Father’s will.

What is meant by calling versus choosing, i.e. election?  Calling refers to all the ways that God’s choice, or election, is made known to people.  The various theological positions deal with this differently, so here is my explanation of what I see in Scripture.

The first truth is that God has made the choice to save humanity from its fallen state and back to its proper state in relationship with Him.  Yet, He also chose the particular, righteous way that this saving (or redemption) will be done.  The sending of the Eternal Son to take on human nature and provide salvation for “whosoever believes in him [Jesus]” is God’s particular way.  God will save anyone of humanity who puts their faith fully in Jesus.

Because of His nature, God also knows the individuals who will choose to do so.  This bothers some.  They believe that the foreknowledge of God regarding what a person will choose removes the true freedom of that person to choose Him.  Of course, nothing about foreknowing a situation logically makes the situation happen.  We easily see this among humans.  If you see someone throw a ball onto the table, you quickly make the calculation that it is rolling too fast to stay on the table.  You know that it is going to roll onto the floor and choose whether you will do something about that.  Your knowledge (though after the fact of the throw) does nothing to affect the throw or its velocity.  It simply is something that exists within your mind.

Of course, with God, He has prior knowledge, and His knowledge is complete, i.e., He knows for sure without error.  This still does not affect the choice of people.  Let’s picture salvation as a plate of food.  God places the plate laden with food before us.   He knows whether we will eat it or not, but we are still completely free to eat it or not.

Someone may argue that the person is not completely free to choose because they are in bondage to sin.  How can a person in bondage be free to choose?  Just as the person can eat food because God has put it in front of them, so a person can choose to take hold of salvation because the Spirit of God is calling them and will help them to overcome every hurdle, if they will believe.

So, God’s election or choice of saving humanity through Jesus is brought to people through an external and an internal witness.  Christians are the external witnesses that share the words of life and live out the words of life before those who do not yet believe.  At the same time, the Holy Spirit is working on the inside of a person to recognize that there is something in those words and in those people.  Though these are all influences, they do not remove a person’s freedom to choose.

Jesus represents this choice and calling that occurs in our lives.  What does Peter mean by making our calling and election sure or certain?  The calling and election are always certain from God’s side of the equation.  He will not change His mind about saving humans through faith in Jesus.  The plate of food in front of you may be certainly there, but it is not certain that you will fully eat it.  Peter is focusing on our side of the equation.  We are not saving ourselves, but we are “certainly” taking hold of what God makes available to us.  This is the imperative.  A similar phrase used of this idea is the many imperatives to “walk worthy” of the calling of Christ (Eph.4:1; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:12).

Peter then states that those who “practice these things” will never stumble.  Practice is essentially living out these godly virtues by faith.  The help of the Holy Spirit will ensure that this will happen in increasing measure.  It could also be translated as simply “those who are doing these things.”  The point is not about doing them without fail, but a continual applying of ourselves to these things by faith and by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Different versions can affect how we understand the word “stumble.”  Peter is not saying that those who do these things will never make a mistake.  Stumbling and falling are used in Scripture to refer to a spiritual problem.  Regardless of what words you use, the idea is two-fold.  We can stumble in doing these things, but we do not fall away from Christ.  You could also describe it as falling from the path but not falling away so as to never recover.

Peter is stating that those who live a life of pursuing these virtues by faith will never fall away from Christ completely. 

In Romans 11:11, Paul uses similar terminology about the nation of Israel.  As a people, they stumbled in the first century. Paul wants Gentile Christians to know that this stumbling was not so that they would fall forever (without recovery).  Rather, their stumbling was so that the Gospel would go to the Gentiles and provoke them to jealously over the relationship they have with God.  This would cause them to desire to turn back to the Lord.  If the stumbling of the nation of Israel meant grace to the Gentiles, then what would recovery of the nation of Israel mean but life back from the dead!

The point is that God is always working to make us like Jesus.  Even when we stumble, He is not seeking to cut us off, but rather, He seeks to bring us to repentance.  A person who is seeking to grow in godliness is continually repentant for the ways in which they fall short.  This keeps them moving forward in the growth of godliness.

Peter then connects this to missing out on the everlasting kingdom of Jesus.

Verse 11 says, “in this way…”  It may be good to think of our growth in godliness as a path whose endpoint is being completely like Jesus in these things.  This path will proceed to the end of our mortal life and will finish at the resurrection of the righteous.

Essentially, Peter is telling us that those who do not abandon this path will never fall away from Christ.  This leads to the implication that those who do abandon this path will find themselves shut out of the Kingdom of Jesus.  Their faith was not actually in Jesus because in the end they refused to follow the godly path that he has made for us.

Such people can have various ideas in their heads.  Some are playing games.  They don’t think it is real while imagining some benefit by joining the Christian community.  Others may have a twisted theology.  They imagine that Jesus paid the price for all their sins, so they don’t have to worry about how they are living.  Often there will be a reference to grace versus works.  However, Jesus did not die on the cross so that we could keep on sinning in this life.  Even if you imagine a life with no sin “in heaven,” to believe you are not supposed to become like Jesus in this life is a refusal to listen to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that inspired it.  The Spirit is working at all times to help you be more like Jesus.  We refuse to listen at our own peril.

By the way, the Bible is not against works.  We are warned against dead works and encouraged towards the works of faith.  Dead works are when we think that our life is acceptable to God on its own merits.  However, this is not what Zacchaeus was doing when he gave money back to all of those people.  He was so happy to be saved that the Spirit that he volunteered doing more than the law required.  These are the works of faith.  Following Jesus is a work of faith.

When Peter speaks of being “abundantly supplied” an entrance into the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, it is speaking of a specific entrance that is in the future.  They had all entered the kingdom in the sense that it was within them by the Spirit of Christ.  He is our Lord and we obey his commands.  However, Peter is looking ahead into that grand entrance that will occur at our death.

Our spirit will either go into the grave awaiting judgment because we refused to believe in Jesus, or our spirit will enter into God’s throne room where Jesus is.  This life is part of our entrance.  However, we must endure by faith to the end.  Thus, our entrance is not complete until we stand before Christ.  Of course, we will then experience a resurrection at some point and join Christ as he takes control of the kingdoms of this earth.  Jesus will reign on this planet in person for 1,000 years.

Notice that we are not trying to get to heaven so much as we are being joined with Jesus never to be separated again.  In John 14:3, when Jesus told his disciples he was leaving them, he also promised that he would come back for them so that “where I am, there you may be also.”  The point is relationship and presence, not place.  Thus, at death, my spirit is with Jesus in heaven.  In the Millennial Kingdom, my spirit, now in a glorified body, will be with Jesus on this earth.  In the Final State (Revelation 20-22), we will enter the new heavens and the new earth with Jesus regardless of what we will be doing and where it will be done.

Let’s not forget that Christ is king over this earth right now.  However, Christ is not enforcing his kingship.  It is our duty to teach, to disciple, the nations in following him.  When he takes up political control at his Second Coming, then his kingdom will be fully upon the earth.  It is here now in us but not yet fully.

He does not want us to forget these things. (v. 12-15)

In view of The Entrance that Peter has just mentioned, his exhortation turns to deal with the forgetfulness of humans.  The stakes before us are too high to jeopardize by forgetting the things Peter has spoken.  To forget is to fall away and lose out on this great kingdom and all that God has for us ahead.

Peter says that does not want to be negligent to remind them always.  Kids can become annoyed with the reminders that adults give them.  However, kids and adults have proven throughout history that forgetfulness comes easy to us.  What is important today can easily be not important tomorrow.  Peter is writing this letter so that it can stick around and remind them when he is gone.  If they forget, it will not be because Peter was negligent.

How about you and me?  If our loved ones are to forget these things, let it not be because we were negligent in these matters.  May we remind them as we live and leave behind reminders for when we are gone.

Peter says in verse 12 that they know these things and are established in them.  They are presently doing well!  Peter is not saying that they are not doing enough.  Rather, he understands how perseverance works.  Perseverance is hard.  People need encouraged in these things.  Oh Lord, remind us from what You have saved us and to what You are bringing us.

Peter likely knows that he will be martyred for Christ.  Perhaps some of these Christians he addresses will also face such a trial.  Why would I risk an immortal life in order to keep a temporary life?  May God strengthen us all to remain established in the faith and growing in godliness.

In verses 13-14, Peter refers to his “tent.”  There is a certain urgency to his letter because he knows that he will shortly (soon) put off his mortal body.  This is what the tent symbolizes here.

God dwelled among Israel in a temporary tent until they entered the promised land.  God eventually dwelled among them in a permanent structure.  This symbolism is on purpose.  Our mortal life is pictured by that tent made from animal skins, always on the move in the wilderness of this life.  However, there is a day that is coming when we will be given a fixed or permanent body in the resurrection.  God will still dwell within us, but now He will be within us, and we will be what He has been making us to be.  The path of becoming godly like Jesus will have come to an end!

Peter knows he is going to die and will be unable to remind them again.  This is why he is writing a letter.

He emphasizes that this has been revealed to him by Jesus.  He could be talking about the discussion in John 21.  Jesus told Peter after his own resurrection that “when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”  That event was over thirty years ago.  I believe that Peter has had a recent revelation from Christ that his time was near.  He is most likely arrested and held in Rome.  Jesus has prepared him for the judgment of a wicked man that will come upon him.

In this letter, Peter ensures that his diligence at the moment will provide a harvest of reminders later.  They will be able to remember his teachings, but this letter will ensure that the fog of time will not hinder this remembrance.

Today, the apostles are all gone, but their writings remain.  We call it the New Testament.  Those impacted by their ministry have created a wave of faith across the world and down through history.  All of this is headed somewhere.  Jesus is going to return with the saints in glorified form.  If you want to be in that group, if you want your loved ones to be in that group too, then we need to apply the same diligence that Peter applied.  It starts by keeping ourselves immersed in the word of God and following the leading of the Holy Spirit in living out the righteousness of Christ.  We are believers today because of the diligence and faithfulness of people before us.  This work has been helped by the Holy Spirit down through the years and is still operating here today.  May God help us to work with the Holy Spirit in order to promote the purpose of Jesus across this earth to save people from their sins and provide their entrance into His eternal Kingdom!

Growing in Godliness 2 audio