The Second Letter Of Peter- 12

Subtitle: A Final Exhortation

A link to the audio can be found at the bottom of this article.

2 Peter 3:14-18.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 11, 2026.

Peter finishes this letter with a final exhortation to believers on how we should now live in light of the future that God has planned and revealed to us.

Let’s look at our passage.

Be diligent to be found by Him in peace (v. 14)

This verse opens with the condition, “since you look for these things…”  The word for looking here has the sense of an expectant attitude.  It could be translated as “looking forward to these things.”  This should be our condition of heart.  As opposed to the earlier scoffers, we hold on to the promise of God’s judgment and look forward to it.

Peter’s main exhortation is for us to be diligent, or exert ourselves, to be found by Him in peace.  The second part helps us to understand what kind of exertion we are to give ourselves.  To be in peace refers to a particular state or way of life that is marked by God’s peace in our life.

This peace originates internally.  We are no longer enemies of God but are at peace with Him through Jesus.  This reality is the bedrock of our inner life.  It is then supposed to express itself through a life of peace towards others.  Even when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and points us to repentance, we can respond in the reality of His grace towards us.  His purpose is not to destroy me and cast me out.  His purpose is to teach me, train me, help me to grow into the character and faith of Jesus.  We can repent with the peaceful joy that this is His desire, and we will be accepted.

We also need to live at peace with the wisdom and timing of God’s judgments.  Many people scoff at the word or even turn back from following Christ because they allow their hearts to be stirred up in turmoil against the judgments of God.  Rather than kicking against them and falling back into a life of scoffing unbelief, we are to trust Him and hold onto the peace that comes into our heart when we know that we are at peace with God.

In reference to the idea of being found by Him, it is easy to jump to the belief that this is talking about the Second Coming alone.  Thus, it would have the idea of being diligent so that Jesus will find you living in His peace when he arrives.  This can definitely be a part of what Peter is saying.  However, the verb “to be found” has the sense of an inspection or examination.  Yes, the return of Christ will be a day that reveals the results of God’s inspection and examination of every heart.  However, the Holy Spirit within believers is helping us every day to hear the Word of God and inspect our own hearts.  This co-laboring process ensures that we will be found on the ultimate day, whether his coming or our death, in his peace.  In fact, the phrase “by Him” is literally “to him.”  It has a sense that we are inspected and found “in his estimation” to be in peace.  It doesn’t matter what the world thinks about us, but what Christ thinks about us.

Peter then adds two extra descriptions of this state of peace: spotless and blameless.  It emphasizes the imagery of a sheep that is being inspected by the Good Shepherd.  It can even emphasize a sacrificial lamb that is inspected by the Priest in order to determine if it is worthy of offering (notice that Christ is both our High Priest and Good Shepherd).  We want our lives to be a holy offering unto God that, when inspected by the Priest (Jesus), is found worthy.  That is not something that we wait for the end of our life to discover.  It is a daily spiritual walk with Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Remember also that in 1 Peter 1:19, Peter had reminded them (us) that they were redeemed by “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”  Just as the life of Christ was found acceptable as a sacrifice that would redeem others, so we should want our lives to be acceptable to him by following his path.  Of course, our sacrifices cannot pay the price for the sins of others, but they don’t need to do so.  Jesus has already done that.  Our sacrifice in a lesser but still important way can help people to see and embrace the forgiveness of sins found in Christ.

How can I live a life of sacrificial love that is spotless and blameless?  We won’t do it in the same way that Jesus did it, i.e., without error.  However, we can be spotless and blameless by walking in God’s love through repentance and forgiveness.  This is not just between us and God, but also between us and others.  We need to be quick to ask forgiveness from people we have wronged.  We also need to be quick to give forgiveness to those who ask.  Our goal must be to draw people into the peace of Christ and help them remain there by the love of Christ. 

By the way, this is not blameless in the eyes of people, or even yourself.  You may ask forgiveness and turn away from prior sin, but some people may never let it go.  They may continue to blame you as a bad person because of something you did in the past.  This is blameless in the eyes of Jesus.  He sees your heart and your attempts to make things right with people.  They may hold on to blame in your regard, but they will have to answer for their lack of forgiveness.  None of us will stand before Christ blameless because we have never sinned.  We will do so because we have followed the Holy Spirit on the path of repentance and following Jesus, the path of loving God and loving others.  It is only the judgment of Jesus that puts us in a place of being spotless and blameless in his peace.

The Lord’s patience is salvation (v. 15a)

In verse 15, Peter reminds us of the earlier point that the Lord’s seeming delay is actually patience making room for salvation (2 Peter 3:9).  We are to consider, regard, the Lord’s patience (the long time of not coming yet continued to this day) as the opportunity of salvation for those who are even now perishing.  Each day that he doesn’t come is another opportunity of salvation for the lost.  In fact, each day that a person wakes up on the right side of the dirt is a gracious opportunity of salvation.

The “delay” of Christ should not be called a delay.  It is truly an exercise, a gift, of patience.  It is an opportunity of salvation.  It is a cause for rejoicing and not complaining to God or scoffing at His promises.

Working for the Lord in this life is meant to be a joyful thing.  Even when people bite your head off simply for pointing them to Jesus, we can rejoice as Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12.  “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  We rejoice because we have a ministry of reconciliation that can turn enemies into fellow brothers and sisters.  We rejoice because we are in good company and have a sure reward for our labor.

Paul’s letters (v. 15b-16)

Peter brings up the Apostle Paul and the letters that he had written to these same Christians.  Paul had founded these churches and was the primary apostolic influence.  Peter emphasizes that what he tells them is no different from what Paul had already written to them.  God had given Paul wisdom, which he had shared with these believers in person and in letters.  It was a message that agreed with Peter and the other apostles.

This is important because there have been attempts by certain teachers through the years to present Paul as having hijacked the early Church.  They accuse Paul of changing the Gospel.  Yet, this is not the testimony of Peter who had sat at the feet of Jesus as he taught.  The early apostles were clear on the reason why Jesus had not come back yet.  Christ had not come back yet because God was patiently keeping the door of salvation open for the lost.  Yet, this would not be without an end, which is the main point of this chapter.

In verse 16, Peter mentions that some of the things that Paul has written are hard to understand.  Paul was trained in the Scriptures to a high degree.  When this was surrendered to the Holy Spirit, it gave him a deep understanding of what God was doing in Christ and how that connected to the Old Testament.  People (apparently even Peter) found it hard to follow his train of thought and line of argument.

We should also notice that Peter includes Paul’s letters in the category of Scripture: “some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures…”  The Apostles knew that their teaching was inspired by the Spirit of Christ.  The duty was upon them to lay the foundation of faith for the Church, once and for all.  Their writings about the Gospel were inspired (God-breathed) and binding upon those who would follow Christ.

Let’s broaden our perspective on this.  When Paul wrote a letter to the churches that he had founded, his letters were not out of the blue without any context.  He had taught them many things and answered many of their questions.  They knew his mind about many things. 

Even if his letters were hard to follow, they understood the bottom line of what he was teaching.  They could not twist Paul’s words to mean something other than what he had already taught them and remain intellectually, even morally, honest.  However, those who were untaught and unstable had no such guardrails.  Even if they were told of Paul’s true meaning, their wisdom and flesh would pull them away from that meaning to a distortion, a lie.  You cannot live out lies and find life.  It always leads to destruction, for yourself and for those who follow you.

The scoffers earlier in the chapter are in this category.  They were distorting, perverting, and twisting Paul’s words to mean something that he did not mean.  The Judaizers in the book of Acts similarly twisted Paul’s words.  In this case, they were accusing Paul of teaching error.  They accused him of promoting lawlessness and destroying the Law of Moses.  Of course, Paul was not doing this.  Anyone who knew him knew that this was not the case.

Be on your guard (v. 17-18)

Both Peter and Paul have done their job to forewarn Christians of the danger posed by those who twist Scripture and the words of the apostles of Jesus.  Thus, we must be on our guard against such false teachers.  However, the guarding begins in our hearts.  We must know the Word of God and refresh our memory in it every day.  We must prayerfully work it into our lives by the various helps of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, this guarding has an external aspect.  We are to reject false teachers as they surface in our lives and in the lives of our Christian communities.  Church elders must clearly stand against any false teachers who come into their assemblies.

If we do not stay on guard, then we (or others) can be carried away by the error of these “unprincipled” men.  He calls them unprincipled because they are a person who refuses laws, boundaries, and wisdom in order to gratify the desires of their flesh.  They cast off sound teaching, or twist it to support their desires, in order to follow paths that are not from the Lord.

Earlier in the letter, Peter had mentioned Balaam in connection with these false teachers (2 Peter 2:15).  They stray from the path of Jesus onto the path of Balaam.  The path of Balaam was a path of trying to gain riches through God’s Word.  The lie behind this is the same lie that the devil told Eve.  You can get something better by going your own way, rather than God’s Way, i.e., Christ’s Way.  This lie always leads to destruction, unless we repent and turn back to the Way of the Lord.

Not only can we be pulled down a path of error, but it can also be described as falling from our steadfastness.  Believers have been securely set upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus.  As long as we remain in Him, we are secure.  However, we can be deceived, seduced, discouraged into following a path of error.  We step off the foundation of Jesus and the place of security that God has given us.  It would be as if one of Noah’s sons jumped off the boat as the flood waters began to rise.  Those who have faith in Jesus remain in the place and life that God has set them.  They hold to the truth despite the chatter of unbelievers and false Christians.  This is what Peter is warning against.

Peter closes with the call for Christians to grow, to increase and become greater, in grace and knowledge of Jesus.  The grace of Jesus is the foundation upon which we grow to become more like him.  Grace is the whole measure of God’s good gifts, particularly salvation.  It is the constant supply with which we are enabled to become more like him.  This is true as individuals but also true for us as a local expression of the Church.  We are all called to be a part of God’s grace to one another.

Knowledge of Jesus is primarily what Jesus taught.  We come to know this through the faithful work of the apostles recorded in the New Testament.  However, it is also how that teaching (knowledge) affects our life and makes us more like him.  Therefore, it is a knowledge that comes from experience and relationship with Jesus and his teaching.

Peter reminds us of just what Jesus is to us.  He is Lord.  That not only meant that he had authority over all powers on the earth (Lord of lord and King of kings), but also in the heavens (save the Father Himself).  It was also understood to directly tie into the covenant name of God at Sinai.  He is Yahweh of the Old Testament, the LORD.

He is also Savior.  He is the one who has delivered us, or rescued us, from sin and the slavery in which we were stuck.  He has rescued us from the path of error and destruction while placing us in a place of being children of God.

He is also Christ, the Messiah.  He is the Anointed One of God sent to redeem humanity back to its rightful place of direct relationship with the Father and Imagers of His dominion upon the earth.

Peter lastly declares that to Jesus be the glory now and forever.  Our aspirations in life should be to give him all the glory, the credit, the praise.  But also, we should desire that our life itself be lived in a way that causes Him to be praised.  Thus, we glorify him in the present, but everyday until eternity.  The idea is not that it stops when eternity starts, but that it continues to eternity.

May God help us to live lives that are growing each day to be more like Jesus.  May we bring glory to him and may we praise God for all that Jesus has done for us.

Remember this.  The wrong things that happen in the Church or are done by Christians, happen because someone wants the glory, the praise, of others.  Don’t give people the praise that belongs to Jesus alone.  In short, let him who boasts boast in the LORD Jesus!

Final Exhortation audio