HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1506
2 P ET ER 3
controls you. 20 And when people escape from
the wickedness of the world by knowing our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled
up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off
than before. 21 It would be better if they had never
known the way to righteousness than to know it
and then reject the command they were given to
live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.”* And another
says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
The Day of the Lord Is Coming
This is my second letter to you, dear
friends, and in both of them I have tried to
stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh
your memory. 2 I want you to remember what the
holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord
and Savior commanded through your apostles.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that
in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the
truth and following their own desires. 4 They
will say, “What happened to the promise that
Jesus is coming again? From before the times
of our ancestors, everything has remained the
same since the world was first created.”
5 They deliberately forget that God made the
heavens long ago by the word of his command,
and he brought the earth out from the water
and surrounded it with water. 6 Then he used
the water to destroy the ancient world with a
mighty flood. 7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for
fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.
3
• Addiction
2 PE T E R 2 :1 9
Cults usually seek to control their
members. In a real sense, members
become emotionally bound to a cult
leader, and that person becomes their
master. We can become similarly bound
to gossip, greed, lust, or a long list of
undesirable habits. Each day we should
review our “masters.” Is there something
undesirable that I have adopted as my
new master? Am I addicted to it? If I
am, how can I get out of that addiction?
The only master who will lead us into
goodness is Jesus Christ. He wants
what is best for us: to help us become all
that we should be, to be fulfilled. Other
masters want only to dominate and
control us. Addictive forces or leaders
have a hollow end, with our destruction
as the ultimate result of our relationships
with them.
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8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear
friends: A day is like a thousand years to the
Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 9 The
Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise,
as some people think. No, he is being patient
for your sake. He does not want anyone to be
destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 10 But
the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly
as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away
with a terrible noise, and the very elements
themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth
and everything on it will be found to deserve
judgment.*
— promises —
from God
But we are looking forward
to the new heavens and
new earth he has promised,
a world filled with God’s
righteousness.
2 P E T E R 3:1 3
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you
should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God
and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the
heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away
in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the
new heavens and new earth he has promised,
a world filled with God’s righteousness.
14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting
for these things to happen, make every effort to
be found living peaceful lives that are pure and
blameless in his sight.
15 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives
people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the
wisdom God gave him—16 speaking of these
things in all of his letters. Some of his comments
are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to
mean something quite different, just as they do
with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
Peter’s Final Words
17 You already know these things, dear friends.
So be on guard; then you will not be carried
away by the errors of these wicked people and
lose your own secure footing. 18 Rather, you
must grow in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.
2:22 Prov 26:11. 3:10 Other manuscripts read will be burned
up; one early manuscript reads will be found destroyed.