SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Remember to practice Christlikeness because the return of Christ has been confirmed by Scripture.

Introduction

Context

1. Remember to Practice Christlikeness [2 Peter 1:12-15]
  a. You Need a Reminder [2 Peter 1:12, cf. 2 Pt. 1:11, 5-7; Phil. 3:1; Luk. 22:32]
  b. A Deadly Serious Reminder [2 Peter 1:13-14, cf. Jn. 21:18-19; Gen. 49:1-33; Deut. 33:1-29; Josh. 24:1-28; Jhn. 13:1-17:26; Acts 20:17-35]
  c. You Have What You Need to Remember [2 Peter 1:15, cf. 2 Pet. 3:2]

2. Trust the True Word About Christ’s Return [2 Peter 1:16-21]
  a. The Apostles’ Teaching is True [2 Peter 1:16, cf. 2 Pet. 2:1; Matt. 24:27; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; 2 Pet. 3:12; Luk. 9:43]
  b. The Apostles’ Witness is True [2 Peter 1:17-18, cf. Matt. 17:1-13; Isa. 48:11]
  c. The Prophetic Word is True [2 Peter 1:19-21]
    i. The Prophetic Word Has Been Confirmed [2 Peter 1:19, cf. 2 Cor. 1:20; Ps. 2:6-9; Isa. 42:1-4; Ps. 119:105; Prov. 6:23; 2 Pet. 3:10, 12]
    ii. The Prophetic Word Comes from God the Holy Spirit [2 Peter 1:20-21, cf. 1 Cor. 2:13]

QUOTE FROM B.B. WARFIELD: The Spirit is not to be conceived as standing outside of the human powers employed for the effect in view, ready to supplement any inadequacies they may show and to supply any defects they may manifest, but as working confluently in, with and by them, elevating them, directing them, controlling them, energizing them, so that, as His instruments, they rise above themselves and under His inspiration do His work and reach His aim. The product, therefore, which is attained by their means is His product through them…Although the circumstance that what is done is done by and through the action of human powers keeps the product in form and quality in a true sense human, yet the confluent operation of the Holy Spirit throughout the whole process raises the result above what could by any possibility be achieved by mere human powers and constitutes it expressly a supernatural product. The human traits are traceable throughout its whole extent, but at bottom it is a Divine gift. — Benjamin B. Warfield, The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield: Revelation and Inspiration, vol. 1 (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1932, Reprinted by Baker Book House Company 2003), 27.

Conclusion