CHAPTER ONE

Contents: The great Christian virtues. God's Word exalted.

Characters: God, Christ, Peter.

Conclusion: The Christian should be diligent to add one Christian grace to another that he may bring glory to God by abounding in much fruit among men and that his own calling and election may be thereby thoroughly tested out. He should the more seek to obey God's Word because it is God-inspired, of undoubted truth, and therefore of vast concern.

Key Word: Fruitful life, v. 8.

Strong Verses: 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 19, 21.

Striking Facts: v. 16. The plan of salvation by Jesus Christ is eminently the council of the infinitely wise Jehovah, for certainly man could not have invented it. He is the Messiah promised by the prophecies and publicly owned by the Father from the opened heavens.

CHAPTER TWO

Contents: Warnings concerning apostate teachers.

Characters: God, Christ, Noah, Lot, Balaam.

Conclusion: Where God sends His true messengers with His Word, the devil always sends some to seduce and deceive, and especially to deny Christ's redemptive work. Such men bring swift destruction upon themselves, even though they prosper for a while.

Key Word: False teachers, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 1, 9.

Striking Facts: v. 1. Smooth-tongued false teachers seldom deny Jesus Christ "who TAUGHT" but they do deny Jesus "who BOUGHT." The devil hates the doctrine of the CROSS of Christ, and hence all the conflicting theories as to His death.

CHAPTER THREE

Contents: Return of the Lord and the Day of Jehovah. Christ's return to be generally denied.

Characters: God, Christ, Peter.

Conclusion: The general denial that will be made in the last days of the possibility of Christ's return, should not unsettle the believer, but quicken and excite him to a serious minded and firm adhering to what God has revealed in His Word. Those who now scoff will find the day of Christ's coming a day of terrible vengeance.

Key Word: Day of the Lord, v. 10.

Strong Verses: 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18.

Striking Facts: v. 3. Men may talk about the stability of natural laws and the foolishness of the doctrine of Christ's second coming, but the Christian faith signifies little without it. It is the finishing stroke which must complete all the great doctrines of the Gospel and is therefore a day for which the Christian is to look (v. 12) and strive to hasten, by the bringing in of souls for the completion of the church.