[0:00] You're listening to the sermon podcast of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee. To learn more about us, visit our website at gracereformed.org.
[0:11] And now, today's sermon. When I first started to pray and think about and talk to the elders about what we should cover after finishing Ezekiel, 1 Peter was on our minds.
[0:25] And I had no idea when I picked 1 Peter and 2 Peter what the impact would be to me personally and I think to our church. These two little letters have significantly altered the way I think about our king and about our world and about church suffering.
[0:45] And I am eternally grateful to our king for giving us these two special letters. This is why we work through books of the Bible looking at every letter and applying every word because our hearts and minds tend to draw towards what we want instead of what we need.
[1:07] This is the very last letter that Peter writes to the church at large. And he wrote it shortly right before he died.
[1:20] Peter knew that his death was coming. He actually told us about this in his letter. If you look at 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13, he references it in his introduction. And he says, I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
[1:44] I love how he says that. Death is merely just transporting ourselves from one body of death to a body of life. It's a good reminder. And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things, which is really the heart of his letter.
[2:01] This letter sits with me with a little bit more weight because of Peter's position, his idea and the way in which he's writing it, what's on his mind and his heart.
[2:14] It's heavy. A man about to die isn't wasting his time with matters that have little meaning and purpose. So Peter gives the church what is the most vital thing for them to know and to believe.
[2:31] By the way, I think this is the most people we've ever had on the front row. So it's good to see you all. I apologize if you get sprayed with the Holy Spirit this morning.
[2:42] My dad passed away three days before my 21st birthday. And I remember the last conversation that I had with him days before he had passed away.
[2:59] He had called me into his room and had asked me to kneel down next to him. He could barely speak. And as I came really close to his mouth, he could only whisper a few words.
[3:11] And the last words that I heard my father speak to me were this, Son, remain teachable. That has sat on my heart for over 20 years.
[3:28] This is the last thing that my dad wanted me to remember before he died. I knew he wanted what was best for me.
[3:41] And I knew he was trying to summarize what would help me going forward. And so in moments in my life where I find myself struggling, I sit back to a man that I know loved God and loved me.
[3:58] And told me what was best for me. And that is to remain teachable. Peter most likely is sitting in a Roman cell, understanding his death is upon him, somehow revealed to him by the Spirit.
[4:15] And so he is preparing himself and is preparing the church for not only his death, but their death as well. Everyone is about to die at some point, whether it's by the hand of Rome or by natural consequences.
[4:28] And so this letter should be read in this weight and with this manner and with this perspective. Sometimes we forget we plop open our Bibles and we don't think about the men and the consequences and the circumstances that they wrote these letters in.
[4:43] But they do help and inform us. I'm not going to spend time this morning dealing with the time and location of Peter's letter. We did this much in the first book. So he's writing to the same people at the same time.
[4:55] But just as a way of reminder, so we understand the context, Peter is writing to churches that have left Rome.
[5:05] He's writing from Rome. And Rome, at this time, the city, is under the full control of paganism. The worship of God's horrible practices of sexual sins and driven by power and lust, living in Rome at this time was very hard for Christians.
[5:25] They faced much persecution and humiliation. So as Peter wrote this letter to them, he had three concerns for them.
[5:36] So the book is really broken down into three topics. There's three chapters. And so if you want to write these down, this is what we're going to be covering over the next few weeks. So these are Peter's concerns.
[5:47] In chapter one, the steady growth and stability of their faith. That's what he's concerned with. The steady growth and stability of their faith. In chapter two, it is the protection against false teachers who may lead them into disobedience.
[6:05] The protection against false teachers who may lead them into disobedience. And his third concern, as he's about to leave this world, in chapter three, is that they believe in the real return of Christ to judge the wicked and to redeem the righteous.
[6:22] The real return of Christ to judge the wicked and to redeem the righteous. Turn with me just to the last chapter and look at the last few verses that he writes to the last few statements.
[6:34] They obviously weren't in verse form. 2 Peter 3, 17, he says this, You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, so everything he just wrote, take care that you are not carried away with error of lawless people and lose your own stability, but grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
[6:59] To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. He summarizes this whole letter for us right there. I've never done this before, but I'm going to go ahead and preach the entire book as an overview.
[7:16] This way we can have his entire thought and heart in mind as we go through and look at the individual sections in the weeks to come. And so if you'll turn with me to chapter one in verse three, we're going to begin with his first concern, the steady growth and stability of their faith.
[7:33] The steady growth and stability of their faith. He says this, 2 Peter 1, 3, His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us into His own glory and excellence.
[7:50] This is so important. I'm so looking forward to preaching this passage, but I will refrain from doing it now. Look at verse 12. Therefore, I intended always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
[8:05] I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder. So his desire is the constant reminder and reminding them because of the world that they live in.
[8:19] It is easy. It is easy. It is easy. I fall into the same trap to think we live in neutral waters where there's nothing poisoning our minds and our hearts. Paul, Peter knows this not to be true.
[8:31] And so he feels the burden and the necessity to say, I need to remind you of the gospel, of the grace by which you should be swimming in, but you should be reminded in. It is true that we swim in stagnant waters, and we have felt it more lately.
[8:49] And I think in my day, it feels like a putrefied evil that just advertises their waste and pleasure and prosperity in ways that seem enticing.
[9:00] But when you drink it in, you feel the intoxication. Peter reminds us when he says, by his divine power, we don't fight this world through the power of our flesh.
[9:14] And by giving people practical applications that they might discipline their body because it seems wise, as Paul says in Colossians, but it's of no value. Peter says, I want to give you the knowledge of Christ because in it rests the very power of God.
[9:29] You come into relationship through his divine power and you will be sustained by his divine power. Notice Peter's connection in verse 3. He says, his divine power rests where, this is the thought of it, how do you know you're receiving this divine power?
[9:48] How do you know it's coming into your mind and affluencing you? He says it's through the knowledge of him, Jesus Christ. The draw of paganism and the draw of the gods in the ancient Near East was for the power that was associated with the individual.
[10:08] Depending on what you needed, you could do a prayer of incantation or a sacrifice and receive the power. It is hard for our minds because we are so naturalized and we don't think about things other than physical power to understand that inside the knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, you get the benefit of, so when you receive the knowledge of Jesus into your heart and your mind and you believe, you get the benefit of his power.
[10:35] It's very hard for our minds to wrap our heads around that, but if you do, you realize there's nothing more significant than knowing Jesus Christ. There is nothing more powerful.
[10:46] But if we fill our minds with the lies and deception of this world, our thoughts will lead us to destructive behaviors. This is what he keeps creating as the polar opposites.
[11:00] Divine power through the knowledge of Jesus Christ or the putrefaction of your mind by the means of the world. So many in here wonder why they find themselves trapped in the same sins repeatedly over and over again.
[11:20] The same thought rustles through my mind until I realize that our minds store all of the data of our actions and out of the heart and out of the mouth comes what's in the mind.
[11:32] As we fill our minds, so goes our actions. This is why he's saying, I want to remind you to be filling your mind with the knowledge of the wonder of your king.
[11:49] It's hard. It's so hard. My wife and I were talking about this last night. It's so hard to see the evil in our world and to stand up against it and say, I'm not going to be manipulated by it because everyone around you in the world celebrates it and mocks you for naught.
[12:09] But it's healthy to be able to look at the world and its ideologies through the eyes of the Bible. I mean, if you, if I were to tell you, hey, give me your car, I'll fill it up for you and then I fill it with dirt and water, what happens to your car after this moment?
[12:27] It grinds to a halt. You would never let me do that. You would never let me fill your car with filth that would damage its capacity.
[12:39] But yet, this is what we do constantly. We are filling our hearts and our minds. And this is what Peter is worried about, that all week long we are drinking in the lies of the evil through all kinds of media.
[12:51] And never once do we stop and ask ourselves, is this true? Does this align with Jesus? Is this part of who he is as a king and what he wants for me or is it damaging my mind to the moment where it is going to destroy my heart and my affection for him?
[13:11] It's good to look and wonder at why we do the things that we do. You who are parents, it's good and healthy to look and ask yourself, why do my children act the way that they act?
[13:25] What is influencing them? What is causing them to think this way? Is it positive? Is it negative? Is it reflecting the knowledge of Christ? Often what you see in their mouth and in their actions is because of what was filled in their mind.
[13:41] And by the way, they need no help. Their heart is evil enough. You let them alone without any influence. So it's not just keep the world out of their mind. I'm not advocating for an abstraction of only keeping things out.
[13:54] I'm advocating for if you don't fill their heart with the power of Christ. They will be controlled by their body and then you add the world on top of that and they're doomed.
[14:06] This is why Peter, the good shepherd that he was, wanted to always remind the church that the true stability and joy and freedom is found in the power of God, in the knowledge of the king, in the gospel.
[14:22] So how did Peter plan on helping these believers? He actually planned on doing it in the nature of his letter. It's in the context of the church.
[14:32] This letter was written to the churches, the surrounding churches to be read and applied together. Satan doesn't need you to be filling your mind with satanic paganism that draws you away into some hopeless rituals.
[14:47] He just needs you to not put yourself underneath the washing and the cleansing of the word and your heart will do the rest. When Peter calls us to grow in grace, he has in mind a church that he's writing to, a local assembly that would take the wonder of Christ and as Josh Kennedy said earlier, we consider how to build one another up by using the word through psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
[15:15] We sing them to them, we confess, we pray together, we confront each other, we carry each other's burdens all in the knowledge of Christ and the purpose of who he is. This is why you're going to see in the very first chapter all of the commands that Peter gives.
[15:32] You cannot apply them as individuals. It requires you to be among another person. Like to be patient, you really need to be patient with yourself this week and that's not what he has in mind.
[15:43] Be long-suffering, no, he's talking about in the context of the church, these are the ways in which we're going to have to care for each other and in doing so, we are surrounding ourselves with his truth.
[15:54] If Christians are not prioritizing their lives around the truth of Christ, it's easy to see how we are easily drawn away and we fall in to the deceptions of our world.
[16:09] This is why he then writes in the middle of this next section, chapter two, he's pointing out the errors of the false teachers who were leading people away from Christ.
[16:22] So this is point two, protection against false teachers who may lead them into disobedience. Look at chapter two and verse one.
[16:34] But false prophets also arose among the people just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destructions and many will follow their sensuality and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
[16:57] Paul words it very similar to Peter but he says that these false teachers appear as angels of light. That's why it's secretive. Well, how do we know what they're saying is destructive heresy and blasphemous?
[17:11] Because we have to compare it to what? To the knowledge of Christ. Christ. We have to compare it to his kingdom and his kingship of how it is that we should live and it's interesting that he points out here sensuality.
[17:24] It becomes a problem in the early church and it's still a problem to today. Paul had to write a letter to the church of Corinth pointing out explicitly you should not be sleeping with prostitutes.
[17:36] Oh, really? Oh, okay. It's kind of like we think that's common knowledge but this is what happens to the mind when the mind is being constantly bombarded and infiltrated by the world to where we can say I'm a lover of Jesus Christ and yet I'm participating in something that is a defilement of the temple of God.
[17:55] The church has been battling this ever since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter is worried that the churches will be influenced by the allurement of these who promote such wickedness yet call themselves Christians.
[18:13] It's important that if someone is openly defying and going against biblical teaching you need to call them out for it and be warned of it. Look, it's dropped down to verse 14.
[18:28] 2 Peter 2, 14. They have eyes full of adultery insatiable for sin. They enticed unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed.
[18:39] Accursed children. Look at verse 19. They promise them freedom but they themselves are slaves of corruption.
[18:51] For whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. Instead of seeing sensuality for what it is and calling it slavery as Peter is warning us we entertain ourselves with it.
[19:06] We dabble in it and we even let our children dress like it. If you take the time to read chapter 2 it is not an easy read.
[19:17] If you've taken the time to read Peter at all it's comforting and convicting. But Peter pulls out the big guns to make his point here of the danger of what happens if we do not control our heart and minds and affections.
[19:31] He uses the most horrid events in biblical history to demonstrate the utter disaster the life of sensuality brings to us. We'll look at some of these events but things about the fallen angels and Sodom and Gomorrah.
[19:47] I must admit to my own shame I have worried about offending people of what they might think if I speak on this subject too strongly. but as Paul tells Timothy that we must be faithful to preach the word in season and out of season.
[20:08] Church when we get to chapter 2 we must all consider the dangers that we are messing with and be warned of in the path of its destruction.
[20:21] We have all been called to share in the wonder of the king's gospel and to remove our hearts and our minds and our desires in indulging in this sensual lifestyle.
[20:32] And listen America is extremely sensual. It's hard to participate freely in much of what's being produced without slowly remember what Peter says he says they bring it in secretly.
[20:50] It's not going to be grotesque it will be enticing secretly and the only way we are going to know if we are being led astray is if we are seeing the purity and the wonder and the truth of Christ because he says that's freedom to see sin for what it is and to refrain from it is freedom but to blind ourselves with it he says it controls our mind which then controls our heart controls our actions and he says that's slavery.
[21:19] so what sets us free as Paul says we looked at it a couple weeks ago he says we tear down strongholds by divine power which is what the truth of Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians 5 and this leads us to chapter 3 and Peter's third warning and third concern the real return of Christ to judge the wicked and redeem the righteous look at chapter 2 and verse 1 sorry chapter 3 verse 1 you know we're in Peter until I tell you otherwise I'm going to stop saying it and if I say Paul you know I mean Peter one of the P brothers whatever here we go 3-1 this is now the second letter that I am writing to you beloved in both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the
[22:22] Lord and Savior through your apostles knowing this first of all that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing following their own sinful desires they will say where is the promise of this coming for ever since the fathers fell asleep all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation they're being mocked and the church is feeling it they're being persecuted they're weak they're feeling the pressures of the world and those who are indulging in sin in the church are saying why are you so worried about Jesus coming back he hasn't come back yet why are you so worried about his judgment how can you even believe in this nothing's even changed from the moment of the fall of Adam and Eve many Christians are mocked because we do believe and we hold to a religion that the king is coming and when he does come he is going to bring punishment for evil and redemption for those who are in
[23:33] Christ our message does sound ridiculous this is why we are seen as simple minded weak and easily manipulated people we are foolish but Peter tells the church if you look at verse 10 but the day of the Lord will come like a thief and the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed since all these things are thus to be dissolved what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and heavenly bodies will melt as they burn but according that now that's a whole interesting rabbit trail we'll get into but according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells notice he isn't using a fear tactic you better obey or you're going to be part of those who are burned he's saying the people who are indulging in this that's their destination and your destination is a new heavens and a new earth so don't get entangled with the very thing that is leading people to destruction sometimes we read this and we're thinking
[24:56] I better obey or I might be burned up no that was taken care of in chapter 1 remember he says by his divine power not your obedience not your faithfulness not to stay out of sensuality and all other kinds of sin do not mistake what many in the church history have made the mistake of thinking that your performance is what gets you into the new heavens and the new earth that leads to fear and fear leads to dread and anxiety and it makes you ineffective and unfruitful because you now are walking not as light but you're now walking in judgment because have you ever been around somebody who is very proud of their righteousness they are the most critical and judgmental people you ever meet and they're not fun to have Sunday lunch with because you're like well I wonder what they're judging me because I went and put on shorts after church now I'm in trouble maybe I shouldn't have watched football on Sunday oh man I guess I'm going to be burned up on the day of Jesus return no
[26:00] Peter isn't writing these things so we become people of judgment Peter is writing these things so we become people of freedom and that we might lead others to freedom we want to live in the wonder of his presence in the enjoyment of his kingdom while we await its full inauguration it's not here yet but we can enjoy its benefits but those around of us who choose to reject Christ they are what's waiting for them and their kingdom the day of destruction and he says there's no way to know when it's coming by the way if you are intrigued by end times theology and most people are because they're trying to figure out when Jesus is coming back Jesus already told you you can't do that and Peter did it again it's like a thief no one knows when the thief is going to come unless they're really bad you know but that's not the point the point is you can't figure this out but he is coming and not only that that means every single day we do live with the anticipation and the heartthrob of wondering and ready to go
[27:07] I'm good without finishing this day out it's a silly prayer but there are times I wake up on Sunday morning and go God I would not be disappointed if I didn't have to preach today that means I'm either with you or you return I'm good with either but if not I will do so this is not in my notes my wife's not in here and she always gets nervous when I say that but I promise I won't say anything that will make her nervous do you know what Paul calls what I do I'm a capital fool that's what he says you're a fool by the foolishness of preaching we persuade men to trust in Christ I feel it anybody's ever preached a sermon and there many of you have you get down from here and you're like I feel like an utter idiot because you have to try and convince people to believe something you're trying to believe yourself you see you didn't I'm not up here because I'm righteous I'm up here because God's righteousness is in me and he's called me to tell you about it but that's not because I've achieved it and that's what makes it foolish that's what makes it weird turn back with me to chapter one it's important we see the foundation of this book there's a lot in here it's heavy it's weighted it's because the circumstances are heavy and weighted we cannot ignore the situations that we find ourselves in my kids if we ever watch a movie that's really intense well they did this when they were little even if it was a cartoon the first thing they would do was they would just plug their ears because if you can't hear the intense music then it's not as bad and then if that didn't work they would just kind of like do this thing with their hands you know because they didn't want to deal with the reality of what they were seeing we do this so often we try and cover up the evil that surrounds us and pretend like it's not here and Peter's like you can't do that because it will sneak in and get you and the way in which we embrace the reality of the evil of our world is the constant washing of Christ it's the only way we can filter out this it feels so heavy and dark and it's the only way it happens so first Peter he begins his letter this way it's important sometimes we just don't pay attention to titles and understand their structure but they're of extreme value when they come to application first Peter 1
[29:29] Peter described it this way Simon Peter his official name a servant and an apostle it's important that he points this out for his he's trying to fight against these false teachers but he uses it for your encouragement too he says Simon Peter a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ now listen to what he says next I am the one writing this this is my position before God I mean listen there are only twelve apostles this is a big deal this is pretty amazing listen to the phrase to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing whoa that is that is important you and I never wrote a book that anybody wants to read let alone put it in a book that's going to last forever and is held in heaven approved by God and Peter did Peter wrote this Peter walked with God he did miracles it was Peter ended up sacrificing his life for the king and we could be pretty amazed by that and Peter's like yeah yeah just so you know the same faith you have is the same faith I have and it creates equal standing how is it that it creates equal standing because it's the righteousness of our God and Savior
[30:48] Jesus Christ church by no means should we preach Peter's letter and at any time assume our standing before God will be based upon any type of level of obedience or anything else that we may want to compare ourselves to our past our present our future when the gospel comes to you it does not come to you depending upon your past or the potential of your future it comes to you as under the wrath of God and you go from under his wrath to under his love equally God does not love Peter or me or anyone else in this room more or less that's what it means to have equal standing this is so helpful in the gospel because the world wants to get into your heart and in your mind and get you to start thinking yeah but John you don't know what I did this week or you don't know about my past or you don't understand the struggles that I've had and we start wondering how could God love me because I have the same struggles and the same problems and if you knew what I have thought in my mind or what I've done in my body or what I want to do in these desires there's no way
[32:08] God could approve of this you're right this is why the blood of the cross covers not some of the bad sins but all of the sin this is why it means in his righteousness righteousness means his obedience in his life and his death is granted to you and it creates everyone in equal status now listen to me it's not equal cleansing where you start at the same level now work your way up at the end of his life at the end of his ministry he says you have the same standing as I do you are new in your faith and have been saved for a day and I who have served by God for 30 years we have equal standing now that is unbelievable it keeps you from trying to earn God's favor and climb the ladder of righteousness and approval I don't know about you but if you've ever been stuck in a job or in a relationship with a person or a parent and you can't ever seem to get their approval no matter how hard you try it's debilitating it crushes you and Peter says you have it you have God's full acceptance when you stand next to Peter you seize the same what's even crazier in Jesus' prayer
[33:22] Jesus is about to leave and he prays to the Father and he says Father help them understand that you love them as much as you love me and Jesus never did anything to violate his relationship with the Father and all we do is violate our relationship with the Father and yet he loves us this way this is the way he says may grace and peace be multiplied to you your entire existence as a Christian Peter's about to die the last thing he calls you to kneel down next to him and he says hey listen to me this is what I need you to know before I go that God's grace and mercy is given to you not based on you may it be multiplied to you by his divine power and may that energize you to say no to the lies of the world and yes to knowing more of who Jesus is the definition of the word itself grace and peace is not something that you can be given based upon a transaction but it has to be granted to you based upon a gift this is why we prioritize our time around the preaching of the word the teaching the fellowship of God's word as a community of people to find rest and joy and peace and comfort in a world gone wild with anxiety and evil and destruction the only way you're going to make sense of this and be effective in helping others is if we are constantly looking to the grace of our God who brings us peace and we understand that it's by his righteousness that we stand equal with everyone else guess what
[35:12] I have no reason to judge you I have no reason to manipulate you I have no reason to set up legalistic rules for you if we wander we draw each other back as Paul says in Galatians 6 one we draw each other back with grace and mercy and peace and so when I stand up here as a foolish preacher I stand up here drawing my heart to you and your heart to me by means of Christ that we will say no to the flesh and we will say no to the enticements of the world so that we can have true unity and true peace and the world around us might be set free so this is what we're going to be looking into over the next several weeks I'm excited and terrified at the same time let's pray our father I'm thankful that you've given us a book that is so full of hope and instruction you've given us promises that we will never be able to reach the depths of and as Jesus has been here with us today to meet with us and encourage and strengthen us
[36:22] Lord may we never take this for granted may we desire once again the fellowship of being with him next week and the fellowship that we will have throughout this week as we encourage and build one another up and as we pray for each other Lord we may put into our hearts deeply and memorize these truths of the gospel of the grace of peace may we read these words that they might go down into our soul piercing us that we might forsake the evil lies of this world and embrace the wonder of the gospel in Jesus name amen thanks for listening to the sermon podcast of Grace Reformed Church in Spring Hill Tennessee where everyone is in equal need of grace to plan a visit or to learn more about us visit our website at gracereformed.org to learn more remember to learn more on In đië 2020 in nad the gospel of the gospel they are united in the confort of the gospel inνη them and
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