Introduction of 2 Peter.

Opening:

It is a beautiful thing to open the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

This morning we are jumping into 2 Peter. Last year, the first book we walked through was Peter’s first letter to the church. But Peter also wrote a second letter. And sadly, it is often a rather neglected letter. We don’t take much time in studying 2 Peter. But this is sad because there is so much in this letter that is beneficial to us today. So this morning we will be studying 2 Peter 1:1-4.

As you turn there, a bit of explanation. Peter wrote his first letter to the church made up of Jews and Gentiles who were undergoing persecution. His goal was to call them to joy and endurance in suffering. Now Peter is writing this second letter, likely to the same group. So what did Peter have to say?

Well, stand with me for the reading of God’s holy Word.

Reading of the Passage:

2 Peter 1:1–4“1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Behold, the Word of God. Let’s Pray.

Prayer:

Our Gracious Heavenly Father, we commit this time in Your Word to You. We ask that You would be glorified in it, and that You would edify us. Bless us as we now study Your Word. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Introduction:

Our text this morning is a beautiful one.

Text Idea:

Peter in his opening shares with us the preciousness of our faith in Christ and the benefit of our knowledge of Him.

Sermon Idea:

So this morning we are going to examine those things. The preciousness of our faith in Christ and the benefit of our knowledge of Him.

Transition:

But before we begin, we should cover a bit of an introduction to this letter.

Introduction.

Explanation:

These four verses really do serve as an introduction to the letter of 2 Peter, and we should examine it closely as we open. The letter begins with Peter’s signature. 2 Peter 1:1 “1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ...” The first thing we see is that this letter was written by the Apostle Peter shortly before his death.

Written by the Apostle Peter Shortly Before His Death.

In 1:13–14 Peter tells us “13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, 14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.” Peter is here speaking of how Jesus said to him in John 21:18–19 “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”” So Peter knows he is dying soon. So in preparation for this reality, he writes to the churches again.

According to history, Peter died in Rome at the hands of Nero who was referred to as “the Beast.” He was a horrific persecutor of Christians. And Peter was crucified for his faith in Christ. But Peter requested to be crucified upside down because he did not feel he was worthy to die in the same manner as Christ. Peter was a man of incredible godliness piety.

So he knows his death is coming soon. He is likely imprisoned in Rome where he will be executed and is most likely awaiting death. And he writes, to what are likely the same churches he wrote the first letter to. Some people debate this, but it seems fairly clear in the text he is writing to the same group of Christians. But notably, Peter seems to be writing with all Christians in mind. He does not call out certain regions in his opening. He instead opens by addressing everyone of the Christian faith. So why is he writing to them? What is the purpose of this letter? If Peter knows he is dying soon, he must have something very important to say. Well, Peter writes this letter really for three reasons.

Three Reasons:

He wants to communicate three truths to the church before he dies. These three reasons are summed up well into one idea by John Calvin. Calvin said, “The design is to shew, that those who have once professed the true faith of Christ, ought to respond to their calling to the last.” So the central theme is respond to your calling to the last. To grow in faith and grace and confirm your salvation to the very end. But Peter divides this in his letter into three sections or reasons for writing.

1. Remain Steadfast in the Faith.

Peter calls the church as a whole to remain steadfast. Be immovable. Confirm your salvation. Bear fruit. This is a central theme of Peter’s letter. We have the truth of Christ. Be immovable in it. And add to your salvation. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone, but that faith must bear fruit. True faith produces good works. This is part of being steadfast in the faith. Obeying Christ is the evidence that we love Him.

2. Beware of False Teachers.

Peter is warning the church about false teachers. This reason for writing takes up most of this letter. There were false teachers popping up in the early church leading people astray. And Peter is not kind in this. He is writing in righteous anger about these false teachers. He speaks clearly about how they will be judged by God. He even mocks them. This heresy that Peter is addressing in this letter is what will go on to be known as Gnosticism.

Now, you’ve heard me talk about gnosticism before. It was an early heresy that began to rise in the church while the Apostles were still alive, and it still pervades the church to this day. While there are several flavors of gnosticism, one of the central tenants of it is that they have recieved some secret knowledge from God. Gnosis in Greek means knowledge. It is the cult of secret knowledge. The other central idea of Gnosticism is that the physical world is evil and meaningless. The only thing that matters is the spiritual. The led these early gnostics to do one of two things. They either became ascetics or hedonists. Asceticism is where you deny all physical pleasure because you think the physical is evil. You eat mush and drink water that barely sustains you rather than steak and wine because physical pleasures are evil. Hedonists are the oposite. The physical does not matter, only the spiritual so why not just sleep around and give way to every physical desire you have. Peter addresses both of these. So that is sort of a summary of Gnostic practice. Secret knowledge and hyper emphasis on the spiritual because the physical is meaningless.

And so we see Peter almost mocking the gnostics by how often he uses the word “knowledge” in this short letter. Peter uses various words for knowledge 11 times in his letter. He is mocking the gnostics and is telling faithful Christians that we do not need some mystical practice to know what God says. We have the Word of God. God has made Himself known to us. So Peter is warning the church about these gnostic false teachers.

But the third reason is a reminder. We are to look to the coming of Christ.

3. Look to the Coming of Christ.

Peter writes to remind the church of the truth of the return of Christ. Christ is returning. Apparently some of these false teachers began to deny the return of Christ. But Peter reminds them that it is certain Christ is coming back. And the central idea with this is that Christ will judge wickedness. There is a coming day where God will judge all sin. And then all will be renewed. Sin will be judged and done away with and then Christ will consummate the kingdom.

Transition:

This is the sort of outline of 2 Peter. But now that we have an idea of what Peter is addressing, let’s dive into our text. And the first thing we see the Apostle address is:

The Preciousness of Our Faith in Christ.

2 Peter 1:1 “1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”

Explanation:

We’ve covered that Peter is the one who wrote this, but I just want to point out two things quickly. Peter calls himself a bondservant. This word literally means slave. Peter is here saying that he is not his own. He is a slave of Christ. Christ owns Peter in every aspect. And this is important because all of those who are saved are bought with the price of Christ’s blood. Peter is here acknowledging a central Christian truth. “That we, with body and soul, both in life and death, are not our own, but belong unto our faithful Savior Jesus Christ;” as the Heidelberg Catechism so eloquently puts it. We, like Peter are slaves of Christ.

Second, I just want to explain what an apostle is. Peter here claims to be an apostle. The apostles were the leaders of the early church. Paul claims to be the last of the Apostles. They were those who witnessed the resurrection of Christ and were directly physically commission by Christ to lead the church. Now, because of this, there can be no modern day apostles. If anyone claims to be an apostle today it is a good sign that they are in fact a false teacher. Paul was last of the apostles. But they were those who were commissioned by Christ to lead the church and to write and oversee Scripture.

So this is a big deal. The apostles were incredibly important. And I explain this because of Peter’s first point regarding the preciousness of our faith.

Our Faith is Equally Precious to that of the Apostles.

Peter says he is writing to those who have obtained like precious faith with us. That word “like precious” means of equal value. It is equally precious. Peter is saying that the faith all Christians have is equally precious as the faith the apostles had.

This is an incredible statement. There are not multiple classes of Christians. There are not normal Christians and then super Christians. All of us have obtained a like precious faith.

And remember how I said Peter is addressing the early days of Gnosticism? The gnostics believed that there were multiple classes of Christians. There were the normal Christians who were content with what God had revealed in His Word. But then there were the really special Christians who had a better faith. They were the ones who sought out other truths. They were more obsessed with the spiritual. And because of this, they achieved this secret knowledge.

But Peter is here saying that all Christians have an equally precious faith. Now to be clear, this does not mean everyone has equal strength of faith. There are those whose faith is weak and small. There are those whose faith is immovable and incredibly immature. There are the young in the faith. There are also those who have a deep and mature faith. But Peter is not speaking of the maturity but of the preciousness of that faith. All of our faith is equally precious. And this is because of where that faith comes from.

Where Does Faith Come From?

Peter tells us that we have obtained this faith. So is faith something we earn? Did we, in our sins merit God giving us faith? No, of course not. Our faith is equally precious regardless of it’s maturity or strength because it is the gift of God. Peter says in this verse that we have obtained faith by the righteousness of Christ. Where does faith come from? The righteousness of Christ. God has imputed the righteousness of Christ onto us. He took our sins and we recieved His righteousness. This is why it is equally precious. Faith does not originate in us. It is the gift of God.

We are a reformed church. The heart of reformed theology is that we did not merit our salvation. The very faith we have in Christ is a gift from God. Paul clearly teaches this in Ephesians. And here, Peter is reinforcing this. Faith itself is obtained by God’s grace. This is why we cannot boast. None of can boast. Our faith is not of our own doing.

We often think about our salvation as our own choosing to follow Christ. But let me ask you this, why did you choose to follow Christ? Why is your faith in Christ? If you answer that question by saying “My faith is in Christ because I...” you have missed it. You do not understand the gospel. But if you answer “my faith is in Christ because God gave me faith” you get it. Our faith is equally precious because it is obtained not by works of our own by the righteousness of Christ. That is why, no matter the maturity, the substance of our faith is equally precious. The faith of the Apostle Peter is no more precious than that of the infant who knows nothing other than “I love Jesus” because the giver of that faith and object of that faith is Christ.

Transition:

But there is one more thing we learn from verse 1.

Christ is God and Savior.

Peter says “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” These are the exact same words as Paul uses in Titus 2:13“13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” And they are nearly the exact same words used by Thomas in John 20:28 “28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!””

These verses are so central because they are direct confessions that Jesus is God. Now, Peter is likely addressing once again the heresy that was plaguing the church of his day. In 2 Peter 2:1 he speaks about how these heretics were denying the Lord. Now we don’t know exactly how these early gnostics were denying Christ but throughout church history many heresies denied either the deity or the humanity of Christ. Most common is a denial of the deity of Christ. But these verses prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible teaches Jesus is God.

As the Nicene Creed clearly says Jesus is truly God. He is not a created being, He is the Creator of all things. And the Apostles confessed fully that Jesus is God and anyone who denies this is a heretic. Verses like this help us and protect us from many damnable heresies. So it is important for us to be familiar with these. The Apostles all confessed that Jesus is God.

Transition:

So Peter has communicated the preciousness of our faith. Our faith is all equally precious regardless of it’s maturity because it is given to us by Christ who is God. Now Peter transitions to communicating the benefit of our knowledge of Christ.

The Benefit of Our Knowledge of Christ.

2 Peter 1:2–4“2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Explanation:

This is the formal opening of the letter. Peter has said that he is the author, and has given who he is writing to, but now the letter begins. And it begins with the first benefit.

Grace and Peace is Multiplied in the Knowledge of Christ.

And this is a bookend.. He opens and closes in the same way. He opens by saying “2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord...” And he ends the letter by saying this. 2 Peter 3:18 “18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Peter is giving here the bookends of his desire. He longs for the church to grow in grace. He wants grace and peace to multiply or to grow. These are the same idea. Grow in grace. May grace be multiplied. But notice how grace and peace multiply. In both the opening and the closing of this letter it multiplies in the knowledge of Christ.

This is the first benefit of our knowledge of Christ. As we come to know Christ we grow in grace and peace. Grace is not a one time thing. Christians are saved by grace but then proceed to live in that grace. The grace of God permeates our lives. As we come to know Christ more, we find deeper and deeper wells of grace. But we also find peace.

There are endless wells of peace. And that peace comes by knowing Christ. Are you struggling with fear? Are you worried? Do you lose sleep over the stress of family life? Are you stressed out by the political climate of election time? Does the state of evil in our nation through abortion or transgenderism give you crippling anxiety? Believe me, I understand this. I am a father to three little children and know that there are countless people out there in our nation and even in government and running for office right now that want to take my kids away from me if I don’t hand them over to sexual evil. There are countless people out there right now who have made their chief desire to see child sacrifice enshrined into law. There are dark dark things happening. And it can be so easy to be afraid. If we aren’t careful we can let fear and anxiety consume us. But do you want peace? Peace is multiplied in the knowledge of Christ. When you know who Christ is, you find unshakable peace.

I know Christ is King. I know He rules right now. Because of this, I sleep soundly. I do not quake in fear over my children. They belong to Christ. They are part of the covenant and He loves them. This gives me peace that I cannot express. When you know Christ is King, there is true peace. So if you need peace today the solution is found in growing in your knowledge of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Come to know Christ more and you will find more peace. I often say that Christians are forbidden to despair as long as Christ is on the throne. And beloved, know this: Christ is always on the throne.

Transition:

But there is more. That is merely the first benefit.

God Has Given Us All Things Pertaining to Life and Godliness Through Knowledge of Him.

This is incredible. All that we need is given to us. Everything we need in this life comes by knowing Christ. Our Lord has not left us alone. By knowing Christ, we are given everything we need pertaining to life and godliness.

This means that we can live freely in Christ. We can trust that He will give us all we need. We do not need to worry. Remember the words of Christ in Matthew 6:31–34“31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Our God and Savior knows what we need. We do not need to worry. We do not need to fear. Work hard and trust Christ. That is all. But Christ also provides all we need for godliness. This means that God has not left us without moral guidance. Godliness means obeying God. God has told us how to live in His Word. He has provided for us the way we are to live. He has given to us everything we need to live a godly life. So obey His Word.

Transition:

We also see in these verses that we obtain all we need through the knowledge of the God who called us by His glory and virtue. Focus on that second part.

God Called Us By His Glory and Virtue.

Notice what Peter is not saying. He is not saying God called us because of our glory and virtue. God did not save us because we were better. We were all dead in our trespasses and sins. Remember Romans 5:8 “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:10 says we were enemies of God. No, we were not saved by our own merit. We were dead in our sins, we were enemies of God, we were sinners.

God saved us by His virtue, His glory. None of us can boast. We are called by God by His glory and virtue. Nothing good in myself caused God to want me. It was all of grace. We must know this.

This God who called us because of His own glory and virtue has given us all that we need. If God called us, He will carry us through. The God who redeemed our souls will provide for us.

But we learn something more about this call from God.

By God’s Call We are Given Great and Precious Promises.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20“20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Through God’s redemption of us we are given access to the promises of God. Now we don’t have time to talk about all the promises of God. But know this, that through Christ we are ingrafted into Christ. The church is true Israel with full access to all the promises of God.

Specifically, this begins with the promise of salvation in Christ. This is step one. But that is not all. We now have access to all the promises of God for those in Christ.

And Peter continues.

Through These Promises We are Partakers of the Divine Nature.

Now, this does not mean we become gods or that we are somehow grafted into being part of God. What this means is that we are adopted as the sons of God. John 1:12 “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”

Christians have the Holy Spirit living within them and are adopted as the children of God.

But there is one more thing.

Through These Promises We Have Escaped the Corruption in the World.

Through knowing Christ, we have escaped the corruption of the world through lust. Sin corrupts everything. But in Christ, we are forgiven and freed from our sin. We no longer live in our sin. We are set free. Sin no longer has a hold on us. When we come to know Christ, we are free from this corruption. We no longer have to live in sin. The burden has been removed.

Transition:

So through knowing Christ, we have grace and peace multiplied to us, we have all things pertaining to life and godliness, we have access to the great and precious promises of God, we are filled with the Spirit and adopted as the children of God, and we have escaped the corruption of the World. All of this is through knowing Christ.

Conclusion:

Do you see how precious our faith is? Do you see the beauty of knowing Christ?

Visualization:

To summarize this passage, I would say it like this:

First: Faith in Christ is precious beyond understanding because Christ Himself is the giver and the object of our faith.

Second: Because of this, knowing Christ is the most important thing you can know.

Reiteration:

We need to understand how precious it is to know Christ and have faith in Him.

Application:

And we must ask ourselves:

Is Your Faith in Christ?

I am not concerned so much with the maturity of your faith in this moment. You may be a really recent convert. Your faith may be really weak. That is okay. We will cover how to grow in Christ. But suffice it right now to simply ask, do you believe in Christ. Are you trusting in Him? Do you believe that Jesus is both God and Savior? Do you believe that Jesus died the death you deserve for your sins? Do you believe that God raised Him from the dead on the third day? Do you believe that He is Lord and that you ought to obey Him?

Every one of us should be able to fully answer yes to those questions. If you do not believe in Christ, then you are lost. I beg of you to turn from your sins and trust in Christ.

But if you did answer yes to those questions, then:

Grow in Your Knowledge of Christ.

One of Peter’s chief desires in this letter is for us to grow in grace and peace. And this growth in grace comes from knowing Christ. This is one of my chief desires as your pastor. I long for you to come to know Christ more. I pray for you and for myself, that we as a church would long to know Christ more.

In knowing Christ more we grow in grace and peace, we gain all we need for life and godliness, we see fully the promises of God, and we escape corruption. I long for this for all of us. There is no greater pursuit than to know God more.

Do you hunger to know Christ more? I pray that you do. I pray that you hunger for the Word of God. I pray you long to be prayer. I pray that you cannot wait to come to church to be able to worship Christ. I pray you eagerly want to take communion. We should want to partake of the Lord’s table more and more, because there we come to know Christ more by taking His Body and Blood.

I pray that God would give us a desire to truly know Christ more.

Appeal:

This is my prayer for us. I pray that we would see the preciousness of faith and benefits given to us in knowing Christ. So let us pray.

Closing Prayer:

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Benediction:

2 Peter 3:18 “18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”