Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Last week we began 2 Peter with an introduction.

This week as I was reading back over chapter 1 one of the things that stuck out to me was the centrality of Christ in this chapter and the glory of Christ that is seen in this chapter.

v.1 He is our God and Savior

v.2 Grace and peace is multiplied to us as we know our Lord Jesus

v.3 His divine power has...

we have been called to His glory and excellence

v.4 read and comment

v.11 talks of the eternal Kingdom of our Lord

v.16 speaks of His power and His coming and His majesty

v.17 read and comment

v.19ff.

He is the One to whom all of the OT points

Two common marks of false teachers and it could be either/or or both/and

They have an unbiblical understanding of humanity

They minimize the Person and the Work of Christ

We see neither of those as we walk through chapter 1

I. Divine Power and Promises Granted to Us

As we pick up after the introduction and the greeting from last week we begin at v.3

I. Divine Provision

His divine power has granted to us

His is referring to Christ

us is referring to all Christians

So, Christ’s divine power has granted, bestowed, given to us

So first of all we see right out of the gate the foundation of grace.

We have been given this, we are debtors, we have not earned this, this is not something that comes natural to us, but it is His Divine Power

What has His divine power given to us?

all things that pertain to life and godliness

Life

life seems to be a clear reference to spiritual life, to eternal life.

Adam by his weakness gave us death and Christ by His power gives us life.

So this is more than just the idea that one day we are going to heaven.

That is true but much more brothers and sisters, we are spiritually alive, we have been born from above.

We once were dead to God, dead to spiritual things but by His divine power we have been given life.

I like the translation better, all things necessary for life, He has given us everything that we need for life

He has given us a sacrifice

He has given us a victorious resurrection

He has given us His Spirit to apply His Work to our lives, He has given us new hearts,

Godliness

godliness is dependent upon life, that is without spiritual life there is no godliness

So He not only gives us life but we are also transformed so that we are made like God.

Notice it is Christ’s divine power that is the source of our life and our godliness.

We are reminded that our salvation is rooted in Christ, it is rooted in His grace to us, He is the one who gives to us.

We are reminded that we cannot obtain life and godliness in our own power, we can’t do that for ourselves and we can’t do that for anyone else

All of us are dependent upon Christ’s powerful working in our lives

But also notice that v.1 tells us how this divine power flows to us.

Everything needed for life and godliness flows to us through the knowledge of Christ who calls us to His own glory and excellence.

So what is he saying here, lets just step back and get a big picture of v.1 maybe with an illustration, maybe that would be helpful

So imagine i have a huge debt that I cannot pay, and I am just financially dead if you will

But there is someone who is filthy rich, they have more money than they could ever spend

Well lets say that this person befriends me and get to know this person and this person says hey I will pay your debt for you and give you enough money to really begin to get ahead.

Their money is what paid my debt and get me ahead if you will, their money granted this for me but I got access to their money if you will through knowing this person who graciously befriended me and took me in as a friend

Peter is saying that we have come to know Christ not because we pursued Him but because He called us to Himself and on the basis of this relationship with Christ He has given us everything necessary for eternal life and godliness.

It is through knowing Christ that we have access to His divine power that grants us life and godliness

That is grace but it is even more than that

It is His grace that calls us to His own glory and excellence, that is that calls us into a relationship with Him.

So here is the picture, we did not know Him, we were cut off from power and life and godliness and then by His grace He calls us to Himself and now we know Him, His power, life, and godliness.

I want to talk about this call, maybe when you think of this call you think that Jesus’ call is like an party invitation that you can either accept or decline

But that is not how the Scriptures refer to the call of God in Christ Jesus, His call is effective, it is awakening, it creates faith.

Roma

There are many more verses that we could look at but this is just a small sampling.

I say that because I want to emphasize the grace that is in this passage brothers and sisters.

What Peter is saying is this

You were separated from Christ, you did not know His glory, His excellence, you were blinded by Satan, by sin, and by the world.

But Christ worked powerfully within you, He opened your eyes to your sin, to your wickedness, He opened your eyes to see His glory, His excellence, His beauty; He made Himself known to you.

But not only has He made Himself known to you, He has also powered out His power in your life so that you have everything necessary for living a godly faithful life in Him.

v.4 of course this verse is connected to v.3 with the phrase, by which or whereby

The idea is this, it is by His glory and excellence that He has given to us His precious and very great promises so that through them we....

I know this can get complicated, trust me, I know, but this is my understanding

When saving us Christ called us to see His own glory and goodness or glory and excellence which moved Him to give us precious and very great promises,

Promises that lead to us becoming partakers of the divine nature and escaping the corruption that is in the world

God’s glory and goodness is the cause of His promises of redemption and restoration that are given to us as He calls us to Himself and as we come to Him He works powerfully in our lives to give everything necessary for life (spiritual, eternal) and godliness.

Brothers and sisters we should be in awe of the grace of God as we try to consider this passage.

Let me point out some things that are clear from this passage

No life, no godliness without His powerful work within us

No life, no godliness without His powerful work within us

No knowledge of Him if He does not call us

We could not escape the corruption of this world without Him

So life, godliness, knowing Him, escaping the corruption of this world is all of grace brothers and sisters; we have nothing to boast in except the grace of God in Christ Jesus, that much is clear from this passage.

There is more that we could address here

Through His promises we

become partakers of the divine nature

He is not saying that we will become divine but that we will share in the divine nature in that we will morally perfected, we will share in the moral excellence that belongs to God (v.3)

We will share in the moral qualities of Christ.

But brothers and sisters, when does this happen?

Is that now or is it just later?

Certainly this process will reach its consummation in the future, for only then will all of God’s promises be fulfilled, we will not be morally perfected until Christ returns but brothers and sisters even now believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and we are being transformed into the image of Christ.

We begin to know God and be changed by Him at conversion.

We also

have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire

No doubt we will escape the corruption of the world at our death or at the second coming of the Lord but again I believe that Peter is operating in the already but not yet schema.

As believers we have already escaped the world’s corruption but the full realization of this will not take place until the day of resurrection.

These are the promises of redemption and restoration, to redeem us from the corruption of the world and to restore us into His image.

Think of His precious and very great promises

These promises that find that consummation in the return of our Lord

.

II.

Make Every Effort

v.3 and 4 remind us that a life of godliness is rooted in God’s grace, rooted in God’s power and promises given to us.

This truth of what God has done for us in Christ precedes the imperative that we see in these verses.

Peter says, because of the truth of v.3 and 4