The qualities of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:5-11

There are two extremes in view of salvation or Christianity today.  One is that which is based entirely on works, ceremonies, baptism, membership, rituals, confession, etc., and because of which they have virtually no assurance of their salvation, because they are really never able to achieve righteousness of such a certainty that they can feel confident they will attain heaven.

On the opposite end of the spectrum in view of Christianity is that since salvation is all by grace, that is the unmerited favor of God, since you are saved by no exertion of your own, you are kept saved, kept perfect, if you will, through no exertion either, and therefore there is no condemnation, no duty, no sin, no need to ever repent, no confession, and no need for remorse when you sin, because in effect you cannot sin.  You’re on a glory ride to heaven, so sit back and enjoy the ride.

But what neither of those views fail to take into account, is that salvation is not completed when we are justified, but when we are glorified.  If I might be permitted to remind you of what I have said so many times in the past, there are three phases to salvation; justification, sanctification, and glorification.  In the first phase, justification, God graciously credits the righteousness of Christ to my account, and counts my sins against Christ’s account.  

And let me make a side note right here.  I was talking to Dave Penning yesterday and telling him about our Wednesday night studies in Exodus.  And I recounted to him the severity of the judgment of God upon the Israelites who sinned with the golden calf.  Moses called forth the Levites and they took their swords and killed 3000 men because of their immorality in their worship of the calf.  And people today look at God in light of that and feel confused.  Because they are told the God of the New Testament is not like that any more.  God doesn’t punish people now.  God loves everyone just as you are.  And so God doesn’t punish sin anymore.  

But that is simply not what the Bible teaches.  The God of the OT has not changed.  God still hates sin, and has determined that the punishment for sin, even what we might consider a less than mortal sin, is death.  God still requires death for sin, even today.  And if any of you have ever sinned, of which I suspect is more than a few of you, then God has determined that you are condemned to death, both physical and spiritual death.  But the good news of the New Testament is that instead of putting me or you to death, God put Christ Jesus to death in our place, and let us go free.  But not that we might go back to a life of sin.  But so that we having been set free of sin and death, might live righteous and holy lives for God.

So the first phase, justification, is accomplished by faith in what Christ did for us on the cross, taking our sin upon Himself, and transferring His righteousness unto us, that we might be credited as righteous, and as vs 4 states, become partakers of His divine nature. Now I explained that last week that being partakers of His divine nature means we have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who gives life to our spirit.  Now in Christ we have a new nature.  Having died to sin with Christ, we now live through the Spirit of Christ in us.

So as we live in this new nature, the new nature informed and given birth to by the Holy Spirit, we are to live according to the Spirit, according to this divine nature.  No longer do we live according to the old nature.  Peter said that old nature was corrupted by lusts of the flesh.  That’s not talking just about sexual lusts, but lusts for sinful passions, which could be pride, greed, hatred, etc.  But those things we are to consider ourselves dead to and live for the things of God.

This second phase of our salvation, is living out this new nature which is led by the Holy Spirit, which is born of God, which is called sanctification.  We just finished  several weeks going through 1 Peter, the theme of which is sanctification, or holy living, becoming conformed to the image of Christ. The problem with much of modern Christianity today is that we have a warped view of God, and therefore a warped view of Christ.  Many Christians today have taken the commandment of God to have no idols, to make no graven image, and have turned it on it’s head.  What I mean by that is that we have redefined God according to our own image.  The purpose of creation was that God made man in His image, in HIs likeness.  But today we find people making God into our image, according to what we want God to be like.  And so we worship a god we create in our own image, instead of the God who is unchanged from eternity past.  Modern theology  changes God into something we think is acceptable, and that is just a new twist in idolatry.

Peter is saying, in effect, that as partakers in the divine nature, we need to add the qualities of sanctification, that is the process of becoming like God, according to His nature, as informed by the Holy Spirit.  So he says, add to your faith… and then he gives us a list of qualities we are to add.  But I want you to notice, that in effect what he’s saying is add to your justification, sanctification.  Because faith is the means of justification, and this list of qualities is the means of sanctification. Then when we get to vs 11, we see the final stage of our salvation, which is glorification, as Peter says, entry into the eternal kingdom of Christ, that is the glorified realm of Christ that comes after the conclusion of this age when we will be glorified like Him.

So let’s consider these things that Peter says we are to add to our faith, what else is needed that we might be sanctified in Christ likeness. Notice first of all, that he says applying all diligence.  Diligence is simply hard work.  The dictionary defines diligence as “careful and persistent work or effort.”  So Peter says to apply these things to your faith with careful and persistent work or effort.  Hardly sounds like a Love Boat cruise to heaven to me.  Our new nature needs to be exercised in the flesh, and that takes diligence. Because, let me assure you, these things do not come naturally.  The sin nature comes naturally, this is something that takes diligence to put on.  James says that faith without works is dead. So to our faith we supply diligence.

And the first thing Peter says to be diligent about is to add  virtue.  Some versions render the word as moral excellence.  But virtue is a more literal interpretation.  Virtue has in mind being noble minded, integrity, goodness, morality.  I like the idea of noble minded.  I think that is a virtue that is lost in our society today for the most part. It was the ideal of the knights of King Arthur’s court.  But being noble minded today will find you ridiculed for being a goody two shoes, or a religious zealot, or something to that effect.  But a virtue of Christ is that He was virtuous and in Him all righteousness dwelled. His motives were always pure. His standards were always high.  He always exhibited integrity and goodness. And if we are going to be partakers of His divine nature, then we must add virtue to our character.

The second thing we need to add to virtue is knowledge.  Knowledge is simply the true knowledge which is found in the scripture.There is a false knowledge of God which comes from our own imaginations which is popular in some sections of particularly the charismatic realm today.  But true knowledge of God only comes from scripture.  As we learn about Christ, we reprogram our mind and heart by the word of God to think and act like He acts. Peter has already talked about true knowledge of God back in vs 2.  It’s the true knowledge of Christ, by which we learn the truth about God, because Jesus is the exact representation of the nature of God, according to Hebrews 1:3.  This goes back to what I was talking about earlier in regards to not redefining God according to our image.  But as we study the word of God, we learn who God is.  Not by discussing what we think God is like, or how we feel God should be, but by the knowledge which comes from God’s word. 

Then Peter says add to your knowledge, self control. In Galatians 5:22 the apostle Paul gives self control as a fruit of the Spirit. What that is saying is not that the Spirit gives you self control, but that the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is self control. And I think it’s important to point out that again in some churches today, they are teaching that to be filled with the Holy Spirit you have to lose control.  You have to let go.  And that gives way to all kinds of excesses of the flesh rather than to being filled with the Spirit.  Remember, being filled with the Spirit produces self control.  It doesn’t produce contortions, losing control of your body so that you are rocking or shaking uncontrollably, or losing control of your mind so that you don’t know what you are saying.  The Holy Spirit does not produce uncontrolled laughter that goes on and on and on.  That’s not of the Holy Spirit, that’s of another spirit altogether.  Because the fruit of the Spirit is self control.

 As Paul goes on to say in vs 24,25, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”  I was saying just this last Wednesday night that walking by the Spirit is simply walking according to the word of God.  It’s not having some sort of “holy goosebumps.”  It’s not being overwhelmed emotionally.  It’s simply being obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit through the word of God, which is counter to the natural inclination of the flesh.  Hence Paul says you have to crucify the flesh in order to walk by the Spirit.  And self control is the means of putting to death the lusts of the flesh.

In your self control, Peter says, add perseverance.  Perseverance is simply stick-to-it-iveness. It’s akin to diligence.  An old preacher named Bob Jones once said, “Do right till the stars fall.” That’s perseverance.  He also said “the test of your character is what it takes to stop you.”  Developing a godly character is not a one and done kind of thing, and neither is your sanctification.  It’s daily taking up your cross and following the Lord. Perseverance is getting up when you fall down.  It’s keeping going when you are tired, when you get discouraged.  Satan’s going to keep coming at you.  The world is going to keep spinning round and round and all of the troubles of this world are going to keep coming at you.  Just make up your mind right now you are not going to quit.  Persevere. 

And aptly enough, to perseverance Peter says add godliness.  That’s really what the process of sanctification is all about.  We are being transformed into the image of God, into the likeness of God.  The first creation was corrupted by the deceit of the devil through sin, in the second creation God completes what He started through the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Old things are passed away, and all things become new.  We are being shaped, formed, remolded into the bride of Christ, and as such we better become godly people, reflecting the character of God in our lives.  As cliche as it may sound, becoming godly is really a matter of asking yourself what would Jesus do, or what would Jesus have me to do in every situation.

And once again the tool that God has given us to use is the mirror of the word of God, whereby we can see ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ.  Paul said in 2 Cor. 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”   The simplest way to become like Christ is to study Holy Scripture. Because in Scripture we spend time with the Lord, and in spending time with the Lord we are given the promise that we shall be transformed to be like Him.

There are two more virtues that Peter says we are to add to godliness.  Vs. 7 “and in [your] godliness, brotherly kindness, and in [your] brotherly kindness, love.”  Those of you who have been in church awhile probably know that in the Greek there are a few different words that are usually translated in English as love.  One is eros, which is an erotic love.  One is phileo, which is brotherly love, or familial love, and one is agape, which is a sacrificial love.  It’s interesting here that godliness exhibits both a familial love and a sacricificial love.  And I think that the distinction meant here by Peter is that we are to love the brethren, that is we are to love the church, other believers.  Christ loved the church so much that according to Ephesians 6 He gave His life for her.  And so being transformed to His image, we should love one another, love the church even as Christ did. 

But I think that  agape love is indicated so that we might love not only the church, not only our family, but that we might love the sinner, even as Christ loved the world so much, that He went willingly to the cross to bear their sin. Christ hates sin, but He loves the sinner.  He loves the sinner so much that He came to seek out the lost in order to save them.  He loves the person enslaved to sin so much that He came to earth to set the captives free.  And so we too must  have compassion for the lost.  So we must have  a love for the sinner so much so that we set aside our pleasures, our prerogatives, our personal fulfillment so that we might win the lost for Christ. 

Now Peter says" if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Notice there that Peter indicates these qualities are not a once and done kind of attribute.  But he says, if these qualities are yours and increasing.  It’s a progressive sanctification. Our godliness should be increasing day by day as we walk by the Spirit.  And though we will never reach perfection this side of heaven, we should in fact, be sinning less and becoming more like Christ as we mature in our Christianity.

Furthermore note that Peter ties knowledge with usefulness and fruitfulness in that verse.  Knowledge alone puffs up, Paul tells us.  But knowledge with application produces usefulness and fruitfulness for the Kingdom of God.  They say some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.  I’m not so sure about that saying’s doctrinal stance.  I would never encourage practicality above spirituality.  But on the other hand, having a knowledge of all the doctrines of salvation and never sharing the truth of the gospel with the lost is not the purpose of knowledge. Imagine finding the cure to cancer and not sharing it and watching people die around you without ever sharing the cure.  As Christians we have the knowledge of the  truth which leads from death to life.  How can we not share it?

True knowledge of Christ produces a reproduction of His nature in our lives according to the example of Christ.  As Peter said in his first epistle; “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” 

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me.”  Following Christ’s example is how we are to live now that we are saved.  But if you are lacking these qualities listed here, if you don’t apply them to your life, then Peter says you have forgotten why you were saved, and you are blind to the purpose of your salvation.  Vs 9 “For he who lacks these [qualities] is blind [or] short-sighted, having forgotten [his] purification from his former sins.”  We were purified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ from the corruption of our sins, so that we might no longer live in sin, but in righteousness.  Never should we abuse the grace of God that we might return to that sin again.  Peter says it was “his former sins.”  Old things have passed away.  We have died to sin, and daily crucify the passions of the flesh so that we don’t return to those sins.  Peter classifies someone who returns to their former sins in the second chapter of this epistle, vs 22 as “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”  We may have been a drunkard, or a fornicator or adulterer, but by the grace of God we are not now.  Those are former sins, and now we live according to the qualities of Christlikeness described here.

Peter concludes in vs 10, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”

Peter conjures up that word diligent again, this time saying be all the more diligent.  Take ever more pains, make even more effort, to be certain about His calling and choosing you.  Listen, a lot of Reformed preachers would spend a month of Sundays on this verse right here talking about the mysteries of election.  I’m just going to repeat what I said a minute ago which sums up election for me.  Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me.”  If you have heard the call of God, and have been chosen by God, then you will recognize His voice as the Chief Shepherd, and you will follow Him.  The proof of your election and choosing is that you follow Him.  You do what He tells you to do.  You obey HIs voice.  That’s the proof of your election.  The mysteries of election, predestination and foreknowledge are the responsibility of God.  My and your responsibility is to follow Him. I will trust God with the business of election.  And like Forrest Gump said, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

The key to the progress of our sanctification though is that we practice these qualities, Peter says. “As long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.” They say practice makes perfect.  We are not perfect now, but one day we will be.  In the meantime, we practice the things that Christ showed us by example.  Back in 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter said “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” 

I’ve explained this before many times, but the word picture that Peter is using there is a type of writing book that had the letters written on the page, and the student would then trace over the lines of the letters.  And so here in 2 Peter, he is referring to the same kind of metaphor, to practice drawing over the lines laid down by Jesus, again and again.  And the more you practice these things, deliberately, diligently practice, purposefully practicing, studying HIs example and then following it, the more we will become like Christ and the more we mortify our old nature.

Then finally, Peter talks about the goal of our salvation, even our sanctification, which is our glorification. Peter says, if we are practicing such things as the qualities listed here, then  “in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”  Now at first glance that looks like it’s saying that the way to enter the kingdom of God is by practicing these qualities until you are perfect, and then you can  be assured of entrance into heaven.  But in homiletics, or the science of Biblical interpretation, the key is to compare scripture with scripture.  And we know from a preponderance of scriptures that works is not the means of righteousness.  I’m sure you are familiar with many such scriptures, but I’ll just give one from Eph. 2:8 for the sake of time, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

So if Peter’s not talking about gaining entrance into heaven by our practicing until we become perfect, then what is he talking about?  I believe he’s talking about our reception in heaven.  I think he’s talking about entering into heaven as a conqueror, to receive the reward of our King. I think it’s coming into heaven hearing the declaration of God, “Well done My good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.” 

There is inherent in this promise the final characteristic of our salvation, when we are glorified, and we receive a new and glorified body.  In that eternal kingdom there will be no more sin, no more sin nature, no more flesh that’s been corrupted by sinful passions.  All things will become new.  Peter even tells us in chapter 3 that there will be new heavens and a new earth.  And we will be forever with the Lord, and the church will rule and reign with Christ as the bride of Christ.

I think that’s what Peter is indicating there in the last sentence, that the glories of the eternal kingdom of God will be richly ministered to you when we reach our glorification.  These glories of the eternal kingdom should be what we are looking forward to.  The coming of Christ and the glorification of the church should be our goal. Keeping our eyes looking upward is what will make walking down here so much more endurable.  And keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and following the pattern laid down by Him will transform our lives to be a reflection of Him to a watching world. 

I’m reminded of a the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, in which Captain Jack Sparrow is seen coming into port on a ship that is rapidly sinking to the point that he has climbed up the mast and that’s all that is above the water.  And as the mast finally sinks beneath the water, he steps off with his usual bravado onto the dock at the last second.  I’m afraid that’s how a lot of us plan to make it to heaven, by the skin of our teeth, having done just enough to get in, and nothing more.  But while it may be theoretically possible to do that, I believe that the reward of those that were faithful to Christ, that have followed Christ, is much more than worth any loss of the temporal pleasures of this world.

The Bible scholar JB Meyer once said, “There are two ways of entering a port. A ship may come in, waterlogged and crazy, just kept afloat by continual working at the pumps; or it may enter with every sail set, all her flags flying at the mast-head. The latter is what the apostle Peter desires for himself and those who addresses. He desired that an entrance abundant should be ministered unto them.  And we can be certain of that kind of abundant reception into the glories of heaven, if we practice the qualities of Christ set here before us.  

The gifts of salvation, 2 Peter 1:1-4

On a day when millions of people across the country are celebrating Easter with special services and ceremonies both pagan and religious, it is with a sense of concern that I propose to present this message to you today.  On the one hand, I feel a pressure to conform to the common theme of celebrating Easter, as many other pastors of churches are doing.  And yet on the other hand, I feel a need to make a distinction in what I believe is the core of the gospel; mainly, as Jesus said, “They that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” 

And I believe that though the Easter story deserves full credit for celebration, yet a simple recounting of the mere facts of the story does not necessarily make for a true knowledge of the gospel.  I believe that there are millions of people today who will in some fashion or another attempt to celebrate Easter, or observe Easter, and yet they are unsaved.  That is a troubling fact of Christianity; that one can have a form of Christianity and yet be unsaved.  

To know the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ, and to know the story of the resurrection, does not save any man or woman.  A person can know Biblical doctrine and not be saved. He can affirm the facts of the gospel and not be saved because salvation does not come from simply an intellectual knowledge of the gospel, though that is important.  But salvation comes from trusting in those truths and appropriating those truths for ones self. And so there is a danger in going through religious ceremonies and rituals and observances as an attempt to add some degree of righteousness to your account, when in fact you remain spiritually bankrupt.  As the apostle Paul said to Timothy about such people, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 

And let me be clear; denying the power thereof means simply that you have not been converted.  You have a knowledge of God, a knowledge about Christ, even perhaps a knowledge of the Bible, but you have never been converted.  Because, see, the gospel is not just a sentimental story, it’s not even just the greatest story ever told, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation according to Romans 1:16 which says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

Faith then is the transference of facts or knowledge of the gospel to trust application and obedience of the gospel.  Faith is the transference of Christ’s righteousness to me, and the transference of my sins to Christ.  Faith is the transference from death to life.  Faith is the transference from the old man to the new man.  Faith is being  changed from darkness into light. Faith is a change from blindness into sight.  Faith is a change from deadness into life.  Faith, or true knowledge plus action, results in a transformation.

So I am not going to preach a traditional Easter message today, whatever that might mean.  But I am going to preach the gospel, of which the resurrection is an essential part of the foundation. By the way, as Christians we celebrate the resurrection every Sunday.  That’s the reason that the Sabbath is no longer our day of worship, but instead we worship on Sunday.  Because Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and so it’s known as the Lord’s Day.  As Sunday is the beginning of a new week, so does the day of resurrection signify a new covenant, a new beginning, a new life in Christ in which we have hope of resurrection not only in eternity when our bodies are resurrected, but even now, when we are raised out of our spiritual deadness to new life, and when we come out of the earth to walk in the power of the Spirit.

Now let me say a thing or two about the context of this letter, since we are beginning this epistle today. Peter is writing to the church at large in a time very much like the days in which we live.  The date of this epistle is about mid 60s AD.  It’s written just a short time before Peter’s death by martyrdom.  And he is fully aware that his death is imminent  as he states in vs 14. And what is foremost on his mind is a concern that apostasy in the church is on the rise and it threatens the foundations of the gospel.  It’s only been about 30 years since the death and resurrection of Christ, and yet already the seeds of apostasy are blossoming. And so Peter writes this letter to assure the church of certain fundamental truths that will undergird the church as it goes through these troubling times.

I want you to notice a common theme that appears again and again in this letter.  It’s found in the word “knowledge” or a form of that word, which appears over and over again.  Knowledge of God is mentioned in vs2,  true knowledge of Christ in vs 3, vs 5 knowledge is a virtue that we are to add to our character.   Vs 8 he mentions the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ as the substance of our fruitfulness.  And you can go on through the rest of the epistle and seek out further references to knowledge or knowing God. But I think the point can be made that Peter is warning against a knowledge that puffs up as opposed to a true knowledge which results in  transformation. 

So as Peter opens the letter, he reminds his audience of the fact that he is a servant of the church, and an apostle of Jesus Christ.  The dominant characteristic of false prophets is that they are not really serving  the church, but they are served by the church, they lord their position over the church, and they rob the church.  Peter has the heart of a servant, to tend to the flock of God, to feed the sheep the truth of God’s word by which they may grow in their salvation.  It is necessary for a true leader of the church to not only lead but to serve.  Even as Christ said, “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”  So Peter is reflective in his position of the position which Christ held.

Apostle means someone who had been with the Lord during His earthly ministry, and had seen the risen Savior.  In Acts chapter 1, Peter stood up among the 11 and made a case for replacing Judas, and in so doing he gives the criteria for apostleship.  He said, “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”  

Being a witness to the resurrection was an essential characteristic of the office of apostle. Because facts are confirmed by the testimony of witnesses.  That is true in modern courtrooms today, is it not?  And according to Jewish law, life or death can be determined by the testimony of two or three witnesses.  So having eyewitnesses of Christ’s resurrection is essential to establishing facts, upon which we establish a true knowledge of God.

Now in Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul gives an important description of the facts of our salvation, and he correlates them as gifts given to men.  I don’t have time to give an exposition of the entire passage, but I want to read it, because I think it parallels in some respects what Peter is saying here.  Paul says in vs 8, “WHEN [Christ] ASCENDED ON HIGH,

HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”  It’s talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplishing our redemption from the enslavement to sin and the devil.  That’s what the resurrection of Christ accomplished.  Victory over death, the proof of the acceptableness of His sacrifice to pay our penalty, and the promise of new life to those who were held captive by the devil to do his will.  I’m sorry for you dispensationalists out there, but there is nothing in those verses to indicate He took the dead saved people in Paradise into heaven.  That’s not what it’s talking about.  Jesus didn’t go directly into heaven when He was resurrected.  He told Mary Magdalene He had not yet ascended to His Father.  It simply is a reference to the fact that through Christ’s resurrection, our salvation was accomplished in full, and we receive new life, having been released from the bondage unto death.

And then in vs 11, Paul begins to describe those gifts; “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”  Notice Paul also refers to this “knowledge” which results in spiritual maturity.

So in a similar fashion, Peter as an apostle, reiterates the gifts that God has given to men in salvation.  And in these first four verses, we see five gifts that God has given to men.  The first gift is faith.  He says in vs1, “those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours.”  What kind of faith is that?  It’s knowledge coupled with application.  Faith is not just a  head knowledge of the facts of Jesus life, death and resurrection.  But faith is applying the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to your life. It’s not just believing that He existed, but applying what He has done to my account.  Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

And that’s why Peter emphasizes that he is an apostle, and that our faith is the same as their faith, because we have believed the eyewitness testimony of the apostles.  Furthermore, notice that he emphasizes that we received faith.  Faith is a gift of God.  Eph. 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God.”  Faith is our responsibility, but it’s a gift of God whereby He gives us the illumination and inclination to believe the gospel. 

Ephesians 2:8 goes on to say in vs 9, that we received this faith, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.”  Peter says, we have received this faith, “by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin on our behalf, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”  God does not wink at our sin, but in His justice He made the spotless,  righteous  Jesus His Son bear the punishment for our sins so that we might be made righteous by His righteousness. That’s our justification. 

One more important note on this verse, is that Peter says, “our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The grammar of the ancient Greek indicates that Peter said that Jesus Christ is our God and Savior. Peter clearly belleved that Jesus was and is our God and Savior.  And that is an important distinction which needs to be made.  Because one of the ways false teachers deceive is by denying the deity of Jesus Christ.  Many who claim to be worshipping Jesus today deny that He was God.  And to deny Jesus is God is apostasy.  Jesus told the disciples, “I and the Father are One.”  So either Jesus is God, or He is a liar and a lunatic, not worthy of worship or celebration.  I believe and the Bible teaches that He is God as Peter confirmed here.

Furthermore, the resurrection proves that Jesus is God.  Jesus said in John 10:17-18  "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.  No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”  So the fact of His resurrection, attested to by more than 500 witnesses, is evidence that Jesus is God, because only God has the power over death.

Now secondly, Peter identifies another gift of God in salvation, a couplet called grace and peace.  These two words appear very often in scripture in the form of a couplet.  And always in this order.  Grace and peace.  Without first knowing the grace of God, we cannot have peace with God.  And only when we have true knowledge of God, can we have peace with God.  As the bumper sticker slogan says, “No God, no peace.  Know God, know peace.” 

Peter says in vs 2, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”  The multiplied blessings of God come as a result of an intimate, growing, maturing knowledge of God.  That’s the reason we study His word.  That we might know Him.  And the more we come to know Him, the more He reveals of Himself to us, that we might have grace upon grace.  And the more we know Him, the more we love Him, and the more we seek to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.

But the peace of God is that our reconciliation through Christ does away with the enmity we had with God before salvation.  We were enemies of God because we were enslaved to sin, but through Christ’s atonement we are now at peace with God, having become adopted into His family.  

The third gift is another couplet; life and godliness.  And once again, Peter says those gifts come through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue or excellence. Notice that Peter says it is the power of Christ that has granted unto us life and godliness.  Jesus said in John 11:25-26 "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,  and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

So by Christ’s divine power He has given life to those who believes in Him.  To believe is to have faith in who Christ is, and to believe what He has done in HIs death, burial and resurrection, and believe that He did it for me.   And in response to our faith, Christ gives us life.  He transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God.  He transfers our sin upon Himself and His righteousness unto us.  This life that He gives is spiritual life, life that is in communion with God, that we might intimately know God and grow in spiritual maturity.  And such life will never die.  Now it is appointed for all men to die in their flesh, but in our spirit we will never die.  And because Christ was the first fruits of the resurrection, so our spirits shall be resurrected with a new body at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Because our spirit is alive, we shall never die, and even though our body will perish, our spirit will be given a new body at the resurrection.

So the resurrection speaks not just of the earthly body, but of new life.  Resurrection for the Christian is a reality now, in that our spirit which was dead has been reborn into new life.  That is the reality of the resurrection; that in Christ we have died to sin, and are born again into new life, and that life is a life of godliness.  That’s the other benefit that Christ gives us.  We cannot attain righteousness apart from the power of Christ in us.  But in that power we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.  We can live godly, holy, righteous lives because He has saved us not only from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin.  Sin no longer has dominion over us, but we are able to do the works of God by the power of God.

The fourth gift of our salvation Peter says is  exceedingly great and magnificent promises.  By Christ’s own glory and excellence or goodness, He gives us great and precious promises.  These great and precious promises are found in the word of God.  Our faith is founded upon the promises of God written in His word.  And His promises cannot fail because His glory cannot abide a lie, His goodness cannot allow His promises to fail.  The promises of God are encapsulated in the new covenant, which as Hebrews 8 tells us in vs 6 “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.”  Christ has written this covenant in His own blood, and it has been attested to by the resurrection of Christ from the dead and He has been exalted to the right hand of the Father, wherefrom He is able to assure that His promises will be accomplished because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and all things have been put under His feet.  

So these magnificent promises of eternal life, of the forgiveness of sins, of the credit of righteousness in our account, of the inheritance of our reward, all these things have been promised to us, and reserved in heaven for us, and nothing can alter that.  God cannot lie, His promises cannot fail, because, as Romans 11:29 tells us, “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  His word, His promises, are the basis for our eternal security. 

The fifth gift of our salvation that Peter delineates for us, is that by these promises “you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”  This is the best part yet.  After Jesus’s resurrection, He appeared to the disciples and in Acts 1:4-5, 7-8 it says,  “Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," [He said,] "you heard of from Me;  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." So what was it that has been promised by the Father and told of by Christ?  The coming of the Holy Spirit.  Listen to what Jesus continues saying in vs 8, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

How do we have the power as Christians to escape the corruption of the flesh and the world? By the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is the power of Christ that works in us. When you are saved, when you are justified, and given new life in Christ, when you are made righteous by the grace of God, then the final gift is that you are made partakers of the divine nature.  The Holy Spirit takes up residence in you, to lead you into all righteousness, to lead you into true knowledge of the truth, to give you the strength to live a godly life, and to give you the boldness to be witnesses of Jesus Christ.  This is the power of Christ in us; the Holy Spirit.  The same Holy Spirit who inspired the scriptures so that we might know God, illuminates our spirit so that we might come to know Him and understand the scriptures. 

Peter was a believer, but in His flesh He fell in His faith at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But when the power of the Holy Spirit came as promised on the Day of Pentecost, this same Peter suddenly had the power of God working in Him, and He was able to stand in the middle of the street of Jerusalem and preach powerfully so that those listening were convicted to the point that they called out, “what must we do?”  To which Peter replied, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

These magnificent promises of salvation are available to you today, even to those that are far off from the Kingdom of Heaven.  If you have heard the Lord call you this morning, then these promises of salvation are for you today.  If you will just believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and repent of your sins, you can receive life and godliness, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that you may partake of the divine nature.  The invitation today is to be converted, to be changed from death to life, to be resurrected in the spirit, so that you may be given eternal life.  Today is the acceptable day of salvation.  You have heard the call of God.  Come to Christ today and be saved.

Sanctified in Humility, 1 Peter 5:6-14

As we come to the close of 1 Peter, he has said in his letter again and again that submission and suffering are used by God as the means to sanctification. Sanctification is simply spiritual maturity.  God uses trials to work in you and conform you into the image of Jesus Christ.  Now added to that “formula” if you will, Peter elaborates by saying that submission and suffering produce humility, which is God’s will for you.  God wants you to be humble, because Jesus was humble and in humbling Himself, He was able to fulfill God’s purposes. The opposite of humility is pride.  And God’s will cannot be accomplished in you until He deals with your pride.

God’s will is opposed to your will.  Your will, your agenda, your prerogatives, your ego, your pride are in opposition to God’s will. Self love is in opposition to God’s will.  Self sufficiency is in opposition to God’s will.  A self made man or woman is in opposition to God’s will.  A person who takes pride in what they consider to be spiritual accomplishments is in opposition to God’s will.  

Peter has told us many things we are to do as Christians.  But in doing those things, we are not fulfilling our purposes, but God’s purposes. We are not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life, but we fulfill the purposes of God. So if you are truly living a sanctified, holy life, then pride is not really going to be your problem.  Because holiness is not having your nose up in the air.  Holiness is not parading your Biblical knowledge around for everyone to see how spiritual you are.  Holiness comes out of humbleness.  Holiness is not thinking more highly of yourself than you ought.  Holiness is recognizing that you are in your flesh corrupted by the sin nature and there is nothing good in you.  Holiness comes out of humbleness, recognizing that if any good comes from you it comes because you are dying to the natural man and yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit who works in you.  It’s recognizing that any righteousness that you have is because Jesus transferred His righteousness to you and God is working in you.

So, back in vs 5 Peter begins the summation of his letter by saying, “all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Let me emphasize that point for a moment; God is opposed to the proud.  God is opposed to the proud.  Those that think they are self sufficient in their Christian life, guess what?  God is opposed to you. Those that don’t think that they need to be in church fellowship, guess what?  God is opposed to you.  Those that don’t think that they really need to be in church all that often, guess what?  God is opposed to you.

How so?  You think you are good to go.  You think you are sufficiently full, needing nothing.  God is opposed to you.  You don’t think you need to submit to the shepherd’s authority.  God is opposed to you. And because He is opposed to you, He is not going to give grace to you.  Grace means in this instance God’s blessings on your life.  You don’t think you need to submit to God’s ordinances, or submit to God’s shepherds, or submit to God’s teaching, or submit to God’s people? Guess what?  God is opposed to you.  Don’t be surprised then at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you, which comes upon you for your testing.  Because you show by your callousness, by your pride, by your rebellion that there is dross in you which needs to be burned out.  

But if you humble yourself, as Peter says in vs 6, under the mighty hand of God, in due time He will exalt you.  In His time, after He has humbled you, after He has deconstructed you in your insolence, in your aloofness. Before God can build you up He has to first tear you down.  Because nothing in you is worth keeping.  God will not struggle against flesh forever.  Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh.”  The problem with the self sufficient Christian is that they may look healthy on the outside, but they are full of disease on the inside.  Their heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and yet they don’t know it.  They think they are ok.  They look in the mirror of God’s word and they see the problems in other people and don’t bother to fix what is wrong with themselves.  And the problem is pride, which God must root out if you are His sheep. God is opposed to the proud.  But He gives grace to the humble. 

So therefore humble yourselves.  You can either do it yourself, or God will do it.  But one way or another God is going to humble you if you are a child of God. But do not underestimate the mighty hand of God.  The expression, the mighty hand of God is an Old Testament symbol of God's covering power, God's controlling power, God's sovereignty. God is in charge. The mighty hand of God is the hand of God in charge of you.

In Exodus 3, the mighty hand of God delivered the Israelites from slavery to Pharaoh by a series of plagues. In Job 30, Job recognizes that it’s the mighty hand of God which has brought about  suffering in his life.  In Ezekiel 20 the mighty hand of God chastises and punishes His people for their rebellion.  Whether then it’s in deliverance from enslavement to sin, or in suffering for righteousness or in chastisement for idolatry and rebellion,  Peter says you need to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God as He works in you to refine you.  It is a foolish thing to resist God.  But you must submit to His authority and the authorities which He has designated so that He may shed HIs grace upon you.  Peter has already warned us in chapter 4 vs 17 that judgement will begin with the house of God.  God commanded back in chapter 1 vs 16 “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” That’s not a suggestion.  And God will work holiness in you by His mighty hand.

And we need to understand  that the blessing which He promises may not come in our time, but in His time.  And His time may not be until Jesus comes back. There is no promise in this life of having an abundance and having all of the good things in life. But there is a promise that in suffering here we are storing up treasures in heaven.

Now when we encounter the mighty hand of God in our lives, and we experience the trials and tribulations that ultimately come from the hand of God to purify us, and refine us, our natural tendency is to be afraid.  We don’t like loosing control of our situation, do we?  We don’t like letting go of our own destiny. We are afraid of submitting to another’s authority.  The thought of losing control over our lives and letting God take over causes us anxiety, because the truth is we aren’t really too sure about God sometimes.  We think we know better than God what is good for us and so we are afraid to give in.

I have shared my testimony a few times over the years, particularly about how I suffered a major meltdown about 25 years ago.  I could say it was a nervous breakdown, but that wouldn’t really cover everything that was going on.  It was financial, emotional, physical, just about everything that could go wrong went wrong.  And during the worst of that time I had a real fear that I was going to go insane. I had tremendous anxiety every day for months.  And I had always heard this saying which was when you reach the end of your rope, just tie a knot in it and hang on.  One night I was unable to sleep for several hours and was battling extreme anxiety to the point that I was basically hallucinating. And in my mind I could feel myself hanging on to this rope, swinging over a bottomless dark chasm.  And I could feel myself slipping further and further down till I got to the end of the rope, and eventually I just couldn’t hang on anymore.  I remember letting go and falling, and falling, and falling into the abyss which I believed was insanity. I think I passed out at that point.  But when I woke up the next morning, somewhere in the black darkness of that abyss, when I could no longer hang on, I found that the Lord had held on to me.

Listen, don’t let anxiety keep you from trusting in the Lord to hold onto you.  Because, as Peter reminds us, He cares for you.  You are HIs charge and He will never let you go.  You are His sheep, of His flock, and though you may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He will be with you.  His rod and staff shall bring comfort to you.  By the way, the rod and staff are instruments of deliverance and also instruments of chastisement. But either way, He cares for you. I like the word care being used there.  I think it harkens back to Peter’s description of Christ as the Chief Shepherd in vs 4. We are entrusted to His care.  The Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.  And nothing can snatch them out of His hand because He cares for them.

Jesus said in John 10:27-30 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;  and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”  He cares for you if you are one of His sheep, and nothing happens to you without first coming through His hand.

If however, Jesus is our Advocate, then Peter warns us to beware our adversary.  The Devil is the father of lies, according to Jesus Christ.  So then we must beware lest he deceive us by the seduction of pride.  Satan’s original sin was the sin of pride.  Five times in Isaiah 14 Lucifer says “I will, I will, I will.”  And with pride he seduced Eve so that she too said “I will be like God,” which caused her fall. And he offers to us the same temptation.  To deny the Lord, and make our own decisions, to plan our own way, and to be self sufficient. Our will be done. To be lord of our own destiny, or so we think.

So be sober, Peter says, be on the alert, because your adversary the devil prowls around as a roaring lion, seeking someone to  devour.  Soberness of course, certainly covers sobriety, not being drunk or high.  But in a more general way, it speaks of the seriousness of our life.  Being serious is not considered a virtue today.  Being serious is something to be avoided.  No one really wants to seriously think about life. Start talking seriously about life, about heaven and hell and the judgment to come and see how many friends you end up having. 

No one wants to think about serious things. And the devil has so orchestrated the course of this world to keep you distracted, to keep you entertained, to keep you amused.  He has many sources of distraction at his disposal, such as music, popular media, movies, television, even friends or family can distract you from what’s important.  I don’t want to hurt your feelings if you’re one of these people, but I really think it’s a dangerous thing to constantly have music or the television going all the time.  Some people I know can’t sleep without a TV on.  The first thing they do when they get in a car is turn music on. I believe that the devil uses such things to keep your mind from thinking about serious things, such as your eternal destination.  Things such as the brevity of life and the meaning of life.

We need to be sober minded, serious minded and on the alert.  We often act like we are blissfully unaware that there is a lion stalking us, prowling around, looking for someone to devour.  Satan’s goal is to destroy you, make no doubt about it. He hates you with a passionate hatred, because you are Christ’s church.  You belong to Christ, and Satan takes out his hatred for Christ upon you. He wants to bring shame upon the Lord through destroying you. Don’t think that the ages since Lucifer fell from heaven have dulled his hatred for Christ.  It has only served to embitter him more.  He has nothing to fear from the lost, they are already under his dominion and doomed to destruction.  But he has everything to fear from a sanctified Christian living a holy life.  And so he will never sleep, and never grow tired of coming up with strategies to destroy you.

Peter speaks from the standpoint of experience. I’m sure he could never forget the day when Jesus said to him, “Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.”  But Peter was full of confidence, full of self sufficiency, filled with pride in the strength of his flesh, filled with pride that he was considered first of the disciples.  And in that pride, Satan took him down further than he could have ever imagined, even to the point of denying Christ three times in one night.  Listen, Satan’s got your number, and it’s your pride, your self sufficiency. 

Jesus was tempted by Satan as well, after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness.  But the way Jesus resistwed him was through the word of God. Three times in response to three temptations Jesus said, “It is written.”  He relied not upon His own resources to resist temptation, but He relied on the word of God.  And that is how we are to resist Satan as well. Not in our wisdom, nor in our strength, but in the truth of God’s word we rebuke his lies.  Peter says, “But resist him, firm in your faith.”  Our faith is founded upon the promises of God, the word of God, and not in our own strength or even our own convictions if they are not founded in the truth of God’s word.

Another strategy of Satan that I think we are all very familiar with is that when things get bad, he causes us to think that no one understands, no one else has suffered in the way that I am suffering.  He wants us to withdraw from fellowship, to fill sorry for ourselves and go into some sort of cocoon of self pity.  But notice what Peter reminds us of in vs.9, “But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.”  There is nothing new under the sun.  Satan’s tricks are as old as creation.  He has just had thousands of years and millions of people to perfect his strategies.  So we must not fall for the lie that no one understands, our plight is worse than anyone else’s.  Peter says the same sort of sufferings are being experienced by the church all over the world.

You know, every time I start feeling sorry for myself, the Lord has me see someone who is a whole lot worse off than I am. Sometimes it’s someone who is seriously handicapped.  Other times it’s someone who has lost limbs and are confined to a wheelchair.  Whatever it is, God uses it to put my suffering in perspective. Don’t let yourself become obsessed with your troubles to the point of neglecting to see others who are also suffering.  Our job is to encourage one another, to help one another, to serve one another. 

Jesus told Peter after the statement about Satan wanting to sift him like wheat, Jesus said, “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  That’s what we are to be doing as well, and that is one of the blessings that comes out of trials, that we have compassion on others who are also suffering, and that we can pray for them and strengthen them.

The other blessing that comes out of our suffering is found in vs. 10, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” This is the  purpose of our sanctification which is produced through suffering, submission and humility. Peter uses four words to describe the things God is doing in your trials.  

First he will perfect you.  That word which is translated perfect would be better translated as complete.  He will finish in you what He has started.  He gave you the righteousness of Jesus Christ in justification, and in sanctification He exercises righteousness through you as you pattern your life after Christ. Sanctification is the act of being righteous.  And God produces righteousness in you through suffering and submission. Phil. 1:6 says,  “[For I am] confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it [or complete it] until the day of Christ Jesus."

The next three words are basically synonyms  meant to reinforce one idea; that having to do with establishing, as in establishing a foundation, strengthening a building.  After all, Peter told us earlier in chapter 2 vs 5 that “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  The purpose then of our sanctification is to make us a fit dwelling for the Holy Spirit. That we might not be moved here and there with every wind of doctrine, that we might not be swayed by the devil’s temptations, that we might not turn aside after the lusts of the flesh being distracted by the world.  God wants to establish us, strengthen us, and make us stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

To that end, so that Christ may be all in all, Peter gives us as a benediction, “To Him be dominion for ever and ever, Amen.”  Christ is king over all, and most especially must be king on the throne  in our hearts.  “He must increase,” John the Baptist said, and I must decrease."

Simply speaking, I must die to my flesh so that He might live in me.  As King of Kings He has all authority and right to exercise dominion over me.  As Lord of Lords, He deserves submission from me.  And as He lives in me, I will live in Him, so that I might live with Him forever and ever.  Sanctification is simply yielding my life completely to be under the dominion of the Spirit of Christ.  Our life is to serve Him.  And He has promised that those who serve Him in His kingdom will have eternal life with Him.

Eternal life begins at conversion.  And in that new life God begins the process of sanctification, learning to submit to His authority, to share in His suffering, to humble ourselves in service, so that we might be like Him, and He might live in us as the temple of His Spirit.  Peter has written a very practical epistle, telling us how to live in this present world, and what to expect in the world to come.  I pray that you know the grace of God which has offered to you the gift of salvation, and that you have trusted in Him for your salvation and been converted.  If not, today is the day of salvation.  Come and trust Jesus as your Savior and Lord today so that you may be forgiven of your sins, and find new life in Him.