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.
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