Well do keep your Bibles in hand and turn with me, as Billy said, to the second letter of Peter, chapter 1, which you can find on page 1018 if you’re using a church Bible. This morning we are beginning a new sermon series working through the teaching of this important letter that will take us, God willing, through the summer months.
If you would, once you have your Bibles open at 2 Peter, look down at verses 12 through 14 of chapter 1 just for a moment because there you will see the reason Peter is writing. Here’s Peter’s agenda; here’s what he wants to get done in your life and mine as we read and study his letter in the weeks ahead. Chapter 1, verses 12 through 14 – “Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.” Or flip over to chapter 3, beginning at verse 1; chapter 3 verse 1 – “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles…”
Now notice the context in Peter’s life. He’s likely a man somewhere in his mid to late 60s, and as he writes he clearly anticipates his own imminent death. “As our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me,” he says. You may remember that Jesus told Peter back in John 21:18, “When you were young you dressed yourself and walked wherever you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” And then John who wrote the gospel adds, “This, Jesus said, to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God.” And so in due course, according to reliable tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome sometime during the reign of Nero in the last half of the 60s AD. And so this letter, 2 Peter, is written just before that date with the shadows of his coming ordeal in Rome already looming large in Peter’s mind. “The putting off of my body will be soon,” he says. And so with the thought of entering eternity shining very brightly upon him, bringing particular clarity and focus to his thinking, he speaks in this letter about what he wants most for the churches, “after my departure,” as he puts it.
So this letter, as many scholars suggest, is testamentary in character. We might say it is Peter’s last will and testament. And that makes it very significant indeed, doesn’t it. Last wills and testaments are not trifling postcards from the beach. Are they? They are solemn things, weighty things. You would never discard your father’s will or misplace it casually like you might, say, a three-lined postcard from Disneyland. No, what do you do with a last will and testament? You read it carefully, you weigh its details wisely, and you implement its instructions meticulously. And that’s how we are to attend to the teaching of 2 Peter – with care and wisdom and meticulous attention to careful obedience.
And so our question then needs to be, “What is the burden of Peter’s final remarks to the churches? What is the force of his last will and testament? What is it that he is bequeathing to us? What would he have us do and know?” Well as it turns out, it’s not some new insight that he has for us, some hitherto neglected truth that he wants to leave to us. No, he says, “Though you know these cardinal truths of the Christian Gospel already and are established in them, I want to make sure you never forget. I want you to remember them. I’m trying to stir you up by way of reminder so that when I am gone you may recall these things.” Isn’t that fascinating? As the apostle Peter faces his own impending death, the thing he wants to leave with us is the same thing he has been saying since Jesus sent him to preach the Gospel all those years before. He doesn’t want them innovating when it comes to the truth. He wants them to go down ever more deeply into the same truth that they have known and been established in from the start. “I want to tell you again the old, old story of Jesus and His love.” Because you don’t grow out of the Gospel when you grow up in Christian maturity. No, you go down into the Gospel more and more. That’s how you grow up in Christian maturity. And actually, attaining godly maturity is one of the major themes and burdens of Peter’s second epistle. Remembering the truth, Peter will teach us, helps us to grow. Remembering the truth helps us to grow.
But remembering the truth also helps us with another major burden of his letter. Remembering the truth helps us grow but it also will defend us against error. It defends us against error. In this respect it’s a bit like weed and feed. You know that stuff you can buy at Lowe’s or wherever and you spread it on your lawn and it does these two things simultaneously. It feeds growth and it kills weeds. That’s what remembering the Gospel, remembering the Word of God, remembering the truth as it is in Jesus will do for us. It is weed and feed for the soul. False doctrine in particular is a burden of chapter 2 as we’ll see in due course where Peter teaches us essentially that if we forget the truth, if we let the truth get foggy and cloudy and imprecise, if we begin to believe that actually fuzzy thinking about eternal realities is cool and progressive and makes us look enlightened and moderate and wise, we will quickly find ourselves prone to being led astray and run the awful risk of making deadly shipwreck on the crushing rocks of soul-destroying error. And Peter wants to avoid that for us. So he wants us to remember, because remembering the truth is weed and feed for our souls. That’s the big idea of 2 Peter as a whole.
This morning, we are going to focus our attention on the opening four verses where Peter is making some introductions. He introduces himself, notice, in the first half of verse 1, his original readers in the second half of verse 1, and then woven throughout all of these verses he introduces us, through verse 4, he introduces us again to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s where I want us to spend the bulk of our time together. We are going to see three things about the person and work of Christ in these verses. First of all, there is the righteousness of Christ that equalizes every believer. The righteousness of Christ that equalizes every believer in verse 1. Then there’s the knowledge of Christ that unlocks every blessing. The knowledge of Christ that unlocks every blessing in verses 2 and 3. And then finally, the promises of Christ that empower every obligation. The promises of Christ that empower every obligation in verse 4. So the righteousness of Christ that equalizes every believer, the knowledge of Christ that unlocks every blessing, and the promises of Christ that empower every obligation.
Before we get into that, as always, let’s pause once more and ask for the Lord to help us. Let us pray.
O God, we pray now for the help of the Holy Spirit. We want to know You better, we want to hear Your truth, we want to embrace the good news about Jesus. We are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Keep Your promise and fill us, and do it now through this portion of Your holy Word, for Jesus’ sake, amen.
2 Peter chapter 1 at verse 1. This is the Word of God:
“Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
Amen, and we pray that the Lord would follow the reading of His Word with the blessing of His Spirit.
The Righteousness of Christ that Equalizes Every Believer
Let’s think about the righteousness of Christ that equalizes every believer, first of all. The righteousness of Christ that equalizes every believer. Verse 1, Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Simon Peter, remember, was the impulsive, passionate, hot-headed disciple that we read about in the Gospel accounts. He was always ready, wasn’t he, to speak on behalf of the whole band of disciples. When Jesus was asking them all one day, “Who do you say that I am?” it was Peter who spoke on behalf of the group – “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He was often over-bold to attempt what his faith could not support. When Jesus came to the disciples through the storm, you remember that moment – they’re on the lake, the storm is raging, and Jesus came to them walking on the water – Peter wanted to get out of the boat and walk across the water to Jesus. And sure, he made a little progress at first, but when his eyes left Christ’s face and started measuring the size of the waves and the swell of the storm, pretty soon he began to sink and needed to be rescued. Peter was the one who was always quick to claim more than he could really deliver. “I will never deny You,” he told Jesus in the upper room. And then while his Lord was on trial for His life, Peter denied every knowing Christ three times with an oath.
But now here in 2 Peter, all traces of rash, prideful Peter have gone. Here is Simeon Peter – notice the Hebrew variant of his name. He is writing for a largely Gentile audience, and isn’t it interesting that he emphasizes in the very first words of his letter his Jewishness. And he does it not to distance himself from them, but actually to show them that despite the difference of ethnicity, he and they are one in Christ. What a change from the Peter that is mentioned in Galatians chapter 2. You may remember Paul’s account of what happened in Antioch in Galatians chapter 2 where Peter initially was happy to eat and dine and have fellowship with Gentile Christians, until, that is, some Jewish brothers sent from James in Jerusalem arrived in Antioch and then Peter has a change of heart. Perhaps his pride and ego get in the way and they shame him, but he breaks fellowship with the Gentile Christians and now he begins to insist that if you’re really serious about following Jesus you have to become Jewish first. But now here at the end of his life, Peter is a man in whom the grace of the Gospel has continued to work.
And so now, notice he calls himself, “Simeon Peter, a servant and an apostle.” That word order is surely important. A servant first and then an apostle. Apostle is the way in which he serves, but he is supremely and first of all a doulos, that’s literally a “slave” of the Lord Jesus Christ, entirely devoted to Him and to His service. And it’s this Peter who is writing – notice this carefully now – “to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” These Gentile Christians have “obtained a faith of equal standing with ours.” This is the mighty Simon Peter, eye witness of the resurrection, apostle of Christ. And yet their faith is equal in value before God with his own.
Now what does that mean? Is he congratulating them for working really hard to build a faith that has now risen so high as to be equal with his own? Is he commending them for something he has discovered unusual in them that he hasn’t found in other Christians? What has made their faith “of equal standing” with his own? Answer – nothing in them. The faith they have, they obtained. Do you see that language in the text? It’s a gift. “It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” And it’s status is equal to his not because of any quality inherent within itself, but entirely because of its object. In other words, it’s not the strength or depth or maturity of their faith that Peter commends, but simply the fact that just like him, they have taken hold of the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves. It is the righteousness of Christ that faith grasps and receives that makes their faith and Peter’s faith of equal standing. It is by or through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Don’t miss the unambiguous assertion there of the deity of Jesus Christ. He is our “God and Savior” and it is His righteousness that clothes the sin and guilt of both Peter and the Gentile readers equally. They wear, as it were, the same uniform in the sight of God because of the gift of faith that takes hold of the righteousness of Christ. Their faith and his are of equal standing. And how precious that truth ought to be to us. The newest, baby Christian and the wisest, mature saint do not have a faith differing in worth or status. The robes of the righteousness of Christ cover our sin and win our acceptance with God. Jews and Gentiles, Scotsmen and Mississippians, white and black, young and old, women and men, rich and poor, churched and unchurched – all are one, you see, in the instant that faith reaches out its hand and takes hold of Jesus. All are equal in the eyes of God when they put on the righteousness of Christ by faith. Simon Peter has grasped that, although his own biography in the New Testament tells us that he made an awful lot of wrong turns and mistakes before he finally got it. But now he’s got it and he wants us to grasp it too. The righteousness of Christ equalizes every believer.
Do you see the point? There is no place for strutting, self-congratulatory, divisive, prejudicial, condescending pride in the lives of those who trust in our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who have Him in common. All are welcome to Him and all are one in Him. The righteousness of Christ equalizes every believer.
The Knowledge of Christ that Unlocks Every Blessing
Then secondly, notice how the knowledge of Christ unlocks every blessing. The knowledge of Christ unlocks every blessing. Look at verses 2 and 3. “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence…” Look at the greeting first of all. “Grace to you,” was the typical Greek form of address. “Peace,” was the usual Jewish greeting. Here, both are more than mere greetings. They sum up every spiritual blessing in the Christian life that is ours through Jesus. And Peter is praying that they might be multiplied. “I want more and more grace and more and more peace for you,” he says. But here’s the thing – you can only get them in one place. You want more grace? More peace? You can only find them in one place. There’s only one store in town that sells them. There’s only one well where you can draw this water. There’s only one socket that will supply the power that you need. You must get them, verse 3, you must find grace and peace in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
All too often we find ourselves, don’t we, busy, trying to find the grace and peace we need every day in all the wrong places. We try to find it in our work. We try to find it in our family. We try to find it in our education. We try to find it in wealth, in the distractions of entertainment, and in a host of other places. Haven’t we discovered none of these things deliver lasting grace and peace? Grace and peace are available exclusively, Peter says, in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to be clear, when Peter talks about knowing – the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ – knowing Him, he’s not talking about simply knowing the facts. As we’re going to see in due course, knowing the facts is very important to Peter. We need to know the facts and get them clear. But Peter wants more than simply knowing about Jesus. He wants to be sure you know Jesus. Do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus?
There is no saving grace and there can be no lasting peace, there is no saving grace and there can be no lasting peace for you until you know Jesus. You’ve got to get it here, from Him. But when you do, you begin to find that knowing Him is like a key that unlocks the door to every blessing that you will ever need. Isn’t that the point he makes even more clearly in verse 3? Look at verse 3. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” Let’s ask the text a couple of questions. First of all, what does Christ’s divine power give us, Peter? What does the text say? “All things that pertain to life and godliness.”
A pet peeve of mine is that certain members of my family, who shall remain nameless, will sometimes use a tool – a screwdriver or a wrench or a hammer – and then forget to put it back afterwards. And then I go to use the tool and it’s missing. And I’m trying really hard not to make eye contact right now! Is there anything missing among the tools needed to live for Jesus when you know Jesus Christ, Peter? What’s his answer? He says, “No, no. The Lord Jesus has not misplaced a single needed grace, not one vital instrument is missing. All things that pertain to life and godliness are supplied by His divine power.” That’s not to say that we always feel like we have everything we need, or that we have everything we need all at once. But it is to say that everything we need for every circumstance, every trial, every temptation, every sorrow, every time we’re out of our depth, every time we’re bewildered by life, every minute of every day, everything we truly need will be supplied by His divine power.
Second question – How are these tools, these necessary graces, supplied to us, Peter? What does the text say? “They come to us,” notice, “through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” The emphasis on knowing Jesus again. Do you know Jesus? And if you do, don’t you want to know Him more and more and more and more? If the knowledge of Christ is the instrument by which divine power gives you everything that you need for life and godliness, don’t you think that knowing Christ should be your most urgent, your most pressing concern, every single day?
I have absolutely no idea what it takes to be a lawyer, although I guess several of you do. But if you want to pass the bar exam in the state of Mississippi, I do know you’ve got to know the law. Right? I don’t know anything about medicine, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that should I ever need brain surgery my surgeon should know and have studied and will be continually seeking to grow in understanding the mysterious mechanics of the human brain. So why is it that far too many Christians are content to know just a wee bit about Jesus, here and there, but don’t really seem all that bothered about knowing more and more and more? You say you love Him. There is no closer study than a lover’s study of his beloved. Study to know Christ, in His Word. Study to learn His ways, to trust His promises, to keep His commands, to delight in His character, to adore His person, to cling to His work. Make Jesus the great object of every day’s fascination because it is in the knowledge of Him that we are given by His divine power everything we need for life and godliness.
And before we move on, did you notice the text tells us that Jesus calls us and invites us into that knowledge? “His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.” There is a summons, an invitation in the Gospel that is held out to you by Christ Himself, who asks you to come to Him to know Him. He wants you to know Him. He wants to be known by you. Some people, they send out vibes – don’t they – that make it clear they are closed books. And no matter how hard you try, you can never quite break through; you never really seem able to get close to them, to know them, understand them. They are, for whatever reason, closed off to intimacy. But not so, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not so with Him. He is never aloof or harsh or hard to reach. He is, as it were, an open book. He is calling and inviting you to come and know Him. He wants to be known by you.
And did you notice His invitation and call has a destiny, a trajectory, a goal in view? Look at verse 3 again. When you answer this call, this invitation, into intimacy with Christ, it sets your feet at the beginning of a path that is leading somewhere. Where is it leading? He calls you “to His own glory and excellence.” Why wouldn’t you want to know Jesus when knowing Him leads you here – His own glory and excellence? Not just to observe it from a distance as if through a telescope or something, but to enter into it for yourself and to partake of it, to see it and savor it and revel in it. One day, we who know Jesus, will be glorious and excellent too, Peter is saying, but our glory and excellence will really only ever be the mirror image of His. We will shine with the reflection of His glory and excellence one day. That’s what we’re being invited to. He wants you to know Him because the knowledge of Christ unlocks every blessing until it is consummated and taken up into His own glory and excellence. That is the sum of every blessing and beatitude. There is a landscape, a whole new country, a new, unseen world of blessing, of glory and excellence in Jesus into which you are invited this morning. Why in the world would you refuse such an invitation?
The Promises of Christ that Empower Every Obligation
The righteousness of Christ equalizes every believer. The knowledge of Christ unlocks every blessing. Now look at verse 4 – The promise of Christ empowers every obligation. Verse 4, “He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Up into God and up out of the world – that is the destiny of a Christian. We partake of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. Isn’t that amazing? Up into God and up out of the mire and filth of a corrupt world. That phrase, “partaking of the divine nature,” just to be clear, does not mean that we become God in some way. It simply means, that as the New Testament translates the word, “partaking,” variously as “fellowship” or “communion” or “participation,” it simply means that we come to have fellowship with God Himself. By His Spirit He dwells in our hearts so that we have communion with the Father through our union with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the result is, we escape the corruption of the world – up into God and up out of the world. And how does it all take place? By what means do we go up into God and up out of the world? Verse 4 – we do it by His very great and precious promises.
There is a link, you see, between what God commands and what God promises. Such a precious link. If you lose sight of it, the commands of God will crush you. But here’s the wonder of the Christian life. For every obligation of Scripture, there is a promise of Scripture. For all the duties of God’s Law that rest upon us, there is a promise of grace to empower us. The route up out of the pit of worldly corruption into which we are all sunk by nature, the route up the mountain of Christian holiness, of Christlikeness, is a route traveled by dependence on the promised help of God.
When I was a young Christian, people in Scotland still had promise boxes. Have you ever heard of a promise box? They are exactly what they sound like. They are simple, plain, wooden boxes, full of promises – one for every day. Every morning you take out another promise to remind yourself that for every challenge I may face this day, there is promised grace. There is promised grace. Do you live by faith in the promises of the Gospel? Saint Augustine ought to be our model. He teaches us to pray – remember Augustine’s prayer? “O Lord, command what You will, and give what You command.” God supplies what He requires. He promises whatever He demands. Isn’t our God good? Isn’t He good? Isn’t He kind to us? He doesn’t ever simply say, “I want this from you.” He also says, “And I’m with you in it and I will strengthen you for it.” The promises of Christ empower every obligation. Depend on His grace. That’s what those promises teach us. He will help you to live for His glory.
And when you step back a little and ask, “What’s the big point that Peter has been teaching us in all of this?” isn’t it simply that Jesus is Himself the beginning and the middle and the end of the Christian life? He appears, notice, on almost every line of these opening four verses. Peter is “a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.” The readers have “a faith of equal standing through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Grace and peace are ours in “the knowledge of Jesus our Lord.” His divine power gives us what we need for life and godliness through knowing Him. He called us in the first place and His own glory and excellence are our destiny. His promises open to us fellowship with the divine nature and assure us of escape from the world. He is the first and the last, the author of your Christian life; it’s sustainer, it’s final glorious destiny. He fires the starter’s pistol. He puts strength into every stride. He brings you across the finish line in the end and He Himself will be your crown of glory and your very great reward at the last. Christ is everything, Peter is saying. He is everything.
Is He everything to you? Is He everything to you? May God make it so. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, You are everything. Forgive us when we run after such weak, empty idols that our hearts long for. Teach us, as we begin 2 Peter, teach us anew to truly depend upon You, to trust Your promises; not only to hear Your commands but to rest on the promised help we need to obey them. Make us more like Yourself. Show us more of Your glory and excellence and lead us ever deeper into the knowledge of You. For this we pray in Your name, amen.