Good morning. We're going to
be in 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 10 through 14. 2 Peter chapter
1. Now Peter opens this second epistle
of his and he's reminding us of the exceeding great and precious
promises that are given to us in Christ. And I really love
the way Peter just breaks it down into such simple language
showing how these gifts, these promises that we have are manifested
in the gifts that are given to us. They're given to us according
to His divine power. He makes it clear to us that
this isn't of the flesh, this is of the Spirit of God. These
things, what we see being worked in us is according to His divine
power. Not the flesh, but the divine
power of the Spirit of God. And that's It's so important
for us to understand that when we're looking at the next few
verses that come, when he's outlining this pattern that we see, this
pattern of growth in the believer, that it's according to the knowledge
which he's given to us by divine power, made known to us in light
of the gospel, what Christ has done for us, what he's accomplished
for us, so that we see it's not this flesh, it's not you know,
man-made religion, but it's according to His divine power, His glory,
so that what we see as we're walking in Him, as we're serving
Him and serving one another, these are fruitful witnesses. He's bearing a fruitful witness
in His children that we are the sons and the daughters of God.
done this work and he's called us to this. The flesh can put
on a good show. We know that the flesh can do
that but our hope isn't in the flesh. We're not looking to put
on a good show for one another. We're looking to Christ and we're
thankful for what he's done and we're seeing these fruitful witnesses
that he bears in us. Now today what we'll see as we're
coming to the other side of that pattern of growth that Peter
has shown to us. And don't get caught up in the
specific order. Don't get caught up in that specific
order and think it has to be this way. It's not a Methodist
type thing. It's not a step unto holiness
and godliness. It's not like that at all. He's
just showing us a pattern. And if we have time, we'll look
at the way Paul words it in Colossians and he doesn't use necessarily
the same words and he doesn't give the same order but you can
see the same spirit that taught Peter is the same spirit that
taught Paul and that's teaching us that we're just seeing a fruitful
witness that we are the Lord's, that he's called us to this by
his glory and power. And so now we come and see Peter's
motivation. He knows he must die. He knows
that his time is coming when he's going to lay down this body
of flesh according as the Lord showed him that he's going to
die. And he knows it. And so he loves the brethren
and he wants to to put them in remembrance of these blessed
truths of things that are important and that will help them in their
walk, especially as he moves on. So our title is A Faithful
Reminder. And we'll just have two divisions.
We'll look at our calling and election, and then his putting
us in remembrance of these things. So first, let's read the first
two verses in our text, 10 and 11. 1 Peter 1, I'm sorry, 2 Peter
1, verses 10 and 11. He says, wherefore the rather
brethren, Give diligence to make your calling and election sure,
for if ye do these things ye shall never fall. For so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, the scriptures
teach us that if you're called, then you're elected. He wouldn't
have called you and blessed you with these truths and shown you
these things and filled you with the Spirit if you weren't elected.
So if you're called, that means you are elected. As Romans 8.30
says, Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Whom he
elected, them he also called. He's not going to leave us in
darkness. We know our calling, brethren,
because he stirs us up, doesn't he? He stirs us up and he draws
us to himself. He brings us to see our need
of Christ. He shows us that we are sinners.
He brings about a confession from us that, Lord, it's not
my goodness. It's not my righteousness. I
don't measure up to you, but Lord, I need you. Have mercy,
Lord. Have patience with me, Lord.
help, Lord. He causes us to see our need
of Him, to see that He is the Savior, that He is able and willing
to save us to the uttermost. He did that. He gave His life
for us, and He shows us that. He brings this about so that
we see it. And He says in John 6, 44, No
man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw
him, and I will raise him up at the last day. And he tenderly
shows us how he draws us, as it says in Hosea 11.4, Hosea
11.4 says, I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love,
and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws,
and I laid me unto them. We understand that, especially
because all of us have, at some point in time, been in man-made
religion and we saw where we were. bound and coerced and forced
to do things. You have some that are more legalistic
in their approach and lay on you the Law of Moses and steer
you back towards Mount Sinai and give you threatenings and
create fear in you to do these things. And others who don't
necessarily look to the Law of Moses still use the same coercive
practices. I remember hearing one guy tell
me that the pastor if you will, wouldn't even let them leave
because they needed volunteers. And they needed a certain number
of volunteers, like eight of them or something like that.
And he wouldn't let the congregation leave until he had all eight
volunteers. So there was no heart in it. They just wanted to get
out of there until they were finally forced to submit and just volunteer
their time. Otherwise, they couldn't go.
That's not the Lord. The Lord doesn't work that way.
He lays it on our hearts. He doesn't use repentance of
faith as a whip to beat. the brethren and force them to
do things, He gives it to them. He gives it to them by His grace
and His power and He works with us. That is that He works these
things in us and He's kind. That's why we don't see these
things all immediately in us because it pleases Him to work
it in us by His divine power so that we give Him all the thanks
and the glory and the praise and we don't think too highly
of ourselves and come away thinking, wow, I'm really something, aren't
I? No, he shows us that we're nothing and in the process adds
these things as it pleases him and draws us to himself in love
and in kindness so that it's like you can imagine when you
take that bridle off the horse's mouth how freeing that is and
that thing cuts in their jaws and it hurts them. So it's like
that, wow, we've been relieved of that thing that's been yanking
at us and tugging us and telling us to go this way or that way.
He delivers us of that and gives us a heart to willingly walk
in Him and follow Him. So this calling in election,
it isn't something that we make happen for ourselves. It's not
something that, Peter's not telling you, you need to start doing
this and this and this to make your calling in election sure.
but rather he's revealing it to us. He's showing us that he's
working this in us. He's doing this. And he's doing
it in a loving and a kind way so that we're drawn to him and
delighting to see him work these things in us. As the psalmist
wrote in Psalm 27, verse eight, when thou saidst, seek ye my
face, then my heart said, Lord, thy face will I seek. It all
initiates with God. It all initiates with the Spirit
of God working this in us. Seek me. Seek me. And he gives
us a heart to do it. And when we fall and fail, he
brings us to see, Lord, how is it that I'm so unthankful? How
is it that my eyes are so easily taken off you? And he comes again. Well, first he showed us that,
and then he comes sweetly and brings us again to begin seeking
him again, and reading his word, and praying, and seeking him,
and desiring him, and he turns us from the things of the world.
It says, you know, what Christ said in John 3, 3, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God, so that we understand It's the Spirit of
Christ that must give us life first before we even begin to
seek Him. Now, why do I bring this up?
And the reason why I bring it up is because in religion we're
taught to look there at 2 Peter chapter 1 and we see this method
of salvation, we see this order of works and things that we can
do to make ourselves more holy and to make ourselves more sanctified.
and we get caught up in that, but Peter's not telling us it's
a fleshly work. He's not saying to us, he's not giving us threatenings
and warnings that if we don't do these things, but he's showing
us that this is a faithful work of the Spirit in us and he's
going to bring these things about. He's going to show us that we
are his and that he did this work. And so the way that these
things are worked in us. The way he reveals these to us
is through the preaching of Christ, through the preaching of the
gospel. That's why we want to be where
the gospel is faithfully preached because otherwise, when we start,
if we leave out Christ, it becomes a work of the flesh. I begin
to speak to you in the flesh, by my own flesh, according to
the flesh, and start manipulating and working you know, motivators
to get you to do things out of fear and out of desire or want
of reward. And it's not just a thing of
the flesh. It's no longer a spiritual work done in us by the Spirit
of Christ. So what is it to preach Christ?
As you said in John 3, verses 14 to 15, as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. So we're declaring through Christ,
in preaching Christ and Him crucified, we're declaring what God has
done for us in the Son and through His Son Jesus Christ and sending
His Son into this fallen dark world where we were lost and
fallen and unable to help ourselves, unable to please God, that He
sent the Son into the world to do that very work for us. So
that He was bearing us in His body as though we were in Him. Just like being in the ark when
the wrath of God was poured out upon all the world, but that
ark saved Noah and his family, so we are in Christ, and the
fury of God was poured out on Christ, but we are protected
because Christ is our ark. He is the one that protected
us. He bore the whole wrath of God being poured out upon him,
and those of us in Christ are delivered. We're saved. We weren't
destroyed in the flood of judgment. because we're in Christ, that's
what he did for us. And so, this life in us is evidenced,
it's evidenced by what the Lord is doing in us and working in
us. And again, I know that the flesh
can mimic much of these things, and we know that, and there's
gonna be tears among the weak, but to you who have an interest,
to you who know that you're nothing, and that you need Christ, that
he's everything, he's all, He's revealed that to you. He's
given that to you so that you begin to seek Him. He stirs you
up to seek Him. As it says, seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, that His righteousness being
Christ, and all these other things will be added unto you. All that
patience, that long-suffering with your brethren, the kindness,
and the godliness, and the love for your brethren, He adds all
those things to you. and you seek to know Christ and
rejoice in Him, He adds these things to you. He'll teach you
and instruct you just as we trust, each of us trust that He's teaching
us, we know He's teaching our brethren. in these things. As
Paul said, as Paul was stirred up, this is the Apostle Paul
writing this, and he's still saying that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, right? Just as Christ said, seek ye
first the King of God in his righteousness, the Lord's righteousness,
Jesus Christ. I don't want my own righteousness.
It doesn't measure up. It doesn't do anything for me
before God. I'm not looking to be justified
by my merits and by what I've done. I see it doesn't measure
up. It's a shame, my own righteousness, my deeds. I'm looking to the
righteousness which He's provided in His Son, Jesus Christ. So
I'm not looking, not according to my own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the faithful work of Christ being worked in His people, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, so that it's the Lord God who works
that, who gives us that faith, who gives us that life and that
faith to lay hold of Christ, to see that he is the Messiah,
he is the Christ, he is the one that God provided for this very
work and he's sufficient for me, he's enough for me. God is
satisfied with him, that's where I need to be, is in Christ, I
need to be in the salvation he's provided. And Paul says that
I may know him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death so
that you see how it ceases to be about us. It ceases to be
about me and what I'm doing and it all becomes about Him. All
becomes about Him. So don't get caught up in this
pattern necessarily and say, well I better start doing what
Peter lays out here. There will be a desire, there
should be a desire to grow in Him. But look to Christ and rejoice
in Him and rest in Him and be thankful and the Lord will add
all these things to you. That's what Peter was saying.
He said, you've forgotten. If these things aren't in you,
it's because you forgot. What did you forget? You forgot
Christ and how precious He is and what He did for you. And
that's where, looking to Him, all these fruitful evidences
are born. out of what he's done. As it
says in 1 Corinthians 1, 29-31, it's that no flesh should glory
in his presence, but of him, of God, are ye in Christ Jesus. God has put us in the Son, in
Christ Jesus, who is made of God, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's made all those things to
us. He's precious. He's everything
to the believer, and the believer delights in and rejoices in Christ
our Savior. That according as it's written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. See that? How he
brings us to glory in him and to rejoice in what he's done.
So when Peter says, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure, know this. He's not speaking to your flesh.
He's not trying to motivate or whip up your flesh. He's just
putting you in remembrance of what Christ has done. It's because
of what Christ has worked in us. He's implanted his seed in
us. The spirit of Christ is in us.
And there, in the new man, that's where we believe Christ. That's
where these fruitful evidences are born in us. As he says in
1 Peter 1, 23-25, it's because you are born again not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. For all flesh is as grass. So
he knows this. All flesh is as grass, so he's
not appealing to the flesh. And all the glory of man is the
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. We're preaching the Lord Jesus
Christ because Christ is the good news of the believer. It's
where the believer ceases to labor and strive and work for
their justification. They're happy to serve and labor
in the Lord and love for their brethren and to see his kingdom
advance and grow and to see the Lord calling his children out
of darkness and bringing the sheep out from the wilderness
where they're being destroyed. He's happy to labor in that.
But he's not laboring and striving to be justified before God. He's
resting in Christ because he knows that his redemption is
Christ. He knows his righteousness is
Christ. He knows his sanctification is Christ. And he knows that
the world calls it foolish, but it's his wisdom. Christ is his
wisdom. He's resting right there in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter says, for so an entrant
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So he's going to
bring us through every trial, every suffering, every affliction,
so that we're taught to just keep looking to him through it
all. And he does all the work and guides us through to the
end to bring us to our inheritance in Christ. Now, he's putting
us in remembrance, and he says in verse 12, 2 Peter 1, 12 through
14, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance
of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the
present truth. I have not said anything new
to you, brethren. You know the gospel. I've not
said anything new or different. Yea, I think it neat, as long
as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance. knowing that shortly I must put
off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath
showed me." And so, just as we saw in the last epistle, Peter's
still very reflective. And it's all back at that one
day there on the beach. And if you remember, it was when
Peter said, I go fishing. He's not saying, I'm just going
out for an hour to fish. He's saying, I'm going back to
my livelihood. I'm going back to doing what
I did before. The Lord's gone. And I'm going
back to fishing now. I'm just going to go back to
what I was doing before. And the Lord shows up. The Lord
comes on that day when they were all out there fishing, and it
was the Lord on the shore. And they saw him, and they went
back, and the Lord converted them. The Lord, by his power,
he converted them. He revealed himself to them,
and they saw him again. And he told Peter, feed my sheep. And he says, actually, it's in
John 21, verses 18 through 19, the Lord said to him, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, Peter, thou
girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou
shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This
spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God when
he had spoken this. I'm sorry, and when he had spoken
this, he saith unto him, follow me. is calling Peter back to
follow him. Don't go back to this world.
Don't go back to doing what you were doing before, Peter. Follow
me. So you see the tenderness of
the Lord and how it affected Peter very much because the Lord
gave him the Spirit and the Lord spoke life to him in words of
life and words of peace and words of fellowship and words of joy
so that Peter, the Spirit in Peter, received those words,
heard those words, and was motivated. He never went back to fishing
for fish again. He left that and he followed
the Lord. And so that's what he's reflecting
of when he says, I'm going to die just as the Lord showed me.
He's talking about this very time there. on the shore. So all that time he's been kept
by the Lord and we know in Acts when the Holy Spirit fell upon
the brethren and the cloven tongues came upon them and rested upon
them and they spoke in other tongues, Peter was there. So
that Peter was enabled to serve the Lord and to bear much fruit
in serving the Lord. And he says, if you turn over
to Acts 15, Acts 15. He shows this. He says in Acts
15 verses 7 through 11, this is now Peter serving the Lord
and he relates this account of how the Lord did this work in
him. It says, Acts 15, 7. And when there had been much
disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren,
Ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us,
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe, that he was used of the Lord to serve in the kingdom. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us. And again, we're being reminded
he's given to us the Holy Ghost. He's put his spirit in us, brethren. And he put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith Now, therefore,
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved, even as they." So he's faithful. He's a faithful brother. He's reminded them of how the
Lord does his work. And he's faithful in this epistle. to remind us it's the Lord and
He's putting us in remembrance that Christ is our Savior. He's
our Lord. He's blessed us with His Holy
Spirit. He's given us all these gifts.
Don't doubt. Don't fear. Don't look at this
world and get caught up and be drawn back into the love of this
world, but continue on in Christ and He's going to grow you and
He's going to grant you. gives you these gifts, he's gonna
work these things out as he's teaching you, instructing you
in the way. So we're not going back to the
flesh in looking at these things. As Paul said, having begun in
the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? No, it's all by
the spirit from beginning to end. And Paul said, for as many
as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but
ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. So as He's grown us, we're not... Who of you here, as the Lord's
grown you, looks now at yourself and says, wow, I'm so much more
holy now, I'm so much better now, I'm so much more sanctified
now than I used to be. The reality is, you look at yourself
and say, wow, I'm even more unworthy now than when I first believed. Now I see how black and dark
my heart really is. and how unworthy and why the
Lord should just destroy me. Because now I know so many more
things and yet I see this heart is evil and that this heart still
goes back to desiring things that it ought not to desire and
think about. So we see, and yet the Lord shows
himself gracious and kind to us and tender and patient and
he's so merciful and how he deals with us. So the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God
so that he's turning our hearts back from this world and turning
them to the Lord so that we breathe out those groanings of the Spirit.
Father, Abba, Father, have mercy on me. Be patient with me, Lord.
Help me. Help me to walk in a way, in
a manner that's worthy of the calling that I've received in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Help me, Lord, to serve you and
to grow and grace and knowledge and to be a helper of the joy
of my brethren. Help me to do those things, Lord,
and not do those other things that are just wicked and destroy
that or tear down that work that you're doing. I don't want to
be, I don't want to oppose the Lord and fight against Him. So
He's growing us in this and He says, And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. So that we see that we'll have
that glorious, that welcoming entrance into Heaven. We'll be brought in to see our
Lord, to behold Him as He is there. on the throne. Now Peter says in verses 12 and
13 Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance
of these things, though you know them and be established in the
present truth. Yea, I think it meet as long
as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance. Right? So he's looking to establish
us. He's looking for us to be established as the Lord grows
us and teaches us and feeds us in these things. And so the apostles
were always putting us in remembrance. Right? They were always appealing
back to what Christ has done to us. When Paul was talking
about giving, he reminded the Corinthians, he said, For ye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich. So they're always putting our
minds and our thoughts back on the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
always turning us to Christ. He even said to the Philippians,
he said, to write the same things to you, brethren, to me is not
grievous, but for you it is safe. It's safe that we're reminded
of the Lord, what he's done. We're reminded of the folly of
man-made religion. He said, beware of dogs and evil
workers and the concision that try to cut and whittle down your
flesh to make it appear righteous before God and men but we have
no confidence in this flesh. We're looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, go over to Colossians 1. Colossians 1. We'll pick up in
verse 3. Just read a bit of it. Colossians
1.3, and so here we see, now again, as we're going through
this, notice the spirit in which Paul is writing and how it's
the same spirit that Peter writes to us in, in the opening chapter
of 2 Peter. He says, Colossians 1.3, we give
thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying
always for you. So he's giving all the glory
and the praise to God. It's God who's doing this in
us. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love
which he hath to all saints. Here's one reminder of our inheritance. Verse five, for the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the
word of the truth of the gospel. So our inheritance is always
in Christ, never outside of Christ, but always in Christ, which is
come unto you as it is in all the world and bringeth forth
fruit. It's bringing forth fruit. If
the spirit of Christ be in you, He's going to bear a faithful
witness, a fruitful witness to us. It bringeth forth fruit,
as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it and knew
the grace of God in truth. So there you see that the Spirit
bearing that precious fruit because the Spirit dwells in us. It's
not this flesh doing that, that's the Spirit of Christ bearing
these things in us and leading us to Christ and keeping us stayed
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, but let's look at
this. So in verse seven, as you also learned of Epaphras, our
dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ,
who also declared unto us your love in the spirit, for this
cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to
pray for you and desire that you might be filled with the
knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Now, here it is, these similar words, this growing in the wisdom
and the grace, of Christ, verse 10, that ye might walk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all
might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and
longsuffering, with joyfulness giving thanks unto the Father.
So you see that pattern of a fruitful walk in the Spirit, because the
Spirit dwells in you and he's working these things in us and
he's bearing these fruits in us because we love Christ and
we're looking to him and we see him which hath made us meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption
through his blood even the forgiveness of sins so we see in that you
see how it's Christ as we're looking to him and and and growing
in him he's working these these in us. And when we don't see
them, it's because the Lord has shown us that we're looking at
other things that are not profitable and things that aren't helping
us in any way to be helpers of one another and to serve one
another. Our hearts, when they become
cold and indifferent and just lethargic and dead, The Lord,
it's the Lord who's got to bring us back from that. It's the Lord
who shows us how we're cold and wandering away, so He brings
us back, and He brings us back by showing us Christ. And as
we are stayed upon Him, as we are growing in Him and bearing
fruits, He continues to show us it's all of Christ. So it's
never of the flesh. At any point it never becomes
a work of the flesh. It's always a work of the Spirit. So I pray the Lord will help
us see Christ in that and see that the calling which we have
is because we are elected and that he's doing this work in
us and growing us. So let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for your mercy. We thank you for your patience
with us, Lord, and for your abundance of forgiveness that you've shown
to us in your son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, we need him. Because
we see that this flesh can't do anything to please you. And
Lord, we can't even keep ourselves looking to you, but we know that
it's your work. And so, Father, we pray that
your Spirit would be in us and upon us, rest upon us and cause
us, Lord, to see our Savior. To see the work that he's doing
in us and what he's accomplished for our good, Lord. Not that we deserve it, that
you've blessed us with this inheritance in Christ. We thank you for this
and ask that you bless us in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Amen.