If you will this morning, I'd
like for you to turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 1. At home, we don't have a Sunday
evening service. We just have a Sunday school
and about a 10, 15 minute break, and then our regular service.
So I'm used to this. But rather than bring two messages,
I think I'll just do it exactly the way I do it at home. I'll
bring you a lesson with this, and then I'll preach to you a
little later. Here in 2 Peter 1, I'm going
to use this time, like I do at home, to bring you just a brief
commentary from this passage of Scripture. Rupert and I were
talking the other morning. Pastors are called in the Scripture
pastor-teachers. Pastor-teachers. I know it's
worded pastors and teachers, but in the original, it says
pastor-teachers. In Matthew's gospel, our commission
is to go into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost. Teach them what? Teach them what? He said, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. That's what you
teach. You don't get inventive. You don't make up things. You
don't find something out here in the community and incorporate
that. You teach them exactly what I
told you to teach them. And lo, he said. I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world. And I dare say there's
not one person here this morning, myself included, that does not
need to be taught. We need to be taught of God. Isn't that what he says over
there in John chapter 6? They shall all be taught of God. That's what we're here for. That's
what we want. And there's some here this morning
that don't know God. They don't know God. Who've never
been brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, who are ignorant of
true repentance and faith, and if God is pleased to give you
an understanding of His person and of His work, He'll do so
through a pastor-teacher. That's how it'll come. Listen
to how he words this in the Scripture. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
Paul said, God hath from the beginning chosen us unto salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto? He called you by
our gospel. Now if you take time to read
that passage, you'll see in that passage where he just finished
talking about those in the world who had no pastor or teacher.
who had no intervention of God in their lives, who had no providential
blessings of God in their lives, and they were just swallowed
up by the Antichrist. Received not the love of the
truth that they might be saved, so God gave them over to strong
delusion. He just left them where they
wanted to be. Let them grope around in the darkness until
they found something that tasted good to them, suited their palate,
and that's where he left them. And then, unlike secular school,
I cannot search for ways to communicate the truth of God because those
I teach require a revelation of God. It's not like teaching
math. Not like teaching math. What I teach and what your pastor
teaches requires a revelation of God. It requires the effectual working
of the Holy Spirit of God. That's what Paul said to those
Thessalonians. He said, I know your election
of God. Because when my Gospel came,
it came not in word only, but it came in power and in the Holy
Ghost. So, what we teach requires the
effectual working of the Holy Spirit of God. And we teach dogmatically. That makes folks angry. We declare
the truth as it's stated in the Word of God without compromise
and without discussion. We teach comparatively, that
is, telling you both the truth and the error, that which is
right and that which is wrong. And then thirdly, we set before
you the truth, and then we leave the results in God's hands. I
don't spend 30 minutes trying to get you down the aisle. I
don't know what I'd do with you if I got you down here. I leave the results in God's
hands. And over there in 2 Corinthians,
I believe chapter 4, where Paul begins that chapter and begins
to talk to them about this revelation of God that comes through his
preaching, he said, I've renounced those hidden things of dishonesty,
and I don't walk in craftiness anymore. But he said, I declare
the truth and leave it between you and God. Now, please see. Between you and God. We leave the results in His hands. Alright, here in 2 Peter chapter
1, let's look at verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. I want you to notice here that
Peter doesn't refer to himself. He doesn't call attention to
himself with flattering titles. I've got a thing about that. And so do these men. Peter doesn't
call himself Reverend Peter or Dr. Simon Peter or even Mr. Peter. It's just Simon Peter. That's how he wants to be known
because that's who he is. Simon is his earthly name, son
of Jonah and Peter, the blessed name given to him by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Simon Peter had no earthly
credentials. That's why he didn't want initials
before his name. His credentials were of God.
He had no earthly credentials. He was a common fisherman called
into the ministry of Christ, taught of Christ himself, and
commissioned as an apostle. And being a preacher does not
require a college education. I had a lady in our church, oh,
I don't know, probably a year ago, who was really upset and
talking to her husband about me and said he didn't even go
to seminary. I call them cemeteries. I think
that's more in line with what they are, but it doesn't require
college education. Now, that college education might
benefit him in writing, or it may teach him the discipline
of study, and it may benefit him in his everyday affairs,
in the everyday affairs of his life. But insofar as the gospel
is concerned, what is required is an inward revelation of Christ. Isn't that what Paul says in
Galatians chapter 1? God who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in
me that I might preach Him among the heathen. That's what's required
to preach the gospel. Everything a preacher is required
to have to enable him to teach and preach the gospel is given
to him in that saving revelation of Christ in him. I firmly believe
it is the experience of grace and the revelation of God that
enables us to interpret Scripture and understand the Scriptures. And this is why false prophets,
Paul said, they're ever learning, but they're never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth. And this is why false teachers
talk about the things of Christ, but never actually preach Christ. Now, Peter addresses the contents of his letter to
them that have obtained like precious faith with him through
the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Faith
is the gift of God. Aren't you glad it is? It's the
gift of God, not of works. If God let you have this much
part in it, you'd brag on it for eternity. Well, I can say
one thing. He's not going to let you say
one thing. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. It's the gift of God. Listen
to this. Philippians 1, verse 29. It said, For unto you it is given
on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also
to suffer for His sake. It was given to you. This is
the gift of God to you. Ephesians 2, verse 8, faith is
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And then faith is
the gift of God and it comes to us on the behalf of Christ.
Or as Peter tells us, through the righteousness of God our
Savior. All the blessings of God come
to God's elect on the behalf of Christ. It's for Christ's
sake. of or as a result of his person
and work. That's what he's saying there.
And I'll tell you this, God outside of Christ is a consuming fire. He's a consuming fire. And this
faith is the same in all who have it. It's like precious faith. Betty was telling me a while
ago, she said, we hate to see you go. I hate to go. I don't
like to leave anywhere that I go because I've got no reason to
want to leave. We've got everything in the world
in common, both here and in eternity. We've got no reason for separation. That's why John said over there,
they went out from us, but they were not of us. If they'd been
of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. There's no
reason to leave. What's the basis of leaving?
if we all believe the same thing, and we all love the same Christ,
and we're all saved by the same God. We walk in the light as He is
the light, and we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And then faith
is precious. It's not only alike, but it's
precious. It's precious because it conveys
all the blessings and benefits of Christ to the soul. You know,
people in religion, when they do preach anything at all about
the sacrifice of Christ, which most of them don't even preach
it at all anymore, but when they do get around to preaching it,
what they say If you listen to them carefully, what they're
preaching is that your acceptance or receiving of the gospel is
what makes His blood affect you. But that's not so, is it? His blood's affect you whether
you believe it or not. Sure it is. It's affect you whether
you believe it or not. God's satisfied with His righteousness
whether you believe it or not. And God justified all His elect,
whether you believe it or not. Faith is precious because it
conveys all these blessings and benefits of Christ to the soul.
It's like a great conduit, Spurgeon said, through which all the blessings
of God come to men. I'm not talking about things
that make the things of God effectual. His blood is effectual. His righteousness
is sufficient. and His person and work are victorious
whether we believe them or not. But I'm talking about making
these things effectual in us. In us. There's no other way to know
your election of God except by faith. By faith. That's how we receive it. That's
how we know it. In 2 Peter chapter 1, look at this, verse 2. Grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord. According as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of Him that called us to glory and virtue. Now the grace of God in Christ
is infinite. It's boundless. In Him, Paul
said, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It didn't
come there and camp there for a while. It abides there. He has the Spirit without measure. And because of this, we have
perfect peace with God. And none of these graces are
lacking in our Savior, the Lord. None of these graces. These graces
are full. He said, you're complete in Him,
who is the head over all principalities and powers. But in their manifestations
to us, and in us, these graces are capable of increase when
they come to us through faith. In Peter's first letter, he said
this, over in 1 Peter 2, verse 2. He said, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby."
How do we grow? How do we grow? God grows a Christian. He said, you're God's husbandry.
You're God's garden. He grows the Christian. Well, how do we grow? We grow
in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read
and study and as we're taught from the Word of God, there's
new discoveries of His love and new discoveries of His favor,
new discoveries of God to our souls. And as we perceive these
things, there'll be growth in these internal graces in us,
if we truly hear them, of love and joy and humility
and faith. And as these things increase,
so do our spiritual rest and peace. called in the scripture
grounded and settled. That's what Paul said. Talked
about being grounded and settled, experienced in the heart. And
this growth is according to his divine power, Peter said, which
is the spring and the fountainhead of all things that pertain unto
life and godliness. And as I said to you in the beginning,
it's through the knowledge of him that has called us. The knowledge
of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. Now right now,
let's look down here at verse 4, 2 Peter 1, verse 4. Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lusts. By Christ's
glory, Power and righteousness. God has conveyed to us these
exceeding great and precious promises. Promises of eternal
bliss. God Himself shall wipe away all
tears. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. What a promise. Promises of eternal
bliss, blessing, sonship, heirs of God, justification from sin,
redemption by His blood, perfect righteousness, a place at His
side for you in glory. My soul. Life from the dead and
an eternal resurrection of both body and soul. What a promise! And when I think on the promised
blessings of God, I can hardly take it in. Can you? You ever
just sit? You ever sing that song? About the blessings of God, count
your blessings. Name them one by one. Count those
many blessings. My soul, just sit around and
think about it. Think about what a blessing it
is. One of no reputation, made to
be a son of God. I had a fellow not too long ago
told me that's the most arrogant thing. He said, you actually
believe you're a son of God? I said, I do. He said, you think
you're an heir of glory? I do. He said, that's the most
arrogant thing I ever heard. I think it is, too. And apart
from the grace of God, it would be. It would be. A beggar. A beggar. A smelly, dirty, filthy
beggar. lifted up from the dunghill to
live in glory. Can you take that in? A pauper made rich in Christ. And a rebel, a wicked, hateful
rebel made to be the friend of God. And a criminal made to be a fellow
citizen with the saints, and ignorant rich made wise unto
salvation. I tell you, we think on these
things, forgiveness of sins, sanctification, union with Christ,
and eternal life, exceeding, exceeding great and precious
promises. And by these promises, we're
made to be partakers of the divine nature. A new man, a new life,
a new creature, as Christ is formed in us. Paul wrote to the
Galatians and he described himself as a travailing woman giving
birth to a child. Isn't that how he said it? Until
Christ be formed in them. And then because of this new
creation and this gift of faith, believers escape the corruption
that's in this world. Now, I'm going to stop and camp
here for a few minutes. Being a believer and a partaker
of the divine nature does not eradicate the flesh. Nothing
but death can separate us from this fallen, depraved nature.
It's going to be right here until you die, not going anywhere. Some denominations use this scripture
to teach a sinless perfection that can be obtained by a godly
life, but that's not what this verse is teaching. What it's
saying is that because of the work of God in us, revealing
Christ to us and in us, has delivered us from the corrupt manners,
vices, conduct, and principles of this world. That's what the
verses say. These things reveal the sin in
us and the sin and corruption of this world. I don't know how
many times John says this, but here he says, If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Not in him. For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust
of the eyes and the pride of light is not of the Father, but
is of the Word. And it's the knowledge we receive
in the revelation of Christ that keeps us from idols. Keeps us
from idols. I remember back in religion,
I had no idea that we were idolaters. We were idolaters. We had idols
all over the place. Our false god was an idol. Everything in our life was an
idol. There's the pictures and visual aids and all those things
around. They were all idols. We were idolaters. But when you
come to the saving revelation of Christ, it keeps us from idols. That's what he said to those
Thessalonians. That's another reason Paul said, I know your
election. He said, you turn from your idols to serve the true
and living God. And then in John chapter 2, immediately
after what I quoted to you a few minutes ago about not loving
the world, he warns of antichrist religions composed of those men who left
them and went back out on their own. He warns them about that. All right, let's look down here
at 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 5. And he said, besides this, giving
all diligence, add to your faith virtue. And to virtue, knowledge,
and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience,
and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness, charity. Where these things be in you
and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking
here about knowledge of the Word of God. He's talking here about
knowledge of the Son of God and the will of God, that we might
be able to perform His will in a manner that's uncompromising
to His nature. Believers must obtain a wisdom
of how to do good works. Did you know that religion told me anything I did
was good works? No matter what I did, it was
good works. Do anything you want to. It's good works. Good works. Believers have to obtain a wisdom
of how to do good works and not turn them into self-righteous
works. Believers need wisdom in how
to minister to this world and be faithful witness to Christ.
It takes wisdom to do that. Believers need wisdom to teach
them how to conduct their daily affairs and how to be good fathers
and mothers and how to be good employers and employees. It takes
knowledge. It takes wisdom. We must be grown. in the grace of God. He has to
grow us. And then he mentions temperance.
We need to learn temperance in our eating and drinking and socializing
and all the things, materialism and entertainment and all these
things. We need temperance. Anything
that you engage in in excess that hinders you from spiritual
growth is wrong. It's wrong. So we need temperance. And then we need patience. Patience
is necessary to the Christian walk because of the nature of
this walk and of the things that we're exposed to. We've got to
go through trials and persecutions and inward struggles and doubts
and reproach and temptations of the flesh and anger, pride,
jealousy, envy, self-pity. It takes patience. It takes patience. I'll tell you what's natural
for us. Patience with myself, but none with you. That's what's natural. We need
patience. And then he said, add to patience
godliness. That's talking about a godly
fear, reverence toward God, and it includes inward and outward
worship. Attitude of thanksgiving, submission,
and praise, and active prayer, and hearing the Word of God.
And then he said, brotherly kindness. Love and brotherly kindness are
evidences of regeneration. Evidences of regeneration. He
that loveth not knoweth not God. And then over in Ephesians chapter
4 verse 31, he said, listen to what Paul tells the church, he
said, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
evil speaking, just put it away from us with all malice. Just
get rid of it. Get rid of it. There's no place
in the kingdom of God for these things. And be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Brethren, there can be no crime
against you equal to the crime that God has forgiven you for. You remember that. I don't care
what it is they do to you. It don't equal that. And therefore,
there's no excuse for our behavior toward even our enemies to prevent
us from being kind and from love. And then listen to this. He said,
if these things be in us and abound, or as they are established
in us and abound, they will prevent us from being unfruitful in our
spiritual life. Brother Mahan said this. He said,
he that is without these graces and growth is shortsighted. seeing only the things that affect
him and concerns him, and ignores what God has done in him, or
at least what he professes that God has done in him and for him. Brethren, God's work is a work
in us as well as for us. And the work in us comes by way
of knowledge and experience. May God be pleased in some small
way to help me to teach both you and myself how to live and
worship Him and keep ourselves unspotted from the world. That's a hard, that's a full-time
job, I tell you. And may He be pleased to do it
for Christ's sake.