002 Securing the Sheep – part 2

(The Divine Equipping)

2 Peter 1:1-4

August 15, 2010

As you know Peter is writing this letter with the heart of a true shepherd.

Jesus had personally commissioned Peter to “tend My lambs”

And Peter took that calling seriously.

He always had God’s flock at the foremost of his thinking.

But now, he is about to die.

And so this letter is written

To secure the safety of the flock even after he is gone.

Peter knows that after he leaves the wolves will arrive

And he sets out to protect his flock from their attack before it occurs.

In short, Peter is out to protect the flock from stumbling,

So that they can enter the kingdom.

That is clearly seen in the end of this section.

2 Peter 1:10-11 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”

Peter wants the flock to be protected from stumbling

And to therefore enter the kingdom.

And according to Peter,

The best possible protection from stumbling is living a godly life.

If we strive for godliness and holiness,

Then it is obvious that the temptations of sin and it’s deceit

Will be far less effective on us.

That is why Peter gave a list of 8 great spiritual virtues

And then said in verse 10, “for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble.”

Godly living is the best form of protection that we can have

Against stumbling or falling away from the faith.

And as we said last week, there are really two sides to this coin.

1) The Divine Side – in which God makes us holy and allows us to live godly.

2) The Human side – in which we strive for holiness and try to live godly.

And when you put both of those together,

Peter says, “you will never stumble.”

Tonight I want us to look closely at the divine side of this coin.

I want you to see what God has already done on you and in you

To ensure that you do not stumble.

And of course you and I must know that apart from God’s work in our lives godliness is NOT even possible.

THE DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTE INABILITY

(The Doctrine of Total Depravity)

It is a doctrine that outlines the complete impossibility of a man

Ever coming to God, living for God, or growing in a relationship with God,

If God does not help him do so.

And it is absolutely true.

We have many times spoken of the fact that

A man cannot come to salvation

If God does not do a work in his life that makes it possible.

Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”

God must work in him before salvation is even possible.

On his own it is absolutely impossible.

This is illustrated the clearest in the Rich Young Ruler.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 19:16-26

The basic point is that this young man would not

Give what Jesus required for him to be saved.

Jesus wanted everything, the rich young ruler would not give it.

But that is really just the surface.

In reality the rich young ruler COULD NOT give it.

Notice how the story ends. (23-24)

Jesus obviously speaks of impossibility.

(25) “When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’”

Perhaps for the first time they saw the doctrine of absolute inability.

(26) “And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

But it’s not as though the doctrine of absolute inability

Ends once a man gets saved.

In reality even the calling to an obedient Christian life

Is impossible for you apart from God’s help.

This is clearly illustrated in the children of Israel.

It is the difference between the old and new covenants.

TURN TO: HEBREWS 8:6-12

You know that the writer is quoting from Jeremiah 31

But you also notice the distinct differences

Between the old and new covenant.

The old covenant gave the Law and said, “Do this or you will die”

But that was impossible for man, so he died. (9) “For they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord.”

The new covenant says, I will make you obedient.

(VERSE 10)

And you see the difference.

The point that I am making is that not only do you need God

To do a drastic work in your life if you are to be saved,

But you also must have God do a drastic work in your life

If you are to be obedient and stay saved.

If God did not work in you,

· You would most certainly stumble,

· You would most certainly be deceived,

· You would most certainly fall away from the faith,

· You would most certainly be condemned.

And perhaps no one could write about this with more authority than Peter.

A man who was certain of his own ability to stand,

But when the rubber met the road, he fell hard.

IF WE ARE TO BE KEPT FROM STUMBLING,

WE NEED GOD’S HELP IN OUR LIVES.

That is why in a passage outlining the importance of godliness,

Peter begins by telling you the role God plays in making you godly.

Peter is first writing about

THE DIVINE EQUIPPING THAT IS SUPPLIED

And perhaps you have never realized all that Christ has already done

For you in the sense of making you godly.

So tonight, let’s look at it together and understand why godliness

Is more than possible in our lives.

There are four verses that we are studying.

Each of these four verses references you receiving something from God.

(These would be good points for you to underline in your bible)

(1) “To those who have received a faith”

(2) “Grace and peace be multiplied to you”

(3) “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness”

(4) “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises”

Let’s look at these four and see what God has done for us.

#1 WE HAVE BEEN SAVED BY HIS PERFECTION

2 Peter 1:1

Last week we already noticed how Peter seemed to illustrate

Both the human effort and the divine work even in how he introduced himself.

On the human side he was Simon the bond-servant.

On the divine side he was Peter the apostle.

One indicated his human striving against sin,

The other indicated the divine work in him against it.

After that introduction, Peter gives his first piece of theology.

“To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours”

That is quite a difference from saying,

“To those who believe like we do”

They may indeed believe the same way,

But Peter focuses primarily on why they believe the same way.

It isn’t because both began to study the Scriptures and both came to the same conclusion. (How often does that happen?)

The reason their faith is the same

Is because the same faith was given to each of them.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Believers are saved by faith through grace,

And neither of those came from the human.

God first grants saving faith to a person

And then saves them as a result of it.

And therefore, all the glory and credit for our salvation must go to God,

For in reality we did not do a thing.

That is the same point Peter is making here.

The faith you have is first and foremost a faith that you received.

God gave you that faith.

And it is the “same kind” of faith that He has given all believers.

And then Peter even goes a little further

And explains why God gave you that faith.

This faith was given to us “by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

It is because He is perfectly righteous that we are granted faith in Him.

Let me explain it a little simpler.

If Christ had not come and lived a sinless life on this earth…

If He had not resisted every temptation…

If He had stumbled at even one minor area…

Then you and I know He could not have been the savior from sin.

And, if He could not have saved,

Then God would have never granted you to believe in Him.

God would have not given you the ability

To believe in a man who could not save.

But as it is, Christ was perfectly righteous.

And therefore God has granted to you and I

To believe in Him and thus be saved.

“To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

And that is the first thing Peter wants you to know.

It is by God’s doing, in response to Christ’s righteousness,

That you are saved at all.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

You are a sheep because God made you a sheep.

You responded to the Shepherd because God made you to respond.

You hear and follow His voice because God made you able to do so.

We are Saved by His Perfection

#2 WE ARE SETTLED BY HIS PRESENCE

2 Peter 1:2

Here Peter mentions the second thing that we get from God.

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you”

Again, we don’t go out and get grace on our own.

We don’t go out and get peace with God on our own.

There is nothing man can do on his own accord to have grace and peace.

If God doesn’t give them, we can’t have them.

But what Peter reminds us of here is

That those things are “multiplied to you”

God has given them and given them in abundance.

AND LET ME JUST REMIND YOU HOW CRUCIAL THOSE THINGS ARE.

In this life we face trials

In this life we are faced with circumstances we cannot understand

In this life we are faced with incidents that push us to the limit

And in all of those situations we are expected to cling to God

And not deny Him, and not to stumble or turn from Him.

BUT HOW DO YOU DO THAT?

“Grace and peace”

When circumstances in life shake you to the very core

There must be something that settles you in the faith,

And holds you when you can’t hold on.

That is “Grace and peace”

And if a believer did not have that,

He would most certainly face difficulties too strong

And fall away from the faith.

But this is the beauty that Peter wants you to know.

You are settled in the faith.

AND HOW DOES THIS COME?

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

“Grace and peace” comes from knowing God.

When you truly know Him, from that relationship

Comes the strength to establish you in the faith.

Let me see if I can explain it a little further.

Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Paul said we have peace with God,

And that peace allows us to even exult in tribulations.

We have confidence because

“the love of God has been poured out within our hearts.”

This is not God’s love for you, this is your love for God.

When you came to know God, He poured into your heart

The ability to love Him and never turn away.

This is the sort of thing God had in mind in the new covenant.

Hebrews 8:10-11 "FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, 'KNOW THE LORD,' FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.”

If you wanted to read more, go and read the 8th chapter of Romans

And hear Paul say that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

And that is the same thing Peter is saying here.

God has poured into our hearts “Grace and peace”

As a result of knowing Him,

And it is that “Grace and peace” that settles us in the faith.

And so in these first two verses, we have already learned that God has SAVED us and God has SECURED us apart from any effort of our own.

We are Saved by His Perfection We are Settled by His Presence

#3 WE ARE SUPPLIED BY HIS POWER

2 Peter 1:3

Now as we said a moment ago.

Getting saved is just part of the equation.

We also long to live the godly life.

We long to increase in holiness.

We long to be more like Him.

Because we know that if we are moving upward in godliness,

Then we are protected from falling away or stumbling.

But what Peter wants you to realize here is that even your ability

To walk in godliness is supplied by God.

“seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness”

Now let me ask you, IN REGARD TO YOU BEING GODLY, WHAT KEY INGREDIENT HAS GOD LEFT OUT?

None

And I certainly want you to know this

Because of a threat that we face in our day.

In Peter’s day the threat was Gnosticism.

A greater knowledge of something hidden.

And the insinuation is that God has only given a piece of the puzzle,

We have to go out and find the remaining pieces.

We face a similar threat in our day.

There is a mystical movement today that gives credence to “A Second Baptism” in which a believer is empowered and emboldened in a new and super-charged way for the life of faith.

And it has led many out in search of this new, secondary, filling.

Peter would adamantly refute that by saying God has

“granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness”

Now this supplying of everything we need obviously comes

By “His divine power”.

But yet again we see what channel through which it flows.

“has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

If you truly know Christ, then He has given you everything you need to live holy and godly in this life.

(If you don’t have it, seek to know Christ,

Don’t seek some secondary mystical experience)

THROUGH KNOWING CHRIST, WE HAVE IT ALL.

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

If you truly know God, He has already done all of that in your life.

We are Saved by His Perfection

We are Settled by His Presence

We are Supplied by His Power

#4 WE ARE SANCTIFIED BY HIS PROMISES

2 Peter 1:4

Now you may notice at the end of verse 3

Peter said, “Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

In other words, it was Christ’s glory (revealed deity)

And Christ’s excellence (human perfection) that drew us to Him.

It was the fact that He was a perfect human,

And the fact that we could see the divine in Him that drew us to Him.

And now Peter continues.

“For by these [glory and excellence] He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises”

In other words, it was Christ’s glory and excellence that drew us to Him, and when He used those attributes to draw us to Himself, He also gave us “His precious and magnificent promises”

WHAT ARE THESE?

HIS WORD

When we were drawn to Christ, He also gave us His word.

(Or better yet, the ability to understand it)

WHY?

“so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

It is those promises that guide us in how to live.

It is those promises that tell us what the corruption of the world is,

And that we should escape it.

It is those promises that tell us what godliness looks like.

And Christ gave them to us when we came to Him

“so that by them [we] may become partakers of the divine nature”

Remember this story?

John 13:5-10 “Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter." Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head." Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."

We remember that Peter did not need a bath.

Peter just needed the dirt of the world removed

He was not saving them, He was sanctifying them.

This is what Paul said:

Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”

Christ continues to wash us with the water of His word.

And that is what Peter refers to here.

When we were drawn to Christ by his glory and excellence,

He also gave us His promises, and by them He daily molds us

And shapes us away from the old man, into the divine nature.

This was the process Paul spoke of:

2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

God is working in us through His word to make us more like Him.

Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Now, what we have seen thus far is the divine side of this coin.

Peter knows that the wolves are coming,

And the only way to be kept from stumbling is if you are walking in godliness.

And this is only possible if God does it in you.

AND HE HAS

He has Saved you by His Perfection

He has Settled you by His Presence

He has Supplied you by His Power

He has Sanctified you by His Promises

God has already done all that to make sure

That you are kept from deception and stumbling.

Jude 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Of course this only applies to you, if you truly know Him.

And that is why Peter moves on from here to get you to examine yourself.

Peter’s concern is not that wolves will destroy f God’s sheep. Peter’s concern is that some of the sheep are really goats

And are therefore susceptible to the enemies attack.

His aim is for you to make sure that you really do know Him

And have had all these tremendous benefits applied to your life.

Make sure you do know Him and are Saved by His Perfection

Make sure you do know Him and are Settled by His Presence

Make sure you do know Him and are Supplied by His Power

Make sure you do know Him and are Sanctified by His Promises

2 Peter 1:10-11 “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”