II
Peter Chapter 1
Memory
verses for this week: Rom
8:34 Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us.
Introduction:
In Chapter 5, Peter gave advice to both the pastor and the
church member. All of
us were to learn humility as was displayed in Christ’s life.
We get into Chapter 1 of II Peter this morning.
I.
THE GREETING
2
Pet 1:1 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
Saviour Jesus Christ:
Peter
tell us that he is a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
I can’t think of a higher calling than to be a true servant
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are servants of the Lord, it says that we are friends
of Christ.
John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends.
John 15:14
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
John 15:15
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth
not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all
things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
John 15:16
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained
you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my
name, he may give it you.
John 15:17
These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Peter describes his faith in verse 1 as “Precious faith.”
If you know Jesus as your Lord, you understand what he means.
What a wonderful possession is our salvation.
And that comes by us putting our faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior.
2
Pet 1:2 Grace and peace
be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus
our Lord,
2
Pet 1:3 According as
his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us
to glory and virtue:
We see mathematical terms in this chapter, as Peter uses
‘multiplied’ in verse 2 and ‘add’ in verse 5.
I will tell you this… anyone who knows Christ as Savior has
MUCH added to their life, and their knowledge and wisdom is greatly
multiplied. We know the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
So as we gain greater knowledge of God and apply his precepts
and principles to our life, we gain wisdom.
He says that Grace and peace are multiplied unto us according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness. We may never have a lot of earthly wisdom down here,
but the Christian who will read their bible and study the
commandments of God will gain so much in life.
I’ve heard people say that they could never be a Christian
because of all of the “thou shalt not’s”.
But guess what… those shalt nots are all for our own good.
There are “NO” grievous commandments.
All given to us to allow us to have that special full and
abundant life.
1 John 5:2
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we
love God, and keep his commandments.
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:
and his commandments are not grievous.
1 John 5:4
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1 John 5:5
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God?
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly.
John 10:11
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for
the sheep.
J.
Vernon McGee shed some light on the election of man and how that God
is totally sovereign. This
is something that is hard for us to comprehend.
We
must recognize that our God is a sovereign God and that this little
universe is His. He
created it. I don’t know why He created it as He did, but since He
is absolutely omniscient (knowing everything), and since He is
omnipotent (having all power), and since He is sovereign, I conclude
that He can do anything He wants to do that is consistent with His
character.
He has a right to plan for the future.
Apparently He did some planning. We call those plans the decrees
that God had in His mind in the very beginning. That is to say, He
had a plan that He was going to follow. He decreed to create the
universe, and He did it. He never asked you or me about it. In fact,
He has never asked me whether I wanted to be in existence. He could
have left me out altogether. And He could have left you out, but He
didn’t! Thank God, He thought of you and me.
Also there was the decree to permit the fall of man. This, I
think, took a great deal of planning on God’s part, knowing that
when He created the free moral agent called man, he would fall when
given a free choice. Mankind chose to disobey God, but God had made
arrangements for it. He had the decree to elect some to salvation,
and He had the decree that He would send a Savior into the world. He
certainly did that. He made a decree that He would save those who
came to Him, the elect. You can call them anything you wish, but the
people who turned to Christ for salvation are the elect. You may
say, “Well, He didn’t choose everybody.” I don’t find that in Scripture. The Lord Jesus said,
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). His invitation to “whosoever will” is,
“Come unto me” (see
Matt 11:28). It is a legitimate invitation to everyone, but there
must be a response, and the response is your responsibility and my
responsibility. [1]
2
Pet 1:4 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 lust.
What a blessing. Verse
4 says we are given great and precious promises.
Every promise God has made been kept.
God is not like man. He
does not promise one thing, and do another.
Failure is simply not in the attributes of God.
He says what He means, and He stands by His word.
We should all strive to be more like God every day. God has promised eternal life to the believer, and it
is all of Him. We can
trust God.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
John 5:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
All the promises of God are “YEA”. Thank the Lord for that.
Through these promise we are made partakers of the divine
nature, and have found deliverance from the corruption into which
the whole world has been brought due to lust.
2 Cor 1:20
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen,
unto the glory of God by us.
2 Cor 1:21
Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed us, is God;
2 Cor 1:22
Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit
in our hearts.
II.
Some Things Needed to Be Fruitful
2
Pet 1:5 And beside
this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue
knowledge;
2
Pet 1:6 And to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness;
2
Pet 1:7 And to
godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2
Pet 1:8 For if these
things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter says in these verses that we need to add seven things.
We know the number of seven is the perfect number of God and
speaks of completion. Six is the number of man, and it comes up lacking.
He say to give diligence to add to your faith virtue.
This is a strength of mind and body.
Then we are to add knowledge.
We will never grow in the things of God without a deep
understanding of spiritual things.
We start off simple on the milk of the word, and we continue
to grow until we can take on the meat of the word as we discussed in
last week’s lesson. Perhaps
one of the toughest of all to add is temperance.
This speaks of self control.
Every Christian needs to be able to control their temper.
Christians that walk around on a short fuse certainly do not
exhibit the trait of temperance like God would have us to do.
We need to learn self-control in all areas of our life, and
temper truly should not be something we are known to have.
Humility is of great price in God’s sight as we studied
last week in Chapter 5 of I Peter.
After temperance, we are to add patience.
Can we endure without complaining?
Only by God’s grace can we be a patient person.
Then we are to add ‘godliness’.
Does your life really show the world the true picture of
Jesus Christ. If we are
in God’s Will for our lives, we will have the mind of Christ.
And his very being and desire was to do the will of the
father. That cuts
out the way of the world which is a pyramid made up of
“Mine”, “Me”, and
“I”. If you get concerned about someone else rather than
yourself, you’ll be surprised how little your problems become when
you help bear the burdens of others.
Then we are to gain brotherly kindness.
Not a shallow ‘brotherly love’ in word, but in deed and
action. We should
show consideration to all brothers and sisters in Christ, and go
even beyond that and show love for the lost. The last thing he mentions is ‘charity’.
We know from our earlier studies that charity and love are
interchangeable words. Love
is the greatest of all.
Gal 5:5
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith.
Gal 5:6
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing,
nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
1 Cor 13:1
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and
have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal.
1 Cor 13:2
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all
mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I
could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1 Cor 13:3
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though
I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me
nothing.
1 Cor 13:4
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;
charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1 Cor 13:5
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1 Cor 13:6
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1 Cor 13:7
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things.
2
Pet 1:9 But he that
lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath
forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2
Pet 1:10 Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
2
Pet 1:11 For so an
entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It says that if the seven things mentioned are not found in a
believer, then that person is blind and can not see afar off.
This is a carnal Christian who has forgotten that he or she
was purged from their old sins. But if we pay attention and give diligence to these
things, it say we will make our calling and election sure, and we
will NEVER fall. What
a promise. When we truly know Jesus as our Savior, we have a
promise of everlasting life and will have a place in heaven with
rewards some day.
III.
Things to Keep in Remembrance
2
Pet 1:12 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.
2
Pet 1:13 Yea, I think
it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by
putting you in remembrance;
2
Pet 1:14 Knowing that
shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus
Christ hath showed me.
If you have grown up in church most of your life, and
attended Sunday School regularly, you probably aware of most things
we talk about concerning doctrine and the commandments of God.
But Peter here teaches us that it never hurts to have these
things brought back into our mind, and to be reminded of them from
time to time. While
Peter lived, he wanted to call the people’s attention to the
things that were profitable to them.
2 Pet 3:1
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both
which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 Pet 3:2
That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before
by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of
the Lord and Saviour:
Peter was wise in understanding that he only had a short time
to live. All of us need
to pay attention to how we live our lives.
We have such a short time here on earth.
If you lived to be 100 years old, that is simply a speck in
time in regards to eternity. Peter
was warned by Christ what kind of death he would die.
John 21:18
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou
girdedst thyself, and walkedst 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.
John 21:19
This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify
God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Psa 90:12
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom.
IV.
The Power and Coming of the Lord
2
Pet 1:15 Moreover I
will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these
things always in remembrance.
2
Pet 1:16 For we have
not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty.
2
Pet 1:17 For he
received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such
a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.
2
Pet 1:18 And this voice
which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy
mount.
Peter was not giving a good ‘guess’ as to how Christ
would return in honor and glory.
He was one of those who witnessed what it will look like when
Christ was transfigured before him.
Mat 17:1
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his
brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mat 17:2
And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as
the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Mat 17:3
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking
with him.
Mat 17:4
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good
for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles;
one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Mat 17:5
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them:
and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Peter was witness of God speaking those words “This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The beheld Christ as he will be when he returns in power to
reign. Christ was to
set on the throne of David, and as we have found on our Wednesday
night studies of Daniel, David’s Throne was a literal throne in
Jerusalem. Jesus has
not yet taken David’s Throne, but one day he will.
After the 7 years of tribulation, there will be a thousand
years of Christ reigning in what is called the millennial kingdom.
What a day that will be.
In that day, judgment will be fair and impartial to all man.
V.
We have a Sure Word of Prophecy
2
Pet 1:19 We have also a
more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn,
and the day star arise in your hearts:
2
Pet 1:20 Knowing this
first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation.
2
Pet 1:21 For the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The
lamp of prophecy is a light that shines in a dark place.
It is crucial that we give heed to what has been revealed in
the prophetic scriptures.
We are told that this prophecy did not come by the will of
man, but they spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Note verse 20 makes it VERY CLEAR that it is not of man to
interpret the prophecy. Only
the Holy Spirit can bring out its true meaning.
When a man stands up and says God told him something unique,
be sure that is not a true man of God.
God speaks to us through the word of God today, not by
visions and voices in the night.
We are to prophesy today through the word of God.
No new word from God until Jesus breaks that eastern sky with
the shout of the archangel.
1
Cor 2:9 But as it is
written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him.
1
Cor 2:10 But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God.
1
Cor 2:11 For what man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1
Cor 2:12 Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of
God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God.
1
Cor 2:13 Which things
also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but
which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with
spiritual.
Only
the Christian being led by the Holy Spirit can interpret prophecy.
As we search the scriptures, we find that men moved by the
Holy Spirit wrote things that were to come to pass in the future.
Sometimes they got so specific as to tell when these things
were to be, and the circumstances surrounding it.
W.
A. Criswell said this in the Believer’s Bible about the
infallibility of scripture.
1:20, 21 Such perfection of utterance is explicable only if God is somehow able
to suspend temporarily the inherent weaknesses of the men who wrote
Scripture. Two declarations are given which affirm that God did
precisely that: (1) No Scripture is “of any private
interpretation.” The terminology in Greek says that no prophecy
came into being through anyone’s personal disclosure. The idea is
that men did not set forth the ideas of Scripture, nor is present
interpretation a matter for the isolated mind of man. Through the
Holy Spirit’s agency, God is involved in both the production and
interpretation of Scripture. (2) Men of God in antiquity spoke as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit. “Moved” means literally
“to bear along.” Scripture is infallible precisely because the
Holy Spirit “bore along” the prophets who spoke and wrote. [2]
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Prov 4:18
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