Bibles to 2nd Peter, 2nd Peter. We spent 29 sermons examining the great book of 1st Peter and this morning I trust that it is the will of God for us to begin a study of his second great letter to the churches. 2nd Peter chapter 1. I'm just going to read the first two verses here is the infallible inspired and errant Word of God Simon Peter a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ To those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Let's pray. Lord, we have sung of the great quickening and restoring power of Your Word. And we plead with You now that You would cause that Word, which is so full of grace and truth, to restore our soul to make us delight ourselves in You and in Your great salvation, that our hearts would be so overwhelmed with the knowledge of Your goodness and mercy to us in Jesus Christ, that we would truly learn to glorify You with our whole lives. So Lord, we trust that you're going to take this letter and that you're going to work mightily and powerful in our lives so that we really learn how to love you and to live for you in all things. So we call upon you now to begin the study of this great epistle. Holy Spirit, you have inspired every word. Now teach us. that we would be well established and grounded in the most holy faith. All this we ask through Christ. Amen. You may be seated. Well, as I mentioned in the introduction to the reading of God's Word this morning, we're going to be taking up a new book of the Bible, and that is 2 Peter. And I must say, as I began my study of 1 Peter, as I mentioned in our closing sermon, I had no idea how the Lord would change us through it. I had no idea how the Lord would work in our lives and even send us the kinds of trials that He did as a congregation. Very interesting, a book that is so full of instruction about how to handle trials, the fact that trials will come, the fact that sufferings will be the lot of God's people. It's very interesting. We know that before we even begin to read 1 Peter, but as we began to study it, we noticed that God didn't make that just theoretical abstract truth, He made it reality in our own lives, so that we would have to learn how to be disciples of the Word. Not those who would just simply be able to describe what Peter said about trials, and we stand aloof from all of those difficulties. But we entered into the very spirit and vapor of that particular epistle, experiencing the things that he was speaking about. And as I began to think about what would be helpful for us as a congregation to study, I came to the conclusion that it would be good for us as the people of God not to turn to the second epistle, because as you come to 2 Peter, you see that Peter, writing probably to the same group of churches, although we don't know, and I'll get into that in a moment, sends an entirely different message to the people of God, with different accents, with different emphases, and different substance. But it is Simon Peter who wrote this, and I say that at the beginning of this message because as we take up our study of this great book, I want you to know that this is the single most disputed letter in the entire New Testament canon. In fact, one historian of ancient history, J. N. D. Kelly writes, no New Testament document had a longer or tougher struggle to win acceptance than 2 Peter. And on account of that, on account of the fact that it is the most disputed book, and one of the most challenging books in many ways, it has been widely neglected in the church throughout church history, and particularly today, it is extremely neglected. And so, what does that mean for us? we jump into one of the most ignored books in the entire Bible that is that we have our work cut out for us as the people of God to gain instruction and wisdom and understanding from his word in order to help us get a handle on this book as is my practice I like to take one sermon at the outset of a series to sort of overview in broad strokes and themes what the book is all about and so this morning to assist us in that task we will as usual answer the same questions. Who, when, where and what? Who, when, where and what? So our first point this morning is who? Who wrote this book? Now as you turn with me in your Bibles and look down to 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 1, it will be self-evident to you who wrote the book because the author names himself and identifies himself in the very first two words in your Bible. Simon Peter. And then he goes on to describe himself, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ. And so to you, you're saying to yourselves this morning, why even ask the question? It's very clear. Simon Peter wrote this. But the fact of the matter is, this is an extremely disputed book, and it is extremely disputed today that Peter wrote this epistle. In fact, this is not simply the opinions of ivory tower elitist Ivy League kind of scholars. You will find this in mainstream evangelicalism that people reject on a wide scale that Peter actually wrote this letter. And that when you see here the reference to Simon Peter, they argue that that is a hand of somebody who is claiming to write in the name of Peter, but is really not the Apostle Peter. As I waded through all of this material and information and I struggled with some of these challenges involved here, I questioned whether it would be useful or even wise for you to go through some of these things this morning. But then as I opened up several different study Bibles, in fact if you have a study Bible before you here this morning, a study Bible is simply a Bible that begins with an introduction and an outline and gives you some sense of the emphases and issues involved in a book. and then generally it will roughly comment on what are considered to be some of the more important phrases or words in the flow of a letter. You will notice that within your study bible in the introduction that whoever wrote that will probably reference the issue that this book is disputed and that it is highly disputed that Peter wrote this. And I figured because of that, because it's so widespread, it'd be important for us to settle our minds on the fact that this book has been written by the Apostle Peter, it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is a part of the New Testament canon, and because it is all of those things, it is God's Word to you. Why is this book so disputed though? Why is it disputed when the evidence seems so clear? Simon Peter wrote this. And the first reason why people dispute that this was written by Peter is because the Greek of 2 Peter is very different from the Greek of 1 Peter. The Greek of 1 Peter flows very smoothly. The vocabulary is not difficult. Then you come to 2 Peter, and it is clumsy Greek, in a sense. It is hard Greek to follow. Scholars notoriously talk about the difficulty of studying this book in the original language, and not only adding to the clumsiness really of the style, or the inelegance of the style, Peter has a penchant for using 50 cent words. It's as if Peter had a Greek thesaurus from classical Greek and he has that before him and he uses a number of words that don't occur anywhere else in the New Testament, which you will only find in classical Greek writings. And so the argument goes, if Peter is this dumb old Fisherman, how could it be that he adds all of these new words to his vocabulary? And how could it be that his style is so different from one letter to the next and so that has been something that has been involved in the dispute over who wrote this book and there's also noted that Probably more than any other apostle Peter was mimicked by second century writers. There are a whole slew of writings that claim to be in the name of Peter. They're called pseudo-patrine epistles. Another 50 cent word that you'll never use again probably, but there's just a category for these things, okay? And so the argument goes, well if there's so many of these, maybe this one here is also Given the things that we've already discussed. Maybe this is part of those letters Which are really not genuine that somebody is imitating Peter and then the third argument when there's others, but I think that the major Argument which will go against it is that the early church really struggled with accepting this book into the canon It was listed in the category of disputed books So you have three main things the Greek is different. There are many fake letters from Peter and the early church really wrestled with the issue of whether Peter should be a part of the canon. But now let's come back to what's obvious. And what's obvious are the first two words here. Simon Peter. Now, in my translation, New American Standard Version, it says Simon Peter. Maybe you have Simeon. It does in the column of my Bible, Simeon. And the beginning of the argument for the fact that this was an authentic letter from Peter is the fact that he calls himself Simeon. The difference may sound slight to you, but the difference is very telling, because Simeon is a Hebrew word. Peter is referring to himself with a Hebrew name here, and only one other time in the New Testament is that word applied to Peter. And that's in Acts chapter 15. So he is calling himself by his Hebrew surname. Something that you wouldn't do if you were writing a fake letter. You would do everything you could to identify with the way in which Peter identifies himself and Peter is described in terms of his name in other places in the New Testament. To me, that is a mark of authenticity. Peter is saying, I am a Hebrew. My name is Simeon Peter. Secondly, I would argue that this book, even though it was disputed very widely in some circles in the ancient church, clearly gained acceptance in the early church. There are some scholars who would argue that it was cited as an authoritative letter in the second century by several different church fathers. But, you know, Peter would never have been accepted as a canonical book, as an authoritative writing, if it had been fake. The early church was very good at smelling out fake letters. And whenever they came across a fake letter, they burned it. Listen to this bishop, Serapion, from Antioch. who says, for our part, we both receive Peter and the other apostles as Christ, but the writings which falsely bear their names, we reject. You see, here is a guy writing in the 2nd century, who is a bishop in the church of Antioch, who is saying, we receive his writings, and we are able to distinguish them from those which bear his name, and those ones, we have nothing to do with. So the church was very wise and able, ultimately, to discern between these things. And so, by the late 3rd and early 4th century, it's not uncommon at all for the church to start putting on the list of authoritative canonical books and to distinguish it from books that they would say are edifying, but not scripture. And so, you can over... My point in all this is you can over-read the evidence sometimes, And academics like to do this. They love to think about things that are difficult and put puzzles together. And sometimes they over-emphasize things to the point that it leaves everybody uncertain. And the problem with this whole thing is that if you are uncertain about the apostolic origin of this book, you will disregard it. And if you disregard this as from the Holy Spirit, as written by an apostle, we might as well not even go any further in the study of this book. Because from this pulpit, we will only preach the inspired Word of God. And that is the only thing that is for the regulation, foundation, and confirmation of your faith. This book ought to be received and has been received and confessed by the church as from Peter, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle. And now I want to show you some things from within the flow of this letter which will help you see that the man who identifies himself as Simon Peter and in the experiences of himself which he describes fit so well with the Peter who we know. Let's take a moment to profile Peter. What I don't want to do is cover the same ground that we covered when we began to examine 1 Peter chapter 1 there. When we looked into that epistle, we talked about several things from the life of Peter. But what we want to do here is examine what Peter says of himself within this letter. And first of all, we see the title that he applies to himself. He says, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ. He calls himself a bondservant. That is one who is completely subdued and under the control of somebody else. He says he is a slave of Jesus Christ. Now here he is as an apostle. Here he is as one of the greatest leaders of the ancient church. Here he is as revered as one who is a fount of wisdom and instruction for the people of God. And I want you to notice the title that he applies to himself. He says, I am a slave. Now, as I began to think about that, his own self-description of who he was, I began to contrast that, first of all, with the papacy, and the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church, and I thought to myself, these are the people who call themselves the true successors of the Apostle Peter, okay? Now just listen to all of the elaborate names that the Pope heaps upon himself. He is called Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy, Archbishop, Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City. You see, all of these highfalutin, grandiose titles applied to himself. And here is the apostle who learned and was a disciple at the feet of Christ, who does not apply to himself titles of imminence and status and honor. He says, I'm just a slave. Watch out for it when pastors begin to think of themselves more highly than they ought. And it's very interesting because Peter is going to point his finger at a number of false teachers who are beginning to emerge within the churches who are challenging the people of God and leading them astray through false doctrine. And Peter knows something about people who come in the name of the Lord who have grandiose ideas about themselves. And he says, when you find those kinds of people, watch out. And I don't want to just beat up on Roman Catholicism here, I want to be an equal opportunity offender. Because frankly, I see the very same spirit of arrogance within Protestant Evangelicalism today. With the concept of the celebrity pastor who sits in his high office in his mega church and he writes volumes upon volumes upon volumes and makes millions and millions and millions of dollars off the people of God, writing things That he should have just been preaching if they were worth anything to the people of God to begin with. And so they have the celebrity lifestyles and the seven-figure salaries. and they are utterly aloof from the people of God. You would never sit down at lunch with them and have a Big Mac. You would never find yourself swimming in their pool in the backyard. You would never be able to think of them as a friend or somebody that you could come to up close and in person and talk about very difficult details of your life. And I believe that that mentality begins with the arrogance of the title. Peter didn't have that. Peter didn't have a complex about himself. Call me your highness, please. Call me Pontifex Maximus. The supreme ruler. No, he identifies himself as fellow elder. We ought to be wary of people who come with highfalutin names and 50 cent titles. because they're probably about ready to peddle false doctrine. Peter's not that way. He calls himself bondservant, slave. The next thing he says about himself in verse 1 is that he is an apostle. We already know what that means. It's one that's sent by Jesus Christ to be his representative and to speak in his behalf. There were only 12 people in history who ever had that title or privilege, and once they passed off the scene, that was it. Christ no longer spoke. Through those authorized representatives, he spoke to his people through his word. And so when Peter sits down here to pen this particular letter to the people of God, he is not sharing his opinions. He has not done market research and survey, and found out what kinds of things might be good for this group of people, and then share some insights into things with them. He sits down as an apostle. He sits down under the inspiration and leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. And he has analyzed their situation. He understands their problems. And then he proclaims the authoritative, inspired Word of God to them. And so that means that the substance of this letter is completely and thoroughly inspired by God. Heaven sent and it's for the confirmation of your faith. Don't ever underestimate how important an inspired Bible is for your life. If you are facing big questions in your life, you need to turn to the Bible. If you are dealing with big problems in your life, you need to turn to the Bible. If you are wondering what the truth of God is concerning an issue, you need to turn to the Bible, because this written Word was given by God to teach us everything we need to know for life and godliness. Very important description here that Peter gives of himself. He's an apostle and what flows from his pen here is inspired. There are a couple other things here that we glean from this epistle that Peter writes here to the people of God and that is he says that he was an eyewitness to the majesty of the Lord. Look at verse 16 and 17 of chapter 1. Now, it's very fascinating here that Peter calls upon this particular example. He mentions that he was eyewitness to sufferings in 1 Peter chapter 5. Here, he makes reference to an episode in the ministry of Christ where Peter doesn't look very good at all. He says, for we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitness of his majesty. And you say, well, what majesty was that, Peter? And he explains it in verse 17. For when he had received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. And those are the words of the Father to the Son. on the Mount of Transfiguration. You can see it recorded in Mark chapter 9, for instance. But one of the interesting things there is as Jesus is conversing with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter is sort of overwhelmed by the experience. For Peter, this was like a breakthrough moment. For Peter, this was a moment in which he felt something mysterious. Here are two dead guys meeting with Jesus Christ. Two of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament have somehow, by God's power, come to meet Christ. How we know whether it was Moses and Elijah, we don't know. But where God tells us it was simply Moses and Elijah. And they come to talk to Him, that is Christ, about what He is going to do, about His mission, about His exodus, the Greek says. In other words, His way out through death. You see. And it's fascinating that in this overwhelming moment, That Peter does what's so typical of Peter, is he says something stupid. He says, let's build three big tents and we'll just live here happily ever after. Can you imagine that? Rather than allowing Christ to go on with the mission that He is being given, which is to go to Jerusalem and to lay down His life on the cross, Peter is concerned about himself and the joy and just the awesomeness of the moment of being there with Christ on this mountain with these two departed prophets. Why did Peter say that? Well, the Word of God tells us, and it's so fascinating how It gives us all the honest remarks about our heroes. If you read the Bible as a hall of fame of great heroes, you can be really disappointed because all the really good guys are full of bad problems. I don't want to chronicle all those, but Peter, if you like Peter, and Peter is a fascinating study, all on his own. A great leader of the church, a great apostle. He was mightily... Remember, Peter was the one who stood up on Pentecost and preached such a powerful sermon that 3,000 Jews were converted under his first sermon. How would you like to have that if you're in the ministry? I mean, Billy Graham had nothing on this guy. But here's Peter. Doing what Peter does. Lord, can we build just three big tents and we'll just stay here forever and enjoy the moment. And the Word of God says, for he didn't know what else to say. You see, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And it sounds to me like Peter just empty-headed some time. He just burned something out. He didn't know what else to say. He thought it would be good to say something. So he speaks. Very important episode, and we'll come back to that and examine that passage in context, but it's an unflattering thing, but it's also something that only Peter had a chance to. There were only two other disciples besides Peter who had the chance to sit there and to see the majesty of Christ unveiled. That puts him in the innermost circle of the apostles, the one who is the witness to the most fascinating, awesome miracles and events in Christ's life. And then the third thing that I want us to see here, or rather the fourth thing, in terms of Peter's profile, is I think what you see, and I don't think this, I believe what you see here, is the heart of a pastor, over and over again. What do I mean by that? Look at verse 12 in following for instance, it says, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present for you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as Christ has made it clear to me." You see here a pastor's heart. Peter says, I'm about to die. And what is on his mind as he approaches what is certain imminent death? Is he consumed with terror and fears for himself? Is he nervous about everything? No, Peter is calm in the Lord. And what he is concerned about is the church. It's so fascinating here, what he says. It's in verse 14, As also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. You don't have to turn there, but he's probably reflecting the words of Christ to him. while Jesus was on the earth. John chapter 21, this is the period between the resurrection and ascension of Christ. And Peter has just been out fishing all day on the Sea of Tiberias. And he's done very, very, very poorly all night. And then as the sun begins to rise on that day, Peter spots somebody on the beach, on the shoreline, and that's Jesus Christ. And he says, have they gotten any fish? And he says, no, we lucked out last night. And so Jesus says, what I want you to do is cast the net on the other side of the boat. And sure enough, Jesus proves to be a great fish finder, because as they throw the net on the other side of the boat, they drag in such a harvest of fish, they couldn't even carry it in. And so after all of this, Jesus makes them breakfast, And he sits down to Peter, and now it's his time to restore Peter to the apostolic ministry. Because here is Peter, dejected. He has betrayed Christ three times. And they sit down on the beach over a barbecue and Christ restores him to ministry. And he says, Peter do you love me? Peter do you love me? Peter do you love me? And every time that question comes out, Peter is in anguish and in tears because he loves Christ. And finally he gives him this charge, Peter, feed my sheep. What a joy those words must have been to Peter, that then there is the sting of the call to ministry. He says in John 21 verse 18, truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. And it sounds like, well, when Peter just gets old, he might lose his mind, get a little senile, and people will have to help him around, sometimes as grandkids do with their grandparents. But that's not what Jesus is saying because the next verse tells us this, verse 19. Now this He said signifying by what kind of death He would glorify God. You see, Peter was told by Christ right after he was restored to apostolic ministry. Peter, you are going to die as a preacher of the Word of God. You are going to die not only as a preacher of the Word of God, you are going to die because you are a preacher of the Word of God. And so the story has it that as Peter gets older in life, and this book was probably written somewhere in the mid-60s, and Peter is under neurotic persecution in Rome, and sure enough the stories tell us that a crossbar was laid across his shoulders, and he was dragged to a place of execution, and he lost his life in a brutal fashion for the gospel. But I want you to know this, Peter has this prophecy hanging over his head his entire ministry. You will die as a preacher, and because you are a preacher. How many times had Peter been in a rough spot in the book of Acts? Chapter 4. Chapter 12. And every time you see Peter in a rough spot, thrown in jail, persecuted, and maybe even about to be executed by the local authorities, what do you find Peter doing? Resting. Calm. at peace. Here He is at the end of His life and He knows the end is near. He's talking to the people of God and He knows death hangs over Him. And His burning desire is to remind. is to teach them the things that he's taught them before so that they would be established in the faith. If you read this great letter Peter has signed to you, I believe through those words, that you will be reminded of great truths of the Christian faith and guarded against casting off your salvation. So that's a profile of Peter. Let's quickly head to a couple more things here. We said it was written in the 60s that covers when. We don't have a lot more information other than that. No later than 68 AD, probably 64 or 65. Where was it written? I want you to look at 1 Peter verse 1 again. It says, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have received the faith, the same kind as ours. Now compare that statement over against 1 Peter 1, you see there Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia who are chosen. You see Peter gives their address in 1 Peter 1 and in 2 Peter 1 he just says to Christians basically. As you read this letter, and you look at the beginning, you look at the middle, and you look at the end, there is absolutely no insight into where these people are located. And one thing that scholars have deduced from that is that possibly Peter left off any kind of specific information about who he was writing to So that you and I could sit down here and read 2 Peter today in 2007 in the month of June and receive it as if it had just been written to us. It's not to people who are in Asia. It's not to people who are in Bithynia. It's not to people who are in Cappadocia. It's to you who live in Diamond Bar. It's to you who live in East LA. It's to you who live in Los Angeles County. It's to you who live in Orange County. The point of it is, is that Peter leaves off the specific identifying mark so that the Word of God will come across to us as relevant to us, as directed to us, as it were to us. And so what does Peter tell us that we should know this morning? Two things quickly, there's two big parts to Peter, and I'm going to narrow down my survey of Peter by looking again at verse 1 and 2, but there's two big parts. You say, what does Peter want me to know as I sit down and read this book? First of all, Peter commends the truth. Peter commends the truth to God's people. He does that in a number of different ways. He commends the truth of God's grace in verses 1-4. And one thing I want you to see here in verse 3. He says, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to godliness. What Peter wants you to know about the truth of God's grace is that God didn't leave anything out. We'll come back to this great verse, Lord willing, next week. But what Peter wants us to know is that the truth about God's grace is that everything that you need for life and godliness has been supplied. The next thing about God's truth that Peter wants you to know, you see reflected in verses 5 through 11, is that the truth, when it is received unto salvation, demands a changed life. Godliness. We're going to spend some time poring over these virtues that Peter lists here, beginning in verse 5. But the truth about God's grace is that when it comes to your life, it's got to change your life. The truth that Peter would have us to know then after that, verses 12-21, is that everything that is contained in the Scripture is prophetic, it's by divine inspiration, and it is your source for knowing about God and His truth. So if you think back on what's in chapter 1, this commendation of the truth, it's the same old things that we're always drilling home to you. The solas. Sola Scriptura. Sola Gratia. Sola Fide. Sola Christos. Soli Deo Gloria. You see, it's the meat and potatoes. It's the essentials of Christianity. Peter takes those and he commends those to the church in chapter 1. He says, this is what you need to know. I stir you up by way of reminder. I'm trying to establish you. He commends the truth. The second part of this book, chapter 2 and chapter 3, is a condemnation. There was a commendation of the truth. That means Peter is saying, this is the truth, you need to follow it. And now there is a condemnation of false teachers. There's so much that we need to learn here. And one of the great things about this book being non-specific in terms of its audience is that when Peter writes what he does about the false prophets, it's as if he was writing, reading a newspaper today. If you study the characteristics of the false teachers, if you study the things that they are saying here, it's just like you were opening up a contemporary magazine dealing with Christianity because the same nonsense and false doctrines and motives are reflected in those magazines that are reflected and manifested here. And so it's up to date. It's relevant. And it's important for us. So, this book is all about two things. Helpful outline to have in your head. It commends the truth and it condemns false teachers. Now let's come back to verse 1 again and we're going to wrap up our message and wind down and you don't want to miss this part here. Because this is the beginning of his exposition of the truth about God's grace. He says, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours. Now, almost every word in there is important. The first word that's so important here is received. It's not translated well, even in the New American Standard Version. It literally means to receive something by casting lots. You know, in the Old Testament, if they wanted to figure out what the will of God was, they threw lots up in the air, and wherever the lot fell, that was the determination of what God's will was for them. And so if they were selecting priests and their rotation in the temple, if they were sometimes choosing leaders in the civil realm, a number of different ways they used casting of lots. But the fact of the matter is, if you cast the lot, wherever the lot fell, that meant that was God's will. Proverbs 16.33 says, the lot is cast into the lap. But every decision is from the Lord. In other words, what the Proverbs is saying there is that wherever it falls, that is God's sovereign will. Now you take that truth and Peter applies that to the people of God here. He says, you have received a faith. If you have faith this morning, Peter says the reason why you have it is because it's by divine will. I think this is probably the clearest passage in the New Testament which teaches us that faith is a gift from God 100% by grace and it's not something that we cooperate in. It's not something we purchase. It's not something that we meet God halfway to. He says you have faith because it is by divine gifting. so clear here about God's grace. The truth about God's grace is, Peter says, is that you didn't do anything to get it. And don't become proud and boastful and puffed up in your faith. You know, it's just sickening to see Christians who are arrogant. You know that? It is sickening to see people who imagine themselves to be just overflowing with piety. They're just so proud of the great monument to spirituality that they are. A fount of wisdom that has an application for every situation, a repository for doctrinal truths, and their lives are a cut above everybody else's. If you believe that way about yourself, you are arrogant. If you have anything in this life, if you have any inkling of the truth, if you have any grasp upon Christ and His grace, it has nothing to do with you. It has everything to do with God. He says, you have received the same kind of faith. You've received it by divine gift. And the other thing here that Peter does, and it's the second thing I wanted to point out to you about this, that is so important. He says, the same kind is ours. He's an apostle. He is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, a handpicked disciple to serve Christ. He is handpicked to be the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. He is handpicked by Christ in John 21 to be the one who feeds the lambs of Christ. If anybody had the right to be arrogant, Peter would be one. But he says you have the very same faith as we do as apostles. There is no two-tier Christianity where we have really exalted Christians over here and then we have the rest of you guys who have sort of the bargain basement Christianity. He says you have the same faith as ours. That means that If a Christian is a Christian, their worth in the sight of God is as equal to any other Christian anywhere. We need this truth today. There's no distinctions made in the people of God. As if, if we get somebody who's really wealthy to get converted, that they're top tier Christianity. Or if we get somebody who has a high social status, they get moved up to top tier Christianity. And they're a little bit more valuable in God's sight. It's not as if we get somebody who's got a great education and three PhDs behind their name, that if they get saved, they get moved up to the top, and then there's the rest of the people down here, the poor, and the impoverished, and the people who have no social status, and who have no influence upon society, who've never really done anything with their lives, they get to sit in the back row in church, and they're different. No, what he's saying here by describing them as having the same faith as ours, he's saying, There is great unity in the body of Christ, because there's no distinctions between the persons. You're all of equal value in God's sight, because you have the same grace, the same reception of Christ, and the same exact standing before the Lord. And if that's true then, you cannot do anything, or you must not do anything, which disrupts the unity and the fellowship and the peace of God's people. I don't like it when I see churches divided along racial lines. I don't like it. I think that that is a travesty. I think that is a sin. When you have people saying, oh we're going to have this kind of church. We're going to have only upper middle income kind of people in our church. The homogenous church growth unit principle. Talking to a pastor the other day who was planting a church and his church on one hand was going to be catering to the extra wealthy yuppie types. Because he said it doesn't really work well to have poor people in the same congregation. Peter doesn't talk that way. He says, to those who have received a faith the same kind as ours. If somebody has received that faith by divine gift, then you are to treat them as a brother and sister in the Lord, no matter what color their skin is, what culture they're from, what language they speak, or what social class they're from. It's a receiving of a gift by grace. One last thing here, one last theme, and I won't even expound upon it, I just pointed out to you one very important thing that Peter is going to accent in this whole first chapter, and I think it provides the backdrop for the rest of the book, is his emphasis upon knowledge. You see that in verse 2, he says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, how do you overflow with grace and peace? Peter says it's through knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Where is that knowledge going to come from? Still small voices? Campfire retreats? Beautiful music? Exhilarating experiences? A Christian rock concert? through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that knowledge is contained in His inspired Word. If you would overflow with the grace and peace of Christ, Peter is going to accent that the pathway to that is acquiring the knowledge of God revealed in His Word. And then you are to take that Word into your soul and to digest it and to meditate upon it and then to live it out. There's no such thing as unlived out truth in Peter's world. There's truth that is acquired and then applied. We're going to learn a lot about that in 1 Peter. We need this book. We need this book. Because we need to be reminded of Christ's grace to us, just as Peter reminds the church here. We need to be reminded of the great doctrines of the Christian faith, which Peter says, I'm writing to you about these great doctrines because I want you to know them, be reminded of them. And we need this book because we need to be guarded against people who tell the opposite of the truth. It was a problem then, and it is a problem now, and it will be a problem for the church until Christ returns. and the means of His preservation is a clear, concise, accurate proclamation of the truth. May God bless us as we study this letter, as we grasp its themes and instruction, and may the Lord in His grace and mercy apply it to our hearts and minds and lives. Amen.