Go ahead and open your Bibles to 1st Peter. Today we'll do an overview of 1st Peter, 2nd Peter, and the letter of Jude due to various pulpit supply requests and other traveling. I've missed the opportunity to do this lesson with y'all the last several weeks, but I know you were in good hands with Dr. Van Goodeward going through the book of James with you all, and Dr. Schwannevelt covering 1st through 3rd John. This may be one of the only churches where your substitutes are more educated than your regular teacher, but nonetheless, that's the abundance of riches that we have at Second Prez for you. And those four letters, James and 1st through 3rd John, combined with the three that we're going to cover today, are generally known as the Catholic epistles. That is to say they are generally written to the universal church in contrast with many of Paul's letters that are written to specific churches. Pop quiz, who did Paul write the letter to the Romans to? Romans the Romans that's right and to what church was he writing in first and second Corinthians anyone the church at Corinth right so that's how many if not all of Paul's letters so except for the pastoral epistles are arranged or how they're written the Catholic epistles are not like that they do have an original audience but they're they're more broad in their scope they're more generally written to all believers. 1st through 3rd John is probably obviously why I grouped those together, right? They're all quite the same guy. 1st 2nd Peter and Jude may be a little less obvious. The reason that Jude gets lumped in here is because there are very strong parallels between Jude and 2nd Peter. Many scholars think that Jude was actually dependent on and thus written after 2nd Peter. There's a strong correlation, especially with verses 4 to 18 of Jude seem almost entirely parallel to 2 Peter chapter 2. However, it's not super clear who wrote first, so it's not clear who was reinforcing whose point. Nonetheless, there is strong overlap that's recognized by all. And Peter and Jude were also exceptionally close to the Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry. Many of you know there were large crowds that followed Jesus. And then there were committed disciples within that crowd that followed him more closely. And then within that even more committed group, there was 12 who became the apostles. And then within the 12, there was the three of James, John, and Peter. And then within those three, there was Peter. Peter was effectively Jesus's right-hand man in ministry. Would somebody please read Acts 1 and verse 15. Acts 1, 15. This is after Jesus's ascension. The very next word spoken. Yes, Mr. Gamble. Acts 1, 15. Yep. the company of persons, was in all about four hundred and twenty, and said, Brothers, the Scripture hath to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke But he was numbering among us, and he was allotted his share in this ministry. Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle of the field, and all his bowels feshed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called, in their own language, al-kebim, that is, field of blood. Yeah, so and then he goes on there and basically says we've got to find a 12th Apostle here and they cast lots and they determine who's gonna be the point in bringing that up is to say that after Jesus is ascended It's Peter that takes the reins It's him that stands up and says, we've got to do this. We've got to replace Judas. It's Peter that preaches the first, uh, Christian sermon, as it were at Pentecost, uh, in Acts chapter two, Peter really, uh, is the de facto leader. of the early church, and it's for this, among other reasons, that Roman Catholics would cite him as being the first pope. Now, we're going to deal with that in a little bit, but nonetheless, it is obvious, it is clear, that Jesus, or rather Peter, was Jesus's right-hand man. I should use this hand for that. and that he's the one that was the earthly speaking leader. Now what's interesting about that text that Mr. Gamble read for us is he's modeling his leading after what the Holy Spirit has said in the scriptures, right? So there's this subordination relationship where there's an earthly leader, there's a human, but he's under the authority of God's word and we'll flesh that out more in relation to Peter later. And then there's Jude. Jude was also exceptionally close to Jesus in his earthly life. because Jude was Jesus's half-brother. We see this in Jude 1, verse 1, where Jude lists himself actually as the brother of James. Now, James is not another word for Peter. Rather, it's another one of Jesus's, excuse me, James is not another word for Jesus. It's another one of Jesus's brothers. And we see this in passages such as Galatians 1, 19, or Mark 6, verse 3, which Dr. Phillips will get to sometime in the next year, where it said that people are asking about Jesus says, is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas, which is another name for Jude and Simon and are not his sisters here with us. And so the point is that the Jude was, was a half brother of the Lord. So both of these were very close in terms of their relation with Jesus. That's why we're grouping, their writings together. The overlap between 2 Peter and Jude and then also just their own personal relationships with the Lord have some strong degree of parallel. We'll come back to... I've got themes and purposes for all three of these letters. We'll come back to those if there's time at the end. For right now, what I want to do is look at the fact that these three letters, 1st and 2nd Peter, along with Jude, all deal with one specific issue, one common theme that holds them all together, which is false teaching that's creeping into the church, and how to resist it, how to endure the persecutions and tribulations that creep into the church. I really appreciated, the last time I was here for Sunday School, I think that the hymn that was prepared was The Church's One Foundation because that deals with these themes. Unfortunately, I didn't teach this lesson then, that's on me, but it matches well because The Church's One Foundation is what all three of these letters are going to point to, that we would look to the Lord Jesus in the face of all those things. And specifically, that we would look to him as he's revealed in his word. And that's really gonna be the big theme that we're gonna tackle is the way to deal with false teaching, the way to deal with persecutions, the way to deal with distresses in this life, is Christianity 101. Look to the scriptures. And so with that in mind, we're going to spend most of our time in 1 Peter. For a couple of reasons. One, it's impossible to cover all three of those letters in one lesson. First Peter's the biggest and really deals with this the most thoroughly. First Peter is a notoriously difficult book to outline because certain themes such as suffering recur throughout the book. Carson and Mu point out that unlike Paul, who often develops a theological point and then applies it and works systematically throughout the letter, Peter mixes the imperative, that's the command, and the indicative, the reason, together all the time throughout the letter. In fact, with only two exceptions, every paragraph of Peter's writing begins with a new command, which is a little dizzying to try and put in an outline form. So we're gonna pick this one theme, of trusting the scriptures and kind of trace it throughout. Every chapter looks at various aspects, various problems that believers face in this life and ends with an uplifting truth about the Lord. Chapter one ends with the inspiration of God's word. And we'll look at that shortly. Chapter two ends with our safety. in Christ's care. Chapter three ends with the reminder that Christ is now ascended and has universal authority. Chapter four ends with our souls in the care of our faithful creator. And chapter five, with the prayer that God will, after we have suffered a while in this world, make us perfect in eternal glory. So there's all these big factors at play, but they're all held together by the hope that we have of all these things is found in turning once and again the word of God. So I'm going to read for us, um, the introduction that Peter gives us and we'll talk about it a little bit and then we'll look at each of those concluding points made in the chapters. Uh, first Peter chapter one, beginning in verse one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, for sprinkling with his blood. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again with a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So Peter's already setting them up to look to the consummation of all things. He's saying that your inheritance is kept pure and undefiled in heaven. Your life here may be hard, it may be tragic, it may be marred by many, many difficulties. And God has promised better things for you, not necessarily in this life, but in the one to come. And then in the meantime, he says, Verse five, who by God's power are being guarded. He's watching over you. He's protecting you. It reminds me of Paul's words in Philippians four where he says, the God of peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And if God is the one that's watching over your hearts and minds, are they secure? Yes, 100% secure. who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now, for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of faith. What's the outcome of faith? The salvation of your souls. And so in this opening section, really in the first sentence and who this is addressed to, the elect exiles, that encapsulates the theme of the letter. They are elect, they are God's chosen people set apart from the world. And their mind and behavior are now set to be different from the world. They belong to God. So they'll be led by the word of God. As exiles, they live in a place that is not their home. And this leaves them in a vulnerable position where they are subject to be mistreated in the world. Yet as exiles who live away from their heavenly home, they are called to live as faithful witnesses for Christ in this world as they look forward to the crown of glory that awaits them. And so we see all these things that Peter's setting up for. We rejoice in God's mercy because of Christ's resurrection and our inheritance. We rejoice in God's protection in verse five, even in the trials that test and afflict our faith, because we're assured of that outcome. the salvation of our souls. And so if we look at the end of this chapter, remember I said it ends with this confidence that we have in God's word. Let's look at that in chapter one, verses 22 to 25. Peter concludes this first section of the letter, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable. And what's the imperishable seed? Through the living and abiding word of God. For, and this should sound familiar to you all, all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of our Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. What is it about the word of God that is to provide confidence for the people of God in the midst of various trials and sufferings in this life. How does that work? How does Peter describe the Word of God in this passage? He says it's the living and abiding Word of God. What comfort does that give to you? Right. Oh, yes. It brings a comfort that even though things inside this world might grow to be incredibly, even though these very scary things might happen inside this world, it makes you feel as if all the promises which are inside this book, which are inside the scriptures, are true. Yeah. And that We have the most powerful being on her side. Yeah. It's been God. Yeah. In some sense, the hardships of this life are actually a confirmation of the truth of God's word. Jesus said in John 16 33 in the world, you will have tribulation. Here it is, but take heart. I have overcome the world. So if the first part of it is true in our experience, then we can trust that the second part will be true in the future. But there's something else. Have the people of God historically been, I don't know, well thought of, well cared for, highly esteemed by the world? No. Time and time and time again, the world has tried to snuff out the Word of God. Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, when they sacked Jerusalem, they did everything they could to destroy it all, destroy the temple, destroy all the relics, takes a bunch of things hostage. And yet the word of God remained living and active. In the first and second century, Roman emperors were called or called their, their, their soldiers to round up and burn every fragment they could find in the new Testament. And yet it's still here. We still have it. We still have early copies from as early as 40 years within the timeframe of when it was written because the Lord watches over his word. He will watch over the people who live by his word. He will preserve his people. And so we have great comfort in the living and abiding word of God. And then we said chapter two ends with this idea of being, watched over by our good shepherd. Chapter two, beginning in verse 21, Peter says, for to this, you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. And I just want to point out three things from those verses. One is Peter says you have Christ as an example of how to suffer well in this world. He suffered great affliction every day. He suffered great, challenges to his authority. Dr. Phillips is talking about that in the morning sermon with the challenges of the Pharisees and the scribes about him having fellowship with sinners. And ultimately we see a great example in his suffering at the persecution in the cross and all the lead up to that. We have Christ as an example. But not only does he provide us an example, Peter says in verse 24, that through his death and resurrection, he actually provides us the power to ourselves, die to sin and to live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been healed. Is that present or past tense or is it future? It's not a trick question. Have been. Yes. Past tense. You have been bestowed with the power to endure this. So you have a good example. You have the power of Christ working in you. And then the third thing to note is that not only has he given you the example to follow, not only has he given you the power to achieve, but he is the shepherd and overseer of your soul. He's currently with you, leading you and guiding you through it. How? Through the ministry of his word. Through the ministry of his word. We're comforted. also by the ascension of Christ. It's great that he left us his word. It's great that we have, uh, the scriptures, but, but the ascension proves to us that he has the authority that his word actually means something. We see this in first Peter three 22 Christ who has gone into heaven is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. The one that we serve, the one whose word we obey and cling to and hold fast to in this life. His word has all authority in heaven and on earth. And so it can be relied on, it can be trusted. Then we have, we'll skip to the end, the comfort of eternal glory at the end of chapter five. Chapter five, would somebody read verses 10 and 11? Yes, Ms. Babington. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Thank you. After you've suffered for a little while in this life, he will do these things. He will restore. He'll right every wrong that's been committed. He'll right every affliction that you've suffered. He will confirm, He'll validate that you are His, that you belong to Him. He will strengthen you, He'll make you stronger than you were before, and He will establish you. He'll plant you that you might never ever leave. Now in a sense, we've got the down payment on all of that now, right, with the sending of the Holy Spirit. But one day, you'll experience the reality of it. This is a cheap analogy, but maybe it'll be helpful for some of you. Does anybody here use PayPal? No, good for y'all, I do. Check, anyone ever gotten a check? Okay, when you have the check, do you have the money? It's not in your account yet, but you kind of do, right? Because it's made out to you, all you have to do is sign for it and take it to the bank and it's deposited into your account. Mr. Duncan. But yeah, right. Nonetheless, you've got it. It's as good as yours and then it will be fully realized when it's scanned or when you take it to the teller or you know, whatever old people like me have to do to get money. But the point is the same. Does that make sense? You've got the promise and you're assured that one day it will be fully realized. Now with that said, I do want to take some time to deal with a couple of apologetic issues that are found in first Peter. really in 1st and 2nd Peter. Because these are questions that I get a lot that come from these letters. 1st is in 1st Peter 3, 18-22. This just seems like a good place to deal with these matters. 1st Peter 3, 18. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. It's all making perfect sense so far, should be very clear to you. Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey. When God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight persons, that's Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, were brought safely through the water. Now here's the problematic verse. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. What do we do with that? Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. Dr. Phillips says every time he baptizes a baby, no one is ever saved by baptism. I just watched Lynn's baptism again last night. He said it. I don't think anyone here believes that baptism saves, and yet Peter says, baptism now saves you. What do we do with this? There is such a strong correlation between, in sacramental theology, between the sign and the thing signified, that sometimes the way we describe it becomes interchangeable. We see this, one example would be in Genesis 17 with circumcision, where God says, this is my covenant with you, that you and all your descendants shall be circumcised in the foreskin of their flesh. And then he says later, this is the sign of my covenant with you, that you shall all be circumcised in the foreskin of your flesh. And the covenant is that I will be God to you and to your offspring after. The point is that it is not uncommon in the scriptures for the sign to be a stand-in for the thing that it is signifying. What does baptism correspond to in this verse? Noah's Ark. All who are in the Ark, that is all who are in Christ, which is what baptism signifies, will be saved. All who experience in their spirit what baptism signifies will be saved. That's how we understand this verse because he goes on and says, not as a removal of dirt from the body, he's not talking about the water, but as a, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, the thing that is signified there by you guys see how he's using that same logic. Even within this one verse, baptism saves you in so far as it points you to the Lord Jesus. I love the way, Ryan McGraw from Greenville Seminary put it, baptism is a poor savior, but it points you to the true savior. It is a sign of his work. All right, what else can we deal with here? Here's another one that's fun for Calvinists to wrestle through. 2 Peter 3.9, would somebody please read that? 2 Peter 3.9. Yeah. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. What might, what problem might that verse pose? Has anyone ever had this verse thrown at them for believing in something called election and limited atonement and not believing in universal salvation? No, no one's ever come. Okay. Well, good for y'all. This verse is often used to say that God did not choose before the foundations of the world, all who would be saved, even though Ephesians one says explicitly that thing rather God wants everyone to be saved. So it's up to you because it says he is not willing that any should perish. Therefore he wants everyone to be saved. Well, That is one way you could read the verse if there's only that little clause. But the problem is there's this whole thing called context around it. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but as patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish. any of you, any of those who are God's people, any of those who are chosen. So the reason that life continues to go on is because God has other people he desires to save in this generation and in generations to come. And the world will go on until all of God's people are brought to salvation whenever that time might be. And then just one last thing to point out to you guys, I don't have time to walk through all the passages, but just to deal with that, idea that Peter is the first pope. If Peter wanted to assert that he had some kind of ongoing office and authority and that he was going to have a line of successors, writing these letters right before he died would be the time to establish that. It would be the time to say, and I appoint so-and-so. And whatever trials and tribulations and difficulties that you have in this life, seek out Clement or whoever it is that's the second Pope and on down the line and they'll lead you and guide you into all purity. The problem is Peter repeatedly throughout both epistles affirms the unique and total authority of the scriptures. We already pointed that out. Um, and in the passage we read from acts, but also, uh, where is it? He argues his whole, his whole position from the authority of scripture. Uh, we see this in chapter one, chapter two, we'll go to the, the, the, the, the clearest example of the second Peter chapter one, verse 17 for when he, that is Jesus received honor and glory from God, the father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. Peter is talking about the Mount of transfiguration and he says, we ourselves, heard this voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain saying, I was an eyewitness. I was there. And you would think the very next thing he was, he would say then is therefore listen to me because I have the authority. That's not what he says. What's he say? What's the next verse? Who's with me in first in second Peter chapter one verse 18 verse 18 we ourselves for witness for verse 19 and we have what? which is what? The prophetic word. We have the word of God, which is more confirmed, more to be trusted than Peter's own eyewitness testimony. This is not me, the scripture. And I think that is a very compelling argument for rejecting The Roman Catholic claim that the Pope is the successor of Peter and is the head of the church on earth, because Peter himself does not point to any such thing. Rather, he says, even above my own authority, trust the word of God more fully confirmed. Well, that's all I can do in a decent and orderly fashion this morning, so I'm going to pray for us, and we'll be done. God in heaven, we rejoice in the gift that is these Catholic epistles. We thank you, Lord, that they give us advice and consolation and comfort on how to endure the hardships of this life in this world. And Lord, we pray that you would, I pray, that you would help my friends here to be those who would highly esteem your word, as Peter did, as the living and abiding word of God, that while all else may crumble and fade, all else may seem chaos, that while the grass withers and the flower fades, that your word abides forever. And I pray that we would be those who would trust that, that we would stand firm on that foundation that you've given us. Asking Christ's name and for his glory. Amen.