The Riches of our Salvation
Part 2
2 Peter 1:3‑7
Let's pray together.
Thank You, Father, for preparing our hearts for Your Word. And now we pray that You'll open it to us. We have great anticipation. May we have as great obedience to it. We thank You in Christ's name. Amen.
Turn in your Bible, if you will, with me to 2 Peter chapter 1. Last week upon returning from our time away, I felt that I could best express what was in my heart by drawing your attention to the first chapter of 2 Peter. And so, before we return to our study in Matthew's gospel, we're just going to spend a few Lord's days looking at this wonderful chapter.
I told you that when I was away this summer the Lord was really working in my heart and redefining priorities and reaffirming the call and the ministry that He had given to me. It was kind of a time for me to get my second wind, if you will, to come back with a freshness and a new vigor and a new energy and excitement about the church and the work of God. And the great lesson the Lord taught me was the lesson of being used to be a reminder. Because, as I said last time, I realize that after twelve years, I had said all of the things that were basic, foundational. And now in entering a new dimension of ministry, there had to be a new kind of perception for me. I guess I could say that the first twelve years were the time of discovery, the unfolding of the great realities of Scripture, the adventure of finding things for the very first time.
And then I could sense that something was changing and there had to be a new kind of commitment and a new kind of perspective and I saw that as I was reading one day in 2 Peter chapter 1. Look with me at verses 12 to 15 again and I'll give you the setting for what I hear Peter saying. "Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and are established in the present truth. Yea, I think it fitting as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shown me. Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance." You can stop there.
And as I read that, the Spirit of God really confirmed to my heart that that was the second wind, that that was the new dimension. The ministry of calling people to remember what they already knew, truth in which they were already established, that as long as I remain in this physical body, I will put you in remembrance. We forget very easily, don't we? And that was really the thing that brought about the disaster in the history of Israel. God said to them very early on in their history when they went into the land and my great fear is that having received the promise you will forget the Lord your God, and it is exactly what they did. And so the ministry becomes in its new dimension a ministry of remembrance. I think that's one reason why the Lord gave us His table, don't you? That we might forever and always be doing it in remembrance of Him.
Now I realize that some of you are new in our church and when I shared some of these things last Lord's day, some folks came up and said, "Hey, I'm new, all of this is new. I'm learning it the first time." And that's encouraging because I don't tend to see it the way you do, I have to deal with it as I perceive it in my own mind. And others of you came to me and said, "You know, I have forgot a lot of that stuff." And we need to hear it again. And so we are challenged to overcome the indifference that is bred by familiarity.
As we saw last week, God has given us a brain to help us, hasn't He? Because our brain never really forgets anything. And as you plant it and replant it and relearn it and reaffirm it and recall it and reapply it, you just expand its capacity in your mind. And so God has accommodated us in that way. If we hear it long enough, we saw last time, we literally act in a spiritual manner almost involuntarily, almost as a reflex because it's so pervasive in our thinking. That is why we must be continually feeding and being reminded of the Word of God. When we do that our brain becomes our friend.
On the other hand, a brain can be your enemy, too, you know. There was an old saint by the name of Thomas Fuller who lived and wrote in the late 1800's. And in 1877 he wrote this, "Almost 20 years ago I heard a profane jest and still I remember it. How many pious passages of far later date have I utterly forgotten? It seems my soul is like a filthy pond where fish die soon and frogs live long. Lord, raze this profane jest out of my memory. Leave not a letter thereof behind lest my corruption seek it out again. And, Lord, be pleased to write some pious meditation in the place thereof and grant, Lord, for the time to come that I may be careful not to admit what I find so difficult to expel."
It's a great truth, isn't it? The Bible says guard your hearts and minds. The responsibility of putting it in properly the truth of God and reentering it again and again, the ministry of remembering.
Peter had a long range view of his ministry. He wasn't just there to entertain the folks who came. He wasn't just there to get them to serve his whims while he was there. Peter said I want so often to remind you of these things you already know so that after I'm dead you will remember them. And when we are fed that spiritual truth repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly, it has a glorious effect upon our lives.
A minister on occasion was conversing with a woman. This woman was washing wool as they used to do when they spun their own wool many years ago in America. And he was a very famous minister. He was just greeting this woman as she was washing her wool. And she would do it with a sieve, the water passing through and out the bottom. And she said to the minister when she recognized who he was in the conversation, she said, "Oh, sir," she said, "I shall have all eternity to be grateful for one sermon which you preached." He said, "What did I say in that sermon?" She said, "Oh, sir, I can't remember." But she said, "You see, it's like this sieve, the sieve doesn't hold the water but the water runs through and cleanses the wool. My memory doesn't keep the words but blessed be God, He made them touch and purify my heart."
Now I'm not under the illusion that you remember everything I say. And you're certainly not either or you wouldn't be giggling like that. But I do believe that whether or not you hold all the water, in the process of its passing through, it is a purifying agent. And so I know that though we may not always retain all of the facts, there will be enough of the power of the Word of God upon our constant hearing to conform us to the image of Christ. And so, Peter says I have been called to a ministry of remembrance. And that's as I perceive it as well.
To illustrate the importance of this, look with me at Revelation chapter 2 for a moment. And I see in Revelation 2 verses 1 through 7, very very interesting parallel between the church at Ephesus and this church, I see such common elements. You remember that the Lord is pictured in Revelation 1, moving among the lampstands, that is the different churches in Asia Minor, ministering to those churches, holding in His hands the ministers of those churches. And then He proceeds to write seven letters to them. And in verse 2 of chapter 2 we find the beginning of the letter to the church at Ephesus. And, by the way, this was a great church, a church that was pastored by Paul, a church that was pastored by Timothy, a church that was responsible for the founding of all the other churches of Asia Minor, a church in which grew great and godly elders, a tremendous testimony in the world.
And so, in verse 2 our Lord says, "I know thy works," and that's a general statement. I know what you're about. I understand your ministry. Your ministry is well‑known to Me. And then He begins to delineate its several elements. Thy labor, the Greek word is kopos, it means an exhausting service, a service to the point of sweating and toiling. He says I know you are a busy, aggressive involved active church; teaching, sharing, giving, planning, working...an aggressive dynamic congregation. He says I know thy patience. And that's a great word. It literally means steadfastness, or if you will, courage that accepts hardship. I know your courage. I know you've persevered through tremendous opposition. I know you've taken a stand for things, if you will, and you've stood true in the midst of retaliation.
Now, this church at Ephesus was a great group. I mean, they were a group of people who were busy and aggressive and active. They knew what it was to confront an evil society with a godly standard and to hold that standard high and accept what came. I see that as a parallel to us. I see a church willing to stand, a church willing to be bold, a church willing to be confrontive. And it may get tougher and tougher to be that way.
And then He says about this church, "And you cannot bear them who are evil." This is a church that was intolerant of sin, a church that suppressed evil, a church involved in discipline, a church not only teaching but training, not only giving the principles of behavior but conforming its people to that behavior. And we're committed to that, too, aren't we? And then He says, not only that, He says, you have tried them who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. It was a church with such a substantial theology that it could unmask false doctrine and such courage that it would unmask a false prophet and put him right out. I mean, this is a strong group.
And, if you will, look at verse 3. You have endured and have patience and for My name sake have labored and not fainted. This is perseverance. They really pursued it. And they endured. And they were self‑sacrificing. And the goal of all of it, I love this in verse 3, was for My name sake. Everything they did they did for the glory of God. Sound familiar? These are the things upon which this church has been established...diligent, aggressive, faithful, hardworking people who steadfastly will take a stand courageously against its resistance, who will be willing to be intolerant of sin and suppress it by discipline, who are spiritually discerning and have a substantial theology by which false prophecy and false prophets are revealed, a church that will endure and live and work for the glory of God.
And then I suppose you could add verse 6. "And this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate." And the thing that's so interesting there is they even had the attitude of God toward certain things. I mean, they were really plugged in. I mean, they felt God's heart.
But in spite of all of that, somehow they had lost it. And that is shocking and fearful, is it not? Look at verse 4. "Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love." Ephesus never got its second wind. Ephesus never turned the corner. I mean, they blazed through the first few laps. I mean, the honeymoon was glorious. The adventure of discovery was thrilling. And in those early years when Paul and Timothy were there, and they were winning people to Christ, and they were establishing churches and the foundation was being laid, it was high and holy, thrilling.
But they couldn't settle into that ministry of remembrance. The fire went out. They lost the heat. The honeymoon was over. And they couldn't make the marriage work. And our Lord says one word to them that stands out, verse 5, first word...what is it? "Remember...." Remember...there's nothing new to tell you, only something old. Go back and do the first works all over again or I'll remove the candlestick. They didn't and He did.
Look at chapter 3. Chapter 3, unto the angel of the church at Sardis, verse 1, we come now to another church. And verse 2, He warns them about being watchful and strengthening the things that remain that are ready to die. How did this happen? Backing up to verse 1, He says of them, I know your works. That's a general statement again. I know about you. And what do I know? You have a name, you've got a marquee, you've got a sign out front and you are dead. You have a name but you're dead.
Verse 3 begins with that same word, what is it? "Remember..." Remember...I guess you could put it this way, folks, you can't go forward unless you go backward. Remember, remember. It's vital to remember. That's what Peter's saying. Back to 2 Peter chapter 1.
And I guess what I'm seeing in my own heart and what I'm sensing in my own heart is that the Spirit of God is saying to us here, the honeymoon has been glorious, hasn't it? I mean, we've had the greatest days, incredible adventure. I mean, it's all far beyond anything any of us ever dreamed would happen. It's inconceivable what God has done in this place. But it's time we got our second wind. And I believe the future's better than the past. I believe that what God has ahead for us is even greater than what we've seen in the past. I believe He's still able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could think or ask. But it's all going to be based upon our ability to remember the past and to keep the fire hot, to keep the adventure alive.
So, Peter says, as long as I live I'm going to tell you to remember and to remember and to remember so that it controls your mind and that your spiritual responses are almost involuntary. It's like a reflex that you respond in a godly way. Now I'm not saying to you that I'm just going to go back in the bag and preach all my old sermons because you must be reminded in fresh terms to make it fresh and vital, but it's the same truth.
And what is it that Peter want us to remember. Look back in this chapter now. And we saw last time the first point, and this morning we'll see the second two. But he tells us, first of all, in verse 12, he wants us to remember these things. Now immediately when you see a phrase like that, you've got to find something that it modifies. What things? And if you go backward and forward in the chapter, you find the things that surround this thought.
First of all, remember the reality of your salvation, remember the reality of your salvation. We saw that last week in verse 1 and 2. "Simon Peter, a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness in God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." Now that's salvation conversation. Words like faith, righteousness, Savior, Jesus Christ, grace, peace, knowledge of God, Jesus our Lord, all of those are salvation terms. And as we saw last time, Peter is saying we have received our salvation by divine allotment, that's the meaning of the word obtained, we have been given a faith of equal value and equal honor, like precious faith, it has ushered us into an equal standing before God. It has multiplied unto us, verse 2, grace and peace when the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is deep and genuine and true.
Now what he's saying is that when you truly know Christ, you have entered into a salvation that is precious. Have you forgotten that? We asked last week, I trust you hadn't. Some of us take our salvation for granted. We saw last week how we must remember what it is to be redeemed. I look around the world and, boy, you see people desperate. They don't know God. And it reminds you to be thankful, doesn't it?
Secondly, and for today, I want you to concentrate on the riches of your salvation. Remember not only the reality of it but the riches of it. Look at verses 3 and 4. These are other things that Peter wants us to remember. And this has been a constant theme for us in our ministry here as well. The riches of our salvation, understanding who we are in Christ and what we possess in Christ. Verse 3, and by the way, these two verses are two of the greatest verses anywhere in the Scripture. Literally, the scope of these verses is encompassing all of eternity. "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 by which are given unto us exceedingly 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." Literally monumental verses.
Now watch. First of all, verse 3, His divine power has given unto us...what?...all things. Incredible statement. When you became a believer, you came into instant possession of all things that pertain to life and godliness. When you were born, you were born like a baby, not like a polliwog. When a polliwog comes into the world, it's just a dot with a tail...and then it sprouts a leg and a leg and whatever else frogs have, I'm not too hot on that. But all of the parts come popping out, becomes a frog. But when a baby's born, it's not a little blob that sprouts a leg, all the parts are there, they just develop. And when you were born again, you were born as a whole being with all the composite parts, with all the capacities and all the potentials that God could possibly pour into a new creation. You have it all.
And by the way, if you look at verse 3, there's so many startling things here, so many things that if you can expand your mind to grasp them will be an infinite cause for joy. First of all, the source of this is His divine power. And what that's talking about is an eternal energy resource. You talk about power, this is God's eternal power, the power that spun the stars into space, the power that created the universe, the power of God that is utterly unlimited. This divine power, this overwhelming eternal energy is concentrated on providing for you everything you need. Incredible thought. It amazes me, you know, to go around the country and to meet Christians who are so uninformed about their potential and they doddle around in the shallows with no concept, shooting for the moon. They don't understand the power of God.
And notice again in verse 3 it says He's given it to us, we didn't earn it and we couldn't have earned it, it was undeserved and offered by grace. And then it says He has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Now watch this. Life and godliness are two things. Life is the life of God in the soul of men. That's internal. Godliness is the manifestation of that life, that's external. Now listen, when you were redeemed, the reality of your salvation granted to you the riches of your salvation which meant that your salvation provided everything to transform you on the inside and to transform you on the outside. It gave you your salvation and the capacity to work it out, you see. We have all things that pertain not only to life, but to godliness. Therefore there's no excuse. And you notice in verse 3 it ends by saying "Through the deep knowledge of Him that called us."
In other words, when you came into that epignosis, when you came into that deep knowledge, when you came into that real genuine salvation, it was utterly and eternally comprehensive and you came into the possession of all that was needed for a real transformation on the inside and a real manifestation of that transformation on the outside. We have tried to share with you through the years how much folly is involved in asking God for things you already have, and yet Christians do it all the time. Lord, I need this and I need that, when the fact of the matter is they only need to know they have it and appropriate it. It always amazes me when people pray for the Lord to lead them. It must frustrate the Lord to death because He's trying so hard to lead them. All they need to do is apply their will to follow. We ask the Lord for strength, and we ask the Lord for things like that that are already bestowed upon us in measure beyond our wildest dreams.
Do you really remember the riches of your salvation? Do you really remember what is yours in Christ? You can overcome anything. In fact, in Revelation you're called an overcomer. Some Christians are fearful about expressing themselves in a ministry, they're fearful about moving out because they don't know whether they can handle it. And they just don't understand what they have. God has given every one of us, according to Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, spiritual capacities, or spiritual gifts through which He wants to minister to the body of Christ through which He wants to reach the world. And we stifle those kinds of things because of an inadequate understanding of our resources.
Now notice at the end of verse 3 an interesting parallel. He has called us to glory and virtue. Now here we come back to the same concept as we saw in life and godliness. Life and glory and godliness and virtue are parallels. Life is the internal. Glory is the internal. The glory of God in the soul of man, the indwelling presence of God. Godliness on the outside and virtue on the outside are the externals. The point is this, that God has given us all we need for the internal and all we need for the external because He has called us to internal glory and external virtue. Created in Christ Jesus unto...what?...good works, inside and outside. You hear people talk about "saving faith." And if you mean some kind of faith that redeems you but doesn't do anything else for you, there's no such thing. There's only one kind of faith, living faith. It redeems you and it sustains you in a life of response to God. It follows that where there's life, there's godliness. It follows that where there's glory, there's virtue. And you have everything you need for that. If your life is not virtuous and godly, it is not the absence of resources, it is the absence of your will.
Have you forgotten your position? You know, in Ephesians 1 it says in verse 3, "He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies." It's a magnanimous statement. Blessed us with all spiritual blessings. And the word there is pneumatikos and that word "spiritual" is not a word in contrast to physical. He's not saying blessings of the spiritual part of our nature. The word pneumatikos used in the New Testament always refers to the Holy Spirit. So it is not talking about spiritual as opposed to physical, but supernatural as opposed to natural, you see. In other words, God has given to us all the necessary and all the available...and I'll add another one...all the possible spiritual capacities. Incredible.
Now a lot of good things have happened in our fellowship, haven't they? I mean, God has done a lot of marvelous things but I don't think we've even scratched the surface. Ephesians 3:20, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think according to the power that worketh...where?... in us." Just staggering...staggering. And it was a joy this summer to go around and to be able to preach this message to people who have been Christians for years and had no clue. "Oh, you mean me? I...I could never do that. Oh no." You know, I've said most Christians they're afraid to even witness for Christ. You kno