Our Gracious Resources in Christ
2 Peter 1:1-4
INTRODUCTION: I suspect that like me you frequently find yourself in the actions of biblical characters. I think about Moses—God tells him to confront a world leader—Pharaoh; the human demi-god of Egypt —the leader of the most powerful empire—the most advanced nation on the planet.
Perhaps Moses pictures himself shuffling into the huge royal court; a scruffy 80 year old shepherd asking for the release of a million man slave force—and he is eager to decline accepting the assignment. (Moses imagines himself a laughingstock to all who will hear of his failed attempt—how he failed spectacularly.) So he tries to convince God that he has chosen the wrong man for the job. There’s Moses pleading with God to send some one else; even after God promises effectiveness, success, and every provision; every strength; every resource.
In a small way I see myself in Moses—here is a weak man faced with an immense task who has the promises of Almighty God.—and yet he still is reluctant. That is the juncture at which I find myself from time to time. I assess my weaknesses and the size of the task that faces me in spiritual leadership; and it is easy to become tentative and halting.
But the Lord is the God of all comfort and encouragement. He gives us experiences which demonstrate His faithfulness—in our weakness He shows Himself strong. When we are faithful to obey Him and are willing to be a spiritual influence; we find that there is strength there for the task—we are amazed. It reminds me of ancient Israel poised ready to conquer Canaan. There before them is a formidable obstacle—it is the Jordan River at flood stage. How will the armies of Israel safely cross?
God gets them across in a way that teaches them about His power and resources for the believer. He commands them to cross—as the feet of the priests carrying the ark dipped into the water; the Jordan parted permitting safe crossing.
This is the great adventure of the Christian life—stepping out before you see the miracle, the provision, and the power—obeying before you ‘see’ divine resources being exerted on your behalf. This is the great lesson He is teaching us as men especially—in our efforts at spiritual leadership we have to learn to step out in the strength of Another—the strength of Christ. It is a process of learning to rely on the resources provided by Another—when we obey we are appropriating those resources.
When we step out in obedience there will be blessed surprises. I think of the disciples (the 70) running back to Jesus in with amazement and excitement, “Even the demons are subject to us in your Name” (Luke 10:17).
Our willingness to step out in obedience in spiritual leadership and influence depends in part in us knowing about the divine resources that are ours—and that is our purpose in tonight’s message.
V. 1 – Peter writes this epistle during a time when false teachers were taking advantage of widespread confusion, uncertainty, and troublous conditions. It has always been that way; unbelief takes root—takes advantage of doubt, discouragement, insecurity, and tiredness. Peter is writing this epistle to stabilize his readers—giving them needed ballast in the pitching seas of the age. The Apostle’s aim—to make certain his readers understand their foundations so that they can grow in grace.
Peter identifies himself as the Lord’s BONDSERVANT. To speak of oneself as a “bondservant” was socially demeaning; but for the believer it is honorable spiritually because of the infinite worthiness of Christ Jesus. The bondservant was duty bound to obey his master whatever the cost. Every true believer is a bondservant of Christ—we are God’s possession. We live to do His will—our rights are surrendered to the One who died on our behalf.
Our text says, “Who have received a FAITH of the same kind as ours.” Peter is stressing that faith is a gift of God—a gift of divine grace wherein the sinner takes hold of redemption and accepts the finished work of Christ on his behalf (Eph 2:8-9). As one author said, “Faith breathes the breath God’s grace supplies.”
It is a FAITH of the same kind—there are not degrees of Christianity—Peter as an Apostle has the same precious faith as his humble readers—a faith equal in validity.
God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS is the source of salvation; His righteousness not a static ‘holy standard’ written on a tablet of gold enshrined in heaven—His righteousness is active and dynamic. His righteousness is His zeal for His Name—it is God graciously giving His righteousness to us in Christ—it is the righteousness of God to us through Christ.
It is God giving guilty sinners right-standing with Himself through the righteousness of the Son of God. This is the amazing glad tidings of the Gospel—God is clothing unrighteous sinners in a God-provided God-approved righteousness—He is hiding them in the righteousness of Christ (2 Cor 5:21).
Through the incarnation of Christ and His substitutionary work—God in Christ has prepared a perfect place of refuge for all who believe. We have right-relatedness to God’s righteousness by faith in what God has done in Christ (Rom 3:22)—in the Son of God we truly attain righteousness in the sight of God! (EX. Catholic evangelism and God’s grace; not a method, a mechanism, or a material—God’s grace is who God is—He makes Himself known in His acts of saving grace—He provides a refuge for sinners who come to Him for forgiveness.)
V. 2 – ‘GRACE’ is the Father’s favor and acceptance of us. BUT, we perceive this grace of God’s infinite favor ONLY in proportion to our measure of faith. No wonder we are constantly enjoined in the N.T. to excel in faith—for by faith in Christ the love of God is confirmed to your hearts; and, the more happy, holy, and useful you will be (Rom 15:13).
The Christian faith is founded upon the true KNOWLEDGE of God (that He is just, loving, merciful, and wrathful—and that these attributes are only reconciled in Christ and His cross— thus God is just, and He is the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus).
The knowledge of God is only through the knowledge of Christ (Matt 11:27). The object of saving knowledge being—God’s self-revelation in Christ (2 Cor 4:4-6). Salvation (eternal life) is the knowledge of God through Christ (Jn 17:3).
The N.T. word for knowledge here is the strengthened form (epiginosko)—it implies larger, thorough, intimate knowledge—to know exactly, completely, through and through in a more personal relationship. This means that the believer knows Christ personally rather than just knowing about Him (i.e. the ‘facts’ of His life, death, and resurrection—our knowledge of Christ must be personal—knowing indeed that His saving work and intercession are directed at me in particular).
The more you progress in the knowledge of God, the more every kind of blessing increases along with the sense of God’s love.
The deeper and wider one’s knowledge of the Lord; the more grace and peace is multiplied to the believer. This is what God desires—that the substance of salvation (grace and peace) be multiplied to His children. Growth in the knowledge of God (of God; not about God) is dear to Peter’s heart. You’ve heard it said, “knowledge puffs up; love builds up,” but the pursuit of the knowledge of God never brings pride; in fact growing in the knowledge of God is how God makes us like Himself (2 Cor 3:18). Peter ends His epistle with this command and exhortation to Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). The Apostle John uses the word ‘abide’ to refer to an intimate growing knowledge of Christ that comes from fellowship and communion with Him (1 Jn 2:28).
And the Apostle Paul speaks of pursuing the knowledge of Christ as his highest purpose— counting all as loss compared to the infinite privilege of knowing Christ (Phil 3:10: 2 Cor 3:18).
APPLICATION: Keep a book about the Person of Christ on your nightstand. Study the saving work of God toward you. Meditate upon Christ’s offices. Meditate upon all that God is toward you in Christ. Investigate what your riches are by union with Christ. Contemplate God’s saving work toward you—meditate upon the passages which describe how God sees you in Christ— joined to Him.
V. 3. – Christ’s POWER is the source of the believer’s sufficiency (2 Cor 12:9). (Christ is our source of power to persevere in Christian living.)
He grants us everything pertaining to LIFE and GODLINESS. Salvation is the bestowal of spiritual LIFE. True salvation is the impartation of a life that is to be lived in a godly manner. Godly living is God-ward living that is obedient, loyal, and reverent. (In Christ there is total sufficiency available for life and godliness—you are complete in Him. Peter exhorts us on the basis of this well-founded assurance—he builds the foundation; then exhorts to growth.)
This “LIFE” is bestowed through the TRUE KNOWLEDGE of Him who CALLED us. (EX. One believing ‘look’ at Christ will save you for all eternity—because that believing look gives you the knowledge of God.)
“Knowledge” (of Him) is a key word in Peter’s epistle implying intimate knowledge—as of your own marriage partner.
Thus the KNOWLEDGE of Christ here is anything but superficial or casual. It is not a surface awareness but knowledge of Christ by ‘revelation’—beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ.
(When speaking of our growth in the knowledge of the Lord; Paul prays for a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph 1:17). It is a knowledge of our personal sharing in life with Christ (Gal 2:20).
Jesus Christ, our GOD AND SAVIOR (vs. 1b)—it is His deity that is in view—He is our “Source Person”—the Fountain of Life. He has all the things needed for the successful completion of the Christian life. He has everything needed for growth, development, perseverance, sanctification, and service.
How we need to hear this! For now we know what we were in our state of nature; in the spiritual state in which Christ found us. In that state life and godliness are foreign to us; but now they are freely granted to us in/by UNION with Christ. They belong to us by virtue of the fact that He has CALLED us. That calling is a ‘spiritual resurrection’ in which we are “begotten of God” (1 Pet 1:3). God’s CALLING us is the means of the bestowal of these gracious resources.
We were called by His own GLORY and EXCELLENCE. The Lord’s GLORY and EXCELLENCE placed the promises of the Gospel in our hearts. As we will see in a moment in verse 4; these promises are mighty because God’s attributes stand behind them—these promises will take us all the way from dust to glory.
God has lavished these divine resources upon us (everything needed for life and godiness)— our resources in Christ are sufficient to meet all of life’s demands (Phil 4:19). (EX. God is glorifying His grace—dispensing His grace not with an eye-dropper sparingly—but in an unending Niagara Falls of grace with endless installments. He is willing to do beyond what we could ask or think—Eph 3:20. The more withdrawals of grace; the more He is glorified in our lives.)
Think about how essential it is to know about our resources in Christ. What resolve, stability, and comfort in our setbacks, our sins, our declines, times of unfruitfulness, battles with indwelling sins.
Christ’s divine power as God never fails—He keeps restoring us—He is the Lord of 10,000 times 10,000 restorations in the life of the believer. In Him, you have received everything pertaining to life and godliness. In Christ you have the resources necessary to pursue godly living—to persevere to the end and finish well.
And it is THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM that we experience the fullness of our resources in Christ—power to persevere in trials, set-backs, difficulties, inadequacies, and struggles. The more you know Him; the more you will utilize your resources in Him.
APPLICATION: Verses 3-4 are in reality a description of the Christian life—literally the N.T. standard of normalcy in the Christian life. Do you see how much these promises are intended to stabilize the believer?
V. 4—For BY THESE He has granted us His precious and magnificent PROMISES. By “THESE” is meant His own glory and excellence (v. 3b). God has, in effect, poured His perfections; excellence; glorious attributes into the mould of Gospel promises. He has harnessed His infinite perfections and attributes and put them to work in saving and perfecting the saints.
(EX. These precious and magnificent promises were ‘cast’ in the foundry of His divine attributes—your salvation puts God’s perfections and excellence on display! How He is taking you from dust to glory is a subject of endless fascination to the holy angels.)
Now the intended outcome of these promises is that we might be PARTAKERS of the divine nature. The promises in Christ and the Gospel are the means by which we become partakers of the divine nature. (Every part of our salvation has been thought out by our all-wise Father.)
By the indwelling of God’s Spirit, we are PARTAKERS of the divine nature (not little ‘gods’; but sharers in the moral nature of God. Sharing in God’s moral nature means that we are destined to be conformed to the image of Christ—Rom 8:29; Eph 1:4—we are being developed into this new life after the image of the One who created him—Col 3:10. Christ is the Architect; the Contractor, and the Blueprint for the new man—you are being constructed into His likeness —that is what these precious promises are able to accomplish because God’s mighty attributes stand behind them and energize them).
This sharing in the moral nature of God enables us to have communion with God and to ultimately to be a unified with God and His glory—as much as a creature could possibly be! (We will share His holiness—Heb 12:10.) (And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ—2 Thess 2:14.)
A true Christian is one who is a PARTAKER of the divine nature (are you conscious of this incredible spiritual reality; that the divine life has been communicated to you in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit—you are the eternal habitation of God’s Spirit—Eph 2:22. And this fact determines you identity, purpose, mission, and destiny).
The bestowal of the divine nature in the believer demands that you continue in communion and obedience. The elect are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Eph 1:4). Brothers, this promise is a source of resolve—to be done with the evil remnants of the old life; to turn your back on the immoral filth and pollution of the world. When God contemplates you in Christ; He sees you as HAVING ESCAPED. You live in a different sphere now—because CORRUPTION is the very opposite of the divine nature.
By the divine PROMISES you have been delivered from the tyranny of evil cravings and lusts. They once held you in their grasp and ruled over you—you could not free yourself. The unregenerate world around you still lives under their control.
But by God’s sovereign grace in Christ, you have ESCAPED. You have been radically identified with Christ—His death was your death to sin (Rom 6). His resurrection is your resurrection to newness of life in Him. How can we go back to the cesspool we once drank from? Notice the text describes what is in the world by lust; it is CORRUPTION—that is decay, death, dissolution.
When a person serves sin the “death meter” is running. If he does not repent; it is but a matter of time before corruption catches him—for sin pays an unavoidable “wage” or paycheck of death and corruption. But by God’s precious and magnificent promises; you have escaped!
God’s glory and excellence have constructed precious and magnificent promises which have made you partakers of the DIVINE NATURE.
Therefore our only logical, reasonable response is to renounce the WORLD entirely—there is not a thing in the world for your regenerate soul to feed upon. Therefore smash your heart idols; trample the world’s lying offers. Press on; answer the upward call—pursue an experiential heart knowledge of Christ—for the image of God has been “reborn” in you. This is nothing less than God’s plan to permit you to share in His blessedness; to glorify Him self by making you eternally happy in Him.
Do you see the Spirit-inspired logic here? Sharing in the eternal life of God of complete blessedness is set against the spurious offers of this world in which are nothing but corruption. The two are mutually exclusive.
CONCLUSION: We have been called to a supernatural life. We’ve seen that the knowledge of God is the ‘door’ to holy living. But here is the wealth promised to us—what God requires; He has promised. He has imparted a new divine life to us. We are joined to God the Son. The full sufficiency of His divine resources are there to mould us into His likeness (He is exercising His power toward us—Eph 1:19-20.) God’s glory and excellence have moulded gospel promises which shall surely mould us to the likeness of God’s Son.
Everything we need we have through a true knowledge of God in Christ. LUST is what I was by nature. But now the divine nature lives in me—this is not only a heavenly promise; but a present reality which is to characterize my entire life. Professing Christians who genuinely manifest the DIVINE NATURE—by their very lives they convict the world of sin, lust, and corruption.
Where do you stand tonight? Is it your purpose and cause to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light? (1 Pet 2:9b).