Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The old hymn goes, Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. How easily we forget the biblical truths we hold.
And when we do, lies are waiting in the wings to take their place. Today we kick off a brand new series through the book of 2 Peter called, Live as People Who Remember. Oh, the delight of staying near to our Savior and remembering who we are and all that He has done and will do.
Let's listen in. With love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, I intend to always remind you of these qualities though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. Father, it's with great anticipation that we come to this letter from Peter. What a privilege it is to hold in our hands the word of God communicated faithfully, given to a people to help them walk in a way that pleases you, to help them walk in a way that helps them love each other, to walk faithful to their calling and to always remember the grace and mercy that you have shown to us. Father, there is no question existential about our meaning in life, why we're here, our purpose, what is life all about that your word has not given us. There is no question about how can we walk faithfully with you that your word has not given us. So open our eyes this morning, Father, to this word. Give us great encouragement through us.
Bless Rich as he brings the word to us, Father, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So we just finished 1 Peter, I'd say just, that was a little bit ago, and I thought 1 Peter was live as people who are free.
I thought it good to follow into 2 Peter, and the title for this series is live as people who remember. There's a reason for that. Imagine yourself driving a car, you're on a long trip, or it could be just around town. You're on the road, surrounded by traffic, and all of a sudden you have forgotten where you came from and you have forgotten where you're going. Now some of you say, Rich, that's not so strange.
Some of you can really identify with that, right? You're driving a car, you forgot where you came from, and you've forgotten where you're going, what's going to happen? What do I do now? I don't know where to go. What turn to take?
Do I take an exit? I don't know. You're lost. That's what happens when we don't remember. I'm getting more and more familiar with not remembering as the days go by. But the Bible calls us constantly to remember, and the reason why Peter writes this is because he doesn't want God's people to just leave remembering up to if perchance you happen to remember.
We need to be active about remembering, and remembering is not just intellectually calling to mind. It has everything to do with the actions that we take based on what we know to be true. So today's introduction, we're going to be looking at the first two verses of 2 Peter chapter 1, just as the introduction. The author is, it says, Simon Peter. It's important he uses both of those words. Simon is his name at birth, Peter is the name that Jesus gave him, so it's his name before Christ, and then it's also his name in Christ.
Very important to understand that. And then how does he introduce himself? Simon Peter, a what? Servant. The word there is slave, okay? Servant is a kind translation. He's a slave.
Why? Because he belongs to Jesus by right of purchase. He belongs to Jesus by right of purchase. He wrote in 1 Peter 1, verses 18 to 19, knowing that you, we, were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Paul made this also. Paul the Apostle made it abundantly clear, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, you, if you are in Christ, you are not your own. You don't belong to you.
That flies in the face of the bedrock foundation of the conventional wisdom of today's culture, particularly as Westerners, as Americans. The Scriptures say you do not belong to you. This is how Peter introduces himself. Not only does he say a servant, but he says an apostle.
Now that's different, isn't it? An apostle. As he writes this, Peter acknowledges that he writes this, listen, with the authority of Christ, because he was personally commissioned by Christ along with the other apostles to establish truth for the church after Christ ascended back to the Father. You look in chapter 3, verse 1, he says, this is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. His second letter. These are his last words. These are the last canonical words of Peter that we have. What is he doing? He is preparing the church for the post-apostolic era.
What do I mean by that? Pretty soon the apostles are going to be leaving the scene. The church goes on. We are testimony to that today. Because we teach the apostles' doctrine. And it's not about them, it's about Jesus Christ. But it was the doctrine that was established by the apostles who themselves were commissioned by Jesus Christ with his authority. So it's important that Peter uses that title. Who is his audience? To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing.
It's a little bit of my Irish coming out there, fifth. To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Those who have obtained. The Christians have been, in the Roman Empire, the Christians have been spread out. Possibly because of the great Roman fire of 64 AD, the Christians were blamed for that.
And so they are dispersed and empire-wide Christians are displaced and disdained by the people of the Roman Empire. And he says to those who have obtained, that's a very interesting word, this word obtained. It's not like you have gained it as a result of your own exertion or your own savvy or whatever.
It's more like a ripe fruit falling into your lap. This word obtained. A faith of equal standing. Equal privileges. Here he is, Peter, writing as an apostle with the authority of Christ, the years he spent personally walking with Christ and now an eye witness of the resurrected Christ and personally commissioned by Christ.
Peter has no more privilege than you and I do. We have a faith of equal standing. Direct access into the very presence of God. Isn't that awesome? That's what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
That's what he says here. Direct access to God. We are swimming in the same pool of God's grace. And to review this, if you want to know how beautiful and precious our faith is, go back and review all the teaching from Ephesians 1-3.
Get that bookmark or that coffee mug that has all of that listed on it. The beauty of our faith in Ephesians 1-3. But it's a faith of equal standing not because we've done something special, but it's by the righteousness of Christ. It is a righteousness that has been credited to you and me by faith. It is a righteousness that we have received.
We have not achieved it. We have received it by faith. And it is based, that righteousness is based on the redeeming, reconciling work of Jesus on the cross and through the empty tomb.
That's what he has accomplished. This is what Peter is referring to. There is one gospel.
So what is his objective for writing this letter? Like I said earlier, it's getting to the later part now of the first century. Probably around 64-65 AD. The apostles pretty soon will be leaving the scene. These that walked with Jesus, witnessed his resurrection and were personally commissioned by him. Peter wants to make sure that the Christians will be sustained in the context of cultural disdain and lies.
Because we're surrounded by it. And so he says grace and peace, grace and peace be multiplied to you. Grace simply meaning and understanding that God is for me. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him. The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 AM. .
