Scott Wiley here, the Executive Director of Wisdom International. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. What began as a radio programme in a single city has grown into a global ministry now in sixteen languages. We're hosting a banquet to celebrate all that the Lord has done and you're invited. Please visit wisdomonline.org slash twenty-five.
That's wisdomonline.org slash twenty-five. There's a link in the show notes. And now here's Stephen with today's message from Wisdom for the Heart. Let's articulate biblical answers to the moral corruption of our culture. Prepare to have your inbox flooded with angry emails.
Prepare for complaints to be made to your employer. Prepare for people to use the legal system to make you pay and to shut you up. The Apostle Paul calls us to expose the unfruitful works of darkness, Ephesians 5:11. And even if it costs us friends, jobs, Personal welfare, we must clearly state the only way of salvation is through Christ.
Well, this afternoon, thousands of students are going to gather in the Arizona. Cardinals Stadium. for the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. It seats around 65,000 people. I've Been informed they've already booked another arena for another 20,000.
people and millions of people no doubt are going to watch. At 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, I'll be one of them. Until this past week, I didn't know much of anything about this young man. I knew he was a conservative.
political Activist. But uh that was about it. I don't watch. Podcasts. I don't know how.
I'm not a subscriber to news feeds. I don't read blogs. When somebody tells me that something has gone viral, I think of an epidemic that's just broken out again. I'm very grateful for people in our body. In fact, people from other parts of the country that reached out to me.
and told me about his testimony. for Christ. I learned, in fact, that he was being mentored by Frank Turek, who's preached for me a couple of times here at our church.
So, this past week, my wife and I, for the first time ever, in our lives Watched. YouTube clips. Made a friend help us get that up on the smart TV, which is smarter than I don't know how to turn it off. But at any rate, we watched him answer questions. with just great lucidity.
and clarity and ultimately pointed people. to the truth of God's word. It didn't take long to discover that Charlie Was more than a conservative political activist. He was a courageous ambassador for Jesus Christ. Unique.
Which is why I'm mentioning this. to die. Is that Here's somebody who didn't die because of their political activism. or their conservative stand. He died because of his biblical moral stand for the truth of God.
And people, and we watched enough clips. Uh hated him. because of his stand. People couldn't answer him. Um They They couldn't cancel them.
They would have, if they could have, and they couldn't stop tens of thousands of young people from. Following him And so one of his opponents. Killed him. for his stand. Kevin Abowder.
who is a professor at Central Seminary, Minneapolis wrote up. An article, and it was sent to me this week. I found it very helpful. I wanted to share some of it with you just briefly. He asked the question, what do Christians do about this?
What do we remember from this in the days ahead? And I've sort of summarized. Down to the bare essentials, his comments first. This is a reminder that we occupy a battlefield. of ideology.
Jesus promised that we'll be slandered.
Some will lose their platform, some will lose their jobs, some will lose their freedom, and some like. Charlie will lose their lives. On this battlefield for truth, We have been called to and should expect to suffer insult and injury, 2 Timothy 3:12. Second, We need to know the truth and speak it with boldness. Let's articulate biblical answers to the moral corruption of our culture.
The Apostle Paul calls us to expose the unfruitful works of darkness, Ephesians 5:11. And even if it costs us friends, jobs, Personal welfare, we must clearly state the only way of salvation is through Christ.
Third, We need to act with graciousness and patience. That's one of the things that impressed me as I watched clip after clip. Fourth. We need to be reasonable even when our world is unreasonable. As it certainly is.
If you take a public stand for righteousness, prepare to have your inbox flooded with angry emails. Prepare for complaints to be made to your employer. Prepare for people to use the legal system to make you pay and to shut you up. Finally, We need to love our enemies enough to pray for them and to give the gospel to them as persuasively as we we can. I would add to that one comment.
We need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who regularly experience persecution. around our world today. around our world and uniquely In our country now, the only way to silence the testimony of a believer might be to kill them. And that would mean, beloved, things haven't changed. We might not be used to it, but it hasn't changed for 2,000 years.
The very first martyr of the church was stoned to death after he preached his one and only sermon. Stephen in Acts chapter 7. In the providence of God, attacks against his followers have a way of increasing. The number of followers. Attacking Christianity has a way of spreading Christianity.
And attacks can end up backfiring. And here's a case in point. From what I learned this week before Charlie Kirk's death, his organization. A turning point in USA. Had 3,500 chapters meeting in high schools and universities.
Since his death, Thirty-seven thousand Requests For new chapters have poured in to his organization. I mean, how's that? Testimony now expanding 10 times greater in the last 10 days. It reminds me of what Tertullian, the church leader, said in the second century: the blood of the martyr is the seed. Um The church.
When it is spilled It has a way of spreading. The gospel. It strikes me with freshness today. As I bring this text to you, that Peter is writing believers. who have experienced the martyrdom of family.
and friends. It's fresh on their hearts. Persecution is rising. Christianity is open season. Peter writes this second letter.
The Apostle Paul has more than likely only recently been beheaded by the government. We don't know if Peter's hiding. Writing this letter or in prison Many scholars believe he's in imprisoned. His death is Weeks Away. from the writing of this letter.
By the time believers in what is now modern-day Turkey Receive This second epistle. Christians are despised. By their culture. In fact, Peter's going to describe the Christian experience. With words like B Reviled.
Exiled. Insulted. Suffering. Harvard. tested by fire.
And more. I mean you just gotta sign up for that. That's your advertisement. for Christianity. You're going to be insulted.
beaten, reviled, exiled, tested, as it were. By fire.
Well, let me take you back. to this text. If you have your Bibles, turn to 2 Peter. We've begun our exposition here and we We're going to cover the last half of the first verse today.
So we're going to speed up, as you can tell.
Now Peter is giving them several reminders that are going to encourage them on this battlefield of ideology. We're not fighting, we're not firing back, by the way. Our weapons are not of this earth. They are more powerful. They save both body and soul.
Here's reminders to give them. Encouragement. Let me give you two or three of them. First of all, Peter wants them to remember that they all share the same testimony.
Now, let's pick up where we left off, middle part of verse 1. To those who who have obtained a faith of equal standing As arms. The word, by the way, for faith... can refer to the body of Doctrinal truth. Deep faith.
That we hold to. Or, depending on context, it could be talking about your personal faith. which brings you salvation through faith in Christ, an active faith in the person of Christ. And that's the context here. It refers to salvation.
In fact, you might write next to the word faith here in the margin. The word saving. This is a reference to saving. Faith. And that's an important distinction because everybody on the planet exercises faith.
We do it every day, we do it in more ways than we could ever imagine. Every time you eat out, if you eat out today, you're placing your faith in that kitchen back there.
Okay, but I'm not sure. and whether or not your waiter washed his hands. Every time you get into your car, you're gonna... Exercise faith in the vehicle, and you can exercise faith that all those other drivers actually passed driver's end. You're placing faith.
in them. Every time he put money in the bank, You're exercising faith in their fiduciary duty. Honesty. Whenever you board an airplane, you're placing your faith in that vehicle and that pilot. And co-pilot.
Every time you pick up a prescription, you're exercising faith at that pharmacist. mixed it correctly. Put the right thing in that little bottle. And you're at the pharmacy because you're exercising faith that your physician correctly diagnosed you and told you you needed that. Faith, one author said, is what makes human relationships and human transactions possible.
And that's the point that I want to make. That faith that I just described has everything to do with life on. Earth. It's not going to take you from earth. To heaven.
That will take Saving. Faith. That's the kind of faith he's referring, faith that saves. And the key, by the way, to saving faith is not the amount. It's the object.
The object. It was Christ. Alone.
Now, by the way, notice further that Peter doesn't say you owned it, you owned this. Fair. He doesn't say you attained it. Notice he says you obtained. That word refers to the casting of a lot.
It refers to an allotment, it refers to a gift. You've been given this faith. As a gift. which you then act upon in turn. In faith to Christ.
So Peter's reminding these believers that even though the world might slander them and persecute them and insult them. The world cannot take away from them what is going to matter most. And especially if you've got 30 seconds to live. That you have saving faith, that Jesus, like these two young men in the baptismal faith, that Jesus is the one in whom they've placed their faith to forgive their sin and to give them purpose and peace. in life.
Now he takes us to the next encouraging reminder. Secondly, he wants us to remember that we possess the same treasure. Notice again, verse 1: To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing.
Now that might mean a lot to us, but it sure did to them.
So stop for a moment. These are stunning words of encouragement. They are on equal ground with the antecedent, which is the apostle. They are on equal ground with God as the apostles. For realty.
Now these early Christians especially would have been wondering They probably assumed that You know, Jesus would never be as interested in them as he was in his apostles. That's a special class. Personally trained. Personally commissioned. Personally empowered.
They could heal the sick and raise the dead. They had seen him with their own eyes resurrected. They had talked. personally with him. The ordinary believer back here in modern-day Turkey would have been thinking, you know, God.
God has his eye. on apostles, on church leaders. But that ought me. And besides, we're suffering. Obviously we've fallen off the radar.
God probably didn't even know. care. Nothing could be further from the truth. To those who have obtained a faith, of equal Standing as Arrows. The Apostles.
equal value you can render it. A phrase is one word in the original language. And it carries the idea of being precious. Your translation might read of like precious. Faced.
It's equally valuable. equally precious. Peter uses that word family often in his letters. He refers to Jesus Christ three times as precious. He refers to the blood of Christ as the precious.
Blood. He refers to trials as Precious, as valuable. He refers to the precious promises of God. And now he refers to our salvation as precious of priceless Value. We use that word.
We talk about precious Gems. Why? They're valuable, cost a lot of money. And they're rare. That's why they're rare.
They're not lying on top of the ground.
So they're much more valuable than the gravel. It seems to grow in my as gravel parking our cars. On diamonds. But we don't, do we?
Now, there's another Use of this word I want to point out. of equal value, equally precious treasure, and it was used for immigrants. Immigrants who had Been granted citizenship in a new country, and we're now equal in every way. Their status is equally valuable. to those who are native born.
So this is the illustration of Peter. Every Christian is equally privileged. Uh as a citizen of a country to which they have immigrated because they've got a visa and it's been stamped. Safe. And Christ.
And it's as if now they have been indeed born. into that country. Citizens. of heaven.
So he's writing to people that have lost their homes. Move to a different country. You've got a home. You've got a home country. If you have a visa stamped.
Faith. In Christ. Alone.
A third Remember, Peter wants him to remember You believe the same truth. Again, Peter writes Here at the end of verse 1, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours, how'd you obtain that? By the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now, many times the word righteousness. Is shown as an attribute of God the Father. What's interesting here is this is the only place in the New Testament where that attribute is given to Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean the New Testament is ever in doubt of the perfected righteousness of Christ.
But Peter is leading us somewhere here. And it's going to take us, by the way. Out in the deep water, so hang on to your seat cushion. It's a flotation device, okay? Here we go.
Look at it again to those who have obtained the faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of. Our God and Savior Jesus Christ. That's one of the clearest statements on the deity of Christ. You're gonna find in scripture. You ought to underline it?
Memorize it. Refer back to it. Peter just put Jesus Christ on the same level. As God. He just called him God.
Everybody out there, by the way, believes in some kind of God. even if it's themselves. You know, maybe more than one God. A lot of gods out there. He's writing in a generation where they had the pantheon, they had all these gods and goddesses.
Nobody's gonna die for that out there. Yeah, I believe there's some kind of cosmic being. Big deal. But if you say that Jesus Christ is. God, oh now you are really.
out to lunch. Dogmatic. Exclusive Prejudice Close-minded. You might die for that. You might lose your job for that.
He wants them to be grounded that, yes, indeed, Jesus is both deity. and deliverer. By the way, the Apostle Paul made the same declaration, Romans 9:5. You might write that in the margin of your Bible next to this text, Romans 9:5. Christ, Christos, the Messiah, is Christ.
God Over all Blessed forever. Amen. See that confession of faith. is something to stand upon.
Now Peter's going to take us a little further out in the water It's going to get a little deeper. Because he's introducing to us The mystery of the Trinity. The triune God. Not three gods. But one God in three persons.
Peter calls Jesus here God And Savior.
Now notice verse two. Let me just read it. We'll deal with it more later. But here's what he says. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of God.
Jesus our Lord.
So in that text, He turns around and distinguishes Jesus and God. As separate persons, you can fill in the blanks in your mind. This is God the Father. And the mystery only deepens.
Now, if you're older in the faith, you probably remember reading in John chapter 10, verse 30, where Jesus said, I am. And the Father are One.
Now he didn't say, I and the Father are identical. He didn't say, I and the Father are the same person. He said, I and the Father are Why?
So here In the space of two verses, Peter informs us that Jesus is God, yet at the same time, Jesus is a distinct person within the Godhead.
Now, skeptics out there are going to be quick to point out the word Trinity doesn't appear in the Bible. They've evidently read the Bible. And they know that.
Well, I'll just tell them, you're right, that's true. It doesn't appear. It's a theological term to describe. God. By the way, a lot of words don't appear in the Bible that we believe.
The word sovereignty doesn't appear as a release to God, but we know that God is completely sovereign. The words omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent never appear in Scripture. All-knowing, all-powerful, always-present at all times. They are theological terms to describe what the Bible is. Revealing.
about God. We would know about him. to that depth without this revelation.
So, the word Trinity is simply a theological term to summarize the Bible's description. Revelation Of the eternal existence. The perfect union of these distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son. and God the Holy Spirit. And we know that because the Bible talks about all three.
Again, the truth of the Trinity Isn't spelled out in a few verses. It can't be. It defines, frankly. Our comprehension. Augustine.
You may have heard this. Anecdote: He's walking along the shoreline and struggling. He's actually thinking about the truth of the Trinity. And on that shore, there's a little boy who dug a hole in the sandy beach, and he's taking his little bucket, and he's running back and forth from the sea, and he's pouring the water into that hole. Augustine comes up and he asks him what he's doing, and the boy says, I am pouring the sea into my little hole here.
And Augustine immediately got the point. But so do we. I think C.S. Lewis responded really well to the mystery of the Trinity. He wrote this in Mere Christianity: if Christianity were something we were making up, We would make it easier.
I mean, why come up with something like the Trinity? We, he goes on, we can't compete with people who are inventing religions out there. How can we? We are dealing with facts. Anyone can be simple.
If he doesn't have any facts to bother with. Good. This is the complexity of God. He was described in these terms. I like what that homespun evangelist of old, that was the Lord who said, I'm breathing Vance Havener these days, just for.
Devotional. Joy, he said I don't understand electricity. But I'm not going to sit around in the dark until I figure it out. You and I can't begin to understand all the complexity and richness of this noun. that is attached to Jesus Christ.
God. But here's Here's a noun. That we can understand in fact We've got to experience it or we're lost. Forever. Go back to what he writes at the universe.
One. To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God. And here it is. Savior. Jesus Christ.
So that term brings all that deep theology down to where you and I live. And let me tell you: if you have only 30 seconds to live, this term is the difference between heaven and hell. Forgiveness and guilt. About the time they're reading this letter, The Roman emperor would be a man named Vespasian, and Vespasian. declared himself to be God set us.
And Savior, Sauter. He viewed himself as the savior of mankind. Caesars would mint coins, declaring they're the savior of mankind. God and Savior. Christians will die because they will not acknowledge Caesar as God, Kyrios, Lord.
So here's what Peter's doing. He's reminding them: is Jesus Christ? He alone is God and. Savior. Remember that.
Declare that with boldness to your world. If we only had 30 more seconds to live, People ought to know this matters most to us. We have this same testimony. Read. possess this same treasure.
Salvation. We declare this same truth that Jesus is. Our God. And our Savior That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart. A production of Wisdom International.
Learn more. at wisdomonline.org.
Okay.
