An Earthquake Proof Foundation - [2 Peter 1:1-4]

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Well, how many of you have experienced the tremors of an earthquake before?

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All right, several of you that have lived in Los Angeles, of course. There are approximately 20 ,000 earthquakes every year across the world, with only about 16 of those earthquakes causing major damage.

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In San Francisco, the New York Times investigation found that the Millennium Tower, which is in downtown, it's a skyscraper, think

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Prudential Center, has sunk 17 inches and tilted 14 inches since it was built in 2008.

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The Leaning Tower of the Millennium, I think, is what it is. They are concerned about that, along with 40 other steel -framed buildings built in San Francisco between 1960 and 1994, specifically skyscrapers.

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They used a faulty technique known as welded steel moment frame buildings, which fuses columns together versus using bolts and rivets.

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When the 1994 earthquake happened in Northridge, California, Kim grabbed a little two -year -old

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Haley and ran outside and stood in the middle of the street in the residential neighborhood, and I was soon to follow, and I remember standing in the street looking at the house when the next aftershock happened, and you could just see the entire house sway back and forth.

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I kept thinking, house of cards, right? It's just going to just collapse on itself. What kept that thing up?

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Well, the answer was it had a good what? Roof. No, just kidding. It had a good foundation.

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If you'll take your Bibles and turn to 2 Peter chapter 1 today, we're going to look at the foundation for your

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Christian life, something that will stabilize you, something that will, to use the language of earthquake and building buildings during those days, counter forces with damping.

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This is to reinforce a building structure, not physically, but spiritually.

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The world is chaotic. There are false teachers running around. We're in the last days.

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We need a good foundation. When you look at 2 Peter, one of the first things you're going to do is, if I said, what's your favorite part of chapter 1?

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What do you know the most about chapter 1? For many people, they will talk about verses 5, 6, and 7 about this subjective assurance where we're working on our virtue and knowledge and self -control and brotherly love and love.

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They'll go to that section, but it is an error to look at that section to start.

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It's like trying to say we need a good roof. No, we need a good foundation. So 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, gives us the foundation for living in difficult days, especially ones punctuated by false teachers.

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The false teachers, if you remember from last week, had one particular thing they loved to say, and that is,

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Jesus isn't coming again. You know, we sing that hymn, that old hymn on Sunday nights, we used to sing it a lot,

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Jesus is coming again. Their theme was, He's not coming again, and He's never going to come back, because that fits nicely to their morality.

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What you believe affects the way you live. Theology and morality go together. And therefore, if you want to live a life of sexual sin and illicit pleasure and ungodliness and unrighteousness, you need to have a doctrine that will let you.

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You need to say, well, Jesus isn't going to come back. I'll live the way I want. Thank you very much. But the opposite is true for Peter, because he realizes that since Jesus is going to return,

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I wonder if He'd return today. Sometimes when I get up and preach, I think to myself, this might be the last sermon

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I ever preach. Talk about Jesus. This might be the last sermon you ever hear. You should desire to hear about Jesus.

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I wonder what would happen if He came back in the middle of a sermon. That would be amazing. I wouldn't want to be left behind, would you?

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Can you imagine? What a day that would be. Well, anyway, the Lord Jesus, when we think about Him and we think about His soon return, for believers, for Peter, he knows

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Jesus is going to come back soon. Let's live a holy life. It goes together. The theology of the soon return of Christ has ethical ramifications, practical ramifications.

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Who wants to be sinning, caught sinning, enjoying sin, when the

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Savior of sinners is going to return? So this book of 2 Peter, while similar to Jude, has some differences, but both talk about how do you live in difficult days.

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And so we're going to look today at the first four verses, because I think, honestly, people neglect these verses.

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They think it's an introduction. Let's just get it over with. They think it's He's the Apostle. He's greeting the people.

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These are the people He's writing to. He gives some salutation. And now let's get to the good stuff. If you don't get the first four verses, it's going to wreck everything, including your assurance.

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How do you know you're a Christian? Well, we're going to answer that question in a little bit. So what we're going to do today is

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I'm going to give you three, I don't know, spiritual shock absorbers, three truths, three facts that will help you with your

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Christian stability. And they're all about who God is. They have nothing to do with us in terms of our active nature of getting them.

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They all have to do with what God has done and how He gives them. And by the way, that's going to prove to be a good foundation, because what if your foundation was your good works?

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What if your foundation was your prayer life in the last week? What if your foundation was how you treated your wife this last week?

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Those are bad foundations because they're not perfect. We need a perfect foundation, and it'll be found in the first four verses of 2

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Peter. This is one of those books. It's pretty easy to outline, it's pretty fast -paced, and it's easy to get the big picture.

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And the big picture is the false teachers are lying when they're saying Jesus doesn't keep His promises.

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Jesus isn't going to come back is a bald -faced lie. Could there be a worse lie in all the world?

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Well, it's a needed lie if you want to live a licentious, unholy life. So we're going to look at three shock absorbers, three marvelous gifts, however you want to determine them, to undergird your life in trials in the last days.

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Can we make it out alive? And the answer is found in 2 Peter 1 to 4.

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Let me read them and then we'll look at the outline. Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of God, our

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our

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Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which

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He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

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The first spiritual shock absorber is God gives. Matter of fact, let me give you the entire outline.

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It's going to be God gives, God graces, and God grants, with the key word being

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God. This is all who God is, because if we want a foundation, it better be a good foundation with no cracks and creases and crevices.

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God gives. This is the foundation for all Christian living, the giving of God. Do you notice in verse 1, and what we do at the church is, we are trying to find the outline in the passage.

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I don't create the sermon. The sermon comes from the text. That's what expository preaching is, where we expose you to the truth.

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So, you go home and you don't say, well, that pastor is super insightful. I could never get that from the passage.

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That would be wrong. It would be right to say, now that the pastor has preached it, I see for myself exactly what

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Peter is trying to say. And what does he say here? Because of Jesus and only Jesus, every

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Christian has obtained a faith. You could say, I have received faith. I have received a faith.

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To those, do you notice the text, who have obtained a faith, true or false?

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Faith is a gift. Faith is a gift. Philippians 1, verse 29, it's appointed for you to what?

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Not only to believe for his sake, but also to suffer. This word here has an origin of a divine king grants something freely.

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It means to appoint. It means to decide. It could actually be translated, it is to be chosen by lot.

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Interesting. This was to fulfill what the scripture says. They divided my garments among them and for my clothing, the casting of lots.

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John chapter 19. This is given by sovereign decree. And so your faith, you didn't come up with it.

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You didn't invent it. It's not of your own origin. Yes, you did believe. God didn't believe for you. But where did that faith come from?

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Answer is God gave it to you. And so, okay, think big picture. If I'm going to be going through the last days of difficulties, what am

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I going to rely on? My faith, I might lose my faith if I came up with it. My confidence,

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I might lose my confidence. The false teachers are pouring kerosene on this fire of doubt as well.

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Will I believe to the end? They're very, very persuasive people.

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When you stand before God in heaven, as it were, and your friend doesn't, your spouse doesn't, your kids don't, what will be the difference between them, an unbeliever, and you, a believer?

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Answer, is it found in them? Is it found in you?

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Or is it found in a sovereign God who grants faith? The text says right there, who have obtained a faith.

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NES says to receive a faith. This is sovereign bestowing of a faith.

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What was the difference between Peter who wrote this, who regularly denied his master, and Judas who denied his master?

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What's the difference? Is it because in Judas there was no good thing, and in Peter there was something good?

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Ours, the answer is, there's nothing good in either of them, but God's sovereign pleasure says, to Peter I will redeem,

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Judas I will pass over. What God gives, in other words, can't be taken away.

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Your faith, you can't lose. Confidence maybe, assurance possibly, you're like, well, what if I get cancer?

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What if I have a loved one die? What if this, what if that happens? Peter is saying, undergirding everything is,

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God gave you the faith. You didn't come up with it, this is a God -given faith.

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For by grace, Ephesians 2 says, you've been saved through faith. And this, including faith, is not your own doing, it is the what?

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Gift of God. You didn't come up with it, you can't lose it. The foundation of stability is found in a

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God -given faith. And I know what you might be saying, yeah, but I don't have Peter's faith. I don't have

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Paul's faith. Maybe pastor, I don't even have your faith. Well, what's the text say? This is really neat.

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To those who obtained a faith of equal standing with ours. It's not like, hey,

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I'm living in the last days, and I might have a faith, but it's just kind of a puny faith. It's not like the mighty

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Peter's. Well, since it has the same object, the Lord Jesus, my faith is just as good as Peter's faith.

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It's just as stabilizing. Your faith is just as good as Paul's faith. And it could be a little backdrop here between Jews and Gentiles, and Jews have a faith, and maybe ours is a subordinate faith, and a less honorable faith, or a faith that isn't as important, because they're

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Jewish people or they're apostles. The text says, of equal standing. That's amazing.

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The word there, by the way, I found it was interesting, of equal standing. King James says something like, of like precious faith.

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Does that make sense, Bob? Anybody else here with King James? Okay, some. All right, good.

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There's a remnant always. Not all have bowed the kneel to Baal. Indeed, bowed the knee rather to Baal.

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The word isotope. Any chemistry people here? Isotope. Iso means equal.

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Tope is place. And you look at the periodic table, it's kind of of the same place. Well, this isn't isotope, but it's isotimothy is what we would call it.

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A short for Timothy. Timothy just means precious, or valuable, or honorable.

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And so you have a faith that's like or equal. Preciousness or value as an apostles, because it's

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God given. If Peter had to come up with it, well, we could never match Peter. But if it's been given to Peter, and now the same faith is given to us, we have that same solid foundation.

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If Peter can stand up and say, no matter what happens with all the false teachers and the hypocritical lie speakers,

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I can stand up to them because of my faith, you can too. No Christian needs to be sucked into false teaching.

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This is precious faith. This is a commodity. If you're on top of Mount Everest, you need one thing, and that's oxygen.

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That's the most precious thing. There could be a stack of a million dollars over there with hundreds and twenties, and you wouldn't care because that wouldn't be precious.

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Here, the preciousness is a faith, an equality with Peter. Even the little faith, a tiny faith, a smidgen of faith, is still faith in the right object.

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This faith won't fail. Jesus won't lose one. And how do I know that?

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Because if you look at the text, it's not based on our goodness. What's the text say?

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Based on or by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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Oh, that's so good. It's not going to last because of my goodness, but of Jesus' righteousness.

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Kids, if you look at the word righteousness, what's the root word? Anybody? Charlotte, what's the root word of righteousness?

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Right. That's the right answer. Peter breathes a sigh of relief. Might have had to do some more homeschooling regarding that.

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Yes, right. When you see the word righteous, the root word is right. So we've used this illustration before.

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Let's think about Adam in the garden, and it's like he's in a car. And the car has two gears, forward and reverse, and there's a neutral.

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And Adam is a creature. He's created by God, and he's supposed to obey God. He's supposed to do the right thing, not the wrong thing.

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And God says, I want you to avoid that tree. Don't eat it. Eat of it. I want you to be fruitful and multiply, and everything else that God says,

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He wants you to put it in drive and go and do the right thing. Well, we know

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Adam didn't do that, right? Correct, rather. He, instead, didn't just say, well,

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I'm not going to do any of that. He jammed it into gear without putting the clutch in and went backwards as fast as he could and sinned.

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He did not the right thing. He did the wrong thing. That's why we need a

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Savior to not just pay for our wrongs, because that would only get us back to neutral, but to do the right thing.

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And by the way, did Jesus do the right thing? Even His critics, Jesus would say, which one of you convicts me of any sin?

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They couldn't do it. Even His critics. It's like you pull up CNN and have the TV camera on.

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Prove to me. And they couldn't do it. Your faith, dear Christian, it's not based on your own righteousness, because think about it.

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How right would that be? Any man here brave enough to say, I perfectly love my wife this week?

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Well, brave enough or stupid enough to raise your hand in such a situation? No. If we're going to stand through these end times where there's fights without and issues and false teachers and the world's coming to an end, who knows when?

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I need some stability. The stability won't be with my righteousness. It will be with God's righteousness, the

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Son's righteousness. Ask yourself the question, why did Jesus come to earth? Because He needed to do the right thing, not for Himself.

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He was already righteous, but for us. You say, well, what kind of righteousness is this?

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Do you see the end of verse one? It's divine righteousness. God and Savior Jesus Christ.

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The Bible says in the Old Testament that God will not give His glory to another. And yet here the other is.

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Jesus is called God and Savior. How can that be? Answer, He's God and Savior.

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God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, triune God. This is the deity of Christ. Even with the

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Greek language in the definite article, and you can study that on your own, this is our God. The righteousness that puts us in our right relationship with God because we have done wrong and we need righteousness.

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Let me ask you a question. I like trick questions. Here's the first trick question. Two trick questions.

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Number one. You can only get to heaven by good works.

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True or false? Are you sure? I've given you the answer too many times.

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The answer is true. You're created and you're told to do good and to go and to drive.

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And if you do, why would God damn you? He wouldn't. But, of course, Adam sinned and we,

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Adam, sinned and the consequences of Adam's sin is a fall in our sin nature and all that. We are saved by good works, just not ours.

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Jesus has good works saved. Second trick question. Could you go to heaven if you were only forgiven for all your sins?

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All your sins are forgiven. Would that be enough to get you into heaven? Are you sure?

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You don't seem as confident on this one. See, God requires obedience.

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Obedience is important to God. The Creator expects you to obey Him perfectly and entirely.

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God's laws are to be kept. They're not suggestions. His standards are to be lived up to with perfection. Obedience is not an option.

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But God, furthermore, doesn't want just obedience. You ever tell your children to do something and they just begrudgingly do it?

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Is that obedience? What does God require when Adam and now, for all of us, we're in neutral and He says,

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I want you to obey? Okay, I'll do it, I guess. I'll love you and I'll love your neighbor.

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It's one thing to have your sins forgiven and that's important. And by the way, I rejoice. Christian, our sins are forgiven.

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Aren't you glad for that? But something more is needed. Why did

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Jesus come to earth? He came to earth to live. Let me quote Hebrews 10 for you for a moment, and I don't know if you've thought through this in this manner, but I want to help you in that.

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Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.

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In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure. I mean, sacrifice for sin, yes, that's true and God has ordained it.

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But what's the ultimate answer Jesus said in Hebrews 10, 7, quoting

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Psalm 40, behold, I have come to do your will, O God. Did you get that?

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Psalm 40 in Hebrew, I delight to do your will. Do you know what God expects for you to get into heaven?

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Not just loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, not just loving your neighbor as yourself, but delighting in it.

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We just take the law and we kind of make it law light. We think we can kind of do that, but no, with perfect delight, the new

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Bible translation called the net Bible translates it this way. Psalm 40,

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I want to do what pleases you, my God. Your law dominates my thoughts.

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That was Jesus. No wonder when Peter said, don't go to the cross,

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Jesus, go straight to glory. We don't need any of that cross stuff. Jesus so was delighting in the father and setting his face towards Jerusalem because that's what the father wanted him to do.

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He was so delighting himself in God, the father. He says to Peter, get behind me, what Satan?

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That's Satanic. Jesus said in John eight, I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

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Theologians shed rights when a criminal has suffered the penalty of fixed to his crime. He has done a part, but not all that the law requires of him.

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He still owes a perfect obedience to the law. In addition to the endurance of the penalty, the law does not say to the transgressor, if you will suffer the penalty, you do not need to render obedience.

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Consequently, the justification of a sinner must not only deliver him from the penalty due to disobedience, but provide for him an equivalence to personal obedience.

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In other words, if you have a law, you're supposed to keep it. That's preceptive. And if you break it, there's a penalty that you have to pay for.

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And so when it comes for Jesus and his righteousness, he perfectly obeys the law and earns righteousness for us.

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Our unrighteousness, he also pays for at Calvary. And now you with me as Christian people, we stand in the end times with spiritual stability because my faith is given to me and it's not based on my own righteousness.

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Praise the Lord. It's based on the perfect obedience of Jesus who delights to do the father's will. And if God sees me through the lens of Christ's righteousness, which he does, that's not going to hurt my assurance.

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That's going to help us. Your faith is based on the work of Jesus, his righteousness.

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Therefore, it will stand. I never say to myself, I wonder if I'm going to get so night, become so naive and fall into the snare of false teachers who are constantly bombarded me.

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I wonder if I can make it. That's not how I think because of me. No, but because of the

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Lord Jesus who said in John four, my food is to do the will of him who sent me to accomplish his work.

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That's my food. That's my desire. I don't just love God. I love my neighbor. With all my heart, soul, mind and strength,

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Jesus, the willing sacrifice, your faith in Jesus Christ, who is God grants you a perfect righteousness.

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And God looks at you Christian today and says, he's right in my eyes. She's right in my eyes.

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That's amazing. That's wonderful. That helps my stability. Number two, the second shock absorber, if you will, our helper for foundational living is not only

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God gives, but God graces. You could say in this next verse, verse two, because of Jesus and only because of Jesus, I've not only received faith and obtained it, but I've also been given grace and peace.

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First two, we don't want to go over this too fast because it's just kind of an introduction.

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It's a wonderful introduction. God inspired introduction. God breathed. May grace and peace, you'd think it would say be to you.

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That's true. But like Jude, he says something a little different. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our

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Lord. So as you know, grace is this demerited favor. This king or this priest says,

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I'm going to give you favor. This prince says, I'm going to give you favor. You didn't earn it. You didn't merit it. I just am gracious and I give it to you.

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That's the kind of Greek greeting. And then the Jewish greeting was, do you remember what the word is for peace in Hebrew?

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That's one of the words we know, right? L 'chaim and shalom. That's it, right? If you want to say no in Hebrew, you just say lo.

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That's an easy one because it kind of rhymes with no. Well, it does rhyme with no, lo, lo, lo, lo, whenever you're bartering with people.

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When you go with us next year to Israel on February 23rd, Lord willing, you need to understand the word shalom and lo.

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Okay? That's all I want you to know. And where's my passport? I took some of you to Israel before.

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And one of you, I won't mention who, lost his passport in Sea of Galilee. I said, well,

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I might be the guide, but I'm going home on the next flight. Hope you can find the embassy. But the fascinating thing about this, he doesn't say grace to you.

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That'd be true. I mean, think about what the Lord God has done for you. It's all grace, no judgment for the

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Christian. It'd be another thing, peace, not just an absence of conflict, but tranquility and everything's right and there's peace with God.

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We have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5. That's all true. How does it get added?

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How does it get multiplied? That's interesting to me because you can't multiply the personal work of Jesus.

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You can't have peace and then extra peace, but you can do this. You can say, as I understand who

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Jesus is and what he's done for me, I can perceive more and more grace and more and more peace as it is unfolded in the personal work of Jesus.

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How do I know that? Verse two, may grace and peace be multiplied to you. How? In the knowledge of God and of Jesus our

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Lord. The more you study who Jesus is, the more you understand. That's grace upon grace upon grace.

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It was an objective fact. That's true. But my perception, my appreciation increases. I could ask you a question.

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When you struggle with something in your life, what kind of books do you read? Let's say you say,

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I struggle with anxiety. I'm going to just get 10 books on overcoming anxiety. Is that what you do? Christian books say, well,

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I'm struggling with contentment. I just going to get 10 books on Christian contentment. I struggle with depression. I'm going to get 10 books on Christian depression and an alleviation of it.

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I'm struggling with, I don't have a prayer life. I'm going to study prayer and get 10 books on prayer. I commend books about Christianity and those topics to you.

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But if that's all you read, you're doing yourself a disservice because the issue has to do with Christ Jesus and knowledge of him.

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When's the last time you read a book about who Jesus is? You know, in every single counseling situation, if somebody comes in and they say, we'd like to read a book,

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I could hand them a book about Jesus. No, no, you don't know my problem. I have OCD. Well, here's a book about Jesus.

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You don't understand. I'm struggling with porn. Here's a book about Jesus. Whatever the answer is, you will understand and you will begin to appreciate and your perception of grace and peace in Christ Jesus incarnate and how you've received it will grow and grow as you study who

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Jesus is. And that's why, with few exceptions, I read daily from the

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Gospels. I read other parts of Scripture, but I like to read the Gospels over and over and over, thinking about who

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Jesus is. The same Jesus that the false teachers go, don't believe him. He's a fake. He's a phony.

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You're reading and you're thinking, is that what he did for me? Even when I was reading Mark 15 today, I'm just thinking, who is like this?

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Who does this? How does he do this? For by grace, you have been saved through faith.

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That's Ephesians 2. And so we are saved by grace and we're not saved by wages.

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You work eight hours and you get a paycheck and you're the fastest person in the hundred meter sprint at school.

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So you get an award and you somehow, you know, get a high SAT and you get the prize of all prizes.

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No, no. This is all of grace and it is multiplied through the knowledge of Jesus. Knowledge is an important word in second

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Peter to know, to know, to know, to know. Ignorance is not bliss for Peter.

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I think it's true for Peter. If I just looked at his life, the more he understood about Jesus, the more he thought, you know, I have been graced.

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I have been so put at peace because of who Jesus is. Well, not only that, but lastly and thirdly, shock absorbers, gifts, truths, motivation, foundational supports.

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God gives, God graces. And now thirdly, God grants, God grants.

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Why did I pick grace? Because it says grace. Why did I pick grant? Because in verse three has granted verse four.

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Do you see it has granted. That's why we're in this particular point.

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We're using God grants. He gives, he graces, he grants, and you could say in this section because of Jesus and all because of Jesus, I receive faith that last,

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I receive grace and peace, and I've been granted everything I need spiritually, including the promises of God.

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Verse three and four. His divine power. I mean, there's a lot of power talk if you're a false teacher, but it's divine power has granted to us, not earned, not deserved.

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We didn't figure this out on our own. We're not better than people enslaved to false cults. He's granted to us sovereignly a few things that might help us get through these end days with the false teachers.

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Hope it works out. All things through the knowledge of him, all things pertaining to life and godliness.

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I mean, try to think something, think of one of your problems in life and tell me, does it fall between the category of life and godliness or anything in between?

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I mean, it's all encompassing everything. He's given us everything through, there it is again, through the knowledge of him.

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That's why it's important to study. That's why we're thankful. He's revealed himself to us, who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

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If you said to me, Pastor Mike, I'm going to devote my life to secular psychology,

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I would be kind to you, I would be nice to you, but I would say, is there any reason

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Christian you'd like to do that? To devote yourself to that kind of study? I mean,

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I pity the poor church before Freud came along and said, this is the way we're to see humans and the development and why they do what they do.

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When back here in the first century, everything you need, you have. This is language of 2nd

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Timothy chapter 3, remember, Paul's going to die, Timothy's going to take over, and Timothy's probably standing there going, you know what,

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I don't know if I have the tools for this. And Paul says, you know what, the only toolkit you need is found in this book right here.

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It's sufficient for everything. This verse in verse 3 should remind every

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Christian, although this is not the major point I want to bring, but it is a point. If you want to dive into the world of insufficiency, you will go to psychology and philosophy and every other vain thing.

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If you say to yourself, has God so provided everything I need in the

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Word and in Jesus, the ultimate Word, that I can make it through life, the answer has to be yes.

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I mean, think about it, if you were going to sail today from the south shore to Greenland, do you think you could pull it off?

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I would be paralyzed. Do I need an extra mast? Do I need, I don't know, lemons for scurvy?

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Radio, a phone, all satellite things, better have two of them. And all of a sudden you're halfway through and something happens, you're like, well, we're not equipped.

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We didn't prepare ahead of time. Is the Word of God, is the Christian life with Christ at the center equipping you for everything you need in the end days, or is it like, well, hope you make it.

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And the answer is, it's by His divine power, He's granted us everything we need. Nobody can say, well, you know what,

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I sinned because God didn't give me enough resources. The power of God, the ultimate power of God, the inexhaustible power of God, the power of God that creates the world with divine feet by His Word has equipped

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Christians. And so now here's the foundation. Will I make it out alive? Well, at least I've been given a faith that'll never end because it's based on Jesus.

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At least I stand before God in a gracious position and I'm at peace with God. And now He's given me everything

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I need, whether it's justification, sanctification, pardon for power, everything I need, God has done.

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I want to live a godly life. You want to live a godly life. Are we able to do it?

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Yes, by the power of God. Furthermore, do you notice in verse 3, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.

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Did we figure this out? Hey, we're the smart ones, we figured this little trick out. Or is the only reason we figured out is

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God says, you're mine. That word called gives the answer. He called us.

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So, there's different ways to use the word called in the New Testament. If I used a secular illustration, it might be something like this.

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Mom rings the doorbell, sorry, the doorbell, and runs, ring and run. No, she rings the bell in the backyard.

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Time for dinner. That's just a call. It's dinner call.

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Another kind of call would be if I went overseas and I wanted to adopt a child and then I went over to that crib after I did all the paperwork and I pulled that little child up and I brought that child close to me and said, you're mine.

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One's general. Hey, time to eat. If you're a neighbor kid, you want to eat too, fine. The other one's personal. I've called you,

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I've received you. In the spiritual world, there's two calls. A general call. If you're an unbeliever, repent.

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Jesus didn't come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Everybody believes. And there's an effectual call, a call that's this kind of call that God says, you are mine and there's nothing you can do about it and you'll be glad you are mine.

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This is a calling. This is not our own. Everything in this section has nothing to do with us. How are you going to make it out alive with all these false teachers?

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It's going to have to be God's doing. The King summons you effectively. That's what the call is.

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He grants not only everything pertaining to life and godliness, but verse four, his precious and very great promises.

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That is so good. His precious and very great promises.

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By the way, what was the main promise that the false teacher said was not going to happen? He's never coming back.

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But every promise, including that one, it's going to happen. And he's given those promises to us.

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He could have said it will happen, but I won't tell the believers. Or he could have said like he did, it is going to happen and I'll encourage them.

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I want them to know this is the precious promise that Jesus is going to come back.

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And then he, like a great Bible teacher, uses their own words, the false teacher's own words against themselves, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.

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Here's what's going on. You ever turn on the TV and have some guy say, I'm a god. I'm a little god.

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You ever watch people do that? Happens all the time. I'm thinking, dude, you're bald and you have glasses and you're a little god.

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How's that working out for you? You know, I'm going to have a healing service and the guy's got some comb over. I'm just like, this is crazy.

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How does this work? I'm a god. I'm a god. I'm a little god. I am who

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I am, Jesus said, and I am too. I'm thinking, I can't believe you're still alive. Blasphemy and god like that.

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And so these false teachers kept saying, you know what? You can be god. You're a little god. You can have the divine nature.

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You can be a god. You can be a god. You can be a god. And now Peter uses their language, but not to talk about you become exactly like god, but you partake of God's nature, as it were, with regeneration and the

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Holy Spirit and union with Christ and you share in his holiness. And one day you'll be glorified.

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You'll never be god. But his children have many similarities.

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And so he uses this language so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.

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And we share in God's character and his holiness to some degree. Not like the false teachers who would say, by essence, you're a god.

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No, but by some characteristics. And we have sonship and daughtership and we become more and more like our father and one day glorified.

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That's what he's talking about here. Just a great way to preach. He's not saying we're going to become a god like the pagans, but we're united with Christ.

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That's the best way to think about it. And not only that, at the end of the text here in verse four, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

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The bondage of corruption that we had to experience as unbelievers we don't have to experience anymore.

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And don't you love it? He says, having escaped. That word escaped is where we get the English word fugitive.

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We're escaped from all this. This is, as one writer says, the great escape. Anybody see that show,

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The Great Escape? Maybe one of the all -time best war shows. 1963, American epic war film starring

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Steve McQueen. The pagans know these things very well. James Garner, James Donald, Charles Bronson.

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1950, it was written, nonfiction. It was the firsthand account of British war prisoners escaping from Stalag Luft Drei in Sagan, Germany, now

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Poland. That was a great escape if you watch it. I mean, they had to take some artistic license because there were no

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Americans escaping. But you have to have Steve McQueen in the film after all. But the great escape is, how am

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I going to be unsullied by all this pollution and prostitution in the world? Well, it's because of God's doing.

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It's not because I said no, not because I'm more holy than someone else. It's all of who God is. He gives.

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He graces. He grants. So in the few minutes I have left, here's what

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I want to remind you of. While many look at 2

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Peter 1 and they skip the first four verses and go to chapter 1, verses 5, 6, and 7 for their assurance, test of saving faith.

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Does my life live up to this? Are these in my life and increasing? 5, 6, 7, and all the way through 11 are important and they are true.

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But they are not primary. You want objective assurance? It's not found in you. You have to stop looking into yourself first.

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The foundation for all Christian assurance is found in God. Objectively, then you will begin to ask yourself the question.

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Christians forgive. Christians repent. Christians read their Bible. Do I do those things?

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I'm not against those things. But I am against those when they're at the front end. When I have chapter 1 with this obtaining of a faith, verse 1, and grace and peace and power.

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He's trying to tell you, do you want stability in your Christian life? And to know for sure you're a

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Christian? Don't start with yourself. The number one mistake that almost everybody makes, including people in this room, when they say, is this all true?

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Am I like really a Christian? How do I know I'm a Christian? Everyone by default goes to verses 5, 6 and following when they should go to the first four verses.

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You've heard me quote Luther often. Remember when he said, when I look to myself, I don't know how

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I can be saved. Verses 5 through 11. But when I look to the Lord Jesus, verses 1 to 4,

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I don't know how I can be what? Lost. We're going to talk next week a lot about subjective response for assurance and how we want to live a holy life.

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That's true. But it's not first. Objective assurance.

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That is the key. Following Peter's lead. It's important.

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John Calvin said, if believers begin to judge their salvation by good works, 5 to 11 only, nothing will be more uncertain or more feeble.

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For indeed, if works be judged for themselves by their imperfection, they will no less declare

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God's wrath than their incomplete purity. They testify to his benevolence.

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In other words, God wants you to know you're his. And it's not by your doing.

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I love what Joel Beeky said. God loves to assure his people. That's what Peter was doing.

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That they are his children and he is their father. What would you think of an earthly father who kept his son and daughter in doubt for many years as to whether he was their real father?

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Do you think the heavenly father feels differently about his children? It'd be like me going to my dad.

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Dad, are you my dad? I don't know. We'll see how much you obey. Okay.

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He was a Korean war vet after all. Friend, do not spiral into the slough of despond and despair by thinking,

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I will judge myself as a Christian based on how much fruit is in my life. If you examine yourself and it stops there and you don't immediately go to Christ Jesus, you are going to struggle.

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All these books written, what about saving faith? And do you have enough faith? And do you have enough trust?

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And do you think God's merciful enough? And do you have a quiet time long enough? And do you do this enough?

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And do you pray enough? And do you evangelize enough? You need to be very, very careful. The Reformation recovered the bondage of the will issue.

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It recovered the solace of the Reformation. And it recovered assurance.

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2 Peter, if I ever say to people, don't just go for subjective assurance looking inward, how do

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I know I'm a Christian? Well, I'm different. I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus. 2 Peter is the book that they use to do that.

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Everybody I know. Well, what about 2 Peter 1, verse 5, Mike? You talk a lot about Jesus and objective assurance and take him in as word.

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But what about this subjective side? My response is, what about it?

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Because it follows verses 1, 2, 3, and 4. Your hope of heaven can never be by overzealous introspection.

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Somehow thinking, if I do the work, I get the assurance. That's not Christian assurance.

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It's Jesus did the work. And when I think then, is there a change in my life?

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Well, there better be because regeneration is true. But it's secondary. Do I have enough fruit of the

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Spirit? How faithful am I? Do I love God enough? Do I delight in Him enough? Have I confessed enough?

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Have I repented enough? Do I really love Jesus enough? Let's put it this way. Here's the end of the sermon.

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Ready? All those questions are law. Did I do enough?

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Did I love enough? Did you know love is law? Yes. But assurance can't be based on how much did

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I obey the law. It must be based on Jesus who perfectly obeyed the law and did the right thing.

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The law says you're a sinner and you're damned. And the gospel says Jesus Christ came in the world to save sinners.

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The law says pay me what you owe. The gospel says Jesus Christ paid

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Himself as a ransom and made redemption for us. It is

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Christ's righteousness that eclipses our sins. It is Christ's salvation that obliterates our damnation.

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If you have low assurance, the answer is not simply and only to do more good work.

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That's called Phariseeism, is what that's called. But that's our default. It includes looking at our life, verses 5 and following.

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But it is not primarily. And you said, Pastor, you've said this five times. Okay, I'll say it one more time.

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If you're a Christian, God wants you to know you're a Christian. He doesn't want you walking on thin ice.

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Am I, am I not? He loves me, He loves me not. Calvinists have their tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and what?

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Perseverance of the saints, preservation by God. And the Arminians, they have their daisy. He loves me, He loves me not.

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Is that the kind of life you want to live where there's false teachers everywhere? I need stability.

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It's outside of myself. I need confidence. It's outside of myself. I need some promises that won't be broken.

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It's outside of myself. So Christian assurance cannot be only, well,

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I'm struggling in my life and therefore I need to do more. God wants you to live a life we'll see next week of virtue, knowledge, self -control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

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And if you have those things and they're increasing, that will boost your confidence that you're a Christian. But that's not the primary thing because the primary thing in the

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Bible and in this church and from this pulpit and for 2 Peter is the person and work of the

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Lord Jesus. You're going to heaven because Jesus died for you, dear Christian.

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And He was raised from the dead. That's why we have communion because communion reminds us we bring nothing, we receive.

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Luther said when the devil throws up our sins to declare that we deserve death and hell, we should say this instead.

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What do you think Luther's going to say? I admit I deserve death and hell.

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What of it? Does this mean I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation?

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By no means, for I know one who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf.

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His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and where He is, there I shall be also.

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Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for your truth and help us to focus on the

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Lord Jesus this week and then in light of that, transform our lives by holy living in Jesus' name.