2nd verse, 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 2. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. May God richly bless both the reading and the hearing of his Holy Word. Now this verse written by Peter is both a compact and condensed expression of what the gospel gives and it is also an exhortation for Christians to make a conscious effort to integrate the gift of the gospel that we possess by faith into all of our thoughts and to all of our affections and into all of our actions as long as we are on this side of heaven. So again, this verse, simple as it is, it does two things. Number one, it codifies and compacts the totality of the gospel message which we'll see in a moment. And then at the same time it offers an almost innate exhortation for Christians to consciously integrate the substance and the content of what we have been given in the gospel into all of our thoughts, into all of our actions and into all of our affections as long as we are on this side of heaven. So let's look at it along these several lines. Five things that we will unpack. The first thing is this. The first thing is to consider what is, well, to explain what I mean when I say that Peter in this verse gives us a condensed and compact expression of what the gospel gives us because it summarizes along two things. Peter emphasizes two things that are hours by virtue of our faith in the gospel. And I'm going to use two words that Ronnie uses in his prayer for the right using his prayers. First off, he mentions the irreversible peace that we have with God, irreversible peace. That is a gift of the gospel. And then also he mentions an irrevocable grace. Again, that is what we are given in the gospel. So all of the gospel can be summarized along those two lines that that everything else is a derivative of those two truths. The gospel gives us irreversible peace and irrevocable grace. So let me begin by explaining why I say these two gifts summarizes the totality of the gospel. And the reason for that is because what we are given in the gospel answers our biggest problem. And therefore that's the gift that the gospel is good news. And the good news answers our worst news. So the two biggest problems for fallen humanity. As we stand before God, the two biggest problems that we have in our natural state is number one we are enemies with God. No matter what we think, and that's part of the mistake of some unchurched folk, they think that because they don't go around cursing God that they are okay with God. And I think that's a mistake. We don't realize that we are enemies, but we are in our natural fallen state. We are enemies of God. We've been studying in our Sunday school from Romans chapter one. And it goes on to show the totality of our fallen state. It begins because we suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. And one of the reasons we suppress the truth is because we don't want to be accountable to it. We don't honor God as God. We don't glorify Him as God. We exalt everything over Him because ultimately we are enemies of God. Paul says in Romans chapter 5 verse 10, he says, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. So therefore to be reconciled to God, it means to have enmity removed, which means now, if you are brought to faith in Christ, it means now with nothing else. It means that now you are at peace with God. The gospel announces the fact that we have peace. And the reason peace is important is because our biggest problem is in our natural state we are enemies of God. Now I call this irreversible peace because by virtue of our faith in it doesn't matter how strong you think your faith is by virtue of our faith. We will never be counted as enemies of God again. That's good news. The gospel delivers the once and for all announcement that war with God is over. Our second biggest problem in our fallen state is that we do not possess the ability to be what God has called us to be and to do what God has commanded us to do. Therefore Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, he says, by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing but it is the gift of God. Not a result of works so that no one may boast. So our two biggest problems is that we are enemies of God in our natural state and so therefore the God gives us peace. The gospel gives us peace. Peace with God. And in our natural state we are not able to do what we are supposed to do. Now I know again that's part of the distortion of our fallen state. Our foggy minds think that we can do it and that's why and people believe that and unfortunately churches have co-signed it. We just have to just do it culture. And so we extract Paul's words in Philippians 2. I can do all things and we think that just means we can do all things. But Jesus says, without me, you can do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing. So everything that comes from us that is pleasing to God has to go through Him. And the only reason we are able to do anything that is pleasing to God because it's of His gift of grace. So without grace we can do nothing. And that's the state that we are in so that we don't have any reason to boast. Now I call this irrevocable grace because what God has given to us freely in Christ, he will in no way revoke. What God gives us in Christ, he won't take back. And not only will he, it won't be revoked by Him, but it can never be taken away from us by anyone else. So therefore I would say this that all of God's grace, you can list all of the fruit of the Spirit, you can list everything that is necessary for our salvation can be compacted into those two words. The gospel gives us and announces to us an irreversible peace that God gives us through the reconciling work of His Son. And the gospel gives us irrevocable grace. He gives us benefits or credit for doing what He has required us to do that we have not been able to do on our own. God gives us in the gospel. He gives us full obedience to His law. Now if we were to just examine ourselves, what are we in and of ourselves, we are sinners, even though we are saved by grace we are still sinners. Some people don't like to hear that, that we are sinners, but you are. And I think we get tired of, you know, we have been so caught up with all of the can do stuff that we forget that can do are those who are sinners, we are condemned in and of ourselves. But here's the good news of the gospel that God looks at us as if we have kept His law in thought, word, and deed without any deviation, without any failure because what God has done is He's given us credit for the righteousness of His Son. The gospel can be summarized as irreversible peace and irrevocable grace. But the second thing for us to consider here is what Peter means when he says, may grace and peace be multiplied. May grace and peace be multiplied. That's what he says, may grace and peace be multiplied. And I think the best way to answer this is to begin with what it does not mean. What is it? It doesn't mean. And I think we need to be clear on that. That's one of the things I work with, you know, a lot of preachers and one of the things I teach them on, in any time you get to a difficult passage, begin with what it can't mean. And then you can reason your way backwards. And even if you don't get to the full answer, you'll at least get away from heresy. So here's what this verse, and here's what Peter does not mean. He does not mean that grace and peace being multiplied, or I should say, grace and peace being multiplied does not mean that there is a quantitative increase in the grace and peace that God gives to us. In other words, that there is no lack. When God gives us grace and when God gives us peace, He gives us all. So there is no quantitative distinction. There is no degrees that which we have of grace or of love or of peace. It does not mean that there is some sort of, there's something that can be increased upon. There is in other words, God can't give us any more peace than we already have. And that he can't give us any more grace than we already possess by faith in the gospel. Now let me give you my reasons for such a conclusion, because I know some people are just waiting for this and we're waiting for that, but we're not waiting for anything. Everything that we have in Christ, we have completed. So let me just give you a few lines of reasoning for this. What? When Jesus statement on the cross, when he said it is finished, I believe it. I believe he meant it was finished. Everything that is necessary for the salvation of the souls that he came to say is complete. So when he said it is finished, that meant there is nothing more required of man that he is not kept. And there is nothing given from God that he is not given. So Jesus own words that his work is complete. I believe him, but not only that. Secondly, Colossians chapter 2 verse 10, Paul says this, and you are complete. You are complete in him who is the head of all principality. So if Jesus says it is finished and Paul says it is complete, then therefore God doesn't need to give you more grace. And he doesn't need to give any more peace. But here's the third reason. In the very next verse after our text, Peter says this, that we have been given everything. Notice the phrase that everything is necessary for life and godliness. What do we need for life? Peace with God. What do we need for God? For godliness, grace from God. And so Peter says that we have been given everything necessary for life and godliness in Christ Jesus. And then also in first Peter chapter 1, he says that we have an inheritance that is imperishable and unfading. Therefore I conclude that Peter is not referring to a quantitative increase in grace and peace. Because God has given us everything in Christ. Therefore we are complete in him because Jesus himself says it is finished. So what does he mean? When he say, when he says, because it's here in the scriptures, when he says grace and peace be multiplied to you, then what does he mean? Well, the great 18th century Baptist preacher John Guil, who passed her to church about 100 years before 15 to 75 years before Charles Virgin. He passed the same church as Virgin ended up pastoring. He makes this observation on this statement. He says, by a multiplication of grace and peace, what is meant is a larger discovery of the love and favor of God which it admits of or excuse me, though of which it admits to no degrees. In other words, here's what Guil is saying. He says, by multiplication of grace and peace, what is meant is a larger discovery of the love and favor of God because the love and favor of God has no degrees in and of itself being never more or less. In other words, the love and the favor and the peace that we have with God is never more or less. It doesn't change in God's heart. God never loves us any less and he can't love us anymore than he has loved us in Christ. And we can't have any more peace with God than we already have in Christ. And God can't give us anything else more than what he has given us in Christ. So here's what I would add to what Guil says, that there are also no degrees and there are no bounds of the grace and peace that we have received by faith. By faith in Christ, what I mean by that is faith in Christ is that is saving is complete. Our faith is the instrument by which we embrace God's gift and no matter how weak your grip is, it doesn't change what you're gripping. You see, brothers and sisters, it's not meant, it's not up to you as to, and God doesn't, we can't earn more. There's some danger there if we're not clear on that because if we don't think we have it all, then someone is going to tell you by doing this you'll get some more. All of the peace that you need you have in Christ and all of the grace that you need you have in Christ. And so when Peter says that it should be multiplied, he's not talking about increasing what you have, but a greater discovery of what we have. Here's the third consideration and that is Peter makes a necessary connection between the multiplication of the grace and peace that we receive in the gospel and our knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. He makes a connection. In other words, what Peter one way to put it is this, that the degree to which we know God through Christ is the degree to which we will be able to have a better grasp of our gospel grace and our gospel peace and a better grasp of our grace and peace, the better grasp we have, the more we will be able to integrate it and to our thoughts and to our actions as we deal with all of life. In other words, brothers and sisters, here's what Peter is saying. He's saying that we don't need more of anything. We need a better grasp of what we have. We need a better knowledge of what we have. It's not that God gets any bigger and it doesn't and it doesn't mean that his love can get any more for us and there are in interesting ways in which we find ourselves on a journey or a pathway that makes us think we need more from God. Have any of us heard that even for Christians that our sin separates us from God? Now brothers and sisters, for believers, that's just not true. It's not true. In our natural fall and state, Adam's sin separated us from God. God in his grace bridges that gap. Now here's why that's important. If I don't know that even as I'm dealing with my sin and I've come to the point of realization, Lord, I've sinned against you. If I don't know that I am not now separated with God from God, I will think that I need to re-debitate myself. I'll think that I need to be re-bathized. I will think that I am deficient in some area but we don't need more peace. We need a better grasp of the peace that we have. As you brothers and sisters, one of the reasons that I think there are all kinds of religious trinkets that are on the market that will promise you a closer walk if you, if you, is because Christians don't know what they presently possess. There are so many Christians that are allowing themselves to be shamed and allowing themselves to be put out because they think they deserve it so that somehow they can re-earn God's favor. But brothers and sisters, here's what we need to know that the peace that we have with God is irreversible. You say, yeah, but I know he hates sin. Yes, but he loves you. That is the beauty of grace. Listen, if he loved you while you were in sin and saved you, he's not going to take you from the pig pin and then when you go back to the pig pin, oh, no, I'm just going, no, he goes back to the pig pin and calls us again and he brings us home. You know what he does when we get home? He doesn't wash our face and the fact that we've been wallowing in pig pins. He reminds us that we're his child and his love for us will never fade. And brothers and sisters, here's what we need. We need to know this peace and we need to know this grace that never changes because it never changes in Christ not only so that we will not be hijacked and have people have us do all kinds of weird things in order to get a feeling or in order for us to prove that we've made it. No, we need this not only for those reasons to protect us as Paul says so that we are not carried away by every wind of doctrine so that we don't try to fast our way into more of the grace that we fully have in Christ and so that we don't try to march our way or moralize our way into getting more peace and grace from God than we already possess. We possess it but here's another reason we need to know this so that when we go through rough spots in life, when we have sickness that we can't explain, when we deal with suffering, here's what we can take off the list. I am not going through this because God is mad at me. Here's what we can take off the table that this is not my plight because it's something that I've done and that I've offended him that I'm not going through this trial. My children are not disobedient because I didn't go enough to prayer meetings. And I'm not going through this. I'm not going through this situation that I'm going through because I took the Lord's table in vain or somehow God is angry with me. God chastings us as children but he never removes his peace and he never removes his grace. And so when someone calls you and gives you something or you hear something because you lonely and you happen to be watching late night, bad religion on television and it's all over in black, white and Spanish, we don't have a commodity on bad religion. It's one thing that we are all in agreement on. And so when someone speaks that word to you because you're up at night and you're wrestling with your issue and they tell you, here's what you need. And you look up with tears saying eyes and you think they're talking to you and you are convinced that God is speaking to you through them and then they say, now just do this, just put your hand on the television and then just do this. Brothers and sisters, let me tell you, you will not get more from God because of any hand you put on a radio or television or by a CD or get some oil or some blessed water or blessed cloth. No, everything you need from God is in Christ and multiplication of it doesn't mean more of it. It means moving the furniture that clutters your mind so that you will know what you presently have brings us to a fourth consideration then. What are the means by which the knowledge of God in Christ are communicated to us? How do we get this? We'll talk in a moment about how we can get off target and off track, but how do we get this? We get it through the public proclamation of the gospel. Every time the gospel is preached, God is reaffirming the fact that you who look to him by faith are a recipient of his full peace and full grace. Every time Christ is expounded. That's one of the litmus tests that I give with young preachers who think they want to preach Christ. I ask them, okay, then how should, and I'll give us a particular passage usually from the law and how should we in here? And if they, if the answer is anywhere other than in Christ than you have not preached the gospel, I don't care what it is you preach. The end result of any gospel message is for the believing sinner to recognize and rest in what has been given to them in Christ. And that is our incentive to holiness. Paul tells Titus it is the grace of God that teaches us to say no to all unrighteousness. And so therefore, if it leads you to think I need to do more, I got to do more, I'm not doing enough than you haven't understood the gospel. The litmus test is if we preach the gospel, is if people think you are making too much of grace. That's one of the reasons. I love it. Friend of mine says that you haven't preached the gospel if people haven't preached, has accused you of being antonoman, which means against the law. If they are accusing you of preaching too much much grace, then that evidence that you're preaching grace. And keep proclaiming it. So the proclamation of God's gift of grace in the person and work of Christ is one of the ways in which we get to the knowledge of God. We have the knowledge of God communicated to us as the word of God is open to us. As Christ is the center of all of our interpretation so that when we go through Genesis, we know that it is Christ that is poor, that is prefigured in Genesis 3.15. We know that what makes Abel sacrifice more worthy and more noble than the sacrifice of Cain is that he had faith in the promise of the coming Messiah. We know that the ark itself is but a type of what it means to be in Christ because you know what took place in the ark of Noah, the same waters that destroyed the enemies, hit the ark, but everyone who was inside was saved. That's what it means to be in Christ because the wrath that will come upon the world came upon him on the cross of Calvary, but if we are in him the wrath of God is averted. We preach Christ by knowing that the story of David and Goliath is not about slaying Goliaths in our lives. We are in that story by the way of David and Goliath. We are right there with Saul and the others who are cowering on the sidelines. But it is Jesus who goes into the battle. It is Jesus who is victorious over the enemy. It is Jesus, he is the one who is the cloud that leads his children through the wilderness. He is the pillar of fire. He is the rock that gives them water. He is the one that brings mana. He is the one who feeds them and sustains them. And so here's where here's how we are built up in the knowledge of Christ. It's through the public proclamation of the gospel and the ability to read the scriptures knowing that every time a promise and a blessing comes to us it is from God through Christ. And without Christ there is no blessing because he is the fulfillment of everything that God has required. But the knowledge of God is not only communicated to us through the public proclamation of the gospel. The knowledge of God is also communicated to us every time he brings brothers and sisters saints into our lives to speak a word of peace when we need it. To give a word of comfort when Jesus said, and low I am with you always, even until the hymns of the world, he meant those phone calls that loving and caring saints make towards one another. He means those brothers and sisters who come to us and rebuke us in love showing us a more excellent way. Paul in Ephesians 4 says that we are neatly joined together with each joint supplying strength to the other as each one does its part. The knowledge of God which communicates to us the irreversible peace that we have with God and the irrevocable grace that we have from God is communicated to us when saints speak love to others. When we show compassion in the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, when we hear God's word of correction through the instrument or the instrumentality of church officers and those that he has put in our place. Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus says, if a brother sins against you and it's interesting how we have localized that and the way we take it is that if someone does something directly to you, that's when you are supposed to know sin against sin is against the whole body. And so even though you are not necessarily the one who has been offended, but you're in the presence of the offender, then you have an obligation to the offender to graciously show them that their words and their actions are contrary to the word of God. We're not supposed to let our brothers and sisters while we're in sin and be content. We don't sit on the sidelines as interesting this morning. In our Sunday school class, we're looking at the rest of the list in Romans chapter 1 when Paul talks about the young godly. And yes, he begins with the big juicy ones that we all see in the headlines, but then he hears what he also throws in. Malice, gossip, slander, and he says all of these are manifestations of evil. And it's interesting. I mentioned that Christians get all bent out of shape when we say, oh, they're homosexual, they're putting it all in our face. What sin is not in your face, but yet be in a company of Christians when another brother assists you who is absent, and they're being slandered. Nobody pickets their house, nobody pulls them aside, but instead we pull up a chair, pour another cup of coffee, and listen intently to see brothers and sisters, somebody who's been loved by an everlasting love of God, someone who has been reconciled to God while they were yet enemies need to speak up. And we act like we are outraged, we're the police of the world. He's never told us to police the world. Isn't that what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5? He says, listen, when I said don't have anything to do with the sexually immoral, when I said don't have anything to do with extortioners, did you think I meant the world or else you'd have to leave it. It's not I'm talking about in the church, one of the ways in which God communicates over and over again to us, his irreversible peace and his irrevocable grace is when the saints that he has saved speaks that truth to one who's overtaken and sin. Thirdly, God speaks to us and reveals to us his knowledge of his peace and his grace every time he sets the table before us. And we hear the words of institution, take eat, this is my body which is broken for you, drink you all of it, but this is my cup of this is my blood of the new covenant and what is that new covenant that I will forgive their sins and remember them no more. Every time the word is publicly proclaimed, God is announcing a new to us that he is at peace with us and he's given us everything we need in Christ. Every time a brother or sister exhorts us or rebukes us in love, it is God communicating to us his irreversible peace and his irrevocable grace. Well it brings us to a final thing why do we need this why do we need we don't need more of it we have all we need why why then does that get obscured why does the fact that God loves us with everlasting love why does it get obscured how did we mess that up why is it that it doesn't it doesn't seem to resonate with us why do we need to to have a better grasp of it if all that we need we have why do we need to hear it over and over and over again brothers and sisters I would say it's because we know that we are tempted and sometimes when we are in the throes of temptation we think that we have out-send his peace or his grace not only are we tempted but we suffer I know sometimes we try to to put a happy face on it but we suffer we suffer setbacks and we suffer failures broken relationships and then we know that how we treat others who are like we are and we know how loudly we proclaim to what we would not do and so it just seems to make sense that like everybody else God is tired of us and brothers and sisters not only do we suffer not only do we deal with our failures but we have setbacks we have physical failures we have things and we read we read with the Bible promises and we don't see the physical manifestation of it so somehow we get lost in corners and we get lost in pain and we forget we act like we are not loved and we act like we can't forgive because we act like we haven't been forgiven and so the reality of our existential experiences sometimes it seems to argue against it seems like we it seems to argue against that we against the fact that we are the recipients of such a love such a peace in such a grace you say well okay here's what I know God only helps those who help some help themselves no brothers and sisters don't ever get in such a tight that you think God only helps those who help themselves because we can't help ourselves here's why we struggle with this let me put it in the way of a song Lauren Daagle is great young songwriter she failed a couple times on American Idol I think but she comes from a Christian background and even though she has become sort of a crossover musician she's a great singer songwriter but she has a song called you say and it captures I think the essence of what Peter means when he says why we need why do we need the multiplication of grace and of peace I think what Lauren said let me just read the first verse and the course of the song she says I keep fighting voices in my mind that I'm not enough every single lie tells me I will never measure up and my more than just the song of every high and every low remind me once again just who I am because I need to know you say I am love when I don't feel a thing you say I am strong when I am weak you say I am held when I'm falling short when I don't belong you say I am yours and I believe I believe I believe I believe what you say to me I believe brothers and sisters God says you love you and our pain and our failures say we shouldn't and he we need grace and peace multiplied because what he says gets sometimes drowned out by what we do or what we feel or what we hear from other sources so come to the table and hear him say that you belong you are loved you are healed you are strong you are forgiven you are pardoned but most of all hear him say you are my let's pray