Scripture reading for this morning is 2nd Peter, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, 2nd Peter, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. 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 our God and Savior Jesus Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, may the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of his Word. Looking at 2nd Peter, I'm reminded that when you read the Bible, while each of the books of the Bible stand on their own and you can't at any moment turn to anyone of the books or pistols or prophecies in the Bible and read the Word of God as it stands just in that section, it is important to understand that each of these prophecies, each of these pistols, each of these books play a part in the whole, in the whole of the revelation of God. And there's a part, there's significance to 2nd Peter, that Peter part plays not just in the New Testament but also in the whole of God's revelation, but a message of the Bible, the message of the Scriptures, that which you hold in your hand or that upon which you look at on your device this morning, the message of the Bible is the message of the gospel, from Genesis to Revelation, the unity of the theme is the amazing revelation that God saves sinners. This is what you get, from Genesis to Revelation as you read throughout the Scriptures, wherever you are reading in the Scriptures, the theme is always the same, God saving sinners. This is the gospel of God. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the sacred trust the church has been given, the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse 14, it says that this is the good deposit that has been given to the church and that the church is to God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is the gospel that guides us, it is the gospel that forms us. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that unites us. And so once since we should be referring to ourselves as gospolers, I don't know if that's a word, sounds like a group, sound like a musical group, that's what we'll call our guys, the gospolers. Let's not do that. Once since we are the gospolers, we are those who hold precious, those who preach, and those who practice the gospel of our Lord and save Jesus Christ. Genuine Christian fellowship, beloved, really. Genuine Christian fellowship is nothing more than the gift of the gospel shared, hard to heart and hand to hand. That's what fellowship is. When we come together, if we have genuine Christian fellowship, it is that we are sharing the gospel with each other, hard to heart and hand to hand. And so we give the gift of the gospel to each other. That's the gift I should be given to you. That's the gift you give to me, the freedom and the forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ. That's the gift we give to one another. That's why we have to cherish it. That's how we practice it. That's the gift I give to you. That you are able with me to live free in Jesus. That's the gift I give to you. That as we walk together, I am willing to forgive you of your faults and you do the same for me. That's Christian fellowship. That is sharing the gift of the gospel. And so this is the word of God to God's people. This is the word that God gives to His people, the message that God saved sinners. This is the Bible. As the New Testament came to the church, it was a message where the New Testament writers were seeking to do three things. They were seeking to do three things to preach the gospel, to protect the gospel, and to practice the gospel. When you read the New Testament, I don't care what book you are reading. There are just three things that are happening. The writers are seeking to preach the gospel, to protect the gospel, and to show you how to practice the gospel. That's the case, beloved. Second Peter is no different. As Peter is coming to the end of his life. As we saw last week, he has a word for the church, and that word is not just for those Christians, but that word fits within the overarching theme of all the Scriptures. And that word is the proclamation, the proclamation, the protection, and the practice of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are possible Peter, or when I was growing up, we just call him Saint Peter. We don't call him Saint Peter anymore because we don't read out of the King James, but we just call him Saint Peter. He wrote this letter to Christians, beloved, and it's important to understand that they were Christians who were struggling with the relevancy of the faith. Most of them were second generation, and even third generation Christians. Peter was their parents and even their grandparents age.
And so, beloved, their world, in this sense, was not much different from ours. Their world, the ones whom Peter's writing, their world, was as different from Peter as my world is from my children. Now you may say there's not a world of difference. Oh, beloved, there is a world of difference between how I see the world and how my children see. And so, that was a world of difference between how Peter and the original apostles viewed the world and how the second and third generation Christians were viewing the world and the challenges that they were facing. And here was this elderly statesman. Here was this elder in the gospel and he had a final word to write to these Christians. What will he tell them? Did they need to know the same things about the gospel that Peter heard? I mean, that was a different world. Did they need to hear the same thing about the gospel that Peter heard in a world where there were far more opinions in their day than it was in Peter's. There was far more plurality of ideas and each opinion and idea given equal validity. And in a world like that, what does Old Man Peter have to say? What difference does the gospel make? The struggle for relevancy of the gospel is not new. It is not in our day only but it was as real in Peter's day as it is in ours. And Peter wanted the church to know then what the church needs to know now. And that is to remember that the gospel today is just as important as it was in Peter's day and just as it had to be preached and protected and practiced then, it must be preached and protected and practiced now. When it is, when the gospel is preached, when it's protected, and when it is practiced, then the church propers. That is what the apostle Peter in this short brief letter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wants to communicate to them and therefore would communicate to us this morning. And we're just going to look at the first verse. We're just going to look at the first verse and he begins to introduce his argument for the preaching, for the protection and for the practicing of the gospel. At the beginning of this letter, Peter establishes the supremacy of the gospel in the life of the church, in the life of Christians, no matter what generation, but he establishes the two these Christians in particular that he's writing to you on three premises, three premises. They are right here in the first verse. They've been in the second verse. It establishes on the premises that the gospel has a messenger that the gospel is a message and that the gospel is about a man. There is a messenger of the gospel. Therefore, there is a message of the gospel and that message is about a man and those messengers and that message and that man is as relevant today as they have ever been. That's important first for him to establish who the messenger is. So like most letters in a New Testament, how does it open? It opens with the identity of the writer. It opens with the identity of the writer and the identity of the writer is a familiar name. His name is Simeon or Simon Peter. You see that in verse 1. Second Peter, chapter 1 and verse 1. But more important, more important in the fact that he identifies himself as Simon Peter, more important than his name, is the titles that he takes upon himself. Is the titles that he uses to describe himself, the one who is writing. And the titles that he uses are servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. This is the messenger. This is the one who is writing. This is the one inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach and to preach to the church. He is Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Now the word servant is significant here. But there are several words in the New Testament used to tell us about a servant. However, the two most frequent words are deaconus and the word doulaus. Now deaconus is a word that refers to the office of deacon from which we get the word deacon. Deaconus can refer to the office in the church of deacon, but it doesn't only refer to the office of deaconus. It also refers to anyone and everyone and all Christians who are willing to give their time and to give their talents to encourage and minister to others. And so in this sense, we are all called to be the a canoid, servants willing to minister to one another. In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 23 and verse 11, the greatest among you shall be your deaconus, your servants.
The other word for servant in the New Testament popular word is the word doulaus. Now doulaus is a word that doesn't refer to a minister, but it's a word that is used to refer to a slave or a bond servant. This is the word that is used to refer to someone who is owned by another and thus bound by law to serve and obey. This is the word used to somebody who is in somebody service and gives himself wholly over to the will of another. Now these are two important distinctions to make beloved because when Peter refers to himself as a servant, he doesn't use the word deaconus. He uses the word doulaus and he says, I am a bond servant. I am a slave of Jesus Christ.
That you might imagine. As you might imagine, choosing between these two words, there is significant connotation and understanding that Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is seeking to communicate. Being a slave beloved in the New Testament times, while different from the slavery in the history of our country, with all of its brutality and rape and murder and New Testament times, it was different but nonetheless it was still hostile and it was something that nobody desired for themselves. Nobody aspired to be a slave and everybody who wasn't a slave aspired to be free. And yet Peter, along with Paul and Roman chapter one and verse one, along with James and chapter one and verse one, along with others beloved, willingly, openly and no doubt joyfully and thankfully
refer to themselves, call themselves slaves of Jesus Christ. Now this is important. This is important because biblically speaking, we're all slaves. Now I know, I know, I know, that may not be PC and I may not be politically correct or a little sensitive or some of our overly sensitive ears but the Bible is clear beloved that we are born slaves to sin. We are born slaves to sin and when we are born again, it says in Romans chapter 6 and verse 18, we are born again slaves to righteousness. It's only two options. You are either slave to sin or you are a slave to righteousness. We are born slaves of the flesh but in Romans chapter 6 and verse 22 it says that we are born again slaves of God. Slaves of sin, slaves of righteousness, slaves of the flesh, slaves of God. Every human being is born in bondage. The one who comes and sets you free now owns you and you become now slave of Christ. When the Bible calls us slaves of God, slaves of righteousness for love it, this is not a demeaning title. This is not shameful. This is not degrading to be a slave. Yes, it's to be owned and no one wants to think of themselves as being owned by another but when you think properly about it, you realize that if I have to be owned, let me be owned by Jesus. If I must be owned, let me be owned by God. In fact, this is what the Bible says. This is what the Bible reminds us is our motivation for living and life that is reflective of the Lord's glory and grace in our life. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19 reminds us that we are not our own but you have been bought with a price. In verse 20 it says, therefore, glorify the one who bought you. There's nothing. There is nothing more indicative of the impact of the gospel on a person than when that person says, I belong to Jesus. That's how you know they understand it. When you call yourself a Christian, what does Christian mean? One who belongs to Christ. Reason why the apostles, the reason why I have Peter and Paul and James and the rest could say, I am a slave to Christ is because Paul said, I died to myself. Everything I have and everything I am belongs to him. That's what it means. That's how you know somebody gets it. When they can say without equivocation, I am owned by Jesus. That's how you know the gospel is gotten down in there. This is who we are. This is who we are, we love it. This is who we all are. This is what it means to be a Christian. We are servants of Christ and we are slaves of righteousness that we are slaves of God and in the Father's house there are no big slaves and little slaves. There are no big servants and little servants in the kingdom of God. There are only servants and in fact, Jesus says in Luke chapter 7, 17 and verse 10, that those of you who think you are the best servants are really nothing more than unworthy servants and that's the best you can hope for to be an unworthy servant. Lord God, that our church would be filled with those who understand themselves to be unworthy servants. This is Peter here, identifying with all Christians. This is Peter here, identifying that his state is no better than the rest of them. This is Peter here making sure that they understand that he, like them, is nothing more than a slave of Jesus, but also this is one slave that has been given authority to speak to you because I was graciously called as an apostle. Peter, Simon, Peter, hey servant and an apostle. The apostle is one, beloved, is a messenger, is a messenger, is one sent with a message, is one sent with a message on a mission for another and when Peter says that he is a slave, Peter is referring to his identity but when he says that he is an apostle, now he is referring to his authority. Now there is someone here who is going to speak to you concerning the truth and the relevancy of the gospel and this is the one who was sent to you by Jesus to master himself. This servant, this slave, is on a mission and it is not my own
but I carry with me the authority of the one who sent in his name is Jesus and so Peter was a servant and a slave of Christ and yet he was not just any servant but he was one of the first. This is what he's saying, right? I'm a servant but I was one of the first servants. When the Lord opened the house we were the first ones who came in and began to serve. He was among the first. He was, he was an OD and original disciple, all right? This is what he wants him to understand. First call to be, first call you won't forget that. First call to be with Jesus himself. He was among the 12, sent out by Jesus with the message of Jesus and Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 12 then became the foundation of the church. These are the apostles. Servants of Christ called by Christ with the message of Christ to become the foundation of the church and Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18 and Peter Jesus, Jesus calls Peter what? The rock, the rock upon whom Christ promised to build his church. He was first even amongst the apostles. When you read the list of the apostles as always, Peter, James and John. It is never James, John and Peter. It is always Peter, James and John, even amongst the apostles. Peter was first and this is the one who wrote to them. He wrote to them as one who was different because he had been given divine authority to do so but he wrote to them as one who would steal the same. He wrote to them as one having the same identity and yet also having his words carry divine authority and he was sent by Jesus to preach and protect the gospel of Jesus Christ and this is what he was going to do. This is what he had been doing but a better part of his life and in his last days this is what he was going to do. Jesus sent me to preach. I am going to preach. Jesus sent me to protect the gospel and I am going to protect. So he writes to them. He writes to them because he is a messenger. He writes to them because this messenger has a message. A message. A message. You know to truly be a messenger, you have to have a message.
You don't come to me if I am a messenger. That's okay. Well, I ain't got no message. Well, you not a messenger. To truly be a messenger, you must have a message and the message has to be news that people can use. Don't come to me as a messenger and say you got a message and you tell me something that is no value to me. You are not a messenger. A messenger is a person with a message and that message is news that people can use. And so it is with the Apostle Peter. Second Peter is a message to the people of the gospel about the importance of the gospel. It is a message to the people of the gospel about the relevancy and importance of the gospel. And so notice again, verse 1, what he says, Simon Peter is servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. Who is he writing to? To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours. The servant and a apostle of Jesus Christ wrote to other Christians and reminded them that you have received from God the same thing that I received. You have received from God the same thing that James, John, and Andrew and all of us re-seed. And this is important. This is important message that Peter is given here. This is important word that he reminds them that they are the people of the gospel, that they are those who have obtained a faith equal in equal standing with those of the apostles. No, no, no. They didn't all have the same experiences. That's not the point. They did not have the same experiences. Peter walked with Jesus. They didn't. Peter walked on the water. They didn't. Peter saw the transfiguration. They didn't. Peter was there when Lazarus came walking out of that tomb and they weren't. But the point is not whether or not they had the same experiences. The point is that whatever your experience you've been saved by the same gospel. You've been saved by the same message. And therefore their faith was just as valid as he is. Peter's faith was no more valid than theirs, even though he walked on water and they didn't. They had equal standing before God and Christ as Peter did. There was not a salvation for the apostles and a salvation for everyone else. Why? Because there is only one gospel. And contrary to some modern day conversations, it is not a black and white gospel. It is not a male and female gospel. It is not a young old gospel. There is not a gospel for bankhead and another gospel for buckethead. There is only one gospel and it is the biblical gospel. And it is a faith that you receive beloved. That is the true gospel. You ever want to know whether or not whether or not you are hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ ask yourself is it something that I have received as a gift or did I have to earn it?
Did I have to work it up? Do I have to be something or do something? Or is it something that is given to me as a free gift? The true gospel is always reminding people that it is by grace the Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 says, it is received. It is a gift from God.
And beloved, it is important to always remember that to obtain something from God is always to get something that you don't deserve. Okay what is? If you obtain it from God, you don't deserve it. It is a act of his grace and his mercy. And this is the faith we have beloved. We have it but we don't deserve it. And this is what makes us people of the gospel. Is that we realize that what we have we don't deserve. Never, never, never, never deserve it. A lot of people today like to debate this Kanye West thing. One of not is, is he real? Is he legit? It's his faith valid. We'll look beloved. I don't know, I don't know about Kanye West but I do know this that if God can save me, he can save anybody. Whatever you seek about Kanye West, I doubled it. I doubled it. And the Lord was gracious enough to call and save this unworthy sinner. And beloved, I am telling you, you may not believe it because I'm a preparation this morning but I can tell you those who knew me will tell you that they are as made by me being saved as you are about Kanye. It's an unworthy servant, undeserving and I have received and obtained the faith that is equal to the apostles. And if he can save me, he can save anybody. That's why I don't doubt who gets saved because I'm amazed that I am. And that's how we all should be beloved as we are people of the gospel because this is the point of the gospel. This is the point of the gospel. We have standing with God based not upon our own righteousness, but as it says in verse 1, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, not by my own righteousness, not by your own, but by the righteousness. You have obtained a faith that is equal to the apostles, not by what you did, but by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. You know, Peter was saying to them that wherever they were and wherever they came from, they were as much in Christ. They were as united to Christ as Peter himself was. They were equal because all Christians are equal because we all get saved the same way. This is the beauty. Beloved, this is the preciousness. This is why we not only preach it, but we have to protect it so that anybody anywhere, anytime, can be saved. This is the beauty of it, beloved. We all have been saved the same way. You say, you know what, pastor? No, I was saved differently from my parents. I was saved at a Bible camp. My parents were saved at a vangelistic rally. I was saved when I was 10 and my father wasn't saved and he was 40. I was saved when the Sunday school teacher taught me the things of God and my mother got saved on the streets because the street preacher was bold enough to speak the truth of Christ to her. Oh, pastor, we're not saved the same way. I don't care where you were. I don't care what you said. I don't care who you were with. We are all saved through the righteousness that comes not from ourselves, but from the person and the work of Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior. No one, no one saves themselves. Wherever you are, whatever you do it, if you're saved, you got saved because of Jesus. For all that sin, Peter, all have sinned, all have sinned the Bible says in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23 and 24. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and what? And our justified by his grace as a what? A gift through who? The redemption that is in Christ Jesus. All sin, all sinned, Peter sinned, David sinned, Abraham sinned, Adam sinned, all sinned and guess what? All got saved the same way. All got saved the same way. All got saved the same way because that is only one way and that is through the person and the work of Jesus Christ. All gets saved the same way because there is only one way through faith, by grace, in Christ and Christ alone. It is a free gift
and all get saved the same way. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, beloved, your life would change. If you started understanding that you got saved the same way Peter did, that you got saved the same way, David and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you got saved the same way Adam did by faith in Christ Jesus.
That's it. I'm telling you, it will change your life when you understand that you have obtained an equal faith with the apostles, not by your own but by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus.
And that's the point. That's the point. In this official Peter is going to make some strong arguments in defense of the gospel but all of those arguments are going to be built upon one thing and that is the man that is the gospel, the man that is the gospel. The messenger if he is faithful and the message if it is true, all point to the man. The messenger if he is faithful and the message if it is true, they all point to the man and the man is not Peter, the man is Jesus Christ and that's the point. Jesus Christ, the message of second Peter is the message of the scriptures from Genesis and Revelation and the message is Jesus Christ, Jesus Jesus Christ because that is the message of the gospel. Notice again, the Bible says, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, the those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, make grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? In these two verses, Jesus is mentioned three times,
three times and notice how he is mentioned. Notice the titles just in these two verses that Peter recognized. He called them Jesus the Christ. You know, Christ isn't as middle is his last name, right? Isn't that right, Bob? Christ is not his last name. Christ is his title. Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the anointed one. Jesus the chosen one. Peter called them Jesus the Christ. He didn't just call them Jesus the Christ and then he says he is God. Our God, he calls him the word of God made flesh, the second person of the Trinity, a God, a very God. Don't let there ever be a wonder in you whether or not the apostles saw Jesus as God. Peter says we have obtained this faith through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Notice he calls him Jesus the Christ, knows he calls him God, knows he calls him Lord. He is master, he is ruler, he is sovereign, he is king. In these two verses, note the titles that he gives them. Christ, God, Lord, but then he uses the one that I believe was most precious of all to Peter when he calls him Savior, Savior. In fact you read through second Peter. Peter calls him Savior five times in this short epistle. That is more than any other book in the New Testament. And second Peter, he calls Jesus Savior five times. Why? Because this is the message of second Peter because this is the message of the gospel Jesus saves. Jesus saves. This is what Peter wanted to communicate to them. This is what Peter is communicating to the church through the ages. Regardless of how many other Messiahs are out there, there is only one that saves. Jesus, Jesus saves. This is why he was born. Matthew chapter one in verse 21. When angel tells Joseph, she shall bear his son and you shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he will save his people from their sins. This is why he was born. He was born to save. This is why he lives. Beloved, this is why he died. Romans chapter five in verse eight, but God demonstrates his only love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, what did Christ do? Christ died for us. This is why he came. He came to save. This is why he lived. He lived his life to save. This is why he died. He died to save. But this is why he rose from the dead. He rose from the grave to save in Romans chapter four in verse 25. The Bible says he was handed over to die because of our sins, but he was raised to life to make us right with God. You have a right standing with God because Christ has rose again from the dead.
This is why he was born. This is why he died. This is why he was rose from the dead. Beloved, this is why he is coming again. He brews chapter nine, verse 28. So Christ haven't been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. He is coming again. He died to save us. He lived to save us. He rose from the grave to save us. He is coming again to save us. Salvation is what he does. Salvation is who he is. This is why we call him wonderful. This is why we call him counselor. This is why we call him everlasting father. This is why we call him Prince of Peace. This is why we call him savior. Jesus saves. This is why we sing. Freedom is calling. Chains are falling. Hope is dawning. Bright and the true day is breaking. Night is quaking. God is making all things new. Why is it the same? This is why Peter called him savior. This is why all of us who have obtained an equal faith with them. Call. You saved this morning. Are you saved this morning? Have you received that faith? The trust and belief upon Jesus Christ whereby you now call him Lord, whereby now you call him savior. He is here this morning. He is lifted high and exalted high and he is willing and able to save all those who call upon his name. Would you call upon him this morning? Would you call him savior this morning? I want to pray for us. There is anyone here under the sound of my voice who has never trusted Jesus Christ as savior today is today. You can do that right where you are. I love it. Right where you are. You can bow your head and you can pray. Lord Jesus save me. Lord Jesus I need you. Come now. Receive me unto your self. I am a sinner. Save me Lord Jesus and not only is he able, but he is willing to save all who call upon his name because that's why we call him savior. Would you be saved today? Let's pray.