[MUSIC PLAYING] The Bible from 30,000 Feet--
soaring through the scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Turn in your Bibles
to 1 Peter, chapter 1. 1 Peter, chapter 1-- I feel as though Peter has
been viewed inaccurately and treated a bit unfairly. There have been so
many bad Heaven jokes about Saint Peter
with his clipboard, standing at the gate, letting
people in, or questioning them that, unfortunately, you hear
enough of those crazy stories. And you begin forming a theology
of Peter standing at the gate and letting people in. Peter has nothing to do with
you getting into Heaven. The other unfair, inaccurate
depiction of Peter is that because
of his background as a blue-collar
worker, a fisherman from the Sea of
Galilee, a working man, and because of his personality
so clearly portrayed in the New Testament as a bit rough, Peter
has been dubbed or regarded by some as an ignorant
kind of a person. You may think that until you
take one read of 1 or 2 Peter. And you discover far from it. This guy was keen. He was very intelligent. Now, we're not the only ones
that have made that mistake. The early church, when they
faced early persecution from the Jews in
Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, those who were the spiritual
elite, looked on the apostles, including Peter
and James and John, as being unlearned and
ignorant men, the Bible says. It said they noticed
in their dialogue that they were unlearned
and ignorant men but that they had
been with Jesus. Well, that qualifying phrase-- they had been with Jesus-- proves that he wasn't ignorant. If you're in Jesus school
for three and a half years, you're going to come
out ahead, not behind. And when you read
1 Peter and you read just the first few
verses, Peter touches on things like divine election. He touches on the Trinity. He touches on a number of
pretty deep theological issues, though he is very, very
practical, like James was. Peter was a fisherman who became
a fisher of men by the one that he followed, by
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a fisherman from
the Sea of Galilee region. He was not born in Capernaum,
where he eventually lived in the town that Jesus
set up shop in, headquarters at. But he was from a little
town just a few miles to the northwest of Capernaum,
a little fishing village called Bethsaida-- Bethsaida. And he moved to Capernaum. And his fishing
business incorporated all those little towns
around the Sea of Galilee. He was a fisherman who
became a fisher of men. And his dad was named Jonah. Jesus said, blessed are
you Simon, son of Jonah. Flesh and blood has not
revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven. Now, what's interesting
about the name Bar-Jonah, [NON-ENGLISH]-- it's an Aramaic word. It means "the son of Jonah." But when you get to John
21, some translations have Jesus saying after
the Resurrection, Simon, son of John. And so the question
is, well, which was it? Was he the son of Jonah? Or was he the son of John? Both-- same name. Johanon is the
Hebrew pronunciation. "Yo-nah," or Jonah, is the
Aramaic shortened version of the Hebrew Johanon. And the Greek version is John. So it depends on what part
of the country you're from, I guess. You could render it both ways. His original name was not Peter. His original name was Simon. Simon means "hearing." He wasn't great at hearing. And so Jesus renamed
him "pebble." That's what [NON-ENGLISH] means. [NON-ENGLISH] is a small stone. And Jesus called him
Cephas, or Peter-- Simon, son of Jonah, or Peter. He was regarded as the
leader of the Twelve Apostles in the gospels. I say that because in all of the
lists of the Twelve Apostles, Peter is always mentioned first. Judas is always mentioned last. And there is more
literary real estate written about the apostle Peter
than any of the other apostles. The reason we can rib him and
cajole him and make fun of him is so much is written about
this very human of the apostles. He is featured very prominently
in the gospel stories. By the time we get
to the book of Acts, he is already leading in
the church at Jerusalem in the formative years. And then the
leadership is passed on to the half brother
of Jesus called James that we studied last time when
we were in the Book of James. It was Peter who
stood up in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and
boldly preached the gospel. And talk about an
effective ultra call. 3,000 people came
to make commitments to Christ on that day and then
were baptized in Jerusalem. So he was very effective. And yet he was very impulsive. One of the reasons I
love studying about Peter is because I relate
so much to Peter. My wife will tell
you that I'm often guilty of making a decision and
then processing it afterwards. Where she is a
forward processor, I'm a later processor. I just sort of shoot from the
hip, make a decision, do it. And then it's like,
uh, I don't know if I really wanted to do that. And I backtrack a little
bit with certain things. And that's why I read Peter. And I go, yeah, man, I get you. You are impulsive. And he was, not that
I would do this. But he took a sword out in
the Garden of Gethsemane and tried to chop a
soldier's head off. It's a good thing he was a
fisherman and not a swordsman because he ended up just getting
his ear and not his head. When Jesus was transfigured
before the apostles Peter, James, and John, it was
Peter who spoke up and said, hey, let's build three
condominiums right here-- one for you, Jesus, one for
Moses, and one for Elijah. And you remember with that
little outburst from Peter that God the Father had to
interrupt Peter and say, this is my beloved son. Listen to him. Your name is "listen"
or "hearing." Shh. Listen to him. So Peter was that one. And Jesus predicted
Peter's failure. We know that Peter
denied Christ. Jesus said, Peter,
Satan has desired you. He has been asking for you. He wants to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you. And when you are returned
or you return to me, you are recovered. Strengthen your brethren. Remember when Jesus said that? Strengthen your brethren. He now writes 1 and 2 Peter. This is Peter
strengthening his brethren. We have two books in the
New Testament from this man. A quick little background about
1 Peter as opposed to 2 Peter-- we believe that 1 Peter
was written around 64 AD, either before, maybe even
during, or slightly after-- but probably before-- an event that took place in
Rome, the burning of Rome, which I'll get into. We'll touch a little
bit about that. So we think it's around 64 AD. 2 Peter is written around
the same time period but right close to Peter's
death, which is around 68 AD. Now, as to where
Peter wrote this from, there's a little
bit of controversy because the book ends by saying
that he wrote it from Babylon. And yet we have no
historical record that Peter ever traveled to
Iraq to the city of Babylon. We know there was a Jewish
enclave in Babylon for years. That's where they were held up
for 70 years in captivity years before that. So it could be that he literally
went to Iraq, went to Babylon, had some form of ministry,
although tradition places Peter as being in Rome
and dying in Rome. Now, again, we
don't know for sure. We just have record. We have traditional record. But the record
states traditionally that Peter died in Rome and
lived in Rome before his death with his wife. It could be when Peter says,
I'm writing this from Babylon, as we'll see as we close
this book-- now, you know. Just in case you don't, this
is the Bible from 30,000 feet. I'm covering 1
and 2 Peter, which means we're just
going to be looking at a snapshot of a few
verses, tying a few words and thoughts together,
and giving you a summation of the book. But he writes from Babylon. It could be that
Babylon, which was a place of false worship
in the Old Testament, was a code name by New Testament
times for the city of Rome. You say, well, why
wouldn't you just say Rome? Here's why. The church was under scrutiny
by the Roman government. They were looking for anything
at all to arrest Christians, to kill leaders. And so by saying, from
Babylon, a Roman official might read that and
have no clue what he's talking about when,
in fact, he says, I'm Peter, one of the leaders. And I'm writing from Rome. So somebody who is scrutinizing
this may miss that. And so it is
believed-- believe me, there's controversy about a
lot of things in scripture. And this is just one of them. I tend to think he
wrote it from Rome. And he used that as a pseudonym
to mean the city of Rome. What's the theme of this book? In a nutshell, you're
going to suffer. Now, that's no news to you. You're living through COVID-19. You're in it. The whole world is suffering. But as a believer
in particular, you are called in part to
suffer for His name's sake for the right reason,
not for the wrong reason. Everybody suffers. And you can suffer for
doing stupid things. If you're going to
suffer, make sure that you suffer for
the right reason. I remember the Four
Spiritual Laws. They're still a very
powerful tract of truth. But I believe it
begins by saying, God loves you and has a
wonderful plan for your life. Now, stop there. If you stop and you look at
that and go, oh, wow, well, that sounds good, a wonderful
plan for my life, He does. But define "wonderful" because
wonderful plan for your life may include a good
dose of suffering for the right reason-- to bring you closer
to Christ, to help you minister to people who
are suffering as well, to make you a powerful tool. Of course, nobody really
tells young seekers that. But that's another story. Peter verse 1, an
apostle of Jesus Christ-- to the pilgrims of the
dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Where are these places located? In modern-day Turkey, Northern
Turkey, ancient Asia Minor. When he says, pilgrims
of the dispersion, I already covered that
sort of in James-- the diaspora. The diaspora was a
term for Jews who had been scattered
around the world. It could be that Peter was
writing to Jewish believers. Or it simply could be that
Peter is co-opting the term "diaspora," dispersion, and
writing to any Christian who has suffered persecution and
because of the persecution had to leave, had to
scatter, had to move and is scattered
around those areas. So it's a general epistle to
the pilgrims of the dispersion. Notice what he says
about them in verse 2-- elect according to
the foreknowledge of God, the Father. This is a pretty deep,
heady, doctrinal set of truths in verse 2. In sanctification of the spirit
for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ, grace
to you and peace be multiplied. The word "elect", [NON-ENGLISH],,
is a word that speaks of being handpicked. Now, I just want you
to think for a moment and take hope in this idea. Of all the people in the world,
God his hand-selected you. He picked you. He selected. He elected you. He knew you and had you in
mind before the foundation of the world. And you are part of
His royal family. So no matter what
you are going through as a suffering
believer, don't you know anybody suffering
hearing that God, of all the people in the
world, elected, selected, picked you would help
your hope to grow? Verse 3-- blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according
to His abundant mercy has begotten us
again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that
does not fade away reserved in Heaven for you. Notice that term
"begotten us again." That's the third-person
active of "being born again." If you go to verse 23,
he picks up that idea-- having been born again,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. Jesus told Nicodemus, you
have to be born again. You have to be born-- [NON-ENGLISH] is the
Greek term-- from above. You've had a physical birth. You must have a spiritual birth. I remember when I
first came to Christ, and I had not heard
the term "born again." I had never heard
that term in my life. I grew up in a Catholic family. We didn't talk about
born-again Christians. we never read the scriptures, so
I didn't even know it existed. So when I was 18 and I watched
that Billy Graham program and I said yes to Jesus,
I still hadn't heard the word "born again" yet. I went back down from the
San Francisco Bay area down back to Socal,
where my family was from. And I remember a
friend of mine who didn't know that I
had received Christ about a week before walked up
to me, saw me, and decided, there's Hetizig. I'm going to go share
the gospel with him. He needs it. So Ray walked up to me. And he goes, Hetizig. And I looked at him. And he said, have
you been born again? And I was arrested
by that question. I said, hold up there. Where did you get that term? He goes, what are
you talking about? What term? I said, you just asked
me if I was born again. Where did you get that idea? That's a great term. And he goes, well,
Jesus said that. You must be born again. And again, I had not read that. I said, He said that? And he showed me in the
scripture where He said it. And I went, man, I
have been looking for some descriptor, some way to
tell people what it feels like, what I've experienced
in the last week or so in knowing Jesus. And that term sums it up. That's what happened to me. I've been born again. And so I remember coming
to this revelation. And Peter picks up on that born
again idea, begotten us again, or born again. To an inheritance--
verse 4-- incorruptible, undefiled that
does not fade away. It is reserved in
Heaven for you who are kept by the power
of God through faith, ready to be revealed
in the last time. What Peter is doing is trying
to foster a sense of security in the minds and hearts of
those that he is writing to. They feel shaken by persecution. They are suffering, as you
will see in just a moment. It's getting hot. It's getting hard. It's getting difficult to
live the Christian life. So he wants them to be secure. You're elect. God handpicked you. Not only did He handpick you. He transformed you. You are born again. Not only that, Heaven awaits
you when it's all done. It is reserved in
Heaven for you. All of that is to
bolster their security. Remember in John chapter
1 where John says, He came into his own. His own did not receive Him. But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the power to
become sons of God who were born not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, but of God. So Peter is
reinforcing this truth. You're elected, selected. You are begotten again. You have an inheritance
reserved for you. So take heart in that. Take heart whose you are
and where you're going. You know, we're all
going to Heaven. Remind yourself of that
when you wake up tomorrow. I'm Heaven-bound. Now, though we're
all going to Heaven, here's what I've noticed
about a lot of us Christians. You'd never know it. We have the ticket to Heaven. It's guaranteed. But we're not enjoying the ride. It's a bumpy ride. But stick your head out the
window every now and then. Breathe in the air. Look around at the
difference of the terrain. Whoa, it's hot outside. So? It'll be cold in the
mountains in a couple hours. Just enjoy the variety. You're going to have
and you're on your way to the Celestial City. But enjoy your way there. God knows how to
give you variety. So in this you greatly rejoice-- verse 6-- though now for a
little while, if need be, you have been grieved
by various trials that the genuineness
of your faith, being much more precious than
gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be
found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation
of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love,
though now you do not see Him. Yet believing, you rejoice
with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end
of your faith, the salvation of your souls. In July of the year
64 AD, Rome burned. A fire was set burning many of
the public buildings in Rome. It was widely believed-- and it
is by historians to this day. It was believed back then. It is recorded in history. Most people believed the
emperor himself lit the fire. Caesar Nero lit the fire. Why? Well, he had a penchant
for building things. He loved new buildings. And the only problem
with Rome is everything was already built out. So he had to destroy things
so that he could build it according to his vision. But because the public ire
was turning against him, to divert their anger, he had
to come up with a scapegoat. And the most convenient group
to blame it on were Christians. Up to that point,
Christianity was called a "permitted religion"-- permitted religion. It was permitted by
the Roman government to practice Christianity
because, up to this point, it was regarded as
a sect of Judaism. Judaism had been widespread
in the Roman Empire for years. So it was just another part of
being a Jew, in their thinking, until the fire. Once the fire happened and
people started looking at Nero, Nero started saying, it's
the Christians who did it. It began a widespread
persecution that went for the
next 200 years that became very violent and very
extreme and very catastrophic for the early church. Now, playing into the
scapegoat of Christians were several factors. Factor number one,
the Christians took the Lord's Supper. They took communion like we
did this past weekend together as a church. But because it was emblematic
of the body and blood of Jesus, the rumor that
went around Rome is that Christians were cannibals. They ate flesh and blood. Never mind the emblematic
nature of communion. Nobody cares. When there's a rumor or gossip,
nobody cares about the facts. They just like the spin. They like the tweet. And it's like, oh, wow. They're cannibals. So then they started
fomenting that. Number two, Christianity
upset the family structure in the Roman Empire. It regarded women as equal. It honored the place of women. There would be church services
where men and women would be worshipping
together, something not practiced at large
in Roman culture. And slaves were
admitted to the church and regarded as humans
and given dignity. And that upset the equilibrium
of the politics of Rome. And not only that,
but Christians believed and believe that
one day the world will end. And even Peter writes how
it's going to end in 2 Peter. It's going to end by what? A fire. It's going to be burned. Sometimes you say, well, it's
all going to burn anyway. Yeah. If you keep saying that enough,
when a fire happens in Rome, they go, oh, the
Christians are always talking about burning things. So those factors played
into that false, fake news narrative that was
perpetrated by Caesar Nero. And for 200 years,
the church suffered. So Peter's telling
them, steel yourselves. Arm yourselves
because-- verse 9-- receiving the end of your faith,
the salvation of your souls. Down in verse 13-- therefore
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest
your hope fully upon the grace that
is to be brought to you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children,
not conforming yourselves to the former lust
as in your ignorance. Go down to verse 17. And if you call on the Father,
who, without partiality, judges according to each
one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the
time of your sojourning here in fear. Now, this fear is
the fear of the Lord. It's the awe and
reverence of the Lord. It's that reverential awe
that produces holy submission to a loving God, a term that
appears no less than 50 times in scripture-- the
fear of the Lord. That's the idea of this fear. Live in the fear of the Lord. Go down to verse 23. Having been born again,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible,
through the word of God-- now, I'm emphasizing
that because it's going to be emphasized by Peter-- through the word of God, which
lives and abides forever. Because now he quotes
Isaiah chapter 40. He quotes from the word of
God in the Old Testament. All flesh is as grass
and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers. Its flower falls away. But the word of the
Lord endures forever. Now, this is the word by which
the gospel was preached to you. Therefore laying aside all
malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil
speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure
milk of the word. You see the thread of thought. He quotes the word. He says the word is the gospel. And then he says, crave it. Desire as newborn babes
pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby
if, indeed, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Feed on biblical
truth, solid truth. Feed on the word of God. Don't settle for junk food. He lists five types
of junk food here-- malice, guile, hypocrisy,
envy, and evil speaking. If you eat junk food-- and I'm not looking at you weird
like I suggest that you do. But if you do, it will ruin
your appetite for good food. If you feed off
spiritual junk food, it'll ruin your
appetite for the word. If you feed on these things,
these are all appetite killers. Then it will diminish your
appetite for the word of God. So we've already tasted. Notice what it says. If indeed-- verse
3-- you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. We've already had
an appetizer, man. So it's like we've
been eating junk food. And then somebody gives
us this hors d'oeuvre from this crazy awesome
restaurant where the chef has been schooled by the best. And you just have a
morsel and go, whoa. I want more of that. OK. Then don't eat the junk food. Feed on the word. Feed on the good stuff. Feed on the truth. You've already tasted
that the Lord is good. That's what happened when
you first came to Christ. Now continue with Him
and feed on the truth. You see, He's
writing to those who, in a time of persecution,
in a difficult time, are all over the map. And He encourages
them to hold fast. Go down to verse 8, more
quotes from the scripture. I don't have time to
chase them all down. But he says-- quoting the
word-- any stone or stumbling and a rock of a fence. They stumble being disobedient
to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen-- there it is again-- elect,
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people that you may proclaim
the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. Now, your spiritual
growth is directly proportional to your
spiritual appetite. If you have a hunger,
if you have a thirst-- Jesus said, blessed are
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. They will be what? Filled. And once you're filled
with righteousness, you just don't
want the junk food. You've had the real deal, man. It's hard to go back. So your spiritual
growth is directly proportional to your
spiritual appetite. Learn to have an appetite
for the milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Now, having given
that encouragement, Peter recognizes that the
people to whom he is writing-- see if this isn't
current or contemporary. They live in a
very wicked world. And the government is corrupt. So how do you live
in a world like that? What do you do with that? When you find that
to be a reality and you're a person who loves
the Lord-- having not seen yet, you love and rejoice
with joy unspeakable-- how do you carry that
out in a wicked world with corrupt people? Verse 11-- beloved, I beg you as
sojourners and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which
war against the soul, having your conduct honorable
among the gentiles-- so personal holiness-- that when they speak
against you as evil doers, they may by your good works
which they observe glorify God on the day of visitation. Therefore-- part of
those good works-- submit yourselves
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,
whether to the king as supreme or to the governors
as those who are sent by him for the
punishment of evil doers and for the praise
of those who do good. Those are difficult verses,
more difficult at certain times than at other times. Easy to preach from when
everything goes your way and you've got the person you
want in civil government, et cetera, et cetera. Not so easy when
the guy in charge happens to be Caesar
Nero, who will burn a city and blame the Christians. And the result of that is
Christians being killed. Now, what Peter writes is
very similar to what Paul writes in Romans chapter 13. Christians were already
being viewed suspiciously. Peter is saying, don't
add fuel to that fire. Sorry to use that analogy
given what we just found out historically. But because believers were
meeting in homes privately, not in the public
arenas of Rome, because of the Lord's Supper,
because they wouldn't bow down to Caesar and put that
little pinch of incense over here, saying,
Caesar is Lord-- they refused that they would
rather die a martyr's death and bow down to Caesar. Because of that,
they were already viewed very suspiciously. So Peter is saying,
as much as you can, you obey civil government. You do what they say. Now, you also know there's
always a caveat to that, right? Being a good
Christian means being a good citizen until
being a good citizen means being a bad Christian. And there's a line that
when it's crossed, you go, I'm sorry. If you tell me that
I can't do that, you might hide behind
a number of reasons. But you crossed a line. So we know that that
happened with Pharaoh when he gave a government
commandment to the Hebrew midwives to kill all the baby
boys that were born in Egypt. They refused to do it. It says they feared God. And they did not do
what the king said. We know the early church
disobeyed the government in Acts 4 and 5 when there
was a law in Jerusalem that they could not
meet together publicly. They could not preach
the gospel freely. And Peter said, whether it's
right in the sight of God to listen to you more
than God, you judge. But we can't but speak the
things which we have seen and heard. We must obey God
rather than men. Now, I'm following the ping
pong ball every week of what we as people in our land
can and cannot do. And it changes from
politician to politician. And it changes, by the way,
from scientist to scientist. There's not one
scientific narrative. Unfortunately, in
this pandemic, science has become politicized
and weaponized. And it depends on what
science you want to listen to. But there's different
lines of science. And it's easy to say,
well, those Christians are idiots for even meeting. No science at all. And yet scientists will
easily refute that. So it's not an easy thing to
navigate, all of that to say-- and I don't want to
spend much time on it. But it is very
relevant to what we're dealing with because we
have a president saying churches are essential. And I happen to agree with him. We are essential. And people need to go to church. And I believe that. That's a New Testament thing. And we have a governor
who says, not so much. And though I love
both and pray for both and try to respect both,
can I just say freely and frankly, it
ain't easy to do it. So having said that,
I should probably move on because I know
this is being recorded. [APPLAUSE] Let it be. Peter shows now how they are to
live the Christian life at home with servants in verse
18, between husbands and wives in chapter 3,
and in chapter 3, verse 8, finally summing up
those different roles. All of you be of one mind,
having compassion for one another, love his brothers. Be tender-hearted. Be courteous, not
returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling,
but, on the contrary, blessing knowing that you were
called to this that you may inherit a blessing. Verse 17-- actually, verse 16-- having a good conscience
that when they defame you as evil doers, those who revile
your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better-- now watch this-- if it
is in the will of God to suffer for doing good
than for doing evil, for Christ also
suffered once for sins the just for the unjust
that He might bring us to God, et cetera. Peter figures in the possibility
that it might be God's will for you to suffer. Even though there's an
entire false theology built called the health and wealth
movement that God wants your best life now and you can
have health and wealth now, the Bible never promises,
ever promises that you will have your best life now. It always promises
your best life is after now in the
hereafter with Him forever. That's the thrust
of this letter-- is that you have an
inheritance undefiled reserved in Heaven for you. You're going to suffer now. Peter promises that. Jesus promised that. And notice what Peter does here. He says, look, Jesus
Himself suffered. If Jesus, your Lord,
the one that saved you, made you born again,
et cetera, et cetera-- if the one you follow was
ill treated by his generation and killed and
suffered, you think you're going to escape
if you follow Him? So go down to
chapter 4, verse 12. Look at us skating through. Beloved, do not
think it's strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you as though some strange
thing happened to you. Why is it, then, that
every time we suffer we go, gosh, this is strange? How many times
have you heard it? These are the weirdest
times, so strange. The whole world is suffering. Yeah, it's a little different
than it always has been. But we've always suffered. There's always been hard times. And when a Christian
suffers, they're like, I can't believe it. The Lord let this happen to me. We just flip out. And Peter says, well, I don't
know why you always flip out. Don't flip out. Flip ye not out, basically,
is what he's saying. Do not think it's strange. But rejoice. In the midst of this
weird time we're in, the world is not rejoicing. If you do, you will stand
out like the most blessed sore thumb ever. You will be such an exception. It's like, what are
they so happy about? I'm selected by God. I got an inheritance
reserved in Heaven for me. I don't know. What am I happy about? Right? So rejoice. [APPLAUSE] And rejoice to the
extent that you partake of Christ's
sufferings that when His glory is
revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached
for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for
the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed. But on your part,
He is glorified. Now, Jesus predicted--
one of the things he promised you-- oh, we
love the promises of God. Do we? One of the things
Jesus promised us is you will be betrayed
by parents, by brothers, by friends, by family. And you will be hated by all
nations for my name's sake. So when that happens,
don't go, weird. Say, hallelujah. It's what He predicted. And it's going to sound weird. But how about this? How about this? I get to suffer. You're going, Skip, you're
going way too far on that. Well, Paul said that
I might know Him and the power of
His resurrection and the fellowship
of His suffering being conformed
even to his death. I want to experience what Jesus
experienced-- resurrected power and suffering because
He did that, too. And when I suffer, I'm going
to look at it this way. Jesus suffered. I'm suffering. He suffered for doing right. I'm suffering for doing right. We're enjoying a very
unique kind of fellowship together in this suffering. I am fellowshipping
with the Christ who suffered on this earth. And He can relate to me
as my great high priest. I love that thought. But verse 15-- let none of
you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, as an evil
doer, as a busy body in other people's matters. If anyone suffers
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. But let him glorify
God in this matter, for the time has
come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And it begins with us first. What will be the
end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now, a variety of people are
mentioned in chapter 5, elders. And then verse 5--
likewise, you younger people submit to your elders. Let all of you be
submissive to one another, clothed with humility. As we finish out-- it's
a shorter chapter-- I take you to verse 13. Notice this. She who is in Babylon,
probably referring to the church in the
feminine collective-- she who is in Babylon
elect together with you, greets you, and so
does Mark, my son. Greet one another
with a kiss of love. You're not allowed
to do that yet. Peace to you all who are
in Christ Jesus, amen. Now, Mark, the Mark here that
is mentioned, is John Mark. And John Mark apparently was
a close associate with Peter. It was that John
Mark who was on one of Paul's missionary journeys
who left in the middle of it. And his uncle Barney,
Barnabas, wanted to bring him on the
second missionary journey. And Paul said, nah,
that guy's a flake. I don't want him. Get him out of here. So you know that back story. Well, John Mark, who
lived in Jerusalem, was friends with Peter. And it is believed that
when he wrote-- by the way, John Mark wrote
the Gospel of Mark. When Mark wrote the Gospel
of Mark, the words of Mark come from the lips of Peter. It's Peter telling his story,
the story of Jesus, to Mark. That's why many think Mark
was the first gospel written, the words of Peter through Mark. And it is that association that
gave us the Gospel of Mark. So that sums up and
ends the first epistle of Peter, the theme
of which is, if you follow the Christ who suffered,
you, too, will suffer. And why is that? Well, we'll really see
this in the next book. But when you preach truth, when
you preach a narrow truth-- and our truth is a
very narrow truth. We're running around
saying, there's only one way to get to Heaven. There's only one
way to salvation. There's only one
person to call on. You can believe a
number of things. Believe it if you will. But it won't take you anywhere. You have to believe in
Jesus to go to Heaven. It's a very narrow message. When you do that, the people
who don't believe that, which are most people, will not
like the person saying, Jesus is the only way. So listen-- if there
were 485 ways to Heaven, I would preach all 485 ardently. I would. If there were, I would do that. But I'm not given that
option because there aren't. I used to have a very open mind. People say, you're close-minded. You bet your life
I'm close-minded. And I'll tell you
how it happened. I remember how I
got so close-minded. First of all, I came to Christ. And He washed my mind. I've been brainwashed. So He cleansed my
heart and my mind. And then He narrowed my mind
down to one option only. And that is there is
no other name given among men by which we must be
saved but by the name of Jesus Christ. So when you believe that and
you articulate that belief, guess what? You going to suffer. And Peter would say,
welcome to the club. Here's the formula
if you want one. Great persecution is the
result of the great commission. Great persecution is the
result of the great commission. What's the great commission? Going to all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. If you do that, the result
will be great persecution. Great persecution is the
result of the great commission. I realize that what I am
saying is not appealing. You're saying, Skip, are
you trying to sell us on-- this is your finest
selling point? Come to Christ, and you
have a life of suffering. Well, suffering is guaranteed
for every human being, saved or unsaved. So given that, I'd rather
suffer for the right reason. And I'd rather
suffer temporarily and get the ire of this
world than the alternative of suffering eternally and take
the ire of God, which is what's left if you reject Christ. So Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a pretty strong
selling point, actually. I'll take that because it beats
the alternative of weeping and gnashing of teeth. So with that in mind, we
come to 2 Peter, which really is all about judgment. It's a shorter book. And we'll have time to go
through these three chapters very quickly. 1 Peter-- you could sum
it up by saying 1 Peter speaks about dangers
from the outside. That's persecution. 2 Peter-- dangers
from the inside. And that is false
doctrine or deception. I mentioned it was
written around 68 AD, or right before
Caesar Nero's death. Tradition has Peter dying
at the hands of Caesar Nero during his great persecution. But the suffering has increased
on the outside and false doctrines on the inside
because any time you have suffering, you
have people who are now, in their suffering,
willing to listen just about anything,
anything that gives them a philosophy of relief. And so that's why
suffering can be dangerous because you're susceptible. And the principle is simple. The light of truth
attracts bugs. Light attracts bugs. Truth attracts bugs. Turn on the light of
your porch tonight. Wait a while. Bugs will come. You turn on the light of the
gospel in a pagan environment, bugs are going to come
outside and try to get inside. And they've gotten
inside already. So Simon Peter, a servant and
an apostle of Jesus Christ, will kind of forgo
those greetings. Peter gets personal
at first and says, OK, we're in danger of
apostasy, falling away from the truth, false doctrine. The best safeguard to
apostasy is maturity. The best safeguard
to rampant apostasy is personal maturity-- growing,
not staying where you are, pressing forward,
learning new things, learning new
disciplines, et cetera. So notice verse 3. It says, divine
power is given to us all things that pertain
to life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him who
called us by glory and virtue. By the way, these
section of verses was the very first Bible study
I ever gave in Albuquerque. The very first night
in the Lakes Apartments were from 2 Peter chapter 1
for a very important reason, which I really can't explain
now because of our time. But to me, it was
revolutionary in my life. That's actually why. That's really the reason why. His divine power has
given us all these things by which have-- verse 4-- been
given to us exceedingly great and precious promises
that through these, you may be partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust, but also,
for this very reason, giving all diligence
add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge,
to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance,
perseverance Godliness, to Godliness brotherly kindness,
to brotherly kindness love. Go home and look at that list. Look it over. And see if you can check
all those boxes and say, yep, I have all those
things in my life 100%. If not, you've got
some growing to do. You got something to look up to. So notice in that
section there's two parts, God's
part and our part. God's part-- He'll
give you all the power you need to get the job done. Our part-- be diligent. Be practical. Work hard. Add to your faith. Don't sit back in
cruise control and go, yeah, I'm just going to Heaven. Woo-hoo, whatever. No. Now do everything you can
to cooperate with that power and grow and be effective
and productive because-- verse 8-- if these things
are yours and abound, you will neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The word "barren" means
"useless" or "ineffective" or "inoperable." Or you might translate
it "doesn't work." Have you ever had somebody say,
yeah, you know, I tried Jesus. I tried Christianity. But it didn't work for me. That's what he's talking about. If you stop adding to your
faith which you don't work for, you don't work for it. You don't work for salvation. It's a gift of God. But you add to that experience. You grow. If you stop growing,
you could come to a part where you go, yeah, I tried it. It didn't work for me. No. It's not that it doesn't work. It's that you stopped working. You stopped winding
your own clock and growing and adding to
these things in your life. So verse 12-- therefore I will
not be negligent to remind you always of these things,
though you know them-- this is why we keep
teaching the Bible-- and are established
in the present truth. Yes, I think it's
right as long as I am in this tent, this body to
stir you up by reminding you. Good teachers will reinforce
truth by repeating it. Let me say that again. [LAUGHTER] I'm seeing if you'd get that. OK. Now he gives a personal example. And that is he says, look, I was
around when Jesus was baptized. I was around when
Jesus was transfigured on the Holy Mountain. And now in verse 18--
and we heard the voice that came down from Heaven when
we were with Him on the Holy Mountain. Look at verse 19. We also have the prophetic
word made more sure. Or the old King James--
we have a more sure word of prophecy, which you do well
to heed as a light that shines in the dark place
until the day dawns and the morning star
rises in your hearts, knowing first that no
prophecy of scripture is of any private
interpretation. For prophecy never came
by the will of man. But holy men spoke
as they were moved or carried along
by the Holy Spirit. Here's what Peter is saying. I experienced the
miracle of listening to God the Father say,
this is my beloved son whom I was well pleased. I was there the day He was
baptized, and that happened. I heard that. That was awesome. I was there on the day when I
saw Moses and Elijah show up from the Old Testament,
just like-- poof-- superheroes with Jesus,
having a conversation. It was amazing. But I actually have
something more reliable than what I saw with my
eyes or heard with my ears. And that is a more
sure word of prophecy. The objective truth of the
word of God in scripture is more to be relied on than
your own physical senses for one simple reason. You might have a
sensation that may be only a portion of the truth. You may hear something. And you may hear it. Or you may think you hear it. You may see it or
think you see it. And people's experiences
vary from person to person. That's why a person will-- my experience is this. I haven't experienced that. I look at it this way. That's all good. You're entitled to
your subjectivism. But there is, beyond
subjective, objectivism, an objective reality. And we know as believers--
and I think we can demonstrate as believers-- the objective nature and
reliability of scripture. And that's why he
says it's more sure. It is more certain. And again, this is why
we study the scripture. Other books give
you information. This book gives
you transformation. This will change you. You'll grow thereby. That's what he said. So we're at chapter 2. But-- now going back
to the Old Testament-- there were also false
prophets among the people, even as there will be false
teachers among you who will secretly bring in
destructive heresies, denying the Lord who bought
them and bring on themselves swift destruction. So easy to understand this. Look, there's always
been false teaching. As long as there's been
truth in the world, there's been falsehood
in the world. It happened in
the Old Testament. It happened in the
time of the Lord Jesus. It will happen in
the church in Rome. It will happen in the
church in Albuquerque. It's always been around. And many will follow
their destructive ways because of whom the way of
truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness,
they will exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their
judgment has not been idle. And their destruction
does not slumber. In the first few
decades of the church, the big enemy was the doctrine
of Judaism or Judaizers. That is, they believe
in Jesus but said you have to be circumcised
and keep the law of Moses to be saved. So there was this
legalistic vein that was prevalent in
the first few decades. After the Judaizer cult
was sort of taken care of and minimized by the council
in Jerusalem in Acts 15, a whole other wave
of false doctrine came called "gnosticism." And guess what? I'm not going to
tell you what it is. Why? Because next time
when we're in 1 John, it's all about gnosticism. That's when I'll
explain it to you. So the reason I'm bringing
it up is I brought up two veins of false doctrine. There's Judaizers and
gnosticism already. Peter's still alive. John the Apostle is still alive. My point is it
does not take long for truth to get sidelined. It just takes a few people
in a congregation listening to some wacky idea, and
it spreads like wildfire. And they're dealing
with it back then. And Peter's warning of it
back then-- and pretty strong. So Jesus predicted it. He said, beware
of false prophets. In Luke 18, Jesus said,
when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on
the earth, et cetera, et cetera. Verse 4-- for if God did
not spare the angels who sinned but cast
them down to hell and delivered them
into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment,
did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one
of eight people, a preacher of righteousness--
here's the point. If God judged angels who sinned,
if God judged a world that sinned by a flood
and killed everybody except for eight
people, do you think He won't do it again to those
who take the truth and twist it and ruin it and get people
to follow false things? So in other words, God has a
track record of being fair. And He will do it again. Chapter 3-- beloved,
I now write to you the second epistle,
in both which I stir up your pure
minds by way of reminder that you may be mindful of
the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets
and of the commandment of the apostles of
the Lord and Savior, knowing this verse that scoffers
will come in the last days, walking according to their
own lusts, and saying, where is the promise
of His coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation. Now, really briefly, Peter is
highlighting a belief system that is still in vogue in
the American and European universities called
"uniformitarianism." And that is that history is an
uninterrupted flow of events with a long evolution. Peter goes, not so fast. I know that's a
prevalent belief system. But there is enough
evidence that shows that it's not
uniformitarianism as much as catastrophism. There have been events that
have punctuated history, like a creation and a flood and,
later on, a worldwide judgment, that there is evidence
of that in the world. So notice his line of thinking. Verse 5-- for this
they willingly forget that by the word of
God, the Heavens were of old. The earth was
standing out of water and in the water by which
the world that then existed perished being
flooded with water. That's a catastrophe. That's catastrophism. That's a punctuated event, not a
long line of uninterrupted flow of evolution. But the Heavens and the
earth which now exist are kept in store by the same-- there's so much in here. I wish we could delve into it. Done it before on
Sunday morning. So you can chase that down. Verse 10-- but the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. The elements will melt
with fervent heat. There's the future catastrophe
that he's talking about. Verse 14-- therefore,
beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent
to be found by Him in peace without spot and
blameless, an account that the long
suffering of the Lord is salvation, as also
our beloved brother Paul. So Paul's writings were
being circulated at the time. Now watch what he says
about Paul and his writings. According to the
wisdom given him as he has written to you, as
also in all his epistles-- so there's various letters
that Peter says Paul wrote-- speaking in them of
these things in which are some things
hard to understand-- that's an understatement. Book of Romans would
be one of those-- which those who are
untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction,
as they do also the-- notice this-- rest of scripture. Notice that Peter is
linking Paul's writings to being part of scripture. They do it with Paul's
writings like they do the rest of scripture. They do with Old
Testament scripture. And they do it with New
Testament scripture, all of that to prove a point. If people say, well, they
never considered the Bible to be written till
the fourth century, Peter believed the
Bible, Paul's letters, were an errant
scripture this early on. That's a very powerful text. So then he says-- one of my favorite
versus, verse 18-- but grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both
now and forever, amen. We did it-- 1 and 2 Peter. You want to know what happened
to Peter really quick? Peter was married. It is believed by tradition
that his wife was crucified. Peter watched it. He was forced to watch his
wife die by crucifixion and gave her an encouragement
before she died, simply saying, remember the Lord. What a beautiful thing
to tell a dying spouse. Remember the Lord. Then it was Peter's turn. Peter was up for
being crucified. Peter said, I am not worthy to
be killed in the same manner as my Lord, demanded that
he be crucified upside down. And tradition says that's
how Peter died in Rome-- of crucifixion upside down. Peter died as an old man. And he knew he would because
Jesus in John 21 said, and when you are old,
others will take you where you don't want to go. And they'll do what
they want to do to you. Peter had his death
predicted by Jesus. And He said, when you are old. That's why in Acts chapter
12, when they kill James by beheading him
and they were going to kill Peter the next day, the
Bible says Peter was sleeping. Who can sleep on death row? Peter, because he knew
he wouldn't die tomorrow. Even though the government
said, you're dying, he goes, I'm not going to die. Jesus said I'll be an old dude. I'm still a young man. So good night. He woke up, and
it never happened. But when he was old, according
to the word of the Lord, Peter died after living a
great life in testimony. OK. I went overtime. Thank you, Father. Thank you for being here. Let's have a proper prayer
so the worship band can look like they're
seamlessly coming up at the end of the worship. Father, thank you for
this time together. Thank you for our ability
to rejoice in truth, knowing that loving and
believing our Savior and believing in
living the truth has consequences that
come with it, which consequences we gladly accept. Because in so
doing, we fellowship with the suffering of Christ. [MUSIC PLAYING] In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand. [APPLAUSE] For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible from 30,000 Feet.
