Promises, Promises
2 Peter 1:3,4
Kurt Jones
August 13, 2006
Introduction
How many of you have ever heard, “Wait until your Father gets home…”
How many of you have ever SAID, “Wait until your Father gets home…”
Promise;
to assure somebody that something will certainly happen or be done
to pledge to somebody to provide or do something
to cause somebody to expect something
to assure or warn somebody that something is true or inevitable
How many of you know who George Zimmer is? Mens’ Wearhouse “I Guarantee it.”
How many times have you said, “I promise…”?
Most of us are skeptical of promises because we know WE have a hard time keeping them…
OR “I will never leave you Lord… even to the death…”
Isn’t it interesting that the author of the book who is telling us about promises is PETER… who denied Christ three times…
1. God has made a powerful pledge – Growth and Fruit
…seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us… v. 3a
a. The source - His Divine Power
God Himself granted us …
God himself called us…
b .The gift – Everything necessary
NIV 2 Peter “has given us everything we need for life and godliness…”
We won’t look at the process of this growth that Peter outlines in v. 5-7, but notice in vs. 8 –
“…they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of God…”
Look at 3:17-18
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
App – Not sure I’ve got enough to grow…
EX” Oliver Twist - please sir, may I have some more?
EX: Lady – “you need to “ZAP” my husband…” Give him a jolt of something “extra”! (so guys, look under the pew and if you see wires running to your seat, you’ll know it was YOUR wife who was talking to me…)
AMAZING! God has given us every resource needed… How many jokes start with “He was standing in line when God was handing out the…”
Dia - NT:1223 - a primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; means or instrument; cause or ground; Purpose… This word is going to show up several times in this passage in very important places…
“…through the true knowledge of Him…”
c. The means - the TRUE knowledge of God
Peter was still dealing with Gnostic heresies of his day. Getting to God was some special, secret path that only a few people knew about –
The key to life and godliness are wrapped up in the knowledge of God.
2. God has displayed convincing credentials – Glory and Excellence
“…through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. V.3b
Some scholars say that this “by” is also “dia” – it answers the question of “how did God call us?” Was it by our own good works? Our own goodness or perfection or obedience to a set of rules? No.
Glory – that only belongs to God. Moral perfection and outward manifestation of power.
Excellence – moral virtue.
In 1:16ff Peter gives us HIS credentials for telling us…
2 Peter 1:16-17 - For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
a. Eyewitnesses His power and majesty
Mark 9:7; Matt. 17:9 – the Mount of transfiguration’ “And they became terrified…”b. The power of Scripture
1:19ff – the prophetic word made sure… You say the word “prophecy” and people have different reactions… Some run, some start jumping up and down for rapture practice, some put on their boxing gloves for a fight…Prophecies are promises from God. Not clever stories, not human “will power”, not some guys ramblings about current affairs… they are words from God.
Chapter 3:2 where he talks about the judgment of God, he reminds us to “…remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.”
RECAP: God’s power has given us everything we need to grow flowing from the knowledge of who He is, which is awesome and powerful and excellent, so He gave us promises…
3. God has given us confident assurance – Precious promises
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises
Dia – by means of…
“these” ??? Highlight it! Look back to what is just before “these”… His glory and excellence… So out of God’s majesty, power, moral excellence, and virtuous character, He has given us promises
Precious
Magnificent
Do you know the promises of God? John’s paper. Peter doesn’t cover ALL of the promises of God, but he focuses in on three.
A young boy had just gotten his driver's permit and inquired of his father, a preacher, if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible a little, get your hair cut and we'll talk about the car." Well, the boy thought about that for a moment, and decided that he'd settle for the offer, and they agreed on it. After about six weeks they went in to the study, where his father said, "Son, I've been real proud. You brought your grades up, and I've observed that you have been studying your Bible, and participating a lot more in the Bible study groups. But, I'm real disappointed, since you haven't gotten your hair cut." The young man paused a moment, and then said, "You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I've noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair and there's even a strong argument that Jesus had long hair. To this his father replied, "Did you also notice that they all walked everywhere they went?"...
a. Rescue of the godly
Peter has already told us that God has granted us everything we need for life and godliness.
2:5 – God preserved Noah – a preacher of righteousness.
2:7 – God rescued “righteous” Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah.
2:9 – “…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation…
TRANS - And… to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement…
b. Repayment (or judgment) of the wicked
Chapter 2 is basically a long description of the wicked and wicked teachers who ignore the promises of God.
Peter gives three examples of God’s righteous judgment in the past.
Fallen angels (2:4)
The Ancient world of Noah (2:5)
Sodom and Gomorrah (2:6)Look at 2 Peter 3:7- But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
Followed up 2 Peter 3:10 - But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
God “knows how to” do these things…
c. Reservation of the judgment
Chapter 3 is a response to those who would say that, like everyone else, God is not reliable…
Read 3:3,4 – “…where is the promise of his coming?”
Notice the one rebuttal and two reasons Peter gives for this delay
v. 5 – by His word God created it, God can “uncreate it”. (Back to the destruction in Noah’s time by water.)
v. 7 – by His word God is holding off the fire. Water last time, Fire next time…
REASON #1 – God’s time is not our time. V. 8
REASON #2 – God’s patience. V. 9
Three promises – Rescue, Repayment, and Reservation…
4. God allows us to live and grow – Life and godliness
…precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust
Highlight the word “them” – what’s he talking about? The promises…
BY - dia - THEM – you may… the means by which we become partakers is through the promises…
Divine nature
Having escaped the corruption
Promises give warning - to assure or warn somebody that something is true or inevitable.
Promises give hope - to cause somebody to expect something - hope
Promises give guidance - to assure somebody that something will certainly happen or be done
Application
Two attitudes are shown in 2 Peter.
The attitude of the wicked – blind and short sighted ch. 1. Sensual, daring, self willed, arrogant, vanity,
3:11 – looking for and hastening… diligent to be found in him, spotless, blameless, on your guard, grow..
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