THE LAST WORD FOR THE LAST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR II Peter 3:14-18 INTRODUCTION

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1 THE LAST WORD FOR THE LAST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR II Peter 3:14-18 INTRODUCTION I thought that it would be appropriate for this last sermon of the year to look at the Apostle Peter s last words to his readers in II Peter. What are they? 2 Peter 3:18 HCSB But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. Peter s last word is to grow, to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are to continue growing in the year to come. Now many of us are not thinking of growing, i.e. growing physically at this time of year! How many of you have on your to-do list for next year to lose weight? Yes, I thought so. I also need to lose some weight. But we need to continue to grow next year. We need to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. Peter is not giving us a suggestion. He is actually giving us a command. Grow is in the imperative mood, which makes it a command. It is in the present tense, which signifies a continual growth. If we stop growing spiritually, we will be going backwards. We need to make it our aim to grow spiritually this coming year. Before we look at this verse in detail lets connect it to its context. Note that it is at the end of a paragraph which begins in verse 14. Verse 14 mentions while you wait for these things. What are these things we are waiting on? This goes back to verse 10 The Day of the Lord and more closely to verse 13 we wait for the new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will dwell. The Day of the Lord is coming! We are to look for the new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will dwell. But while we are waiting we are not to be inactive. We are not to sit down and do nothing. We are not to be occupied by trivial things while we wait. God wants us to do something specific while we wait. We are to continue to make progress in our Christian life. We are to continue to grow. Now let s look in more detail at this command. First let s think about growing in the knowledge of our Lord and then we will look at growing in grace. December 30, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1

2 GROW IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST There are two ways of growing in the knowledge of someone. There is growing in the objective knowledge and there is growing in the subjective knowledge. Objective knowledge is knowledge about a person. It is like knowing the person s name, where they are from, what they do, what are their likes, dislikes, etc. This is important knowledge, but this isn t knowing the person subjectively. Subjective knowledge is to know the person, not just knowing about the person. It is personal knowledge. It is relational knowledge. It is knowing the person on a relational basis. Which type of knowledge was Peter thinking of, objective or subjective? I believe that he was thinking of both types. We need to grow in our objective knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We need to remind ourselves again and again of the basic truths about Jesus and grow in the knowledge of them; truths like His incarnation, His birth, His life, His ministry, His death upon a cross, His resurrection, His ascension into glory, His session at the right hand of God. These are important doctrines, truths that are contained in the Scriptures. Every truth in the Bible is related in some way or form to the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the primary source of our knowledge of Christ? It is the Bible, the Word of God. Peter would certainly agree to this. Listen to I Peter 2:2 1 Peter 2:2 KJV As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: To grow in this type of knowledge of Christ, we can't be content with a half hour sermon on a Sunday morning. Surely that is not enough to grow in our faith. It is important, but if this is all the input into the knowledge of Christ you have, you will not know much about Christ and not be growing in your faith. We grow by taking in the Word of God, the scriptures, into our hearts, minds, and lives. We need to be listening to the Word, reading the Word, memorizing the Word, meditating on the Word of God throughout our lives. This is how we grow in our objective knowledge of Christ. When we read the Bible, we need to be asking ourselves, what is this teaching me about Christ, about God, about God s plan for this world, etc.? We need to be in the Word daily. Let me ask you, how much time to you give each day to reading the Bible? Again, let me put a plug in for reading through the Bible in chronological order. If you will read 3 chapters a day, each day, you will read through the Bible in a year. (Then read Psalms at a separate time from your three chapters a day.) December 30, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 2

3 Let me challenge you with another important way of growing in your objective knowledge of Christ. You should be reading good Christian books. I mean solid doctrinal books about some aspect of the life of Christ. God gives some of his people the gift of knowledge and teaching and the write good Christian books. We shouldn t neglect these gifts that God gives to the church. This year I want to focus some of my reading on the Cross of Christ. I have started John R.W. Stott s book, The Cross of Christ which is the one of the classics on this subject. It was written back in Then I want to read a more recent book that is getting good reviews, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge. Her thesis is that the preaching the Cross is becoming a neglected subject in the evangelical church today. This is just one subject I want to read a book on this coming year. What about you? Do you have any books about Christ or the Christian life that you are reading or planning on reading in 2019? I hope so, for we cannot grow in our knowledge of Christ without reading. Another important way to grow in the knowledge of Christ is by being involved in a group Bible study. I cannot imagine a Christian growing by themselves. Christianity is a corporate experience, a Body experience, not just an individual experience. We grow by sharing with other Christians what we understand about God and the Bible around a discussion of the Bible and life. We do that here in our Sunday School classes and Wednesday night Bible study. Maybe you could make a new year s resolution to become involved in one if not both of them, if you are not doing that already. These are some ways of growing in our objective knowledge of Christ. Now let s talk about growing in the subjective knowledge of Christ. We need to grow, not just in knowledge about Jesus, but grow to know Him more closely more personally, more intimately, more closely. This was Paul s goal in life. Philippians 3:8-10 HCSB More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. (10) My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, Notice the two areas Paul wanted to know Christ more personally. He wanted to know the power of His resurrection, i.e. the power of His resurrected life indwelling him, and he wanted to know the fellowship of His suffering. It may be that the more we want to know the power of Christ s resurrected life in us, the December 30, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 3

4 more he may show us more of His suffering. If you want to know Jesus more personally, He ll take you through the valley of suffering, because it's there in the valley - in the pain that we're sometimes asked to undergo with members of our family, in the disappointments and heartaches that come into our lives - it's there that we learn more and more what it meant for Jesus to forsake those ivory palaces and come into this world and humble Himself and be found in fashion as a Man and in the form of a lowly servant. In what ways do I need to know Him more personally? I need to know Him as a Prophet. I need to know, What does Jesus say to me in this situation? What is He teaching me? I need to know Him as my King who rules over me. In every situation He is Lord and He governs and rules over all my enemies and all His enemies and He subdues them. In tense situations, in difficult situations, I want to know His kingship. I want to know His sovereignty. I want to know what it means to trust when all the lights go out that He is King, that He holds the power in His own hand. I want to know Him as my Priest who forgives every sin, every transgression, every blemish, every taint of past sins and present sins and sins I haven't committed yet, which He died for and shed His blood for. I want to know Him as my Friend who sticks closer to me than a brother, who knows my inmost thoughts. He knows my frame, that I'm made of dust. He knows my weaknesses. He is Someone that I can talk to every single moment of the day when I'm in the car, when I'm all alone, when I'm out working. Whatever it is I'm doing, He's my Friend, closer to me than any human. He is the sweetest, dearest, most loyal Friend you can ever imagine I want to know Him. I want to grow in my knowledge of Him. We are to make it our goal in 2019 to know Christ more closely personally and to know Christ more broadly and deeply by learning about Him. GROW IN THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST But then Peter says, grow not just in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but grow in the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in grace. Grow, yes in the knowledge of grace, in the implications of grace, in the experiencing of God s grace. This involves wanting to grow in my appreciation of the Gospel of God s grace, of what it means that He died for me. Grace is God s love, favor, goodness poured out upon me, although I do not deserve it. Growing in grace and growing in knowledge go together. In verse 18 Peter says, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus December 30, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 4

5 Christ." Verse 2 of Chapter 1 he says, "May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." John Piper in speaking of grace says, Grace is the greatest unused resource in all the world. It is the wealth of God's kindness; the riches of his mercy; the soothing ointment of his forgiveness; the free and undeserved, but lavishly offered hope of eternal life. Grace is what we crave when we are guiltladen. Grace is what we must have when we come to die. Grace is our only ray of hope when the future darkens over with storm clouds of fear. How do we grow in the grace which comes from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? The overall principle is, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. (1 Pet. 5:5). Growing in grace involves coming to a greater understanding of God s holiness and my sinfulness and unworthiness, and humbling myself before God. The more and more you see how unworthy you were to be the object of God s saving grace. To grow in grace, you must esteem yourself less, but esteem Christ more! Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will pour out His grace upon you. This leads us to the last part of verse 18. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. TO HIM BE THE GLORY All things are to be for the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. We are to live for the glory of Christ. When is He to be glorified? Both now and to the day of eternity. We begin now! We should praise and exalt Him in all that we do, both on Sundays when we gather for worship and throughout the week as we think often on His great love and sacrifice that saved us from God s wrath. And then, when we are with Him in heaven when He comes, we will gather around the throne and sing, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Rev. 5:12)! Glorify Him both now and unto the day of eternity! CONCLUSION At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, the last of the marathon runners were being carried off the field to first aid stations about an hour after the winner had crossed the finish line. Just a few spectators remained in the stands when they suddenly heard the sound of sirens December 30, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 5

6 and police whistles. All eyes turned to the gate to see John Stephen Akhwari, wearing the colors of Tanzania, limping into the stadium. His leg was bloodied and bandaged from a bad fall. He hobbled around the track past the finish line as the crowd rose and applauded as if he were the winner. Someone later asked him why he had not quit, in view of his injury and the fact that he had no chance of winning a medal. He replied, My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it. (From, Leadership, Spring, 1992, p. 49.) Christ didn t give His life for you just to start the Christian life. He gave His life so that you would finish it and finish it well. If you continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ, if you continue to grow in the grace of Christ, and if you live to glorify Christ, you will finish well. Amen? Amen! December 30, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 6