Peter s Forthright Wisdom O Assurace (October 28, 2012) Let me tell you about Simo. Simo grew up pretty rough aroud the edges. He was a tradie, ejoyed life with the boys. He married a pretty youg thig ad he looked to have a bright future. The he ecoutered Christ. He felt called to the miistry. Most people thought he was goig to have a outstadig career as a pastor. He studied for three years but just whe he was about to graduate it all seemed to come tumblig dow. His faith was tested ad he failed the test. He felt like his life was dissolvig about him. For a short time he deied the faith. Whe he came to his seses he felt the pastorate was ot for him ad he wet back to his tools. Soo after he foud himself askig the questio am I actually saved? He was fairly sure his coversio was geuie but his ups ad dows his failures his times of doubt ad disobediece gave him pause. For a time he wodered sice eve the best of me fail ca I kow for sure that I have eteral life? This is a great questio. George Whitefield summed up the heart of me i a tellig observatio made i a letter to Joh Wesley:
Go where thou wilt, though thou shouldst be i the purest society uder Heave thou wilt fid that the best of me are but me at best. 1 If the best of me eve saved me are but me at best ad we all kow this is true there is ot oe ma or woma amog us who has ot struggled with si, doubts, worldliess the ca ayoe ever kow for certai that they are a child of God who is headed for heave? This is the questio I wat to address today. How ca imperfect me me with doubts ad struggles with faith how ca they kow they are saved? How ca they kow heave is actually theirs? I opeed with the illustratio of Simo because I trust that you have realised by ow that Simo is actually Simo Peter oe of the twelve Apostles. Peter is oe of us. Huma. Failigs. Ups ad dows. A ma who struggled mightily with si ad faith but a ma who came to kow he was a true child of God ad wrote tellig us how we too ca kow we are a true child of God. This morig we are fiishig our series lookig at 4 Perspectives o Assurace of Salvatio. Today the perspective we are goig to look at is: Peter s Forthright Wisdom O Assurace. Peter was a straight shooter. It ofte got him ito trouble. But whe he speaks o a subject he speaks forthrightly. 1 Arold Dallimore, George Whitefield, (Lodo: The Wakema Trust, 1990), pp. 159-160.
Before we look at what he has to say about assurace, we eed to remember that assurace is oe of the most crucial but also most difficult doctries believers have to deal with. Let me remid you what assurace is. Do Carso gives this excellet defiitio of assurace: Assurace is: A Christia believer s cofidece that he or she is already i a right stadig with God, ad that this will issue i ultimate salvatio.2 Basically, it is livig kowig that you are a Christia ad you are goig to heave. Ufortuately some believers sped their lives paralysed by a fear that they are foolig themselves that they are t elect that despite their lives followig Christ they will hear depart from me you who practice lawlessess. Others live lives filled with si ad just shrug it off grace ad the cross will cover that. May of them will be foud watig o the Day of Judgmet. Gettig the balace right is hard. But I thik that part of the difficulty is that we over aalyse every part of our salvatio to the poit that we forget the glory of God savig us ad workig i us to produce fruit. 2 D.A. Carso, Reflectios o Assurace i Schreier ad Ware, The Grace of God, The Bodage of the Will Vol. 2, (Grad Rapids, Baker Books, 1995) p. 384.
You may have heard this story. It cocers three me who had applied to atted a semiary. As part of the iterview process they were asked this questio: How do you kow you are saved? The first ma thought that was ot too hard a questio ad replied, I believe i Christ. I believe He is God. I believe He died o the cross to pay the sis of me. Ad like the Philippia jailer I believed ad was saved. The semiary professor iterviewig them respoded, Youg ma, you may be well be saved. But faith aloe is ot eough. Remember that James tells us there is a faith that does ot save. There is a faith that eve the demos possess. Faith without works is dead. Remember, the Philippia jailer released Paul, was baptised ad lived for Christ. So agai, how do you kow your faith is real? It was the tur of the secod ma to respod. He had listeed carefully to what the semiary professor had said ad he was t goig to just metio faith. He replied, Sir, I too believe i Christ. I believe He is God. I believe He died o the cross to pay the sis of me. Ad I too have faith like the Philippia jailer. But as well, I have performed may works i the ame of Christ. I have faith ad works. I have trusted ad obeyed. The semiary professor respoded, That is good. Youg ma, you may be well be saved. But remember the words of the Lord Himself i Matthew 7, where He tells us that callig Him Lord ad doig works are ot eough. May call Him Lord ad do works, but they are His oly if their faith ad works flow from a chaged heart. They might have a measure of faith ad do some works but if their heart is ot chaged they will cotiue to practice lawlessess. Such faith ad works are ot eough. So, I ask you, how do you kow your faith is real? The third ma listeed ad actually thought that the aswers the first two me gave were pretty good. But he also realised the truth of what the semiary professor had said. He searched his heart ad thought log ad hard before he respoded, Sir, I kow that I am a sier ad have bee from my mother s womb. Ad I kow there is othig i me that deserves the New Jerusalem. But I kow this. Whereas I oce hated what is good ad loved si. Ad whereas I oce could ot believe i Christ. Today, I kow with all my heart I that I am His because I kow that He breathed life ito my spiritually dead body. I kow this because I ow believe what oce seemed foolishess. I believe that Christ is God, that His death atoed for my sis ad that He has saved me. Ad I kow I am saved because I ow desire to obey Him ad I hate my si because of my love for Christ. He has chaged my heart ad eabled me to believe ad obey. These miracles ca oly be His work. Ad the semiary professor respoded, That is a faith that is real. The story is cute. It makes a few poits. But I do t kow about you but the overall impressio is that it is really hard to be sure that you are saved eve semiary studets struggle.
A couple of weeks ago we looked at 1 Joh 5:13: I write these thigs to you who believe i the ame of the So of God that you may kow that you have eteral life. God saves us ad wats us to kow that we are saved. He does ot wat us to live i a state of ucertaity. Nor does He wat us to bask i easy believism ad si. Ad so we have the Word of God to guide us. Ad oe of the most forthright discussios of assurace is foud i Peter. Peter gives us a uique perspective because his life is oe where his errors are so obvious. He was far from perfect i faith or works. Just thik with me about the life of Peter. A fisherma called by Jesus he leaves his ets, his livelihood to follow Jesus. He has highs. His great cofessio you are the Christ ad lows immediately after Jesus tells him Get behid me Sata. Perhaps his greatest lows surrouded the death of Jesus. The ight of Jesus arrest Peter deied Him three times I do ot kow this ma! The eve after Jesus rose agai ad commissioed the disciples to take the gospel to the world what did Peter do? He was the istigator of the disciples abadoig the cause ad goig fishig. Jesus comes to them ad they still do t recogise Him. It takes the miraculous catch for their eyes to be opeed. Peter jumps i ad races to shore. They eat breakfast together. The disciples are fairly sheepish. The Jesus asks, Simo, so of Joh, do you love me more tha these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you kow that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs. We are supposed to thik back to the court of the high priest where people were sittig aroud a charcoal fire ad Peter was asked about his allegiace to Jesus. Back the he was asked three times ad three times he deied his allegiace to Jesus. Now he is asked agai three times does he love Jesus?
Peter has aother opportuity. Jesus looks at Peter ad asks him do you love Me? Ad somewhat idigatly Peter respods, Yes Lord; You kow that I love You. But, i Joh 14:15 Jesus said: If you love Me, you will keep My commadmets. Love is ot a matter of what we say it is what we do. Are we obediet? Sayig we belog to Jesus is ot eough. We have to do what Jesus commads us. That is the proof that we are His. Peter ever forgot this lesso. So Jesus says, Ted My lambs. Do what I istructed you to do. That is what shows your love. Jesus passed a legacy oto the church to take the gospel to the world. But here was Peter, the oe willig to lay dow his life to show his devotio to Jesus ad he was fishig. He had goe back to his old livelihood. He was catchig fish rather tha catchig me. He was ot gatherig a flock ad feedig them. He was ot carryig out the commissio Jesus had repeatedly give him. Jesus left Peter with a task. Tedig His lambs. Where were the lambs? Who was he reachig with the gospel? Who was he disciplig? You say you love Me the where is the obediece? I left you to ted My lambs ot catch fish. So Jesus asked agai: Simo, so of Joh, do you love Me? Yes, Lord; You kow that I love You. The Ted My sheep. Do t just say you love Me show it i your life. Just as Peter deied Him three times istead of declarig His love ad devotio for Christ ad testifyig of Him so three times he had to publicly declare his love. [Jesus] said to him the third time, Simo, so of Joh, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? Ad he said to Him, Lord, You kow everythig; You kow that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. Do t just say you love Me obey Me.
Ad just i case Peter still did t get it look at verse 19 Follow Me! Ad i verse 22 You follow Me! The Bible is filled with flawed characters. Jacob, Samso, David, Peter ad oe of the reasos is that we relate to them. They are like us flawed, fallible, messig up their lives. They do t lead eat lives of perfectio. But, as Hebrews 11 poits out at the heart of their existece they loved God ad they wated to be His. Whe Jesus restored Peter o that Galilea beach Peter took away a lesso that stayed with Him all his life. If you love Jesus, you will keep His commadmets. Joh 14:15 So this becomes the framework of Peter s wisdom o assurace. But, Peter of all people uderstads that this is ot perfectioism. As Dave put it it is directio ot perfectio. Eve after Jesus reistates Him eve after Petecost, eve after Peter has the visio of the uclea aimals which shows the gospel is to go to the Getiles Peter blows it. I Galatias 2 Paul tells us that Peter was iflueced by some Judaisers, he withdrew from the Getile coverts ad acted hypocritically. Paul had to cofrot him. Peter kows full well that it is directio ot perfectio.
So with all of this i mid we have the backgroud to look at Peter s Forthright Wisdom o Assurace. Brothers ad sisters uless you are very differet to me there are times i your life whe you look to the heaves ad ask God let me kow I am truly oe of yours. I have too much si, too little heart for the task but I truly wat to be yours. I my mid, oe of the clearest passage tellig us how we ca kow is foud i 2 Peter 1:3-11. But, like so may other parts of the Word it is ot as clear to others. This passage has a iterestig place i church history. Durig the Reformatio, a cotroversy arose over 2 Peter 1:10 where Peter says: Therefore, brothers, be all the more diliget to cofirm your callig ad electio, for if you practice these qualities you will ever fall. I large part based o this verse, Dutch Theologia Jacob Armiius (1560-1609) taught that believers have to be ourished ad ecouraged so that they might remai i a saved state. He taught that those who were ot diliget to make their callig certai fell from grace ad lost their salvatio. I his mid, those who failed to practice holiess fell from grace. I other words they were saved but their si led them to lose their salvatio. So whereas I just told you I thik this is oe of the clearest passages that is meat to give believers a assurace of salvatio i the hads of others actually is made to do the opposite. Christias were taught that you ca gai, lose, gai, lose your salvatio depedig o how your walk with Christ is goig. The result is that may live i a state of ot kowig if they are saved or ot. However, I wat to suggest that this view takes this oe verse out of its cotext ad that is ot at all what Peter iteded. Have a look with me at the whole cotext. 2 Peter 1:3 11: His divie power has grated to us all thigs that pertai to life ad godliess, through the kowledge of him who called us to his ow glory ad excellece, by which he has grated to us his precious ad very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divie ature, havig escaped from the corruptio that is i the world because of siful desire. For this very reaso, make every effort to supplemet your faith with virtue, ad virtue with kowledge, ad kowledge with self-cotrol, ad self-cotrol with steadfastess, ad steadfastess with godliess, ad godliess with brotherly
affectio, ad brotherly affectio with love. For if these qualities are yours ad are icreasig, they keep you from beig ieffective or ufruitful i the kowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so earsighted that he is blid, havig forgotte that he was cleased from his former sis. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diliget to cofirm your callig ad electio, for if you practice these qualities you will ever fall. For i this way there will be richly provided for you a etrace ito the eteral kigdom of our Lord ad Savior Jesus Christ. Here is my take. Our bet is to take a truth ad ru with it. Salvatio by faith. But take too far, this leads to false ways to live. Let go ad let God. If God saves you he does it all. Faith without works is dead. But take too far, this leads to false ways to live. We try ad ear our salvatio. Scripture is brilliat at givig the balace faith ad fruit God ad ma. The more I read over this passage from Peter the more I was stued at the balace here. Here is what Peter says:
If you have faith that salvatio is a gift from God Ad If you have fruit which proves your faith is geuie The God grats you the assurace of your salvatio We start with verse 3: His divie power has grated to us all thigs that pertai to life ad godliess. This is a crucial verse. Everythig relatig to eteral life ad to godliess comes from God as a gift. Whe God choses to bestow salvatio o someoe He gives them everythig they eed everythig pertaiig to life ad to godliess. If our salvatio were depedet o our efforts we would fail miserably. It is ot salvatio as well as holiess is a gift from God. Paul says the same thig i Ephesias 2:8 10: For by grace you have bee saved through faith salvatio is by grace through faith Ad this is ot your ow doig it is ot accordig to our works or efforts it is the gift of God, ot a result of works, so that o oe may boast. For we are his workmaship, created i Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehad, that we should walk i them.
Salvatio is a gift of God ad the good works are a gift of God. God gives us everythig we eed for eteral life ad this life. Peter cotiues i verses 3-5: Through the kowledge of him who called us to his ow glory ad excellece, by which he has grated to us his precious ad very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divie ature, havig escaped from the corruptio that is i the world because of siful desire. God calls us to His ow glory ad grats us these icredible promises amely that we become partakers of the divie ature ad escape corruptio ad its cosequeces. Salvatio begis with God ad eds with God. Whe He calls you he chages your heart ad your desires ad gives you the Holy Spirit to walk holy. That is why Paul ca say: I am sure of this, that he who bega a good work i you will brig it to completio at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippias 1:6: But, because salvatio begis ad eds with God does ot mea that we have o part. We have to strive for holiess. Liste agai to Paul. Philippias 2:12 13:
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so ow, ot oly as i my presece but much more i my absece, work out your ow salvatio with fear ad tremblig, for it is God who works i you, both to will ad to work for his good pleasure. We have to work out our ow salvatio but because we ca t do it God is at work i us. Logic ca t put these together. God does it all but we still have to do it. But Scripture has o problem with this. The Bible repeatedly says Salvatio belogs to the Lord. The it says Be holy as I am holy. Peter has o difficulty puttig these together. He tells us everythig pertaiig to life ad godliess comes from God. Ad he tells us be holy. 1 Peter 1:14 16: As obediet childre, do ot be coformed to the passios of your former igorace, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy i all your coduct, sice it is writte, You shall be holy, for I am holy. 1 Peter 2:11 12: Beloved, I urge you as sojourers ad exiles to abstai from the passios of the flesh, which wage war agaist your soul. Keep your coduct amog the Getiles hoorable, so that whe they speak agaist you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds ad glorify God o the day of visitatio. 2 Peter 3:11: Sice all these thigs are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be i lives of holiess ad godliess, So right i our text Peter liks faith i God s salvatio with holiess. Look at 2 Peter 1:5: For this very reaso, make every effort to supplemet your faith with virtue. Because of the great salvatio God has blessed us with. Because we are those who have escaped the corruptio of this temporary world. For this reaso add to our faith virtue.
Add works to the faith that saves. Add the works of virtue ad self-cotrol ad steadfastess ad godliess ad brotherly affectio ad love. Verses 8-10: For if these qualities are yours ad are icreasig, they keep you from beig ieffective or ufruitful i the kowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so earsighted that he is blid, havig forgotte that he was cleased from his former sis. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diliget to cofirm your callig ad electio, for if you practice these qualities you will ever fall. Do believers si? Yes. Do believers si horribly at times? Yes. But God who bega a good work i us will brig it to completio at the day of Jesus Christ. God works i us to provide spiritual fruit evidece Of His callig ad electio. Say you were saved at fiftee ad live to eighty. If we took a sapshot of your life at ay time i that sixty-five years we might fid you at a great time of your life lovig the Lord, readig the Word, sharig the gospel, marriage two thumbs up. You look like the ideal Christia. Or we might strike you at a bad time. Work strife. Marriage trouble. Kid worries. Slackig off the spiritual disciplies. You have let si creep i ad at times it wells up ad overpowers you. You look aythig but a Christia. However it is ot sapshots that matter it is trajectory. If these qualities are yours ad are icreasig you ca cofirm your callig ad electio you will ever fall. This does ot mea you wo t have tough times. It meas God will ultimately fiish the work begu i you. Peter had bad times. Paul had bad times. We all have bad times. But throughout that sixty-five years there should be growth. A growig practice of these godly qualities. A deeper love for God. A overcomig of the sis that beset us.
Edward Griffi said this: Show me a ma i whom holiess ad si are strugglig for domiio, ad I will show you oe who is already bor agai. 3 No-Christias do t hate their si, lamet their si, beg for it to be take away. The struggle is evidece of the had of God. So whe you do what Paul exhorts us to do i 2 Corithias 13:5 ad we: Examie ourselves, to see whether we are i the faith. Despite our failigs, we should see evidece of God at work i us ad the we ca kow we are called of God elected by Him ad verse 11: I this way there will be richly provided for you a etrace ito the eteral kigdom of our Lord ad Savior Jesus Christ. The Westmister Cofessio sums up this idea well: Those who truly believe i the Lord Jesus, ad love Him i sicerity, edeavourig to walk i all good cosciece before him, may i this life be certaily assured that they are i a state of grace, ad may rejoice i the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall ever make them ashamed. (18:1). How ca siers like us kow we are saved? We examie our hearts ad there we fid faith i God, a love for God, a desire to obey Him ad live holy ad we kow this ca oly come from above. The Puritas were masters of sayig this i a way that I ca t emulate. Thomas Goodwi described our assurace of salvatio like this: There is a light that cometh, ad overpowereth a ma s soul ad assureth him that God is his, ad he is God s, ad that God loved him from everlastig It is a light beyod the light of ordiary faith the ext thig to heave: you have o more, you ca have o more util you come hither It is faith elevated ad raised up above its ordiary rate, it is electig love of God brought home to the soul. 4 Ca you kow you are saved? Absolutely. Does this mea we ever questio our salvatio? No. Si, doubts, the world they sap our assurace. 3 Edward Griffi, A Series of Lectures Delivered i Park Street Church Bosto (Bosto, 1813) p. 124. 4 Quoted i Toy Sarget, The Sacred Aoitig, (Wheato, Crossway Books, 1994), p. 45.
But whe we test ourselves whe we look at our desires ad heart ad the trajectory of our lives we see His had. The world tells us we came about by chace there is o God but i the face of the wisdom of ma our soul declares I kow My Creator lives. The world seeks to claim our souls yet eve whe we si istead of fidig pleasure i si it is fleetig ad we hate it for we kow it grieves our God. We look at our lives ad we have chose agai ad agai to say o to the world ad yes to God. Not perfectly far from it. But we see evidece of His lovig had i our lives. The we ca kow we are loved by Him ad He is ours ad we are His. Joh Calvi said it well: Assurace is a thig that is above the capacity of the huma mid, it is the part of the Holy Spirit to cofirm withi us what God promises. If after all of this you are still usure of your callig ad electio go ad talk to the Oe who has the power to make His love soar i our hearts. He delights to aswer prayer. Ask Him to make your little faith ito moutai movig faith. Ask Him to show His glory i your life. Look uto Jesus is the author, the fouder, the perfecter of our faith. Realise that your salvatio is ot depedet o you ad your pitiful works but o His already fiished works. Here is my experiece the more we meditate o Christ His fiished work, His power, His love for siers the more we are flooded with assurace. I thak God for me like Peter. Flawed me. Me like me. Peter remids me that the oly way ayoe gets to heave is by God savig us. David was a ma after God s ow heart ad he eded up a adulterous, murderous, lyig fool. Oly God ca save. Peter remids me that eve after salvatio we make mistakes huge mistakes. Foolish mistakes. But Peter remids me that God fiishes the good work He begis. Despite the dips ad troughs He shapes us, kocks off a few rough edges, ecourages us ad gets us to eterity.
Christias come i all shapes ad sizes. Differet levels of faith ad holiess. I thik of Richard Wurmbrad of Voice of the Martyrs who told this story. There was a provice i Romaia called Besarabia, which the Soviet Uio aexed durig the commuist regime. Some time after the ivasio, the Soviet army etered a village i that provice ad ordered every Christia, some 200 of them, ito a field. There they were forced to dig their ow graves. They told them they were to be shot for beig Christias. Whe they were fiished, the captai who led the executio declared, Whoever reouces Christ may leave ad retur to their homes. Whoever does ot will be shot. May refused to recat ad remaied o the side of Christ. Others reouced their faith to save their lives. As those who recated left for their homes, a ma who had bee expelled from the church for gross sis came ruig from the village shoutig, Shoot me, too! Shoot me, too! I am a bad Christia, but a bad Christia is also a Christia. A bad Christia also has the right to die for Christ. Wurmbrad says that whe that ma examied his heart there was a love for Christ. Yes he had messed up. But there was a love for Christ that would take him to his grave. If you see a faith ad a virtue that you caot explai but by the had of God the you ca be sure the Spirit of God is at work i you ad heave is God s gift to you.
Peter s Forthright Wisdom O Assurace (October 28, 2012) Mai Poit: All Christias si ad struggle. But God gives them superatural faith ad fruit which assure the child of God of their salvatio. Read 2 Peter 1:3-11 Why do you thik the Bible tells us about so may flawed idividuals? Why do you thik God used such a flawed ma as Peter? Discuss this quote George Whitefield made i a letter to Joh Wesley: Go where thou wilt, though thou shouldst be i the purest society uder Heave thou wilt fid that the best of me are but me at best. 5 What do you thik he meas by this? Read over the illustratio of the three semiary studets. Was there a lot wrog with the aswers the first two studets gave? How would you aswer the questio How do you kow you are saved? What lessos o assurace ca we lear from Peter s three deials ad the His restoratio whe Jesus asked him three times if he loved Him? I 2 Peter 1 Peter seems to suggest that faith ad holiess are both gifts from God that come as a part of salvatio. Why is this the way it has to be? What does this teach us about assurace? What are the promises God has grated to us? If God grats us godliess why do we have to strive to supplemet faith with virtue? Why do we have to work whe it is a gift of God? Discuss Philippias 2:12 13 workig out our salvatio ad God workig i us. I light of this i verses like 1 Peter 1:14 16: As obediet childre, do ot be coformed to the passios of your former igorace, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy i all your coduct, sice it is writte, You shall be holy, for I am holy. What does this teach us about fruit helpig us have assurace? 5 Arold Dallimore, George Whitefield, (Lodo: The Wakema Trust, 1990), pp. 159-160.
Durig the Reformatio, a cotroversy arose over 2 Peter 1:10 where Peter says: Therefore, brothers, be all the more diliget to cofirm your callig ad electio, for if you practice these qualities you will ever fall. Some take this as teachig you ca lose your salvatio ad thus udermies assurace. If so ca you have ay assurace? Others take it as teachig you are reassured you are saved by seeig the had of God at work i your life ad thus gives assurace. Discuss these views. Sice we si ca we have assurace? How? Discuss the idea that assurace should ot be based o sapshots of your life but its trajectory. Discuss this quote by Edward Griffi: Show me a ma i whom holiess ad si are strugglig for domiio, ad I will show you oe who is already bor agai. 6 The idea is that o-christias do t hate their si, lamet their si, beg for it to be take away. Discuss this quote by Thomas Goodwi: There is a light that cometh, ad overpowereth a ma s soul ad assureth him that God is his, ad he is God s, ad that God loved him from everlastig It is a light beyod the light of ordiary faith the ext thig to heave: you have o more, you ca have o more util you come hither It is faith elevated ad raised up above its ordiary rate, it is electig love of God brought home to the soul. 7 6 Edward Griffi, A Series of Lectures Delivered i Park Street Church Bosto (Bosto, 1813) p. 124. 7 Quoted i Toy Sarget, The Sacred Aoitig, (Wheato, Crossway Books, 1994), p. 45.