Peter's Words of Greeting

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the sermon from 1 Peter 1:1-2, highlighting how God's grace transforms common practices. He explains that Peter's greeting, though following a standard letter…

Martin uses two examples of God's grace: first, taking twisted things and making them beautiful (like many lives); second, taking pleasant common grace things (like letter greetings) and overlaying them with saving grace to make them more wonderful. This sets up the discussion of Peter's greeting.

And one of those amazing things about the grace and power of God through the gospel is the way in which God can take things that have been twisted and made grotesque and ugly through the influence of sin and once again make them straight and winsome and beautiful. Many of your lives are a monument to that very fundamental fact. But furthermore, there is another way in which the grace and power of God operates through the gospel that is equally amazing, and that is it can take the things that in common grace are pleasant and attractive, and so overlay them with the dynamics and the realities of...

2:34 - 3:57 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin highlights the unique verb 'be multiplied' in Peter's greeting, signifying a strong wish for exponential increase in grace and peace. He explains that Peter, knowing the…

Martin uses the common phrase 'more power to you' to explain how greetings without a verb (like 'grace to you and peace') are understood to imply 'may it be given to you.' This helps clarify the grammatical structure of Peter's greeting.

commodities that peter strongly desires that his readers will know and experience will understand and appreciate grace to you and peace be multiplied but now notice secondly having looked at the substance of the apostle's strong desire the measure of the apostle's strong desire for his readers the measure of his strong desire our text says grace to you and peace be multiplied in almost all of the other greetings of this nature in the new testament there is no the words simply read grace to you and peace or grace mercy and peace there is a no verb. It's sort of like when we'll say to someone wh...

27:56 - 28:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What is the measure? The measure of God's grace. The measure of God's grace is God himself. God himself. In the infinitude of his being, we are to understand the measure of his grace.

To explain 'multiplied,' Martin uses the analogy of sowing seed, where two seeds yield hundreds, representing exponential rather than incremental increase. This illustrates the abundant measure of grace and peace Peter desires.

Grace to you and peace be multiplied. And he uses, I say, a form of the verb. You academy students, it's an aorist optative. It is his strong wish, and an aggressive aorist. This is what I wish for you now and on into all of the trials that you will face. And he says, I wish for you that it be multiplied. Now the verb multiply is one that points to great and unusual increase. It's used by Paul in 2 Corinthians 9, 10. The multiplication that comes when you sow seed. You put two seeds in the ground, get a couple of plants, and out of those you get hundreds of seeds. It's used of the tremendous i...

30:09 - 30:58 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What is the measure? The measure of God's grace. The measure of God's grace is God himself. God himself. In the infinitude of his being, we are to understand the measure of his grace.

Martin cites the book of Acts, where the number of disciples was 'multiplied,' not just increased, to further illustrate the exponential growth implied by the verb 'multiplied.' This reinforces the idea of abundant grace and peace.

Grace to you and peace be multiplied. And he uses, I say, a form of the verb. You academy students, it's an aorist optative. It is his strong wish, and an aggressive aorist. This is what I wish for you now and on into all of the trials that you will face. And he says, I wish for you that it be multiplied. Now the verb multiply is one that points to great and unusual increase. It's used by Paul in 2 Corinthians 9, 10. The multiplication that comes when you sow seed. You put two seeds in the ground, get a couple of plants, and out of those you get hundreds of seeds. It's used of the tremendous i...

30:09 - 30:58 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What is the measure? The measure of God's grace. The measure of God's grace is God himself. God himself. In the infinitude of his being, we are to understand the measure of his grace.

Martin compares the unfolding of grace in Peter's letter to a majestic symphony, introducing a theme in the overture, developing it, and concluding with a grand climax. This illustrates how the themes of grace and peace are woven throughout 1 Peter.

What is the measure? The measure of God's grace. The measure of God's grace is God himself. God himself. In the infinitude of his being, we are to understand the measure of his grace. Like a majestic symphony that may introduce one of its moving themes in an overture and then picks it up along the way and then concludes with a grand climax in which those notes that were introduced are sounded and sent. This is how God ends his letter. Look at verse 12 of chapter 5.

33:04 - 33:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that desiring peace without understanding or desiring grace is futile; true peace requires confronting one's unresolved controversy with God.

Martin describes how people try to drown the tumult of an accusing conscience with music, drugs, or relationships, but in quiet moments, the reality of accountability to God surfaces. This illustrates the lack of true peace for the wicked.

There is no peace that's my God to the wicked. They know the tumult of an accuser. in conscience, though they may try to drown it with music, with drugs, with relationships, in the quiet hours lying on a bed, conscious in a way that they wish they could somehow obliterate from their awareness, I am not cosmic junk. I'm a creature made by God. And I will one day stand before God. And when that thought comes in, unaccompanied by anything to dull its implications, there can be no peace. God says, there is no peace. Set my God to the wicked. You know you have a controversy with God that's unresolv...

37:57 - 38:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that desiring peace without understanding or desiring grace is futile; true peace requires confronting one's unresolved controversy with God.

Martin points to public television and bookstores glutted with 'gurus of internal peace' and New Age self-help, illustrating humanity's desperate desire for peace apart from God's grace. This highlights the futility of seeking peace outside of Christ.

that heart within your breath stopped beating, you would immediately confront the reality of that controversy. No peace. And there are some who say, I'd do anything to get peace. And they do. Our public television stations are glutted with the gurus of internal peace as well. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry giving his idea of how to find peace. New Age stuff of all stripes. Our bookshelves in our bookstores are filled with it.

38:42 - 39:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Stop resisting the grace of God; if you throw yourself upon a wholly undeserved salvation, you must surrender your life to Christ.

Martin quotes the hymn 'Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be' to illustrate the sense of obligation and loyalty that grace draws forth from a believing heart. This explains why the human heart resists grace.

Well, there are many reasons. Here's one of the fundamental ones. If all of my acceptance with God is rooted in his free, unmerited favor, it is all, if all of his own kindness and all of his own doing, then what does that draw forth from the heart of everyone who believingly appropriates that grace? A sense of utter resignation and obligation to the God who extends grace to us.

43:34 - 44:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not make light of the realities of God's judgment and your mortality; you have no promise of tomorrow.

Martin addresses young people reared in Christian homes, describing how they observe their parents living meticulous lives, motivated by love for God due to His grace, not by earning points. This illustrates the transformative power of grace and challenges young people who resist its implications for their own lives.

Don't make light of these realities. And to some of you reared in Christian homes who are not openly defiant of God's truth, and thank God there are many of you in that category, could it be that this is the rub? This is what keeps you packed. You see what grace does for mom and dad.

45:26 - 45:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin clarifies that this multiplied grace and peace are specifically 'to you' – those who are 'elect sojourners,' 'in Christ.' He stresses the exclusivity and inclusivity of…

Martin contrasts Peter's specific greeting with a casual, generic 'peace, bro' from the hippie era. This highlights that Peter's 'peace to you' is not a vague expression of goodwill but a precise theological statement directed to specific recipients.

Those that we've been describing in the previous part of the greeting. When Peter says grace to you, is he just going around like they did in the hippie days? Someone's mind half blown unpopped and somebody playing the latest, Bobby Dylan song and just say, peace, bro, peace, peace. Is that what Peter's doing?

47:42 - 48:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that the multiplied grace and peace are for those 'in Christ'; if you are not in Christ, this blessing is not for you.

Martin uses the analogy of being either male or female (not 'it') to emphasize that there is no middle ground between being 'in Christ' or 'out of Christ.' This illustrates the stark, binary reality of one's spiritual state.

Why do you keep pressing? My friend, that's reality. Every one of you here is either a male or a female. We don't have any its.

49:57 - 50:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Be assured that whatever duties or trials you face, there is grace sufficient for all your need and peace to be known in pursuing God's will.

Martin quotes Dr. Edmund Clowney's commentary on 1 Peter, which summarizes the greeting as containing the whole message of the letter and explains how Peter, having learned from Gethsemane, pronounces peace that comes by the cross, not the sword. This reinforces the sermon's main points about the source and nature of Christian peace.

I close with a quote from Dr. Edmund Clowney, who has written a very helpful commentary on 1 Peter. And he concludes his treatment of this greeting with these words. Peter's brief, greeting, grace and peace be yours in abundance, gives in miniature the whole message of his letter.

52:29 - 52:48 Read in full sermon