Inspired P.S. #2: The True Grace of God

Introduction: The Inspired Postscript and its Profitability

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, July 2nd, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Now let us turn together to 1 Peter and chapter 5, 1 Peter, chapter 5. For those visiting with us, you are coming in on the tail end of two and a half years of expounding this book, with the exception of probably 10, 12 Lord's Days out of the year. We're coming up on exposition number 98. I think we're going to end right at 100.

0:45 And I have no significance in that at all, except that's the fact.

0:50 We come now to what is really a spirit-inspired postscript, a PS to the body of the letter, verses 12 to 14. Peter writes,

1:04 Father, as I account him, I have written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast therein. She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, salute you or greet you, and so does Mark, my son. Greet one another with a kiss of love.

1:29 Peace be unto you all that are in Christ. O may we again seek God's help. We have sung together asking for the Spirit. Let us again pray that he may be given to us.

1:46 Our Father, we do confess we are so slow to unlearn the ways of creature confidence. And we tremble when we read in your word, that cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from Jehovah. For he shall be like a heath in the desert. He shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit a parched place, a wilderness, where no water is.

2:17 Our Father, we do not want that to be our experience. So we come as those who trust in you. And you have promised that the one who trusts in you shall be like a well-watered garden. O God, make our hearts that by the influence of the Holy Spirit, we cry, I pray to you, come, O blessed spirit, and open the word to us, warm our hearts to its truth.

2:47 May it envelop us as we place ourselves beneath it. In Jesus' name, amen.

3:01 Now the words in 2 Timothy 3.16 are familiar to many, if not almost all of us here, where the apostle writing to Timothy says that all Scripture is given by, by inspiration of God, and is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction or training in righteousness. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All is profitable, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

3:36 And yet I'm sure all of us would agree that not all Scripture is at first glance, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And surely that's true of Peter's p.s. to his letter.

3:53 When we came to sections in which the apostle, by the guidance of the spirit, was opening up the grandeur and the greatness of salvation in Christ, or opening up some practical counsel concerning how to suffer for the sake of Christ, and for the name of Christ, the prophet, for doctrine, for reproof, correction, instruction was there right on the surface we could see it at first glance but when we come to a passage like this by Silvanus our faithful brother as I account him I have written etc we wonder at first glance what in this is profitable for doctrine what here is profitable for reproof, for correction for training in righteousness and yet I trust we began to see last Lord's day as we took up this postscript to first Peter that there is indeed a wealth of doctrine there is reproof, correction and instruction in the way of righteousness we noted last week that in the very way in which Peter closes his letter following the currently accepted cultural, socially compatible pattern of writing a formal first sentence a century letter in the Greco-Roman world in itself contains a tremendous word of teaching and instruction in righteousness

Review: The Commendation of Silvanus

5:21 and we focused upon the principle that is there on the very surface of the passage that the Holy Spirit does not violate morally neutral social and cultural norms he lays hold of them to violate them where there is no moral issue where there is no moral issue where there is no moral issue where there is no higher end to be secured would be in Peter's case to prejudice the minds of his readers against his person and against his message and as we read the scriptures and supremely in our Lord Jesus we see that grace does not war against nature grace refines nature grace sublimates nature to its own purposes but grace does not war with nature only with sin and then we began to study the text itself by noting the commendation of Silvanus and in order to work our way through what is said we asked three questions of this Silvanus who was he and we determined that he is the Silas of the book of Acts mentioned no fewer than a dozen times between Acts 15.22 and Acts 15.22 Acts 18.5 he is called one of the chief brethren in the Jerusalem church he is called a prophet

6:51 he was Paul's companion in the second missionary journey and he no doubt administered in the area in which some of these very churches were located to whom this letter was sent by the apostle Peter then we asked the second question what is his connection with the letter the text reads by Jesus by Silvanus our faithful brother as I account him I have written unto you briefly what is his connection with what Peter has written well some suggest that he was co-author and we dispense with that for several reasons others say he was his recording secretary his amanuensis and we dispense with that for several reasons and we cast in our lot with the majority of the commentators who believe that what Peter is saying is by Silvanus means that Silvanus was Peter's appointed messenger and bearer of this letter hence he commends him as that one who is a faithful brother that's the third question who was he what is his connection with the letter what is the substance of Peter's commendation Peter commends him as the faithful brother the trustworthy brother the one who has earned Peter's confidence

8:18 and the confidence of the members of these churches that he is one to be trusted when he appears and bears a letter Peter says from me he appears as one worthy of your trust and when he tells you that this is my letter and not some letter from a pseudo Peter from a fake Peter you can trust him you know him to be a trustworthy brother now then this morning we take up the other two heads with respect to this verse to verse 12 having considered the commendation of Silas under these three heads we now consider the summarization of the letter in these words I have written unto you briefly exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God and then thirdly the exhortation to stand fast in that grace stand fast therein so last Lord's day the commendation of Silvanus this morning the summarization of the letter and the exhortation to stand fast in the grace of God the summarization of the letter Peter sets before us three things in summarizing his letter first of all as to its relative length note what Peter says by Silvanus

The Summarization of the Letter: Relative Length

9:45 our faithful brother as I reckon him I have written unto you briefly you say it didn't seem like too brief a letter to me if I wrote a letter that long I'd lose my friends well not necessarily but in Peter's judgment it was a brief letter a literal rendering would be I wrote unto you through few and we must supply the word words a letter a literal rendering of the Greek is I wrote to you through few through few what through few words you have a similar though not identical statement in Hebrews thirteen and verse twenty-two and here the writer to the Hebrews is written more than twice the amount of words that Peter wrote and yet he says in Hebrews thirteen twenty-two I exhort you brethren bear with the word of exhortation for I've written unto you I've written unto you in a few in a few words in a few words thirteen chapters three the words five chapters three selected Heunge in many brains you were in relation to what well not a few in relationship to the length of your letters for my life who doing relationship to the tremendous subject matter in issue the direct in the bedroom

11:12 well with the look up on the tease the to your head written about in his letter from the opening verses when he is blessing God who has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that pays not away reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God unto self. Every one of those phrases has a world of biblical theology packed into it and Peter could have paused at any one of those and expanded and expounded and written a letter that would indeed make this one seem like a few words. So when he says I have written with respect to the relative length of my letter in a few that is through a few words he is speaking in relationship to what could have been said with respect to the grand and glorious treatment of Jesus Christ. of salvation the weighty and demanding imperatives the rich and comprehensive instruction in the theology of suffering for the sake of Christ. As I've already indicated this is the 98th exposition

The Summarization of the Letter: Basic Form (Exhorting and Testifying)

12:30 I have spent somewhere around a hundred and hundred and ten hours seeking to expound the letter and I think most of you would agree I have not had to beat anything thin at the edges. Again and again I have had to resist the temptation to pause on a phrase here and a phrase here and preach not just one sermon but a whole series of sermons because it's as though you strike a rich vein of biblical truth and all Peter does is expose the vein and everything in you wants to trace that vein in and to enjoy all the richness that God has deposited. And so with respect to his summary of the letter it's relative length, he says, in a few words. But then he says something as to its basic form. Not only its relative length, I've written unto you through a few words, but now note what he says about its basic form. Exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Its form is a combination of exhorting and testifying. Now exhorting means, in this context, earnest and persuasive

13:51 address aimed at encouraging and bracing the readers to face their trials. That's Hebert's very helpful summation of Peter's exhorting. It is earnest and persuasive. This tone of pressing urgency is heard again and again throughout the letter. From the first imperative found in chapter 1 and verse 13, notice the vigor of it. Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, the picture of someone in Middle Eastern garb about to give himself to an arduous physical task. Or to run at a quick pace, and he gathers up all the loose folds of his garment. Be sober. Set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be

14:47 brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as children of obedience. There is a vigor. There is an earnestness in Peter's exhortation all the way through to the last exhortation in chapter 5 and verse 8. Be sober. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, is going to come to you.

15:07 The devil is going to come to you. The devil is going to come to you. The devil is going to come to you. The devil is a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour, whom withstands steadfast in your faith. You see, there is nothing in this letter of a laid-back, lean-on-your-elbow approach to the Christian life. Peter is all earnestness. He is all pastoral passion in all of his exhortations. And he looks back upon the letter, and his own summary as to its basic form is this.

15:36 My letter. My letter was to you a letter of exhorting. This tone of pressing urgency, earnest and persuasive address, aimed at encouraging and bracing the readers to face their trials. But then he says it was not only a letter filled with exhorting, but also testifying, testifying. Now here again, the ignorant Galilean fisherman shows the richness of his vocabulary. He uses a word, testifying.

16:04 Testifying. Testifying. Testifying. Testifying.

16:07 Testifying. Testifying. word found nowhere else in the New Testament. It's one of Peter's choice words, guided by the Holy Spirit to use it. The root of the word is the basic word, margaretto, which means to witness, to bear testimony. And then it has a prefix that intensifies it, is to testify upon, or to place something upon a testimony, and it has the concept of confirmation. A testimony has been given. Someone has seen something and borne witness to it. That to which they bear witness is their testimony. Someone comes along and confirms it. That's what Peter says this letter was. This letter was not only to be understood in its form as a letter exhorting, but also a letter testifying. Testifying to what? Well, in chapter

17:03 1 and verse 11, Peter says, I'm sorry, chapter 1 verse 12, to whom it was revealed, that is the prophets, that not unto themselves but unto you did they minister these things which now have been announced unto you through them that preach the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven, which things angels desire to look upon. Gospel preachers had come to these people in those provinces of Asia. They had come to these people in those provinces of Asia. They had come to these people in those provinces of Asia Minor. They had testified to the truth concerning Christ, particularly the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. They had testified basic gospel truth. These people had embraced the truth, and as a result of embracing the truth, being identified with the Lord Jesus, they are now suffering. And in the midst of their suffering, no doubt the devil has come and sought to place doubts in their mind. Is this the truth? Is this

18:03 the blessed life to which Christ leads? Is this the life to which Christ brings his followers? Peter in his letter is saying, yes, that's just the kind of life union with Christ brings to all of his true followers. And as an eyewitness of the sufferings of Christ, as an eyewitness of the glory of Christ, to which he makes explicit reference in his second letter, Peter says, my letter has not only been a letter exhorting, but seeking to urge you on in pursuit of a God-centered, God-pleasing life in the midst of your suffering.

18:42 It has been a letter of testifying, clenching the nails of truth that were sunk in your heart by the previous preachers of the gospel. My letter has been a letter of testimony, of confirming testimony to the truth and the realities of the gospel. And so basically, what Peter does in summarizing his letter as to its form, he says it was exhortation. We would call that the practical application of truth based upon testifying, that is, the substructure of objective doctrinal truth. So there was exhortation with its foundation in apostolic testimony. It was testimony that led to exhortation. That combination of doctrine and of practice, of what we have in Christ as described in, here come the words again, the glorious indicatives, what God has done, what is true because of God's grace in Christ, but always followed by the grand imperatives. What we are to do and to be in the light of what we are.

20:02 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

20:03 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

20:03 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Application: The Balance of Exhortation and Testimony in Preaching

20:03 Amen. Peter does not use the language, indicatives, imperatives, that's the structure of his own summary of his letter. By Silvanus, our faithful brother, I've written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying, setting before you the imperatives based upon the indicatives, telling you what you should do and be in the light of what you are and you have, and Peter is conscious that his letter can be summarized under those two headings, and let me say by way of application that that should be the characteristic of all true preaching, that it is a combination of exhorting and of testifying, setting forth the responsibilities and privileges rooted in the provisions of God's grace. To attempt to exhort and admonish and motivate the people who are in the light of God's grace, and motivate people to please Christ, without first of all declaring plainly and emphatically what is theirs in Christ, is like attempting to build a solid house with no substantial foundation. It's like attempting to cross a lake in a sailboat when there's no wind.

21:26 It's attempting to take a long trip with a high-powered touring car. They are with no gas in the tank. And that's the weakness of some ministries. They are very strong on exhorting, seeking to motivate and direct the people of God into a God-pleasing light.

21:47 But they are weak and shallow in the testifying, declaring the objective truths of what we are and what we have in Christ, following the pattern that we have seen in Ephesians, three chapters, opening up what it means to be a Christian, to be a Christian, to be a religious, to be Christian, to be wise, to be understand the Catholicism. The part of the tradition that Paul note amout of Jesus says that we are gathered together in God and Christ. These things are exemplary, and we should understand them. In Wa ALa, –we should understand them, but most and partitionally, most must be decided upon both the nature of our life, man and mother, past and future, ちیjun Chalmers уди, and TRILI microphone text for your good cause.

22:10 Then in Chapter 4, I therefore, as the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling by wherewith you were called." And then he exhorts. Peter has done the same thing. In Chapter 1, verses 3-12, we saw the grand indicative of what we have in Christ, forward stherng after words and rather like whoa he continues to say.

22:30 13, are we given the imperative? Exhortation follows testimony. Others are very strong on testifying, bearing witness to what Christ has done, affirming what the believer is in Christ, what the believer has in Christ. But such preachers are very weak in exhorting and saying in the light of this, this is what you are to be and to do. This is what God expects of you. Having invested all of this grace in you, this is what He expects that grace to do through you. They're always teaching God as it works in us, but they're not telling us what we are to do to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And a biblically balanced ministry will be exactly what Peter says his letter was as to its form and by implication, of course, content.

23:30 It was exhorting and it was testifying. Now let me get personal. I've been taking potshots at preachers and our weaknesses. Each of us by nature has a predisposition to be cop-heavy in one or the other. And I've seen that over the years. People will get blessed to the gills when I'm expounding 1 Peter 1, 3 to 12. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus who has begotten us again. Oh, they love rich and solid biblical exposition of what we have in Christ. But the minute you come to the therefore, to the therefore, gird up the loins of your mind. Set your hope perfectly

24:16 on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves after the pagan world around you, but like as He who called you is holy, so be ye holy. They're always answering this. Let's get away from this legalistic, doozy preaching. Let's get back to the real stuff.

24:38 Now you need to know what your predisposition is. And if that's your predisposition, you need to cry to God to give you a heart equally enthusiastic for exhortation as it is for testifying. Some of you, you're the other way. If a preacher doesn't ream out the consciences of God's people and call them to some new level of obedience or holiness in every sermon, they think he's getting.

25:04 soft on sin. They think that he's becoming doctrinally detached. And you need to cry to God that God will do in you what needs to be done, that you're willing to apply your natively lazy mind. And often that's one of the accompanies, not always, but often. A mind too lazy to think of the large realities of grace. When it comes to the practical details, you like that. Why? Because that fits your basic mental cast naturally.

25:34 The way you're put together, you have a more practical mind. You don't like to think in the abstract. When you come to such phrases as chosen, in him, before the foundation of the world, you say, all that stuff eludes me. How can I be chosen when I don't even have any being? And before the foundation of the world, and in, that's just beyond me.

25:55 Well, no, no. To fully comprehend it is beyond all of us. But to seek by prayerful meditation and reflection, to grasp that leap. The edges of the glory of what it is to be chosen in him before the foundation of the world is to contribute to your spiritual stability, your ability to worship, your ability to stand in amazement at the provisions of God's grace. And I'm sure you found this true working through 1 Peter. There are some sections that were a bit more heavy on the testifying that you had to prod yourself and pinch your cheek to keep awake and keep your interest. When we got to some of those sections, we found that there were some sections that were a little more of those nitty-gritty practical sections you were all ears and alert and alive and awake. Well, be honest and ask God to help you to know yourself. And then, by

The Summarization of the Letter: Overarching Theme (The True Grace of God)

26:45 his grace, to be one who's equally at home with the exhorting and the testifying. So, in summarizing his letter, Peter says something about its relative length. A few words. Its basic form, exhorting and testifying, but now notice what he says thirdly about its overarching theme.

27:05 And here I struggle for the right word. It's unifying theme. It's undergirding theme. It's overarching theme. It's all-encompassing theme. And then I settled on overarching. But I couldn't get rid of all the others, so I sneaked them in to tell you how I struggled with them. It's overarching theme. What was its overarching theme? Look at the text. By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I account him, I've written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Its overarching theme was the grace of God. The true grace of God. All of the exhorting and all of the testifying in this epistle point to the true grace of God. What is the grace of God? It's God's unmerited favor to hell-deserving sinners

28:06 with all the grace of God. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. All of the provisions in Christ for the past, the present, and the future. And Peter says, that is the overarching theme of my letter. I've been pointing again and again and again to those various manifestations of the unmerited favor of God to hell-deserving sinners, and all of the provisions of that grace in Christ for the past, the present, and the future. He says, it was this to which the prophets bore witness. Isn't it interesting the way he describes the theme of the prophets? Look at chapter 1 and verse 10. Concerning

28:52 which salvation, the salvation that has now come to them, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of what? Of the grace that should come unto you. Of all the ways to summarize what the prophets spoke about, it's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. It's the grace of God. In conjunction with their salvation, Peter highlights this one thing. They prophesied of the grace that should come to you. And when that grace came in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, it was that grace contained in the gospel that was preached to them. And what happened? Well, it was that grace, and that mercy, and that kindness of God that brought them out of darkness and into marvelous light. And we go back through the epistle and see what it did with respect to the past. He says in chapter 1 and verse 22, seeing you purified your souls in your obedience to the truth.

29:53 Verse 23, having been begotten again by the word. That grace brought the truth of the gospel in power, and God sovereignly, God gloriously regenerated them, purified their souls. They were redeemed, not with silver and gold, but with precious blood. Chapter 1, verses 18 and 19. It was grace that took care of their spiritual defilement. Grace that raised them from the dead, caused them to be begotten again unto a living hope. Grace that brought them within the orbit of the redeeming power of Christ. It is that grace to which Peter points them for all their present. Let's look in detail in that final promise, chapter 5 and verse 10. The God of all grace.

30:47 And when we expounded that we noted the only place in all of scripture he's called that is right here. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you, when? Now! In the midst of your suffering.

31:08 In the midst of your opposition. In the midst of all your vulnerability, God's grace is sufficient. He's the God of all grace. Grace that can mend you and perfect you in the midst of the battle.

31:22 Establish you, strengthen you, settle you, ground you. He says the overarching theme is grace that takes care of our past need, continues to supply our present. And when he points to the future, how does he describe it? He describes it in chapter 1 in verse 13.

31:41 In this way, girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's grace that took care of our need in the past. It is grace that continually supplies our need. It is grace that will meet us at the coming of Christ and perfect us into his likeness forever.

32:09 And he says this is the true grace. The grace of God. You are not deluded. Peter says, I was an eyewitness of his sufferings.

32:19 I saw his glory upon the mount, he says in his second letter. These things are not comingly devised fables. You have not been misled by a man-made system. Nor have you been misled by a distortion of grace.

32:36 He addresses that in his second letter. People who turn the grace of God into an excuse. And a license for sin. Not Peter.

32:44 He teaches grace in such a way that it promotes holiness. It promotes likeness to Christ. It promotes obedience to the civil governor. It promotes women embracing the role of submissiveness to their husbands and servants.

33:02 To their masters. It is grace that produces a life of holiness. It's overarching theme, according to Peter. It is exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God.

Quotation: John Brown on Apostolic Letters and Preaching

33:20 Listen to John Brown, the Scottish commentator of another generation. He beautifully summarizes this. I quote him. What the apostle represents as the characteristics of his letter are equally those of the apostolic letters generally.

33:35 They are occupied with brief, condensed testimonies and exhortations. Respecting the grace of God and the duty of Christians in reference to that grace. And as the apostles' discourses recorded in the Acts of the Apostles are the models which Christian ministers should follow in preaching the gospel to the world lying under the wicked one. So their letters are models which preachers should follow in teaching the doctrine and the law of Christ to the churches of the saints, to those who have believed through grace.

34:11 Every Christian teacher's system of instruction should embrace in it a clear, distinct statement of the true grace of God, of the exceeding great and precious blessings of the Christian salvation. He should conduct his people throughout the length and breadth of the goodly heritage assigned to them even here below, and should often take them up, as it were, to an exceeding high mountain, teaching them to apply the prospective glass of the gospel, to the eye of faith, to show them the glories of the kingdom which awaits them in that land that is afar off. If he does not do this, he is not a minister of the gospel at all. And his system should equally embrace in it a clear statement and a powerful enforcement of the duties which lie on Christians as partakers of the grace of God in truth. And his doctrinal preaching must all wear the form, of a testimony, a declaration of what God the Lord says, and what is the mind of Christ, of what the Holy Spirit has declared, not of human conjectures and reasonings, but of divine revelations. And his practical preaching must all have the form of exhortation, not occupying the mind with ethical dispositions and questions,

35:34 but pressing home clearly announced divine injunctions on the conscience and the heart. The testimony, and the exhortation must go together and be presented as closely connected. Now note, the one the foundation, the other the building, the grace, the true grace, must be declared in order that they who believe in Christ may be careful to maintain good works. There are few words that in a very real sense are the acid test of all instruction, which presents itself, as coming from God and as based upon the scriptures.

36:16 But here is one. Is the overarching theme of that professedly biblical ministry, anything that could justly be called, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. A biblical ministry will apply the law to the consciences of men. Why?

36:41 That they might feel their need of grace. For by the law comes the knowledge of sin. Until we know ourselves to be sinful and hell-deserving, grace has no meaning. For it is God's good will, His undeserved kindness to hell-deserving sinners.

37:04 A ministry that testifies the gospel of the grace of God will freely display the fullness of salvation available in Christ. It will not hold back pointing to Christ and saying, In Him, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. All the forgiveness, all the pardon, all the liberation, all of the peace, and all of the joy that we have forfeited by our sin is in Christ and is freely, fully, unqualifiedly available to any sinner who will have Christ. That's preaching of the grace of God.

37:43 Calling men to turn from self-help schemes of getting right with God. Cast themselves upon Christ as He is offered in the gospel. But it will also clearly declare that God's grace is never an inactive principle that merely gives a man or woman a sense of well-being now that his sins are forgiven. It will be grace as Paul taught it in Ephesians 2, 8 to 10.

38:10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works that no man should boast for, we are His workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus on two good works which God before ordained that we should walk in them. Within short compass, works have nothing to do with the ground of my salvation. Works have everything to do with the evidence that I am truly saved.

38:37 And it's all of grace. The grace that brings me into Christ is the grace that in union with Christ produces in us the good works which display the reality of our union with Him. And so Peter's overarching theme will be the overarching theme of every biblical ministry. Well, we come now to our third head in this twelfth verse.

The Exhortation: Stand Fast in the Grace of God

39:05 Having considered last Lord's day the commendation of Silvanus, thus far this morning the summarization of the letter, now the exhortation to stand fast in the grace of God. I've written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying this is the true grace of God. Stand fast therein. Some of you may have a version that says, wherein you stand, as though it's a present tense, an indicative.

39:33 And there is the manuscript evidence for that form of the verb to stand, but I share the conviction of most of the modern translations and most of the commentators that Peter did not write an indicative, wherein you are standing, that is a wonderful truth, Paul mentions it in Romans Five two. He speaks of standing in this grace, this grace wherein you stand, but rather, Peter is giving an imperative, an heiress imperative, an imperative that has about it the sense, again, of urgency. I've written to you, testifying this is the true grace of God. Now, having entered into the orbit of that grace, and all of my writing to you, Peter, says, I've assumed, you're in the orbit of that grace, I'm in the land, you, Peter, are in the life , and all your дорness, grace. The gospel has come in power. You've been born again. You've purified your souls.

40:25 You've been united to Christ. You've become living stones in His living temple, indwelt by His living presence. This is all that you now have in the orbit of grace. Now my exhortation to you is this. Stand within that orbit. Don't move from the orbit of grace. I've written unto you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. Don't budge from it. You see, Peter understood that it was not only grace on the threshold, grace in the midst of the Christian life, but grace all the way to the consummation. And this verb, to stand, a verb used in Ephesians 6, is a verb used in the

41:17 Bible. He's strong in the Lord and the power of His might. We're then admonished to stand and having done all to stand, it means we don't cave in. We don't collapse. We don't give in to pressure to move to another sphere of spiritual dynamics. We're to stand within the orbit of God's grace. Now, question. Why in the world would He have to give an exhortation like this? If grace had brought them all that they presently needed, would He have given them all that they presently possessed? And if grace will bring them all that Peter says it will bring them at the coming of Christ, surely someone would be a fool to move out of the orbit of grace, wouldn't they? Wouldn't they? You say yes. But you see, that's part

42:05 of the problem with sin. Sin is moral madness. It's not supposed to make sense. There is nothing more antithetical to the natural state of the human heart than grace. Nothing more antithetical to the natural state of the human heart than grace. Nothing more antithetical to the natural state of the human heart than grace. Nothing more antithetical to the natural state of the human heart than grace. Sinners in their sin hate grace because they hate God. And God's the God of all grace. And they will either try to calm themselves into thinking they don't need grace. Wasn't that the Pharisee? He comes into the temple and says, I don't need grace. God, look at me. I do this. I do that. I am this. I am not that. My standing is on the basis of who I am and what I've done and what I do. There was no grace in his mind. He thought his standing with God was deserved. I thank you. I am not as other men. Not even as this publican. I fast. I tithe. He had no place

43:10 for grace in his scheme of things. And there's a whole segment of humanity just like him today. They don't need grace. Undeserved favor from God. Why? I'm not so bad in terms of what I am, what I do, what I don't do. I think I'll make it. Or, or, it's amazing how moral madness sin brings to the human heart. They say, no, I'm too far gone. My sins are such that even God can't forgive me. So what you're saying is God's grace has limits to it. It's not God's grace. I know long ago I'd have kicked me out of any consideration of favor and forgiveness and acceptance. And so they make a God in their own image.

The Antipathy of Remaining Sin to Grace

43:56 They don't like grace. They either think they don't need grace, or they put themselves outside the orbit of the extent and the magnitude of grace. It takes grace to bring a sinner to rest upon grace. That's why Paul could say, for by grace you have been saved. Grace brought you to see your need of grace. And grace brought you to embrace the magnitude of grace. Now, follow me closely. What is true in a dominant way in the heart of the unsaved?

44:29 Our remaining sin has the same antipathy to grace. Our remaining sin, though different in degree and in power, is not different in kind from our reigning sin. If you're a Christian, sin does not reign. If you're a Christian, the native reigning antipathy to grace has been conquered by the grace of God. And you gladly say in your sober moments, I am what I am. By the grace of God. But your remaining sin has an antipathy to grace. So what happens?

45:10 You miserably fall. You let the sun go down on your wrath. You went to bed with a grudge toward your husband, to your wife, to your mom, to your dad. You deliberately twisted the facts to make yourself look better than you know you were. You did not speak truth to your brother. Some of these things read from Ephesians 4, you violated them. Then what happens? Instead of coming and saying, oh God, I came at the first, saying with the hymn writer, nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I come. Lord, your grace is my only plea. What happens now? You're reluctant to go to him. Why? Because I've sinned. I've failed. How can I go to him? Has he ceased to be the God of all grace? How did you go to him in the beginning? You see, the Christian life is going to him again and again and again

46:08 and again. Exactly in the same posture that you went in the beginning. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I come. And we have an aversion to grace. We want to think that a few days in which there's been no outcropping of any of our peculiarly aggravated, besetting sins somehow makes the way of access to God a bit wider and a bit more certain. And we've woven into the very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very texture of our path to God our own stinking works. And what happens? We allow distance between ourselves and God. Why? Because we are comfortable with grace. Grace that goes

46:56 to him and says, Oh God, I've come for the one hundredth time. But your word is if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And if God demands of me that I forgive others without counting the numbers, Lord, shall we forgive seven times? Jesus said, no, seventy times seven.

47:24 In other words, the disposition of forgiveness in the heart of a saved Christian, a saved person, is not to be one that keeps count of how many times they forgive. If your brother comes to you seven times in the day saying, I sinned, you shall forgive him. Now, here's my question. Listen, is God requiring me to be more gracious than he is?

47:46 If I'm to forgive you without keeping any account of how many times you come to me and say, my brother, I sinned against you, will you forgive me? I'm to forgive you every time you own your sin. Is God requiring me to be more gracious than he is? Or is he calling on me in some little way to mirror the magnitude and the expansiveness of his grace?

48:08 Which is it? Do you see? What did we read this morning? Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.

48:21 How does God forgive? He doesn't keep a scorecard. That's what he tells you and me, to keep no scorecard.

48:32 Well, you say, that'll lead to carelessness. If you say that, you'll never understood grace. Nothing leads to a more jealous walk before God than the grace of God received into the heart by the enabled. The grace of God is so gracious, how can I do anything other than serve him with all of my being?

48:56 Am I scratching where some of you itch? You're uncomfortable with a salvation that is by grace all along the way as much as it was on the threshold. You've got no controversy. You're not where that Pharisee was.

49:11 You're with the publican, beating on your breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. No qualifications. The sinner. That's what I am.

49:21 God, be merciful.

49:24 But now along the way, you've got to say, Lord, be merciful to me.

49:29 And you've got to add something.

49:32 I've done this. I've done that. What happens when you haven't done it? And that.

49:37 And this.

49:39 Then your foundation is swept away. Why? Because you have foolishly done what Paul writes about when he writes to the Galatians. All foolish Galatians.

49:50 He said, are you so foolish? Have you begun? In the spirit, you now seek to be made perfected in the flesh. You have moved away from the principle of grace.

50:02 Peter says, this is the true grace of God. This is the true grace of God. That we stand in the orbit of grace. And so he says, stand fast therein.

Conclusion: Trusting Grace for Holiness and Obedience

50:16 When you face your fearfulness in front of your enemies and those who oppose you, and you think you're going to do as I, I did there in the courtyard of the high priest, when I swore and took oaths upon myself that I didn't even know him. That's what you will be and do if you move outside the orbit of grace.

50:41 But if you embrace the grace that I've been speaking about, Peter says, then you will stand fast in your bold confession of Christ. You will stand fast in that grace that is able to perfect and settle and strengthen and establish you, even in the midst of all of the pressures that you face. So, Peter, exhort them, and I exhort myself, and I exhort you, the people of God, to stand fast in this grace. Dare to believe in the language of the hymn writer.

51:20 Tis grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears. Relieved, how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Tis grace has brought me safe thus far.

51:40 And what grace will lead me home?

51:45 That's to stand fast in the grace of God. Does that mean we take sin lightly?

51:54 Of course not. Did Peter take his sin lightly? When the Lord looked upon him, after his denial, he went out, it says, and he wept bitterly.

52:07 Furthermore, when the Lord restores him by the sea of Galilee, Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know that I love you. Do you love me? You know all things, Lord, you know that I love you.

52:22 His love was never deeper than when his understanding of grace was most clear. That's the Lord who, when he stood before him in the courtyard, there in the high priest, he denied him. I have nothing to do with him. That Lord looks upon him, breaks his heart, and now says, I've got work for you to do, Peter.

52:49 I want you to feed my lambs, shepherd my sheep, feed my sheep.

52:56 Do you love me? He says, Lord, I do love you. He never loved him more. Why?

53:01 Because he never understood grace more. And if we love him, this is what drives, the motors of the soul to obey him. For he that loves me, keeps my word. That's why the devil hates the operation of grace upon your heart.

53:18 If he can cut the nerve of grace, he's cut the nerve of obedience.

53:24 May God help us to stand fast in the grace of God. That grace, which is never a license for sin, for the grace of God has appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Titus 1, verse 11 and following.

53:50 Can you trust grace to keep you walking straight? Or do you think grace needs a hedge?

53:59 Grace has its own hedge and its love to Christ. And there's no more powerful hedge to keep you in the way of holiness.

54:16 Our Father, we do confess with shame that our hearts are so full of a legal spirit, of a desire to think that in some way or another something we do or do not do adds in some way to the ground of our standing before you and receiving from you that which we need to please you. Forgive us for the folly of our sin and help us by your grace to appreciate more and more the sufficiency and the power of your grace. To keep us in the way of holiness and obedience. We pray for those who still have a clenched fist against the whole concept of grace. They do not see themselves in need of it or they have believed the devil's lie that they put themselves beyond its influence and its scope of provision. We pray, blessed Holy Spirit, bear witness to the truth of the fullness of grace that is in Christ. And we ask that we may cling to him some for the first time this morning.

55:28 Many of us, afresh, oh, help us to cling to him and to know the blessedness of that grace which is able to work in us all that is well-pleasing in your sight. Seal then your word to our hearts and accept our thanks for this portion of your truth. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

55:53 Amen.