2 Peter 1:1-4
Just a few verses from 2nd Peter chapter 1, and the first four verses you can follow along as I read. This is from Simon Peter. He describes himself as a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, have received a faith as precious as ours, gracious greeting, grace, and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Here’s our key phrase we want to focus on this morning.
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. Let’s pray together this morning. Let me give you an update on Hardy Hunt before we do.
So, if you were here last Sunday, we shared that Hardy Hunt had a tree trimming accident about nine days ago. He’s been in St. Joe Hospital since then and is making some progress. So, he had multiple fractures and a fracture in his face, 12 stitches in the side of his head.
Many of you have been praying for him. Many of you have visited him. Thank you for that. That’s encouraged. Hardy’s a very much a people person. So, he likes to be around people. He likes visitors. And thank you to many of you who have done that. So, Thursday he got moved from the, I think it was the eighth floor to the fourth floor, and now he’s starting a little bit of PT.
And as he says, it only hurts when he moves because he got two broken ribs, compression fracture in the back, broken tailbone, and a crack in his pelvis. So, no wonder it only hurts when he moves. But pray for Hardy and we’ll look forward to him being back with us at some point in time.
Just a little side note on Hardy. I was talking to his neighbor’s father-in-law when I was visiting Hardy on Thursday. And the neighbor’s father-in-law told me that Hardy no longer has a ladder in his garage.
So, the neighbor went over and took it. And like, no more ladders. No more ladders.
So, all right. So, we’re going to jump into a topic here called Great and Precious Promises. That’s really from 2nd Peter chapter 1, the verses that we read.
So, we finished up the book of Colossians about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Then if you were here, I think 2 weeks ago, David and Susan Sawatsky were here, who served the Lord in Siberia for many years. And they gave an update on his life and his journey in ministry and the book that he’s written, Iron Broom.
Many of you bought that book. Then last week, we had Pastor Samai here, and he gave a brief report and had a Mother’s Day recognition. So, this morning, we’re going to head into a series on Great and Precious Promises, 4 or 5 messages.
And then we will, probably for the summertime, jump into a book study, probably the book of Ecclesiastes. One of the most fascinating books in the Bible. So that’s kind of where we’re headed.
So, let’s think about this verse here from 2nd Peter chapter 1, verse 4, where Peter’s writing to people who have been displaced because of persecution. The first letter that Peter wrote, he’s writing to people who were displaced because of persecution, and they’re scattered abroad. They’re being persecuted for their faith in Jesus.
And so, the theme of 1st Peter is pain with a purpose. All of us go through pain in life, whether physical pain or emotional pain. One of the things that helps us get through pain is we realize, hey, there’s an ultimate goal in this.
There’s a purpose in this pain. And Peter writes 1st Peter to let those believers know, yes, you’re going through difficult times and pain, but God has a purpose in your pain. God doesn’t want to waste any pain that’s in our life.
He has a purpose for it. And so, Peter writes about these very great and precious promises that God has given to us. So, my question is, well, what are these promises? What are the promises that God has given to us? And they’re all through the Bible.
Introductory truths
Somebody has said there’s thousands of promises in the Bible. We’re just going to look at four or five of them over the next month or so. But before we get into the promises, I want to think about three introductory truths and set the table for this topic of great and precious promises.
1. We have all experienced the pain of broken promises
And here’s the first introductory truth as we think about great and precious promises that God has given to us. Number one, we have all experienced the pain of broken promises. You don’t get very far down the road in life before you experience a broken promise.
We were visiting our middle son and daughter-in-law for a birthday party, and he was telling me, this was about a month ago, that they were putting four-year-old Weston to bed, and Weston was upset. And they’re trying to find out, why are you so upset? And it had to do with some sort of statement that they made that sounded like a promise, and it didn’t happen. And he’s crying, and he said, but dad, you promised.
And so oftentimes, we experience this early in life, and we know that sometimes things come up, and you can’t always come through. But boy, if you make a promise to your child, you better do your best to fulfill it, because they’re going to remember, and they’re going to hold you to that. So, we all experience the pain of broken promises.
Friends that let us down, a friend that said, hey, I’m going to do this for you, and it never happens. How about financial promises? Probably about 35 years ago, my wife and I loaned some money to a young lady. It was really money that we didn’t have, but we loaned money to a young lady that was in a deep financial crisis.
And our hearts just went out to her, and so we loaned her several thousand dollars, and she promised she would pay it back. Guess what happened? Over and over again, oh, I’ll pay you, I’ll get that money to you. And what happens when that situation happens is, it puts a wedge between you and the relationship.
So, I learned years ago, here’s some good advice, don’t loan money to a family member or friend, just give it to them. And if you can’t afford to give it to them, then don’t get involved. So, the pain of broken promises, whether it’s a promise from a parent, whether it’s a promise regarding a financial promise, how about the pain of broken marriage vows? About 40% of marriages end up in divorce, and people stand up in front of a church and make a vow and a commitment till death do us part.
A lot of pain comes from broken promises in marriage. Here’s one more, and I’ve kind of discovered this over the last 45 years of ministry. As I’ve visited people, and maybe newer people at the church, or maybe somebody that I found was interested in the church, or maybe somebody that hasn’t been there for a while and I’m just checking in on them, oftentimes they’ll tell me when I’m leaving, I’ll see you Sunday.
And about the percentage of people that actually show up after telling me that over the years, that this is just an average, usually about maybe 25% or 30% actually do see me on Sunday. Maybe they’ll just tell me that to get rid of me. But broken promises, we’ve all experienced the pain of broken promises, and therefore many people today don’t trust anyone because they have experienced a series of broken promises in their life.
This is why we have lawyers today. This is why we have contracts, because you cannot take people at your word. Jesus said in Matthew 5:37, Sermon on the Mount, let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Be a person of integrity. When you say yes, then follow through. You need to follow through on the integrity of your words.
2. A promise is only as good as the character of the promise giver
Here’s introductory truth number two, and it’s this. A promise is only as good as the character of the promise giver. A promise is only as good as the person making that statement, making that promise, their character.
And the great thing about our study on the promises of God is because when you study the character of God, and I’m going to share a bunch of verses here, God is a God who will always keep his promise. Let me give you some verses. Numbers 23:19.
God is not human that he should lie. Not a human being that he should change his mind. And then two rhetorical questions.
Does God speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? No. Psalm 145 verse 3. The Lord is trustworthy in all his promises and faithful in all that he does. Titus chapter 1 verse 2 talks about God who promised eternal life before the world began, and then he describes God as God who cannot lie.
God cannot lie. It’s not in his character. So, God is a God of truth.
Hebrews 10:23. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And so, a promise is only as good as the character of the promise giver.
And when we study the promises of God, these are coming from the God who cannot lie. He’s the great promise giver. And so, we can rely on his promises.
3. There are 2 key questions regarding the promises of God
Here’s the third introductory truth is this. But there are a couple of key questions that we need to think about when we think about studying the promises of God. As I said, there’s thousands of promises in the Bible.
Question #1: To whom is this promise given?
But when you begin to study scripture and the promises of God, here’s two questions that we need to consider. Here’s the first one. To whom is this promise given? So, you need to study the context.
There’s an old hymn that was written years and years ago, and the hymn says, Every promise in the book is mine. Every chapter, every verse, and every line. All the blessings of his love divine.
Every promise in the book is mine. It makes for a good song, but it’s not true because not every promise in the Bible is for you. And so, then we need to discover who’s God talking to? Who is this promise made to? Is this promise made to an individual? Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 through 3, the Abrahamic covenant, God calls Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees and says, I’m going to make you a great nation, and I’m going to bless the whole world through you.
That was a promise directly to Abraham. Is this a promise that’s given to the nation of Israel, to God’s old covenant people, Israel? Is this a promise that’s given to all Christians? Is this a promise that’s given to an unbeliever? Romans 10:13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Is this a promise that is given to the church? So, you need to study that.
Question #2: Is this promise conditional or unconditional?
All right, what’s the context? Who’s the promise given to? The second question is equally as important when we think about the promises of God, and it’s this. Is this promise conditional or unconditional? In other words, do I have to do something if this promise is directed toward me, toward believers, do I have to do something before I get the promise, or is it unconditional promise? So, an unconditional promise would be, God says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. That verse is found about three times in scripture, that God’s presence is always with us, and he’ll never abandon us, he’ll never leave us.
A conditional promise is Philippians 4:6, and 7, Paul’s writing from jail. Do not be anxious about anything, that’s an imperative. Stop worrying, but then we’re to do something.
But in everything, with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. That’s our job. Stop worrying.
I want you to pray, give this situation to God, and here’s the promise, and the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard our hearts, our emotions, our minds in Christ Jesus. Isaiah 26:3, he will find perfect peace, the person whose mind is focused on God. And what happens when life comes in a turmoil is that we focus on our circumstance and our problem, and God wants us to focus on him, that he’s sovereign, he’s in control.
Promise #1: Strength for the Weary
And so, the second question is, do I have to do something to receive this promise? So, in our few minutes here before we come to the Lord’s table, we’re going to look at one promise, and it is a great promise. Promise number one, and we’re going to look at a couple passages here, but our main one’s going to be Isaiah chapter 40. It’s strength for the weary.
Strength for the weary. Anybody here get weary sometimes? Yeah. Wednesday night, we had all our kids here, and moms and dads are coming in and picking up their kids after our Wednesday night program, and one of the dads comes in and says, how was your day? He says, long.
I’m tired. I’m weary. And God says, I give strength to the weary.
Now, what kind of weariness is God talking about when he talks about giving strength for the weary? Well, there’s certainly a physical weariness that we experience in life, and these bodies that we have, we get tired. God’s given us some instructions for that. You know, good night’s rest is one of the ways to remedy that, but also the Sabbath principle, and it’s found in Scripture and the rhythm of creation.
What did God do? Work, work, work, work, work, work. Day number seven, rest. Not that you have to sit at home all the time, but, you know, recreate, and so that’s a rhythm that God gives us to renew our strength physically.
I’ve often talked to people, and I feel bad for this situation, but they’re working seven days a week, week after week after week, and studies have shown not only does productivity go down, but you end up getting sick because the body’s not designed to do that, and so there are some thoughts about physical weariness, but I think more common to us than what God’s speaking about here is strength for spiritual weariness, emotional weariness, strength for when life gets hard, and we’re like, hey, I don’t know if I can keep doing this anymore. There’s a great promise in the Bible that God gives us strength for the weary. Matthew 10:28, come unto me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
I’ll give you rest. I’ll give you renewal, and so the promise of strength for the weary. So, we’re going to look at our key text here.
It’s Isaiah chapter 40 and verses 28 through 31, so let me give you a little bit of context here because we got to ask the question, to whom is this promise given? So just a little overview of the book of Isaiah. It’s called the mini-Bible. Why is Isaiah called the mini-Bible? Well, the Bible has 66 chapters or books.
Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Bible has two main divisions, an Old Testament and a New Testament. Isaiah has two main parts.
There are 39 books in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. When you come to the book of Isaiah, the two sections are the first 39 chapters, and then the second part, it’s divided into the 27 chapters, similar to the Old Testament and New Testament. And so, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are a message from the prophet Isaiah, 755 BC, pronouncing judgment on God’s people because of their immoral, idolatrous lifestyle.
And so, the first 39 chapters are kind of doom and gloom, and it’s a message of judgment. It’s not until you get to our chapter here, chapter 40, where you begin to see some hope. And the prophet Isaiah begins to talk to the nation of Israel and says, God’s not done with you yet.
God has a plan. There’s a Messiah that’s coming, and there is hope and restoration someday. He’s talking to people who are in Babylonian exile, who are discouraged and thinking, has God forgotten us? And that’s where we come to Isaiah chapter 40.
And I wish you had time to read the whole chapter because it’s a great chapter. There’s lots of rhetorical questions. There’s lots of references to the greatness of who God is.
Let me just read a portion here, beginning in verse 25 of Isaiah 40, if you want to follow along in your Bibles. To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal, says the Holy One? Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all of these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
He created the universe. He created all the stars, the billions and billions and trillions of stars, and he calls them all by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not a one of them is missing.
Verse 27, why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by my God. Do you ever feel that way in your life? Life’s hard, and it’s not getting any better, and you’re like, God, are you even aware of my situation? Do you even know what’s going on in my life? And that’s the way that God’s people were feeling.
They were in Babylonian captivity. They stayed there for 70 years, like, God, where are you? Do you know what’s going on? Well, then he goes on to say, do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary.
His understanding, no one can fathom. Here’s our verses that we’re going to focus on. He gives strength to the weary.
Young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord, some translations say wait on the Lord, some say trust in the Lord, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint. So, here’s a promise given to the nation of Israel in Babylonian captivity, and they’re thinking God’s forgotten them, God doesn’t care, and Isaiah the prophet reminds them God’s not forgotten. He points them to the greatness of God, and then he says, I want you to put your hope, your trust, I want you to wait on God.
I don’t think any of us are good at waiting. I certainly am not. Let me unpack this word a little bit in the original language that’s translated hope or wait or trust.
It’s the Hebrew word kava. It means to bind together. Let me read a fuller definition.
Kava in Isaiah 41 means to wait with expectation, hope, and act of trust, often illustrated as an intertwining or a binding oneself with God. Think of the difference when we’re going through challenges, and I just brought a little illustration here, you know, sometimes you say, well I’m hanging by a thread, and that’s what happens when we try to do things on our own and not bring God into the picture. And the picture of this word kava, wait, hope, trust, it’s a binding ourselves with God, and it’s more like this, you know, a nylon rope that’s intertwined and that’s strong.
Those who put their hope, those who put their trust in God, that’s our part. God promises to do something. I don’t know if we have any people who watch Jeopardy.
I tape Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night, and we’re in that old stage where at some point in time we sit down and watch our two shows. But about three or four years ago, there was a player on Jeopardy. His name was James Holzheiser.
He was from Las Vegas, and he won 32 games in a row. So, he was on Jeopardy for over six weeks, and his total winnings were $3.46 million that he won on Jeopardy. But James Holzheiser became known for his bets on the daily double, and whenever he hit the daily double, he bet everything he had, and he had had some hand motions.
He’d go like this, I’m all in. I’m like shoving all the chips on the table, and then he’d get the answer right, and for 32 shows, nobody could beat him. That’s kind of the picture of this word, those who hope in the Lord.
It’s like, okay, God, I don’t have any backup here. I don’t have any plan B. My total trust and hope is in you, in your character, in the fact that you’re sovereign, that nothing can happen to me today, nothing good, nothing bad, without first passing through the Father’s hand. Nothing that happens to us is God’s like, oh, that surprised me.
No, he knows. There’s a wonderful promise for Christians, and I don’t know if this is the one that we’ll look at, but Romans 8:28. Sometimes it’s spoken of glibly, but we know that all things work together for good. This is given to Christians, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose, that God can take evil, God can take difficult things, and he works them for our good.
Not that everything’s good, but for our ultimate purpose of goodness, of glorifying God. The cross is the perfect example of that, and the Romans killed Jesus. Guess what came out of that? Our eternal salvation.
And so, those who hope in the Lord, we put our trust in him and him alone, and then here’s the promise. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. You ever see an eagle just kind of soaring? And there’s other birds that do this as well.
I see them all the time. They’re just riding those wind currents, and I did just a little paragraph research here on soaring on wings like an eagle. Eagles soar without flapping their wings by utilizing thermals and ridge lift, which are natural atmospheric phenomena that will allow them to gain altitude without needing to flap their wings.
They can ascend hundreds of yards in a single thermal. This enables them to conserve energy and cover vast distances with minimal effort. Here’s God’s promise.
When you go all in with him, whatever you’re facing, you’re going to soar above that circumstance. God’s going to renew your strength, and you’re going to be like that eagle just gliding because you know that God’s in control and God’s got a purpose and we just need to trust him. And so, we will run and not grow weary.
We’ll walk and not faint. God will renew our strength. You know, the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 12, he had some sort of physical disability, physical ailment.
Many people think that he had really bad eyesight just from some of the things that he writes at the end of some of his letters. And so, the Apostle Paul says, I prayed three times that the Lord would take it away, that the Lord would heal me. And three times God said no.
What God said to him is, my grace, my strength is sufficient for you. And so, someone has once said, God will either erase your pain or he’ll grace your pain. He’ll give you the strength to endure and to overcome as we trust in him.
Application Question
And so, Elizabeth Elliot, here’s a quote, there’s no perfect life, there’s no perfect job, there’s no perfect childhood, no perfect marriage, no perfect people who will always do what we expect them to do. But what we do have is a perfect God who’s able to lead us through this imperfect life with unfailing strength, incomparable wisdom, and infinite life, infinite love.
1. What circumstance am I facing where I need to put my total hope and trust in God?
So, our question as we conclude is simply this, what circumstance, what situation are you facing, am I facing, and we all have it in our life, or I need to put my total trust, my total hope in God alone.
And when we wait on him and we trust in him, God will renew our strength and God will come through at some point in time. You know, many people in the Bible, when God gave them promises, they had to wait a long time. Abraham, I’m going to make you a great nation.
Ah, when’s that going to happen? Well, he was 75 when he got that promise and he kind of tried to help God along through his handmaid Hagar for the promised son. That didn’t work out very well. He waited 25 years. And so, God’s timetable is usually different from ours. So, whatever you’re facing today, I encourage you to put your hope in Him, and God will renew your strength. There’s a great song we’re going to watch on our video here as we prepare for communion, and like I said, this is open communion.
So, if you know Jesus as your Savior, He invites you to partake of the bread and the cup. But Andrew Peterson, great Christian songwriter, wrote a song entitled, Is He Worthy? He asked the question, Is He Worthy? It’s taken from Revelation chapter 5, the first five verses. Let me read it quickly, and then we’ll watch the video, and then we’ll pray and partake of the Lord’s table.
So, this is Revelation 5. The Apostle John writes, Then I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. This is a scroll that outlines the end of human history. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? But no one in heaven on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside of it.
I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.