2 Peter 1:1-4
All right, we’re going to read some Scripture this morning. 2nd Peter chapter 1, first four verses.
I think the words are going to be on the screen, and you can follow along as I read 2nd Peter 1, 1-4. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours. 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 the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. And here’s our key phrase, through these He has given us His very great and precious promises. And we’re going to look at some of those promises this morning.
So, we’ve been looking at a series based on the verses that we just read, where Peter is talking to believers who are persecuted believers, and he’s encouraging them with the truth that God has given us.
He calls it very great and precious promises. And so, we began to ask the question, well, what are the promises that God has given us? There are hundreds of promises in the Bible. As we began to unpack these promises, we said there’s a couple of key questions we need to ask.
Number one, to whom the promise is given. There’s an old hymn, every promise in the book is mine. That’s not exactly true.
There’s some that are given to Israel. There’s some that are given to unbelievers. There’s some that are given to believers.
There’s some that are given to the church. We also said that another key question is, is this promise conditional or unconditional? In other words, is there something I need to do to receive this promise? And so, we started out by looking at a great promise from Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31, given to Israel during their Babylonian captivity, and they were discouraged. And the prophet Isaiah says, but those who hope in the Lord.
Some translations use the word trust. Some translations use the word wait. To those that hope and wait in the Lord, what’s the promise? God will renew your strength.
God will give you new strength. You will soar on wings like eagles. You will run and not grow weary.
You will walk and not faint. I don’t know if you’ve been there in your Christian life, Christian journey. The Christian life is not a sprint.
It’s a marathon. And there are times in our Christian lives where we get discouraged and we get tired and we get weary and we’re wondering can we even keep on going. And this promise God gives us is that as we put our hope in God, it means put all of our eggs in the basket of God and who you are and your promises.
He’s going to renew our strength, and we’ll be able to keep on our journey of the Christian life. Well, last Sunday then we looked at the promise of peace. We talked about living life in 3D.
Three dimensions of peace that God wants us to have. Peace with God, that’s Romans 5:1. Therefore, being justified by faith, you have peace with God. So, before we put our faith and trust in God, the Bible says we are enemies of God, and now we make that peace treaty through the blood of Jesus, that great exchange.
He who knew no sin, Jesus, became sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And when we put our faith in Jesus and Jesus alone for our salvation, the righteousness of God, the perfection of God gets credited to our account. And God sees us as in Christ, as perfect, as holy.
The second aspect of living in 3D was the peace of God. Well, that first peace with God is a one-time decision. The peace of God is something that we need to download on a regular basis.
And it’s from Philippians 4:6, and 7 where Paul’s writing from prison. He says, be anxious for nothing. And it’s an imperative.
It’s basically meaning stop worrying, stop living in anxiety. But in everything, with prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So, the paraphrase is, don’t worry about anything, pray about everything.
And here’s the promise, the peace of God will guard our hearts, that’s our emotions, our minds in Christ Jesus. I have to tell you; that’s not an easy process. I’ve shared that verse many times with other people that are going through difficult times and turmoil.
But then I realized when I’m facing some challenging things in my life, that’s hard to do. But it’s a great promise that the peace of God comes into our life. The third aspect of living in 3D is peace with others.
And this is from Romans 12. And the scriptures basically say, if at all possible, live at peace with other people. And so, we talked about some ways that we can get along relationally with others.
And so that’s living in 3D, three aspects of peace. Well, this morning we’re going to look at another promise that’s a great promise. It’s the promise of provision, provision.
Lots of verses in the Bible that talk about that. Paul writes in Philippians 4:19, But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Psalm 23:1, probably the most familiar psalm.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. That’s the King James. I remember growing up in the church as a young person, and I didn’t understand that verse.
Like, if God’s my shepherd, why don’t I want Him? The word literally means lack. The Lord is my shepherd; therefore, I will lack nothing. And so here is this great promise of provision.
Main truth- God is our provider
And our main truth this morning that we need to just drill into our hearts and minds is this, is that God is our provider. Your provider is not your employer. Your provider is not the government.
Your provider is not your spouse. God is your provider. And so, we want to think about that truth.
Before we get to our passages this morning, I want us to just take a little sidetrack and think about the various names of God in Scripture. Because the names of God in Scripture talk to us about the character of God and who He is. And there are many multi-names of God.
There’s a fellow by the name of Herbert Lockyer who wrote a book entitled All the Names of God. He went through all the Bible and writes a book on how many names there are of God. So let me just give you a few of them.
There’s Jehovah Rapha, that means the God who heals. Jehovah Nissi means the Lord is my banner. Jehovah Shalom, you know that one, the Lord is peace.
Jehovah Rohi, the Lord is my shepherd. Jehovah Sabaoth is the Lord of hosts. Here’s the one we want to think about this morning.
1. Genesis 22 Jehovah-Jireh
Jehovah Jireh means the Lord is my provider. And I want us to just think about the context of where God reveals that name in the Scriptures and to the book of Genesis. And so, let’s just take a brief journey from Genesis 12 to Genesis 22 to give you the context of this name that God is our provider.
So, in Genesis 12, significant chapter in the book of Genesis, that God calls Abraham out of the land of the Ur of the Chaldees to be the father of the Jewish nation. And so, Abraham follows and he makes this journey and he doesn’t exactly know where he’s going. And God says, I’m going to bless you.
In fact, all the nations of the world are going to be blessed through you, Abraham. That ultimate fulfillment is in Jesus. And so, Abraham’s on this journey.
His wife is Sarah. And here’s the promise. The world’s going to be blessed through you.
The only problem is that Abraham and Sarah don’t have any children. Abraham is 75 years old when that promise is given. And he sets out on this journey.
And 10 years later, Abraham and Sarah still have no children. And so, Abraham decides to help God along with this promise. And Sarah’s on board with this.
And so, Abraham takes his handmaid, Hagar, and they have a son, Ishmael. But that wasn’t God’s plan. 24 years later, they still don’t have children.
Abraham is 99. And God says, hey, you’re going to have a son in a year at this time. His name’s going to be Isaac.
And so that promise came to fruition. And when Abraham was 100 years old, Isaac was born. Sarah was 90.
And the promise came to fruition. One of the truths we can learn from that is sometimes it takes a long time for a promise to come to fruition. Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years.
And finally, Isaac is born. Jump to Genesis chapter 22 now. Isaac’s probably a young man, a teenager.
And God asked Abraham to do something unthinkable. Take your son, your one and only son. Take him up to Mount Moriah.
And I want you to offer him as a sacrifice. Now, child sacrifice was quite common in those days. And Abraham obeys.
He leaves his servants behind, and him and his son Isaac are journeying up the mountains. And then Isaac says, well, you know, where’s the lamb? Where’s the sacrifice? I got water number two coming. Thank you there, Andrew.
Is it just water? OK, OK. Isaac’s asking, you know, where’s the lamb? Where’s the sacrifice? And Abraham says, God will provide. God will provide.
They go up to the mountain. Abraham has Isaac lay on the altar. And he’s ready to do the unthinkable.
He’s ready to offer his son as a sacrifice. And God stops him. God was testing Abraham.
And sometimes God tests our faith as well. And God says, hey, there’s a lamb over in the thicket here. Don’t sacrifice your son.
And I want you to take that lamb and offer that lamb as a sacrifice. And there that place is called Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide.
4 areas of God’s provision…
Well, this morning we want to think about four areas of God’s provision. So, four areas. So, what does God provide? There’s many more than four.
1. The provision of salvation
But we’re going to just think about four areas of God’s provision. The first one is the promise and provision of salvation. Aren’t we grateful for that this morning? That God has provided salvation.
You shall call his name Jesus. Why? Because he will what? Save his people from their sins. So, his very name gives us his purpose in life.
Son of man has come what? To seek and to save the lost. And so, the provision that God has given is salvation. God provided his son.
And so, as we think about the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament, 400 silent years where God’s not speaking through prophets anymore. And finally, after 400 silent years, John the Baptist is born. And Jesus comes on the scene.
And in John chapter 1, John sees Jesus and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here is what the Old Testament has been picturing for many, many years. And it is the perfect sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God that is a once and for all sacrifice.
You see, in the Old Testament, they had to sacrifice a lamb over and over and over again. Jesus made a once and for all sacrifice, sat down at the right hand of God because his ministry of purchasing our salvation was complete. We already talked about 2nd Corinthians 5, that great exchange.
And Paul writes, the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 10 declares the gospel, If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. Now this was written during the time of the Roman Empire. And all the Romans and those under the domination of the Roman Empire had to say what? Caesar is Lord.
And the gospel comes in and says, No, Jesus is Lord. And the apostle Paul says, If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Verse 9 says, For in the heart you believe and are justified, and as with your mouth you profess that you are saved.
And so, the first wonderful provision that God has made for us that we need to be grateful for every day is salvation. And you can’t work your way there. Andy Stanley wrote the book and asked the question, How good do you have to be to get into heaven? The answer is perfect because God is holy.
Therefore, there’s the problem. We’re all sinners. That’s why Jesus came.
And so that’s why we’re saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Don’t add anything to it. If we try to add good works or anything to it, we’re basically saying, oh, the sacrifice of Jesus isn’t good enough.
It’s not sufficient enough for my salvation. And so, thank God for the provision of salvation. There’s another area where God provides.
2. The provision of security
And here’s the second one. They’re all going to start with the letter S. It’s the provision of security. The provision of security.
Everyone in life is on a journey, and they’re looking for security in life. We’re looking for job security. We’re looking for financial security.
We’re looking for relational security. We hear a lot about social insecurity, social security. About seven or eight more years, and the funds are going to get cut if we don’t do anything, if government doesn’t do anything.
I remember many years ago, when we first came here, Hardy Hunt had just retired from his job. And by the way, Hardy came home from the hospital on Tuesday. So, he’s doing some in-home therapy.
So, thank you for your prayers for him. But I remember after Hardy retired, he’d go out to lunch with people, and we would go out to occasional donut and coffee, and he’d say, keep on putting into that social security system. Keep on working.
I need those funds. Security, the provision of security. The wonderful truth of God’s word is that when you put your faith in Jesus, and not every believer believes in eternal security.
I mean, you have to study all of Scripture, because you can cherry-pick verses, and it sounds like you can lose your salvation, and many people believe that. But we believe once saved, always saved. I came across this quote this week.
If you cannot earn your salvation by good works, you cannot lose it by your bad works. What God gives us as a free, unmerited gift of grace is not then maintained by human merit. John chapter 10.
Jesus gives us this picture of us secure in the Father’s hand, and let me read the verses here rather than trying to quote them. Jesus says this, My Father who has given them to me, he’s talking about believers, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
I wanted to read verse 28 as well. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one shall snatch them out of my hand.
So, the picture is Jesus is saying that here’s Jesus’ hands, and believers are in His hand, and then God the Father’s hands are collapsed around Jesus’ hands. We’re in the double clutch of God the Father and God the Son. Romans chapter 8. What shall separate us from the love of God? And that’s a tremendous passage, and he goes on to say nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
3. The provision of satisfaction
And so, if you’re looking for security, security is found in who Jesus is, what He’s done for us in salvation, and we are secure in Him. There’s a third great promise of provision, not only of our salvation, not only of our security in life that comes from knowing Him, but it is the provision of satisfaction. Satisfaction.
I love it because the Bible answers the three most important questions in life. Where did I come from? Genesis 1. Where am I going? The Bible talks about that clearly. There’s a heaven to gain and a hell to be shunned.
But the second question is, why am I here? What is the purpose of life? Is it just I owe, I owe, so off to work I go? No, the provision of satisfaction in life. When we finish this series on the promises of God, we’re going to jump into the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s Solomon’s autobiography of trying to find true purpose and meaning in life.
And he starts out the book looking at life under the sun, S-U-N, and he says, meaningless, emptiness, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. And Solomon was the wealthiest man on the planet, and he tried everything, and he could not find lasting satisfaction in life. And it’s his journey.
And finally, as he gets to the end of the book, he says, let’s hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man.
Life’s purpose is found in knowing God. And so, the provision of satisfaction. John chapter 4. Jesus is with the woman at the well.
And its high noon, and Jesus is thirsty, and he finds a woman who’s there in perhaps the hottest time of the day. She’s probably there because she wants to avoid all the other women in the village. This is a woman who was looking for satisfaction through relationships with men.
She had had five husbands, and the one she was living with now wasn’t her husband, and Jesus asked her for a drink of water. He crosses all sorts of cultural barriers because, number one, men really didn’t talk to women back in that day, and there were some ethnic differences there. But Jesus initiates the conversation.
And so, as they’re there at the well, here’s what Jesus says to her as she gets him a drink. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. You’re going to drink water, you’re going to get thirsty again, especially on a warm day.
But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. What is Jesus saying there? He’s saying ultimate satisfaction comes from a relationship with the creator of the universe, with Jesus.
And these other things are all temporary, but lasting satisfaction comes from knowing him. And so, the psalmist David writes in Psalm 34, here’s the invitation, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
You’ll find satisfaction in knowing Jesus. Will it mean a trouble-free life? No, it won’t. Sometimes life gets harder when you receive Jesus as your savior.
Before, you’re just kind of doing your own thing. But you will find that ultimate satisfaction. And so, the hymn writer wrote a hymn entitled Satisfied.
It’s in our hymn book. Wrote quite a few years ago. Here are the words.
All my life long I had panted for a drink from some clear spring, that I hoped would quench the burning of the thirst I felt within, feeding on the husks around me till my strength was almost gone, longed my soul for something better, only still to hunger on. Well of water ever springing, bread of life so rich and free, untold wealth that never faileth, my redeemer is to me. Here’s the chorus.
Hallelujah, I have found him whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings. Through his blood I now am saved. And so, God is our provider. He provides salvation. He provides security in life. He provides satisfaction.
4. The provision of supply
There’s one more this morning before we’re done. And here’s the fourth area that God provides. And it’s the provision of supply. Supply. We already quoted Philippians 4:19. Paul from prison.
He’s really writing the Philippian church who had sent him a gift. It’s really a thank you note. He’s basically saying, as you have generously given to me to meet my needs, my God will meet all of your needs.
The provision of supply. Jesus talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount, doesn’t he? Matthew chapter 6 tells us four times, don’t worry. Don’t worry about life.
Don’t worry about this. Don’t worry about food. Don’t worry about clothing.
Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you. God is our provider. The nation of Israel learned that lesson during their 40 years of wilderness wanderings.
They got through the Exodus and through the miracle of the Red Sea and then God wanted them to go right into Canaan and because of fear and unbelief, they didn’t go. There were 10 spies that said, don’t go to Joshua and Caleb. Caleb says, no, God gave us this promised land.
Let’s go in. They didn’t do it. So, for 40 years, one year for every day that the spies were in the land, they wandered in the wilderness.
But they learned that God is their provider. Deuteronomy says, your clothes didn’t wear out. My wife accuses that of my closet.
I never throw anything away. She’s like, you’ve had that for 40 years. I know.
It still fits. Your clothes didn’t wear out. Your shoes didn’t wear out.
And guess what? God provided them food every day. Every day there was manna. And on the day before the Sabbath, when they weren’t supposed to work, they were to take twice as much.
And for 40 years, God provided for their every need. And you know what? If you never have a need, you never know how God will provide. Sometimes he allows us to have needs because he wants us to look to him as our provider.
God’s supply chain
So, this morning, I want us to think about, I call it God’s supply chain. How does God supply our needs? And I’m going to suggest kind of three orders here. First line of defense, second line of defense, third line of defense in God’s supply chain.
i. work
And so, here’s the first one. It’s through work. That work is a gift of God.
You know, sometimes when we study the book of Genesis, we think that, well, Adam and Eve sinned, and now part of the curse is work. No. Work became harder, but work was given to Adam before the fall.
He was the caretaker of the Garden of Eden. And work is a gift of God. It’s part of what means to be made in the image of God.
And so, work is God’s first line of defense for supplying our needs. And 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 says, the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat. God’s given us work, and work is a blessing, and there is dignity in work. I think it was one of the Michigan governors, I think it was Governor Engler a number of years ago, a long time ago, but it was like, let’s change welfare to workfare, you know, let’s give people dignity and give them something to do to receive those funds. And so, God has given us work, and God’s gifted all of us in various ways, but work is a gift of God.
ii. family
Well, there’s a second line of defense because there obviously are times when people, for whatever reason, cannot work because of some sort of physical disability or other reasons. And so, there’s a second part of God’s supply chain, and it’s found in 1st Timothy chapter 5 verses 3 and 4. So Paul’s writing to Timothy, who’s a pastor in Ephesus, and he’s basically talking about widows. And 1st Timothy chapter 5 is all about the widow’s list.
Now, why was the widow’s list so important? It was because back in that day, they didn’t have a safety net like we do in all sorts of government programs to help people that are in need. And some of the most vulnerable people in the society in the first century were widows whose husband had died, and there’s no safety net. By the way, God has a heart for the poor, doesn’t he? In the Old Testament, there was the law of the gleaners.
And God says, hey, I tell you what, when it’s harvest time, don’t harvest the corners of your field. Leave that for the less fortunate so they can come and provide for their needs as well. And so, God’s supply chain, the first order is work, the first line of defense.
But let me read 1st Timothy 5:3, and 4, give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, I kind of really like this verse as I’m getting older. If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first to put their religion in practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents.
Payback time! Okay, kids and grandkids. And I really think that this is the way, you know, God designed that the first line of defense that, you know, if you’re in need, that’s where families should step in. The problem is in today’s culture and even in Christian circles that many families aren’t getting along.
Many families aren’t even talking to each other. But God designed, hey, your older parent or grandparent has a need. Hey, kids and grandkids, payback time.
Help them out. Be generous with them. But there’s a third line of defense.
iii. church family
And let me go to that. The third line of defense in God’s supply chain. So work, family, your own family should help when needs come.
And the third line of defense is the church family. The church family. It’s amazing that in Acts chapter 4 verse 32 in the early church, Acts 4:32 says there were no needy people in the early church.
Every need was met. Some people even had a piece of land, sold the piece of land, brought the offering to the apostles and said, would you see if anybody in the first century church has a need and give it to them? And so, work, family, church. Acts chapter 6, what were the early church men doing? Acts chapter 6 was the first Meals on Wheels program.
They were delivering food to needy people. And there came to be a little bit of a disagreement on who all was getting that food. And so that’s how the first deacons were elected.
Choose seven men full of the Holy Ghost and let them oversee and help this food distribution program. And so, God’s supply chain, work, family, church family. So, here’s the widow’s list in 1st Timothy chapter 5. And there’s some very specific qualifications here of who the church should care for.
And so here it is. No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she’s over 60. So first of all, there’s an age requirement.
Gotta be 60 and older. The younger ones, they’re probably going to remarry anyways, maybe. It hints to that in the text.
And the last part of that verse says, in the next verse, unless she’s over 60 and has been faithful to her husband and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble, devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. So, you have to have a good character, good track record. And if you’re 60 and you meet those qualifications, guess what? You’re on the widow’s list.
And the church is going to provide for your every need. Well, lots of promises in the Bible. And this is a great one.
The promise of provision. And what I want you to do is to just reaffirm this morning of who your provider is. Your provider is not your job.
You know, Israels, they were about ready to go into the promised land and they were going to enjoy the good life, houses they didn’t build, and the fruitfulness of the land of Canaan. And God warns them, don’t forget God. I mean, we tend to remember God when we’re going through hard times, but don’t forget God when God blesses you.
For it is He who gives you the power to get wealth. Who wakes you up in the morning? God does. Who created you with the mind and the physical ability to work and to do your job and to bless others? God did.
And so, God is our provider, and we need to thank Him daily for that, for the provision of salvation, for the provision of the security that we have in knowing Him, for the satisfaction that He brings in our life, and for the promise that my God will supply our every need.