Perhaps there have been statements that your parents made to you as you were growing up. Perhaps some of these things they repeated so often that you if you think about it you can still hear their voice repeating those words. Hopefully the words you remember were important words, words that had meaning and left within you the seriousness of such a statement. Perhaps you find yourself repeating them to others. Peter has a theme running throughout his letter that he has repeated again and again. And in this last section, these closing verses, Peter brings it out once again. If you don’t already know what it is, I will be mentioning it shortly and hopefully you will take it with you for good and be able to recite his theme forever. The key idea in this section of Scripture is that we are to recognize what grace is, praise God for it and stand firm in it. Here Peter speaks about grace in three different ways.
1. Peter Recalls His Theme of Grace (v.10)
The first way in which Peter speaks about grace is that he recalls his theme of grace. Grace is the free gift of God whereby He rescues us from our sins, gives us increasing victory over them and molds us into the image of Christ.
First, we see that Peter encapsulated his theme in verse 10. Throughout his letter there are four words that Peter uses over and over again. In verse 10, he places all four of these words together. The four words are, “grace,” “elect,” “suffering,” and “glory.” These combine to give us Peter’s theme as “the grace of God is poured out on the elect which results in suffering now and glory later.” What I would like to do is to look briefly at some of the places Peter uses these words in his letter and describe how they fit together into his theme.
A. Grace
The first word found in his theme is “grace” (the grace of God). This word occurs ten times in his letter. We are going to look at four of these instances. Peter uses the word grace in 1:13. He says there, “Keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Here Peter describes grace as something upon which we can fix our assurance (fix your hope completely). We need not put our hope or trust in anything else but God’s grace. We don’t need to hedge our bets in case this doesn’t work out. God’s grace is going to be brought to us at the time of the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have His firm promise on it.
Next Peter uses the word, “grace,” in chapter 3:7. Here he is talking to husbands concerning their wife. He says, “Grant her honor (literally praise her) as a fellow heir of the grace of life.” This grace, Peter wants us to understand, brings us life. We were dead, that is separated from God, due to our sin but God has given us life in Christ. And it is due to His grace. Jesus said in John 10, “I have come that you might have life and that you might have it to the full.”
He uses the word again in 4:10 where he says, “serve one another as stewards of the manifold grace of God.” The adjective that Peter uses to describe this grace tells us that it is effective toward us in every situation that we might face. Why do I say that? Peter uses the adjective manifold in 1:6 where he describes the manifold trials that we will face. The same manifold trials that we may face are met by God’s manifold grace.
Also Peter uses the word grace in 5:5. We looked at this last week, where it says, “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.” What we need to note about this verse is that grace is free. God gives grace. He doesn’t merit out grace for those who are good or deserving. He simply gives it out to those humble enough to receive it and recognize they don’t deserve it. To say that we are forgiven of all our sins and have a home in heaven is not pious or proud talk. Some people might think that it is presuming on God or thinking that we are better than others, but this is not the case. I think it was Spurgeon who said, “I’m just a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” This is the good news of the Gospel! God’s grace isn’t poured out upon those deserving of it. That is just the reason why it is grace. It is God’s undeserved favor. There is nothing we have done or could have done to earn it. It is based on Jesus’ work on the cross on our behalf and in our place. This is why we are all on equal ground before God. Everyone deserves His just wrath. But to those who call out to Him in the name of His Son He gives grace.
B. Elect
The next word found in Peter’s theme is “elect” (is poured on the elect). Elect also occurs ten times in this letter including the various compound forms of the word, like “chosen together” in 5:13. What Peter continues to reiterate throughout this letter is that the elect in Christ have a purpose. And I believe this is what he is describing in saying that we are elect. If you are a Christian you are called or chosen, designated, for a particular purpose. Let’s look at some of these verses. In 2:9, Peter says that you are a chosen race . . . so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Our purpose as Christians is to proclaim the greatness of God to those around us so that they too might come to know the Savior. In 1:15 Peter says, “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior.” We are called for the purpose of being holy like God. God didn’t save us so we could live any way we please. He called us so that we might live in a holy manner before Him. He wants us to live a life that is set apart for Christ. In 3:9, Peter says that we are not to return evil for evil or insult for insult, but to give a blessing instead. “For,” the verse goes onto say, “You were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.” Our calling is to live a life of blessing others. Our lives are to be so others centered that curses of others should invoke blessings from our lips thereby giving us opportunity to describe the awesome character of our God.
C. Suffering
The third word found in Peter’s theme is “suffering” (which results in suffering now). This word dominates the letter. The word suffering and its cognates occur 15 times in the letter. And this doesn’t include the sections in which Peter discusses suffering without using the word. In 4:13 Peter says, “but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exaltation.” It seems that Peter is saying that our suffering we experience in the will of God by His grace will cause us to rejoice in an even greater degree when we see Him. We will then be able to say, “It has been worth it all.” Also in 2:19-21, Peter tells us that God’s grace is found when we suffer for doing right and not for doing wrong.
D. Glory
The final word found in Peter’s theme is “glory” (and glory later). He uses this word 11 times in his letter. The glory that we will experience is not the praise and honor due God’s name because of His greatness. The Scripture says that no one shares that. But the glory we shall receive is the delight and celebration with which we will experience the impressiveness and magnificence of God and His heaven. It will be so great that Peter continually describes our suffering here as inconsequential and paltry in comparison to the glory we will experience in heaven. When we see the glory of the sunrise over the ocean and marvel at it or we are awed by the amazing majesty of the mountains amidst the sparkling colors of fall we are seeing only a speck of the glory of God that awaits the believer in heaven. This is the glory of which we will become partakers.
Have you ever experienced something so awesome that it caused your jaw to drop and you just stood there in wonder and amazement taking it all in? When we step into the doorway of heaven we may very well be frozen there for the first million years before we can even speak a word other than “Praise God.” Peter makes it clear to us that the glory of heaven will overshadow all the gross injustices and wearying pain that we ever have experienced. And in one moment when you pass through that threshold and see the face of your Savior you will be filled with something greater that will wipe away the hurts of your short existence here.
2. Peter Describes God’s Work of Grace
The second way in which Peter speaks about grace is that he describes God’s work of grace. There are three aspects to God’s work of grace that Peter notes here in verses 10 &11.
A. God is the One calling us
The first aspect to God’s work of grace is that God is the One calling us. We see this in verse 10. “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ.” God is the one who called us. Peter portrays God’s calling us to heaven’s glory in two important ways. First, Peter makes a sharp contrast in portraying this calling against our present life. He specifically says that our suffering is for a short time while our glory will be an eternal glory. Yes we may suffer for a little while now but the glory that we shall receive shall never end. We won’t have to go back home because we will be home. Most of us always dread the end of our vacations don’t we? Soon we will be back to the daily routine. But here the vacation will never end. We will be basking in the sunshine of God’s glory and enjoying every minute of it. It will never become “the routine.” We will never have to go home because we will be home. Peter says that our suffering will be over shortly but the glory will last forever!
Next Peter portrays God’s calling us to heaven’s glory as being effected by Christ. He says, “The One who called you to His eternal glory in Christ.” “In Christ” could probably best understood as “by Christ.” The only way that God has called us into His eternal glory is by Christ. No one will come to His eternal glory apart from Jesus Christ. He, Himself, said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” We are called to His eternal glory by trusting in Jesus Christ. There is no other way. It is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
B. God is the One who will give us victory
Next, then we see that the second aspect to God’s work of grace is that God is the One who will give us victory. This is what the end of verse 10 is saying. He “will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” If you have been saved by God’s grace He is going to complete the work that He has begun in you. He will not leave you unfinished. The apostle Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, “I am confident that God who began a good work in you shall complete it in the day of Jesus Christ.” You see God won’t leave us the way we are. As a believer He has a designated interest in us. He has deposited His Holy Spirit in us and will not leave us nor will He let us alone. He will continue to shape us into the image of Christ until the day we go to be with Him. And it will take us that long to be conformed to His image. At least God completes the changes when we go to be with Him or else I might not die until I was 350 or more. But the truth is that God will bring the victory to us. As a believer we don’t need to worry whether God will finish the work He has begun in us. We don’t need to fret over whether He will forsake us before the work is finished. God will complete it. If we were responsible to carry out all the changes that need to be made in our lives then we would have something about which to worry. But look at how Peter describes this: “He will Himself.” Peter emphatically uses the reflexive pronoun to ensure us that God is the One at work in our midst. And if God is working in our midst then we can rejoice because He will not leave the work unfinished.
C. God is the One who deserves the praise
Therefore we see the third aspect to God’s work of grace is that God is the One who deserves the praise. This is what Peter makes clear in verse 11. “To Him be the dominion forever and ever.” Here is a statement of praise to God from Peter’s lips. And we can understand how much God deserves our praise when we realize all that He has done and is doing in our lives. By uttering these words of praise Peter wants us to come to grips with the fact that we ought to give God much more credit than we normally do. The power and authority over everything belongs to God. If this is the case how much more should we humble ourselves to come to Him for our daily strength and needs? How much more should we give Him praise for all He does for us? We are too often focused on our own personal world to reflect on just what it is that God does for us. When Paul says, “Whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, anything excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things,” he means that we are to be continually setting our minds on all that God does day in and day out to work in our lives.
Praise will flow freely from our lips only when we continually set our minds upon the greatness of God’s work in our midst. If you don’t understand the depth of what God has done for you in giving you eternal life and making you into the image of Christ then your praise will be shallow. But if you are growing in your recognition of God’s work in your life then your praise will likewise contain more depth and authenticity to it.
3. Peter Encourages Us to Stand Firm in God’s Grace
The final way in which Peter speaks about grace is that he encourages us to stand firm in God’s grace. At the end of verse 12 Peter concludes the body of his letter by saying, “This is the true grace of God, stand firm in it.” He needed to remind his readers that this was the true grace of God so that they wouldn’t think that in the midst of persecution somehow they had gotten off the right track and were being punished for it. Peter was reminding them to stand firm in the midst of persecution for their faith. By blessing others and continuing to live a holy life they would see others come to know their Messiah. Yet there would still be some who would reject it and continue to cause trouble for them.
In this verse we see our responsibility meshed with God’s sovereignty. Yes we will have victory from God but we are neither to sit back passively nor are we to trust in our strength to stand. And so Peter encourages us to stand firm in God’s grace.
A. Two ways in which we can fail to stand firm
I think that there are two ways in which we can fail to stand firm in God’s grace.
i. We move into legalism (Galatians 3:2-3)
The first way that we can fail to stand firm in God’s grace is that we move into legalism. The apostle Paul addresses this so well in the book of Galatians. In 3:2-3, Paul says, “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Those who move into legalism are reverting back to their old ways. They had previously given up their trust in their own efforts to be saved but now they try to live out the Christian life in their own effort. They were saved by the power of the Spirit but now they are trying to live by the power of their own flesh. It is a recipe for disaster. The person living in this manner thinks that they can overcome sin by their own strength but they will either fail miserably or set up a list or code that they can obey in their flesh. It is better if they fail miserably that way God can work in them to show them where they are going wrong. But if they are succeeding in their legalism they merely make themselves a burden to others and don’t express living Christianity. Christianity becomes a code rather than a living relationship with Christ. Their code becomes the standard and they become very harsh with those who don’t meet that standard. They become like those of whom Isaiah speaks when he says, “These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
When we do this, that is, set up rules in place of a relationship we become legalists, neglecting God’s grace because we are determined to live by our own strength. This is the weakness of legalism.
ii. We move into license (Romans 6:1-2; 8:6)
The second way that we can fail to stand firm in God’s grace is that we move into license. Paul speaks of this in Romans 6:1-2. Here he declares, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” Those who move into license likewise live in the flesh but their concern is that no one limits their “freedom” in Christ. They will say, “It doesn’t matter what I do because Christ has saved me from my sin. It doesn’t matter what I listen to, or what I put in front of my eyes or what I might wear.” There becomes no standard or morality at all.
These people fail to realize that God has called us to be separate from the worldliness of those around us. He has called us to be holy or set apart for Him. Paul later says, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” And in Romans 8 Paul says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” If we are conforming our thoughts to those ungodly around us, regardless by what medium it comes then we are setting our minds on the flesh. And this kind of world molded Christianity is ineffective.
If we are seeking to become like the world why would those in the world who are dissatisfied with life seek to become like us? The only reason they would is if they wanted religion without repentance, Christ without change. The problem with this is that without repentance no true relationship with God can be formed. This is why Paul says that the mind set on the flesh is death. It only leads to death not life and peace. This is the weakness of license.
B. How to stand firm (Galatians 5:16)
So if we are to avoid the two extremes of legalism and license and stand firm in the grace of God how can we do it?
I think the Scripture handles this dilemma clearly so that we can avoid a move into either legalism or license and so stand firm in God’s grace. In Galatians 5:16 we find the answer. It says, “Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” As a believer in Jesus Christ we have the abiding Holy Spirit present in our lives. And the Spirit of God directs us (never in contradiction to the Word of God) to obey Him. The difficulty in this is that it is easier to set up a certain code to obey instead of being careful to listen to the Spirit’s prompting for obedience. It is easier to ignore the Spirit to do what we desire and follow the world instead of what He desires.
The problem is that if we are honest with ourselves we more often follow our own urges than the Sprit’s. Instead of shutting off the radio and praying for someone that came into our mind we will ignore it. Instead of taking a break from our schedule to sit down and read our Bible we will continue to do what we were doing. Instead of turning off that TV program when some sexual innuendo is made we will instead seek to justify why we are watching it.
The Holy Spirit will not continue to work in situations like that. As we continue to ignore Him and His prompting He will refuse to work in us. The Scripture says that we grieve Him and quench His fire in our lives and we will move to a legalistic or licentious Christianity devoid of God’s power.
And we find that as we move further into this relationless Christianity we become more dissatisfied with this kind of life. Let us not fail to repent when we grieve the Spirit of God so that His power may continue to be evident in our lives. Have you been failing to take advantage of the grace of God because you have been neglecting to walk in the power of the Spirit of God?
Peter says that this is the true grace of God, stand firm in it. Will you continue in the same sins that you have been walking in for weeks or months or years because you have been too proud to admit that it is sin? Don’t quench the Spirit of God, don’t grieve the Spirit of God. Tell Him right now that you are going to obey Him. You are going to allow Him to control your life and when you recognize that you are failing to do so you will repent. This is the true grace of God, stand firm in it.