Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 2 Peter 3:14-18.

 

“Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation;  just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.  Amen.”  2 Peter 3:14-18.

 

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Peter started out his Book of 2 Peter with these words:  “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”  2 Peter 1:2-3.  And now, Peter concludes his Book of 2 Peter with these words:  “… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity.  Amen.”  Verse 18.

 

As good Reformed believers, who know our “Total Depravity” condition.  We know our only hope and comfort is in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to perform what He has promised for us, the elect, which is everything that we need for our salvation, “everything pertaining to life and godliness” as Peter states it.

 

So, when Peter tells us “be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless”, it is not a call to look within ourselves and try harder.  But rather, it is a call to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as to what He has done for us.

 

When Peter writes:  “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation”, it is not a call for us to be more patient.  But rather, it is a reminder of the patience of our Lord and that we should regard God’s patience as salvation.  “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 1:6.  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:9.  

 

When Peter writes:  “just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters”:  Peter could have thought of many things that Paul wrote, including but not limited to Ephesians 1:3-4:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  …” 

 

Yes, this is predestination.  Yes, this grace is amazing that God could turn us, such totally depraved sinners, into “holy and blameless” saints.  The more that we grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as to what He has done for us, the more we understand and treasure this predestination and amazing grace, and the more we are at peace.

 

But, there are those who have not received this faith “in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction”.  Verse 16.  We see this in the following Article 6 of Canons of Dordt FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE Of Divine Predestination.

                                  

Article 6.  That some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do not receive it proceeds from God’s eternal decree, “For known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world,” Acts 15:18.  “Who worketh all things after the counsel of his will,” Ephesians 1:11.  According to which decree, he graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect in his just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy.  And herein is especially displayed the profound, and merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men, equally involved in ruin;  or that decree of election and reprobation, revealed in the Word of God, which though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.

So, let us “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

It is the work of Christ “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing;  but that she would be holy and blameless.”  Ephesians 5:27

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  1 Corinthians 1:3-9. 

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen.”  Jude 1:24-25.