A Steadfast Faith: The Faith Once and for All Delivered to the Church

A Steadfast Faith

The Faith Once and for All Delivered to the Church

Justin Miller

Foreword by Michael A. Milton

A Steadfast Faith

The Faith Once and for All Delivered to the Church

Copyright © 2019 Justin Miller. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199

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8

th Ave., Suite

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paperback isbn: 978-1-4982-4122-9

hardcover isbn: 978-1-4982-4291-2

ebook isbn: 978-1-4982-4292-9

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

June 10, 2019

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: A Steadfast Faith in a Big God and a Cross

Chapter 2: A Steadfast Faith in Trials with Heaven in View

Chapter 3: A Steadfast Faith Is Firmly Rooted in the Word of God

Chapter 4: A Steadfast Faith Reflects the Character of God Increasingly in the Present

Chapter 5: A Steadfast Faith Loves the Church and Proclaims the Gospel

Bibliography

To my oldest son, Kaleb. As you sojourn in this world, my son, I pray these truths capture your heart as you, by God’s grace, live a life that honors the Lord Jesus Christ in all things.

Foreword

T

he great existential questions

of life remain the most compelling. Who am I? How did I get here? Is there a purpose to it all? However, the most pressing question of all is What happens when I die? From ancient ancestors in the mountains of Europe, the expansive plains of the sub-Indian continent, the green valleys of Britannia, or the monumental deserts of Africa to the urban dwellers of Mexico City, London, and Bangkok, the question never goes away, and gets louder, it seems, with each passing generation. What happens? and What must I do? Philosophers and religious leaders have always been there, as they are with us now, seeking to provide a response. From the nihilistic voice of one like Michael Foucault, who admonishes us to eat, drink, and be merry for there is nothing more than what you see, to the Eastern mystics, who claim secret knowledge of the eternal and how to appease the angry gods, we are left with a veritable gumbo of answers. The problem is that the sauce in the gumbo is not hot sauce. It is poison. Yet, spiritually hungry human beings will greedily devour food laced with strychnine to fill their empty souls.

The life of Jesus of Nazareth stands out from all of this. Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament remains the single most compelling figure in human history. Jesus claims to not only know the truth but even more: he says that he is Truth. Unlike other holy books, the Bible says that Jesus is the Word made Flesh. He lived the life we could never life—a perfect life without the least blemish—and he died the atoning death that should have been ours—atonement. But, even more, Jesus said that he would rise again from the dead on the third day. Despite, now, the well-known litany of theories about what happened to his body, the witness of history—more than five hundred people at one time—is that Jesus not only rose again from the dead, but walked the earth, ate, interacted with his friends, and continued to teach, in his resurrected state. He ascended into the clouds before the stunned band of disciples who had followed him. Each of Jesus’ twelve disciples would die for the message their Master preached, except the youngest, John, who died an old man, a pastor in Ephesus.

One of the most amazing figures among those who followed Jesus, who testified to the truth of his life, death, and resurrection, was a man called Peter. Simon Peter, Bar-Jonah, was a businessman; an owner of fishing boats, to be precise. If the Bible were a fairy tale or mythology, then, the author would have made this man quite a remarkable leader. But the Bible is not a myth. The Bible is history. While claiming divine authorship, the Bible shows that God’s very Word came through human beings who were not perfect, had no halos over their heads, and who often, in fact, caught up in scandalous conduct. Such was our man, Peter. Though the big Galilean brags that he will never deny Jesus, the early morning crowing of a rooster marked the Christ-predicted betrayal. Broken, laden with guilt, Peter retreats. But when the women in their small band came running back from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where the Lord’s body had been interred, crying out, He has risen! Peter races for the cemetery. He sees the empty tomb, previously guarded by Roman soldiers. With the Apostle John, Peter witnesses the winding sheets—customary burial cloths—neatly set apart. Peter believes. But Peter’s story is just beginning. He would need forgiveness for the betrayal. On a beach by the familiar waters where he had so often fished before, he saw a solitary silhouette on the shoreline. The figure shouted to him to throw his net on the other side. Peter did. He and his friends pulled in such a catch that it broke the nets. And it broke the heart of the Galilean fisherman. It is the Lord! He dives in to swim to the shore. And there, over a humble breakfast prepared by Jesus, Peter learns what forgiveness is. Jesus shows Peter than one’s love for God cannot be based on comparisons to the others. Peter’s love, like yours, like mine, must be purified of ulterior motives. It was the noble Lutheran pastor-scholar-martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said that we must love God for God’s own sake. Peter is not only forgiven by Jesus through a remarkable dialogue that surely fed the mind of the rabbi, Martin Buber, who wrote about the power of I-Thou, but he is called to shepherd the Church. From that moment, a moment not unlike the Old Testament prophet Jonah, who resisted the call of God, the Galilean fisherman becomes a pastor.

Read

1

Peter. Read that book and you will hardly recognize the author who appears in the Gospels. He is a new man. Rough-hewn before, Peter now exudes tenderness. Braggadocious before, Peter now models humility. Brash and impatient, Peter now urges the suffering saints to wait upon the Lord. Peter, who drew the sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, the Roman guard who seized Jesus, is now the one who urges believers to submit to human government and to all authorities for the sake of the Lord and the possibility to share the gospel of Jesus.

Faith in Jesus brings new life. And Peter’s epistles provide the answer to the great existential questions of life. In particular, Peter shows us how to know eternal life.

I watched my mentor, Dr. D. James Kennedy, share that faith for many years. I heard that gospel from him. I have now labored to make the way of salvation and eternal life known in my own life and ministry. But what astounds me is how I am witnessing so many fine young Christian shepherds arise to carry that message to a new generation.

One of those pastors wrote the book that you are reading. The Reverend Justin Miller has prepared this book by carefully studying the writings of that man called Peter. By God’s Spirit working through this young pastor, the Lord has provided us with a remarkably beautiful and concise answer to the questions How can I be saved? and How can I know that I have eternal life? Pastor Miller has followed the old fisherman whose life had been changed by the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ, and brought back a remarkable treasure of wisdom.

I trust and pray that Pastor Miller’s words will guide you to know the Way. I ask God that this study of

1

Peter

1

will help you to know the Truth. And I am certain that this book will guide those who trust in the resurrected and living Lord to know Life. For Jesus is that Word. He is that Way. He is that Truth. He is the Life that you crave.

May the Lord bless this book to the salvation of many souls so that heaven is filled with stories of redemption; stories like that of old Peter; stories like yours and mine.

Michael A. Milton, PhD

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

2019

Acknowledgments

J

oDawn, words cannot express

how grateful I am for your support and encouragement in our Lord Jesus. These books would never be possible without God’s grace through you. Kaleb, Ella, Isaac, and Eden, I cannot thank God enough for you. I love being your dad and praise God for each of you. A great thank-you to Pastor Brandon for your time and labor in editing this project. Thank you, Pastor Dusty, for your help with this project. Grateful to work alongside you brothers in the kingdom of God.

Introduction

W

hat does Biblical faith

look like? How does salvation work? I remember reading through the first Bible given to me as a young boy, trying to understand God, myself, and the world I lived in. I read from