Untitled Sermon (11)

II Peter part 1 of 4; 1:1-1

Know Your Salvation

Good morning...When we decided to do a four week study on second Peter, I thought to myself how are we gonna do four weeks on this little book and now I’m wondering if four weeks is gonna be long enough.

Second Peter and Jude are two little books in the New Testament with the primary purpose of warning Christians about false prophets. As we’ve heard several times recently, the best way to identify a counterfeit is not to focus on the counterfeit, but to thoroughly know the real thing. We’re going to focus on that principle this morning as we study this scripture.

2 Peter 1:1–11 “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” —— I found that Hebrews 10 is another scripture that closely parallels the essence of this one.

OK, so let’s go ahead and dig into the 1st 11 verses of Peter’s letter. We’re going to pick it apart. Remember we’re looking for how these principles apply to us/me and how we can apply them in our everyday lives.

Peter starts in verse one identifying himself as Simeon spelled Symeon, Peter he uses both of his names, the name that he had from birth and then the name that Jesus gave him. Maybe it was to remind us that we all have a past without Christ and the present one with Him. When I was studying, it was brought to my attention that Peter used his name Symeon instead of Simeon. The only other place in the New Testament this name Symeon is used is when he was at the Council of Jerusalem when he stood in favor of the gentiles becoming a part of the body of Christ. I was also reminded of one of my favorite Bible stories, the time where Cornelius, the gentile centurion and Peter had corresponding visions and Peter went to Cornelius’s house and preached the gospel to his household, while he was teaching them the Holy Spirit fell on the gentiles and they were baptized...I believe this was the beginning of gentiles being a part of the Christian World. The reason I’m bringing this out is because as we go on into this study we’re gonna realize that Peter was writing this letter to gentiles... that would be us, me and you. By God’s great mercy, grace and love HE has included us in his great promises to His chosen people the Jews. I never want to take my Salvation for granted, it’s truly a gift. Thank You Jesus!!!

Peter then goes on to call himself a servant, not just any servants but a bond servant, a slave (doulos). To be the doulos of God means that he is permanently and completely possessed by God. In the ancient world a master possessed his slaves in the same sense as he possessed his tools. A servant can change his masters but a slave could not. As Christians we totally belong to God. Paul relates in Romans 6:20–22 “For when you were slaves (doulos) of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” —— Another side note that Barclay brings out about being a slave, is that there are no holidays, no leisure time , no time of your own. Our commitment is to God is to be 24/7, 365...

Peter first identified him self as a slave, then secondly as an apostle. We need to continually be checking our position, priorities and commitment. Why??? Because, in the next half of this verse it states that we have “obtained a faith” To obtain something is often referred to receiving it by lot. Here, Peter was emphasizing that salvation was not attained by personal effort, skill. or worthiness. but came purely from God’s grace. The “Faith” Peter is Speaking of is faith that is based on personal feelings taste or opinions, the Christian's power to believe for his or her salvation. Faith is the capacity to believe; Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” —— and it is “obtained” Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” —— Faith and belief express the human side of salvation, but, God must still grant that faith. God initiates faith when the Holy Spirit awakens the dead soul in us in response to hearing the word of God. Back to the Jew, Gentile thing, hear in the last part of verse one, Paul is telling us that as Gentiles we have a faith that is equal in honor and privilege with that of the Jews. That is part of the mystery of the New Covenant of Grace and the Church Age

In verses 2 and 3, Peter tells me that grace and peace will be multiplied to me in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. Also that God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Himself. And then in verse 4, that he has made it possible for us to be partakers of the “divine nature”, that would be the Holy Spirit… It seems like the key element in being sure of my calling and my election is in the knowledge of God the Father, the Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit… Gnosis is the Greek word for basic knowledge. But here in this passage, Peter is using another word Epignosis which is: A knowledge which is always moving further in the direction of that which it seeks to know... a growing, developing, deepening knowledge. An intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Himself …

Here is some scripture that may give us some insight into the essence of this knowledge, Epignosis, that we need to be seeking, requesting; 2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” —- 2 Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” —— John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” —— And my last verse John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” —— Colossians 2:2–4 “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.” —-This is the objective of our study in 2 Peter. The knowledge has always been there but we have to seek it and apply it in our Christian walk. It’s not what we know but Who we know…

To confirm Our Calling and Election… our Faith and Salvation... Peter tells us that we need to do more, we need to supplement it. The word used here means to equip, lavishly supply, not just add enough to get by, but like we’re trying to please or impress someone we love, to give it all we’ve got. Like Jesus did for us. In verses 3 and 4 we see God’s benevolence, 2 Peter 1:3–4 “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” Peter's encouraging us to get to know Jesus better. Which is what we will be doing as we climb the 7 rungs of this ladder of Faith outlined in verses 5 through 7.

I read an analogy in a commentary that described it like this; A very wealthy man gave a young man a full scholarship to a university. The young man had two choices he could study hard and make the most out of the gift that he was given, Leaving the school with a great job and a promising career ahead of him. Or, he could squander it. Do barely enough to get by, and leave with a basically irrelevant piece of paper, with no purpose or direction.

We begin our life with God with faith, but faith progresses into virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love – love being the capstone of all God’s work in us. This is what Paul was telling us in Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” —-

  (1) Supplement your faith with virtue. We’ve been over what faith is earlier in the lesson. Now just what’s virtue? Virtue is power and not just any power. John MacArthur refers to it as; “the God-given ability to perform heroic deeds. It also came to mean that quality of life that made someone stand out as excellent”. Virtue has the power to affect change.

(2) To virtue we add knowledge; Knowledge (gnosis) is what enables a man to decide right from wrong and to act honorably and efficiently, you may say the practical wisdom to deal with life... The serenity prayer says; God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference .

(3) Then to knowledge, self-control; Hear the Greek word for self-control is: egkrateia, it means literally, “the ability to take a grip on oneself”. It is one of the grace given abilities as part of the fruit of the spirit. But, it has to be practiced you have to learn to consciously tell your-”self”, No.… There was a sentence in my MacArthur commentary that caught my attention; “Virtue, guided by knowledge, discipline’s desire and makes it the servant, not the master of one’s life”.

(4) we supplement self-control with steadfastness or perseverance; Steadfastness does not simply accept and endure. As in virtue there is always a forward perspective in it, hope. It is the courageous acceptance of everything that life can do to us and the transmuting of even the worst event into just another step on our journey. Now, for that big word transmute; to transmute something it is a fundamental change of essence or substance often from a lower to higher state.

(5)Now to steadfastness we add godliness; for godliness, remember Paul’s prayer for the Philippians; Philippians 1:9–11 “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” ——being more like Jesus

(6) and to godliness we add brotherly affection; A long time ago I heard a little poem that I think is appropriate, it goes like this: I sought my God my God eluded me; I sought my soul and my soul I could not find; I sought to serve my fellow man and found all three. Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This is my idea of brotherly affection and building up the church.

(7) And to brotherly affection love; John 13:34–35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

Verses 8 through 11 are pretty straightforward. There are two big conditional two letter words in it “if” 2 Peter 1:8–11 “For “if” these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.(Because Jesus himself is growing in you. John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”) For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. (John MacArthur says that; A professing Christian who is not practicing the virtues mentioned above is, therefore, unable to discern his or her true spiritual condition, and thus can have no assurance of salvation . The failure to diligently pursue spiritual virtues produces spiritual amnesia. Such persons, unable to discern their spiritual condition, will have no confidence about their profession of faith. They may be saved and possess all the blessings of verses 3 and 4 but without the excellencies of verses 5 through 7 they will live in doubt and fear ) Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for “if” you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” —-