Assets of Faith III
Notes
Transcript
2 Peter 1:1-11
Faith is received; therefore, faith is given.
Peter understood this personally.
Jesus had responded to Peter’s confession of faith by saying, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but My Father who is Heaven.”
The Faith you and I have received is founded upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
We have been born into the family of God.
As a member of God’s family, we are recipients of His promises.
One of those promises is the gift of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit
11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Divine Nature
Our new birth has been accomplished by His divine power.
By His Spirit in me and through His promises to me, I am a partaker of His Divine nature enabling me, enabling us, to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
God has called us to experience His glory and excellence! (His nature)
By the knowledge we have received of Christ , and our faith in this knowledge, we possess everything we need to live a Godly life; to become perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.
The Abundant Life of Faith
Zeal for spiritual growth is a mark of real faith.
I want everything God has for me in His Son, Jesus Christ!
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Abundant life is capitalized on by Abundant Faith.
Abundant faith consists of the qualities spoken of by Peter within our text.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t Float, Swim Hard by John Stephen Piper
Glenda’s Long Swim from “The Incredible Series.” (John Stephen Piper is a theologian and pastor who is the founder and senior teacher of desiringGod.org, and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.)
Glenda and Robert Lennon were four miles off the coast of Florida fishing alone from their yacht. Glenda decided to take a swim and soon found the current had carried her too far out from the boat. Her husband, hearing her cries, without thinking dove in and swam to her, but then realized they were both being carried out. He was a champion swimmer, but not she. They made a plan. He would swim against the tide to keep the boat in view until the tide ceased and he could reach the boat. She should save her strength and just float with the tide and he would come and get her. He fought the tide for six hours and just as the boat was about to disappear on the horizon the tide turned, and his strokes carried him to the boat exhausted. The sun had set. His searching was futile—he could not find his wife. The next day on one last effort of search, the search party found his wife—twenty miles out and still alive. It was an incredible story.
What it illustrates is this: Christians who just float never stay in the same place. Christians who disobey verses 5–7 and do not apply themselves with diligence to bear the fruit of faith drift into great peril. We must strive even to stand still; the tide of temptation is so strong.
Assets of Faith
These assets of faith are necessary to be an overcomer!
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
Like the seed which fell on stony ground, because it did not have much earth, It sprang up quickly but was soon scorched and withered by the sun (the heat of trial and persecution).
For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”
These qualities are most important to our walk of faith in Christ Jesus.
There presence or the lack thereof, are marks and/or indicators as to the essence of our faith.
We must make our calling and election sure.
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.