2 Peter: Remembering Your Awesome Grant

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Benjamin Franklin set his mind to ethical perfection when he wrote out 13 virtues and created a plan for mastering them. He quickly realized that as he became stronger in certain virtues, he then struggled with the sin of pride over his progress. Morality without a heart change is really just behavior management, isn't it? Today's message reminds us that virtue is the outer flow of inward righteousness. Instead of self-governance, God calls us to surrender to His transforming work. As we abide in our Lord Jesus, He gives us the power to be transformed for His glory.

Let's listen in. Our text for today will be in 2 Peter and I invite you to turn there with me reading in the first chapter. 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 9.

It's the Word of God. Simeon Peter, a servant, an 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. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 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. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. For these qualities are yours and are increasing. They keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Would you pray with me? Lord, as we have heard from your words, we ask now that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, that you would allow for our minds to be receptive and that our hearts would embrace the truths that we hear from your Word. We are so thankful that your Word is open to us. You know the needs of our hearts and minds this morning, and so meet with us, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Good morning, church. It has been a real treat to worship here this morning so far.

What a joy. I have one of those names that requires a disclaimer. I just say, hi, I'm rich.

Usually in Scripture a name talks about a person's character, their purpose in life, things like that, and so I have to tell people there's three ways to be rich and I'm two of them. Names are significant. Your identity is significant. Imagine one morning if you woke up and you completely forgot who you are. You don't remember your name.

You don't remember any bit of your history. What would you do? Your house would be strange to you. Your spouse, if you have one, would be a stranger to you. And if you have kids, oh my goodness, you wouldn't know where you work. You wouldn't know what to do that day.

You'd be floundering. You'd be trying to find the rest of the day, you'd be trying to find who am I and what am I about. The title of this series that I'm preaching in 2 Peter is Live as People Who Remember. Peter mentions it numerous times in his second letter. He calls them to remember. Now, I break up a book. When I'm preaching through a book, I break it up into several miniseries and I'm in the first series right now. We're still in chapter 1, the text that Bobby just read is the first series, and the title of that series is Get Stirred Up. And the word stirred up, as he says in verse 13, he says, it is my purpose while I'm still with you to get you stirred up by way of reminder.

Stirred up. The idea of it is to be awake. Instead of slumbering through life, it's to be awake.

And to be awake is to be two things, aware and active. So, the title for today's sermon, we're going to focus on verse 6, chapter 1, verse 6 of 2 Peter. Remembering your awesome grant by faith stirs up self-control, steadfastness, and godliness. This is why he says in verse 3, for this very reason, I have to stop there, okay, because that requires context. For this very reason, what is he talking about? He's talking about in verses 3 and 4, I'm sorry, when he starts verse 5, he says for this very reason, for this very reason he's talking about verses 3 and 4. What's in verses 3 and 4? The great, the very great and precious promises that God has given to us in Jesus Christ, that through these you may become what? Partakers of the divine nature.

This begs the question. One, do you know who you are in Jesus Christ? Two, do you know the wealth that has been lavished on you in Jesus Christ?

Because it has been. Ephesians talks about the riches of His grace. You want to know the riches of His grace? Read the first three chapters of Ephesians.

There are very, very few commands in those three chapters. It's all about who God is and what He has done for us and who we are, all of it in Jesus Christ. Do you know the wealth that is yours in Jesus Christ?

Here's the problem. If you forget who you are in Christ and if you forget the wealth that is yours in Christ, you will live as if you have none. Go back to the way I started today. Imagine if you woke up one morning and you completely forgot who you are. You would be, you would be scrounging around, trying to discover who you are and what you're about and what you're supposed to be doing.

You would be scrambling to try to understand meaning. This is why Peter says we are called to live as people who remember. Because if we don't remember who we are, if we don't remember the wealth that we have in Christ, if we don't remember that we are, if I don't remember that I am forgiven, how will I live?

I will live a guilt-ridden life and a guilt-ridden life. If I forget that I am redeemed, what will I do? I will constantly be trying to redeem myself. If I forget that I am justified before holy God, if I forget that before God I am fully accepted by Him, if I forget that, then what will I be doing with my life?

I will be always wanting and demanding to be accepted by others. This is why Peter calls us to live as people who remember. Remember who you are in Christ. Remember the wealth that is yours in Christ. And when you understand that identity, when you understand that wealth that you have in Christ, this is why he says, verse 5, make every effort to supplement your faith. Make every effort to supplement your faith. Now, at faith's value, and somebody doesn't know the context, they're not well-versed in theology of Scripture, that sounds like, okay, I have faith, but if God's going to accept me, there's a lot of things I have to do.

That's not what he's saying. To make every effort to supplement your faith, let me give you a definition of that. It means this, to nurture and bring to outward expression what is yours in Christ. To nurture and bring to outward expression what is yours in Christ, the reality of the fact that I am indeed a partaker of the divine nature. That God, I am not just a forgiven sinner, God has made me new in Christ. Nurture and bring that to outward expression. And he has indwelt me with his Holy Spirit.

Outward expression. Supplement your faith with what? And this is similar to what he's saying in verse 10. If you want to look in your copy of the Scriptures down to verse 10, he says, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. That indeed you do belong to God, that you are his, that you are part of his family. And so be diligent, be all the more diligent to confirm that.

How? By nurturing and bringing to outward expression the reality of the divine life within you, the riches, the wealth that is yours in Christ. This is what he's talking about. So as we go through this in 2 Peter, he starts with virtue, and then he goes to knowledge, and then today, self-control, steadfastness, godliness. So you can see it kind of as a stair step of spiritual maturity, where you become more and more like Jesus Christ, because that's his purpose for you, isn't it?

Say, mm-hmm. That's his purpose for you, to make you like Jesus. He is the perfect standard, and he is forming and fashioning you into the image of Jesus Christ. And you have the high privilege and calling to participate in that fashioning, by nurturing and bringing to outward expression the reality of the divine life within, the riches that I have in Christ.

Confirm your calling and election. Now in this, he says, supplement your faith. We have to understand that faith is foundational. Faith is foundational to this, to this equation that he's talking about here. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.