Music Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. This is part two of a message first preached on October 22nd, 2023.
It is part of a series on 2 Peter titled, Live as People Who Remember. Think about what that means. Think about what that looks like in the day to day. Pursue Christ to become like Him. Look at verse 14 again.
Be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish. Rich, that sounds a lot like I'm supposed to be cleaning up my life. Okay.
How do you do that? Jesus said what? John 15, abide in Me. Abide in Me.
Truth has a name. And I like the words that Paul uses to describe us as God's people. He describes us as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. That phrase, holy and beloved, defines chosen ones. Here's the beauty of that truth and that call. You are holy and beloved, so become holy and beloved.
It's kind of an already not yet, isn't it? In Christ, you are holy. You are set apart. You are seated with Christ. You are holy and you are beloved. And nothing can take God's love away from you.
Do you understand that? You are holy and beloved, so become holy and beloved. In other words, let your day-to-day start looking like what you are in Christ.
How do you do that? By pursuing Christ. By pursuing Christ. Holy.
Let's think of that for a minute. You are holy. You are in Christ. The reality of you as a follower of Jesus, you are in Christ. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. And yet, and yet, Paul says throughout the Scriptures, you are called to be what? Saints. You know what that means? Holy ones.
A people set apart. And that's why Peter says here, be diligent to be found in Him without spot or blemish. The spot and the blemish is, I believe, a reference back to chapter 2 in verse 13, where he's talking about self-indulgence behind the mask of spirituality.
I have a tough question for you this morning. Are you following Jesus just for the comfort that you get out of it? John 2 gives us a record of a lot of people who are doing that. And Jesus didn't respond favorably to that. They wanted to take Him as a crowd and make Him king right there, because look at all the stuff He can do for us. Jesus didn't entrust Himself to them because He knew the hearts of all men. They didn't want Him.
They wanted what He could do for them. Do you see the difference? I'm challenging you this morning, folks. This is nitty-gritty. Are you following Jesus because of who He is or because of what He can do for you? Think about that. Be diligent to be found without spot or blemish.
Here's the truth of the matter. If you are in Christ, holy and beloved, you are a work in progress. Every one of us in this room is a work in progress. And that's the assumption that everyone in this room is a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ. You've been reconciled to God through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ.
If you have not, I invite you to that this morning. You desperately need that because eternity hangs in the balance. Your life here and now is but a tiny speck on the whole timeline of eternity. Have you surrendered in faith to Jesus Christ? If you have, you are a work in progress. Philippians 1.6, we know this, I'm sure of this. And who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. You continue to be a work in progress until that day you are face to face with Jesus Christ.
Take comfort in that, please. And you know what? As brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to give each other latitude to still be a work in progress.
Right? You are a work in progress. He says in Philippians 2, verse 13, it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Work in progress. And so look in verse 14, he says, here's the command, be diligent to be found by him. What is that diligence?
Listen, that is where you are to be labor intensive. Those people who think Christianity is just a bunch of rules that Christians have to follow and therefore they can't enjoy life completely miss the point. Here's the sad part, there's far too many Christians that think about Christianity that way. And it's devastating.
It's a hard way to live. And there are the ones that end up having the t-shirt, Christianity been there, done that, doesn't work. What does that diligence look like? Turn with me back to chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1.
Look at with me beginning at verse 4, 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 the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort. Make every effort. Go on in verse 10, therefore brothers be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. And we went through that so go back and listen to that, I'm not going to do it again right now. Study this.
We did that as a Sunday night seminar and then I preached it again here on Sunday morning in the last several months. We've covered this. Go over it again. We are called to diligence, let me tell you something, diligence is not something you need to pray about.
Is it? It's a command, it's a clear command. You don't need to pray about clear commands in Scripture. Be diligent. This is where you're labor intensive. And this is why I like to teach the four habits of regeneration. This is how you are labor intensive in pursuing Christ and becoming like him. You draw near to God, James 4-8. What does it say? Draw near to God and he will? Isn't that awesome? The infinite sovereign of the universe wants to draw near to you if you will draw near to him.
And we do so with full authority based on what? Jesus Christ. You see, without Jesus, you can't come to the Father. With Jesus, you've got full access. Draw near to God, abide in Christ. If I could give you homework, and I know churches don't do that, but if I could give you homework, I would send you home and say, think about, study that. What does it mean?
What does it look like? Paint me a picture of what it looks like to abide in Christ. You see, that's not doing stuff for God, is it? That's making yourself at home in the presence of your Creator and your Redeemer.
That's what that is. Abide in Christ, walk in the Spirit. Again, there's good homework right there, isn't it? Because that whole concept is so confusing and abused by so many in the world and in Christianity today. But what does that look like? John 14, 15 and 16 and Romans 8.
There's your homework, write that down. John 14, 15 and 16 and Romans 8, those four chapters will teach you all you need to know about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and why God has given us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is mentioned 18 times in Romans 8. You didn't know that, did you? You thought it was all about the love of God.
Well, it is. And let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Those are what I call the habits of regeneration. That's pursuing God, the person of God. Why? Because you have the call to, you have the full right and privilege to do that based on the redemptive reconciling work of Jesus Christ.
You can do that. Let me make something very clear here where he says, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish. You don't think that you're going to arrive this side of eternity.
There are some perfectionists in this room. You know who you are. I know who you are. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out www.delightingrace.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.
