Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
Today, we're continuing our series in 2 Peter titled Live as People Who Remember. When asking Pastor Rich questions about this theme, one child in the church commented, If you forget your house has plumbing, you'll end up going to the woods. On a weightier note, if the people of God forget who He is, what He has done, and what He promises us, the repercussions will be great. As we preach truth to ourselves, reminding ourselves of who God is, He transforms our affections and attitudes, stirring us up to good works.
The inner transformation flows out into our actions. Let's listen to this message titled Remembering Your Awesome Grant by Faith stirs up virtue and knowledge. If you would turn in your copy of the scriptures to 2 Peter, the text for exposition Pastor Rich will be working through is 2 Peter chapter 1.
We'll be reading verse 9 verses together. Send me in 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. 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 if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful to 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. Let us pray. Lord, my heart is still praying.
Make your glory known. As we have heard from your word, we pray that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, that our minds would be receptive, curious, humble, that our hearts would be open. In Jesus' name and for His sake, we pray. Amen. Good morning, church. Live as people who remember is the title theme of our study through 2 Peter. As Ezra was in my office this morning, as he usually is on Sunday mornings while I'm reviewing my notes, he talks about what's the theme, the faith theme for this Sunday. He really keeps me on my toes about that. And live as people who remember. So he says, if you forget you have plumbing in your house, then you're going to be using the woods. Yes, yes.
That works. It's true. If you forget the wealth that is yours in Christ, you will be living as if you have no wealth in Christ.
That's tragic. This is why Peter writes this. And remember, he's writing to a people who are largely displaced and disdained in the ancient Roman Empire. Remember who you are. And as he said in verse 13, I think it is right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder.
So this first series in 1 Peter, in 2 Peter, I'm sorry. The first series, verses 13 to 15 of chapter 1, is get stirred up. Get stirred up. To be stirred up means to be awakened. And when you're awakened, you are aware and active. You're not slumbering through the Christian walk, the life of faith. There's no slumber, there's no passivity about it. You are aware and you are active in light of that awareness.
That's what we're unpacking. So as we recall, the great and awesome grant that has been given us by God, look again at verses 3 and 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. The practical transformation that happens in the lives of those of us who remember.
That's why we are called to live as people who remember. He talks about it later on, what happens when you forget, when you don't remember the wealth that is yours in Christ, the forgiveness, the love, the acceptance, the justification, the fact that you have been reconciled to infinite, holy, sovereign God, and you have free access right into his throne room. Do you realize the wealth that is yours in Jesus Christ? His righteousness is yours.
Righteousness is yours. Now this is all review, but we have to know the promises and the wealth that is ours in Christ, which is why he begins. So part two today, remembering your awesome grant by faith, stirs up virtue and knowledge. So we have this list of many qualities here in these next verses. Remembering your awesome grant by faith, stirs up virtue and knowledge, which is why he says, beginning of verse five, we're just looking at verse five today, for this very reason.
What is this very reason? Go back and read verses three and four. For because of the awesome grant that has been lavished upon you and the wealth that is yours in Jesus, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge.
The vast wealth that is ours. Listen, you can't afford to be ignorant of the wealth that is yours in Christ. You can't afford to be negligent of the wealth that is yours in Christ.
And by negligent, I mean, you have forgotten. This is what he challenges his readers about as we continue in this book. You must, listen, you must preach the gospel to yourself first.
Preach the gospel to yourself first. Because remember, grace is not just the diving board, it's the pool that you dive into. We live in and by the grace of God.
That is the wealth that is ours. So he says, for this very reason, that's referring back to verses three and four. And then he says, make every effort to supplement your faith. Make every effort. In other words, get stirred up, aware and active, not slumbering through, but aware and active to live well. What do I mean by living well? I mean living meaningfully and purposefully. Living meaningfully is you recognize the value of your life and other lives.
And it is God that gives life value, meaning. Not only do we have meaning, and we're called to live meaningfully, but live purposefully. We have an aim. There is a finish line for us in this life under the sun.
And Christ stands at that finish line with his arms wide open. We aim for that. We aim for that. That's where we're headed. And it's not, as the song we sang, it's not up to us to get there.
Aren't you glad about that? We are predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. If you're in Christ, God sees you already there. Now that's mind blowing. But remember, that's the mind of God, OK? He is transcendent and infinite. You and I are not.
We cannot share those attributes with him. So make every effort to get stirred up. Live as people who remember. Live well, meaningfully and purposefully.
It is not a passive existence. Too many people approach Christianity like, well, you know, I went forward. I'm saved. I made this decision. I've got my ticket. I'm on the bus. I'm just going to enjoy the ride. It's not what you're called to. Listen, I'm going to put it a little harder.
Jesus didn't die for you to have a comfortable ride on the bus. It's a marathon. It's a race. But you will get there if you are in Christ. You will finish. It's an active walk.
There's no drift involved in it because you don't drift in a positive direction. This is why Peter is calling the people to remember. Remember, I want to stir you up by way of reminder.
Peter is pretty soon going to be going off the scene. He's going to die for the sake of the gospel. And he knows that after he dies, there's going to be all kinds of other stuff hurled at the followers of Jesus to distract them away from the wealth that is theirs in Christ. So I purpose to stir you up by way of reminder. And that is to live as people who remember an active walk, walking in the steps of Jesus.
So make every effort to do what? Verse five. To supplement your faith. This word supplement is an interesting word. Consider how it's used in Colossians chapter two, verse 19. Holding fast to the head from whom the whole body nourished. That's the words that's used here. Nourished and knit together grows with the growth that is from God. Nourished. So nourish your faith. 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.
