To Print Out The Lesson Click On The Title Below.
Proverbs 9:10-18
10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the
knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied, And
years of life will be added to you.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you will bear
it alone."
13 A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house, On a
seat by the highest places of
the city,
15 To call to those who pass by, Who go straight
on their way:
16 "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here"; And as for him who lacks understanding,
she says to him,
17 "Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
18 But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are
in the depths of hell.
Father God, open our hearts to accept your chastening
through the sanctification process so that we can become more holy and walk in
your ways. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!
Book of II Peter 1:5-11
NKJV
Last week we left off with salvation and how a child of
God receives the help of His divine nature through the Holy Spirit living
within ones heart when they repent and commit their life to Jesus. With this
lesson Peter is telling us how to remain faithful to God. It is no easy task with
the world and fleshly desires tugging at one all the time especially when false
teachers are spreading messages that are contrary to what God says, and Peter
knew that and therefore gives us some tips on how to remain faithful to Jesus.
We need to always bear in mind the Cross of Christ and why Jesus sacrificed his
life for us. It was through His abundance of love for us that He died in our
place so that all we have to do is repent and accept this act of love by faith
to be saved. So as we go through this second book of Peter, keep in mind the
reason Peter wrote it, and that being, the lies of false teachers.
5 But also
for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue
knowledge,
But also for this very reason; What is this
reason Peter speaks of here in this verse? If you go back to last week’s lesson
it was talking about the Grace of God that one receives when they repent and
accept Jesus into their life. So the reason is referring to Salvation.
Giving all diligence; Diligence is
something we do when we want to learn something; to hone our skills so that we
are better at accomplishing a task; to remain faithful to an organization. The
definition of diligence is, steady
application in business of any kind; constant effort to accomplish what is
undertaken; exertion of body or mind without unnecessary delay or sloth; due
attention; industrious. Olympic athletes’ are diligent in their quest to be the
best.
Add to your faith virtue; Faith is
referring to Jesus and to remain faithful to Him in all that we say and do.
Being committed to follow Him in all that we do, it was the Holy Spirit that
brought us to the foot of the Cross in repentance of our sinfulness, and we
must remain faithful to Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. So Peter is
telling his audience to add virtue to their faith, virtue meaning strength,
strength in leading a moral lifestyle to be an example to those around us; the practice of moral duties and the
abstaining from fleshly desires of the world, or a conformity of life and
conversation to the moral laws of God.
Virtue may be, and in many
instances must be, distinguished from religion. The practice of moral duties
merely from motives of convenience, or from obligation, or from regard to upbringing,
heritage, or custom, is virtue of religion, not God. The practice of moral
duties from sincere love to God and his laws, is virtue of God and religion.
To virtue knowledge; To this
virtue/strength we are to add knowledge to our lives. It is through God’s Word
that we gain knowledge about His moral laws that will help us stay on the
straight and narrow pathway. With salvation comes the desire to learn all that
one can about what is in the Bible.
When
I realized I was a sinner, and was leading a life to satisfy my desires, I
recognized I was practicing religion not commands of Jesus. I then repented and
gave my heart to Jesus, and all of a sudden I had a desire to read and learn
more about God’s Word, and that desire still exists today. This is the
knowledge Peter is speaking of, wisdom of the Bible.
6 to
knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance
godliness,
To
knowledge self-control; In
the KJV temperance is used instead of self-control, both meaning the same
thing. How does self-control fit into salvation? Why do we need self-control,
don’t we have the Grace of God? It is because we still have the sin nature in
our DNA, just because we are saved that doesn’t mean that we will never sin anymore;
it is because of the sin nature that we need an abundance of self-control. A
child of God will sin, but not intentionally. He will have a slip of the tongue
or do something that is wrong from time to time, but not meditated sin. When a
saved person sins unintentionally they will be convicted by the Holy Spirit
within and then they will ask Jesus to forgive them immediately. Sometimes this
conviction from the Holy Spirit will take place as soon as the sin is committed
and sometimes hours or days later. No matter when the conviction happens the
individual will repent. So the self-control comes into play for the child of
God to have control of their actions, speech, thoughts, etc. at all times. The
Holy Spirit is there to keep us on the straight and narrow which is called
sanctification through grace.
An athlete exercises
self-control to obtain a trophy and Christians are to exercise self-control to
obtain the Crown of Glory. 1
Corinthians 9:25 And
everyone who competes for the prize
is temperate in all things. Now they do
it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
We also need self-control
to ward off the messages of false teachers. Sometimes these messages can appeal
to our emotions, but we must reject them if they go against the Word of God.
Messages like prosperity messages. When money and wealth are mentioned, it
pricks our ears, but we are to be content with what God provides us with. Paul
also teaches about false teachers in 1 Timothy Chapter 6 and stated this to his
listeners; 1 Timothy 6:6-9 Now godliness with contentment is great
gain. 7
For we brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall
be content. 9
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts
which drown men in destruction and perdition. Listening to false teachers will draw a person away from
God.
To
self-control perseverance; With
adding virtue, self-control, and knowledge then we are better capable of
handling perseverance. It is because of our knowledge, that we have in our
sight the Crown of Glory. At times staying faithful can be a struggle with the
world tugging at your emotions or false prophets delivering messages that
contradict God’s Word. It is because of false teachers that we need to have
knowledge of what the Bible says, because then we can reject them and remain
faithful to Jesus.
To perseverance godliness; With the gift of Grace we are to grow spiritually
to resemble Christ and serve others. God wants to produce his character in us.
But to do this, he demands our discipline and effort. As we obey Christ, who
guides us by his Spirit, we will not only develop self-control in our conduct,
but also with respect to our emotions.
7 to
godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
Once
again Peter brings us back to the second greatest commandment of God, Love. How
can anyone read the Bible and not love their neighbor, spouse, children, people
of different color, etc.? Why is Peter throwing this in here, I thought this
book was about false teachers and preachers? It all gets tied together with two
words, “sin nature”. The sin nature causes hatred in this world via jealousy,
greed, lying, homosexuality, deception by false teachers, pride, arrogance,
haughty, bigotry, etc., but what do people really dislike? The person or the
persons point of views. If we stop and really think about this, the answer
would be people’s beliefs and point of views. How can we dislike something that
God has created? People are the way they are because of their parents and the
environment they are raised in. As a newborn baby we are all the same, but
through growth we are shaped and molded into other people’s image and not
God’s. So as Christians we are to love the person, but hate their sinfulness.
Peter and all the other Apostles preach kindness and love that is magnified
when a person is Born Again. We are to love one another just like we love a
newborn baby. If a Christian can love without partiality, they will be walking
in Jesus image. John
13:34 A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that
you also love one another. Hebrews 13:1-2
Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly
entertained angels. Galatians 6:2 Bear one
another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 2
John 1:5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new
commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love
one another. 1 John 3:14-18 We know that we
have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not
love his brother abides in
death. 15
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has
eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, because He laid down His
life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has this world's goods,
and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the
love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in
tongue, but in deed and in truth. 1John 2:8-10; 1John
3:23
8 For if
these things are yours and abound, you
will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
For if these things are yours and
abound; This
phrase is referring to all the points Peter has just pointed out to us. These
things are not easy because of our humanism. It takes daily work to abide in
these, and by doing and not just knowing, we will be walking in Jesus image.
The more we practice these things in our daily life, we will abound in God’s
grace.
You will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; Peter is telling us here that by
practicing these things God will reward us for acting upon the knowledge we
gained from His Word.
9 For he
who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten
that he was cleansed from his old sins.
For he who lacks these things is
shortsighted, even to blindness; Peter
is bringing us to the fact that he is addressing followers of Jesus; true
believers; Born Again Christians. The things these false teachers were
preaching, was pulling the believers away from the truth of the Gospel. They
were being blinded by the words of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
This
can happen so quickly when a person has never read the Bible and they think
they know what is in the Bible. Some people are taught about God using manmade
material instead of using the Bible. They have their own interpretation of what
it takes to be a good person. Man’s point of view of a good person is totally
different than God’s viewpoint.
I will use myself as an
example of how I viewed myself as a good person and thought I was going to
Heaven before I was saved. When I was in grade school every Wednesday after
school we went to the church hall for CCD lessons (Catholic religious lessons).
We were studying the Sacraments of the Catholic Church and the person teaching
the lesson made a statement that if a person kept the sacraments they would be
sure to go to Heaven. I took this statement to heart and believed it, but after living 57 years of believing this and
that I was a good person, I picked up the Bible in 2007 with a curiosity of
what it contained. After reading the NT, I went in search of the verses that
supported the sacraments. I couldn’t find any, but found this; John 3:3-6 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a
man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb
and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. This devastated my beliefs and as a
result I prayed the Sinners Prayer (that is below) in 2008 giving my life to
Jesus because I wanted to live a life based on God’s word and not man’s word.
So you see how we can be pulled away from God and not even know it! This can
even happen to people that are saved; the next phrase tells us that. This is
why it is so important to read and study the Bible so that one can discern the
TRUTH.
And has forgotten that he was cleansed
from his old sins; These
people that Peter is writing to are saved people, but with the false teachings
being preached they were drifting away from their first love, Jesus. Peter is
warning them to search their memory banks and revive their passion for Christ
as it was when they were first saved. They were becoming spiritually blind and
taking their eyes off of the Cross and what Jesus did for them. They were being
ruled by the sin nature they inherited from Adam via the Devil. Satan loves to
pull Children of God back to his side of the fence.
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to
make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never
stumble;
11 for so an
entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Peter
wanted to stir up the complacent believers who had listened to the false
teachers and believed that because salvation is not based on good deeds they
could live any way they wanted. If you truly belong to the Lord, Peter wrote,
your hard work will prove it. If you're not working to develop the qualities
listed in verses 5-7 above, you may not belong to him. If you are the Lord's, and
your hard work backs up your claim to be chosen by God, you will be able to resist
the lure of false teaching or glamorous sin and be accepted into the Kingdom of
God. Just because a person says a prayer or does a ritual it doesn’t mean they
are saved. Has there been a change in your lifestyle that says you are saved?
Has your love for Jesus changed? What does your life say about your faith? Are
you growing in Grace?
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All
things were created through Him and for Him.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God."
The
Lighthouse Full Gospel Church
Sinners
Prayer; Pray this, and if you believe it with your heart, Jesus will save you!
“Lord Jesus I know I am a
sinner. I confess my sins to you; I am
sorry for my sins; I repent (Meaning, desiring to turn from a sinful
lifestyle.) of all my sins, and I am asking for your forgiveness. I believe that only you can forgive sin. I commit my life to you and ask you to come
into my heart, direct, and take charge of my life. I believe that you died to set me free from
my sinful lifestyle and you rose from the dead to give me eternal life, and
right now you are seated at the Right Hand of God Almighty. I believe you are
the Son of God; the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life, and my
Savior.” I believe this and have faith
you will make a new person out of me, by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in my
heart and lead me in a new life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.”
(John 3:16,17; Romans
3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9-13; Ephesians
2:8-10; 1 John 5:11-14; 1:6-10)
(Sin: Rom. 1:22-32; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph.
5:3-7)
No comments:
Post a Comment