Acquired Thru Faith-5(:2a)

ACQUIRED Thru FAITH-V—2Peter 1:2a(:1-4)

Attention:

The FAITH of God’s people taps into the vast resources that are only available to them by God’s hand.

Personal SAVING faith, that is centered in Jesus Christ as Savior & Lord, gains/acquires everything that is essential for living empowered as God has always intended!

Your Christian faith truly completes you!

Need:

God’s people are continually surrounded by & bombarded by people, cultures, & societies that are the product of flesh-driven priorities.

However, God’s people—Christians—supernaturally inform that world that there is a ‘settled hope’ that can be theirs in Jesus Christ alone!

Only God’s people have everything of REAL importance at their disposal by faith! And thru what Christian faith acquires, the Christian’s work & influence presents to a world lost to sin, the ONLY EFFECTIVE opposition to personal, local, & global ungodliness!

The apostle Peter informs those who are faithful to Jesus Christ, that they are completely/amply/fully supplied for godly living.

God’s people are completely/amply/fully supplied for godly living thru their faith in Jesus Christ.

?What does saving faith in Christ attain/acquire for God’s people?

ACQUIRED Thru FAITH-IV—2Peter 1:2a(:1-4)

So far in this series, we have found that,

Some provisions acquired thru faith in Jesus Christ, are...

1. TRUSTWORTHY APOSTLES(:1a)[parts-1-&-2]

2. CHRISTIAN FAMILY(:1b)

3. The SINGULAR, PERFECT SAVIOR(:1c)

Today we’ll find that...

4—A provision acquired thru faith is...

MULTIPLIED GRACE & PEACE(:2a)

Explanation:(:2a)

:2—“Grace & peace be multiplied to you...”

“Simon Peter” desires that all, who are of the same faith which honors God’s design(:1), should ALSO be those who receive God’s “grace & peace.” Peter introduces the same concept in his earlier letter—1Pet. 1:2.

Paul expressed this same desire continually in his communications with the various churches(Rom. 1:7; 1Cor. 1:3; 2Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Php. 1:2; Col. 1:2; 1Thes. 1:1; 2Thes. 1:2; 1Tim. 1:2; 2Tim. 1:2; Tit. 1:4; Phm. :3).

John does the same in Rev. 1:4.

*So God’s people obviously need to live within the empowering confines, boundaries, & protections of God’s “grace & peace.”

•Ps. 17:8—David, the man after God’s own heart, wrote a prayer to YHWH God, stating,—“Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,”

•Ps. 91:1—“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

From the very moment that you are saved, you should have been & should be, steadily growing in your faith,....So that God’s “grace & peace” become ‘first-nature’ to us! And in order for that to happen, the choices made by the flesh, must become relegated or subjected to being ‘below our dignity’ as it were!

BUT WHY is it vital that God’s people INCREASE in the “grace & peace” of God?

*In order for us to understand the importance of the “multiplication” of “grace & peace” in our lives, we must first get our heads & hearts around what “grace & peace” are all about.

“Grace”—

•A good ‘acronym’ for understanding God’s “grace” is: ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.’

•That acronym reminds us, that NOT even God’s own people, much less those who are not, can EVER approach Almighty God by their own merit!

•God’s riches in Christ DO NOT come to anyone because they are deserving of them!

Eph. 2:4-10—“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), & raised us up together, & made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, & that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

*It is simply BECAUSE GOD LOVES YOU, that He has GIFTED or GRACED you with the OFFER of His heaven & His presence! For you & for such as you, God has ‘leveled-the-playing-field’ by His “grace.”

Due to His “grace”, God OFFERS everything that is afforded thru His name, Himself, His Heaven, His Kingdom, & all of creation.

The reception of His offer hangs upon one condition...

•IF you want to ‘take God up on His offer’—everything that is afforded thru His name—THEN you individually & willfully, MUST place personal faith in Jesus, Who is the Son of God & God the Son. Trust the Cross-work of Jesus!

That’s what “grace” does for you & for every person! God has made it so that you do not have to compete with anyone on any level regarding your salvation. You don’t have to compete with me, & I don’t have to compete with you, & neither of us has to compete with anyone else!...We are saved solely by God’s “graciousness” towards us. And THAT is made active & effective in a person’s life, BY FAITH.