Series: Live Well [#11]
LIVE IN FAITH
2 Peter 1:1-4
Introduction:
Peter had a tendency in his younger years to be overconfident and ignore Jesus’ warnings. He rushed ahead when he should have waited; he slept when he should have prayed; he talked when he should have listened. Peter was a courageous, but careless, Christian; but through the years Peter continued to grow stronger and stronger in God. God wants the same for us; but before we can grow as God’s children, we have to be one of His children. The only way you become a part of God’s family is by accepting His gift of salvation and that salvation begins with faith.
2 Peter 1:1-2
This faith…
1. Is in a person.
This faith is in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the Savior of all who accept His gift of salvation. To the Jewish people, the word Savior represented someone who would deliver them from trouble and from the enemy, and someone who offered health and safety. Jesus Christ offers all of these things. Through salvation, Jesus has delivered us from eternal death and has given us eternal life.
Jesus Christ has 3 spiritual commodities that can only be found from Him- Righteousness, grace, and peace. When Jesus becomes your Savior, you are made righteous before God. The moment you are saved, the blood of Jesus is sprinkled upon your life which cleans you up. As far as God is concerned, you stand before Him clean. This is simply because Jesus has made you righteous. Without God’s grace, we could never have salvation. Grace is giving you what you do not deserve. What we deserve as sinners is eternal death, but because of God’s grace He offers us eternal life. The result of God’s salvation because of His grace is peace. No one can ever find true peace on their own, but as a child of God we can have a peace that passes all understanding.
2 Peter 1:3
This faith…
2. Involves God’s power.
Salvation begins with having faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died for your sins and arose from the dead- Having victory over sin, death, and Satan for us. When you accept God’s gift of salvation, you also experience the power of God. It is through the power of God that the believer is born again. The moment a person is saved, they become a new creation. The new believer is born with everything they will ever need; all they need to do is begin to grow. Just like a baby is born with all of the organs they need; they just begin to grow. They don’t need any new organs to live. Christians are the same way. God’s power also gives us eternal life in Heaven. His power gives us the ability to come before Him anytime we want to because we have been made clean. God’s power takes those who were spiritually dead and makes them spiritually alive forever.
2 Peter 1:4
This faith…
3. Involves God’s promises.
We do not have to wait until we die to enjoy all that we have been given because of our salvation. We can begin to enjoy our precious salvation the moment we are saved. That means we can go to God anytime we want. We don’t have to be saved for a certain amount of time before we can go to Him. We also have God’s Word that we can study and feed upon anytime we want to. Because of our salvation we have completely escaped the punishment of Hell. Once you are saved, there is nothing you can do to lose your salvation.
