GOD IS DOING A NEW THING:
The New Nature
2 Peter 1:3-11
God is indeed doing a new thing!
A. It all begins with the new birth
1. It all begins when we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus
2. A relationship that begins by faith
3. A relationship that has healed our wounds of sin and granted to us eternal life
B. The new birth is not the end for us…it is just the beginning!
C. Once we experience the new birth, God promises to give His people a New Nature!
(3) It all begins by the power of God
A. We are called into His family
B. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
C. This gift is the new birth…eternal life
(4) He grants to you and I His promises
A. His promises are precious and magnificent
B. By His promises we become partakers of the divine nature
1. The power does not come from within us…it comes from God
2. God allows us to participated in this divine nature
A) This is a new nature for us
B) By ourselves, we cannot truly be godly
C) It is His gift…the fulfillment of His promise to us
C. What does this divine nature do for us?
1. It keeps us from sin
2. It helps us to live for God
3. When we experience the new birth, we are invited to experience the new nature
D. What this means is that God, by His Holy Spirit, empowers us with His own moral goodness
1. John 3:6 - That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit
2. 2 Cor 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God
3. I Peter 1:23 - For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God
(5-9) The New Nature invites growth in our faith
A. Faith is more than a system of beliefs
B. Faith must result in action
1. Growth in Christian character
2. Practice of moral discipline
3. If we do not grow, it will die away
A) James 2:17
B) Even so faith, if it has no work, is dead being by itself
C. Peter gives us a list of actions brought about by faith
1. Moral excellence
A) Virtue
B) Energy…with the energy God favors you, so you show favor to others
2. Knowledge = understanding
3. Self-control
A) Mastery
B) Holding one’s passions in hand
4. Perseverance = patient enduring
5. Godliness = piety; fear of God
6. Brotherly kindness = love of the brethren
7. Love
D. These actions do not come automatically
1. They require hard work
2. They are not optional
A) All of them must be a continual part of the Christian life
B) We work on them all at the same time
3. It is God who empowers us and enables us
4. It is God who gives us the responsibility to learn and to grow
(8) If these qualities are found in your life
A. You will not be found useless
B. You will not be unfruitful
(9) If we lack these qualities
A. Blind…short-sighted…have forgotten his purification from his former sins
B. Faith must go beyond what we believe
1. It must become a dynamic part of all we do
2. A person who claims to be saved while remaining unchanged
A) Does not understand faith
B) Does not understand what God has done for him
(10-11) If these qualities are found in your life…you will make your calling sure
A. You will never stumble
B. Your entrance into the Kingdom of heaven will be abundantly supplies to you
C. Understand what Peter is doing here
A. Many of the people believed the false teachers
1. Taught that these virtues did not matter
2. Since deeds had nothing to do with eternal life
3. They are not important
4. Since deed’s don’t matter
5. They believed they could live any way they wanted
B. Peter wrote to tell them
1. If you truly belong to the Lord
2. Your hard work will prove it
3. Your hard work will pay off
C. You will graduate from the New Birth…to a New Nature…empowered with a New Name…as you reside for all eternity in the New Heaven and the New Earth
If you have not experienced the new birth, I encourage you to make that decision sure today
A. It’s not by knowledge
B. It’s not by position
C. It can only be attained from the Holy Spirit
D. It is available to all men
E. As we enter into a personal relationship with Christ
Are you living out the New Nature
A. Are you seeing consistent growth in your Christian Character
B. Are you seeing the Christian virtues mentioned manifesting themselves in your behavior
C. Growth is not an option
1. It takes hard work
2. God will empower and enable you to grow
