A Gospel
Centered Life
Why We Need
the Gospel
(2 Peter 1:3-9)
Introduction
· Text on sanctification in the life of
the believer, and what drives that
· So, why do we need the gospel?
o Because it’s not just a message for unbeliever’s
o (Colossians 1:6) “…the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole
world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the
day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth”
o grows in believer’s and increases
fruit.
o Why?
Message
· (v:3a) “God’s divine power has granted to us all things THAT…”
o “Pertain
to life and godliness”
o and then he explains what godliness
is in (5-7)
§ He has to get us there first
§ The indicatives to the imperatives
§ Life
à In relation to holiness
à They’re not separate
§ Godliness
à Christ-likeness
à Display the character of God in how
we live
§ You’re not waiting for God’s
sovereign plan
à He’s granted – all things
à to present something as a gift or confer a benefit, prob. with some
suggestion of formality
à perfect tense
v has and will continue to
v have now
v right now God’s divine power is
available to you
o He’s not saying:
§ Gifts
§ Money
§ Position – life & godliness
o HOW is this possible?
· (v:3b) “through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and
excellence”
o Knowledge
§ What does he mean?
§ Coming to know someone for who they
really are
§ A relationship
§ Knowing Jesus – not knowing about
Jesus
o Where and how do we know God?
§ His Word
§ Time in prayer
§ Spend time with God
o (Galatians 4:9) “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,
how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of
the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?”
§ Do you see the relationship here?
o “To His own glory”
§ (1 Peter
2:9) “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the
excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
§ Go back to the “a” part of the verse
o God’s divine power has gifted us
everything to know Him and then in the outflow of that joyful relationship
display His glory and character
o Man, just one verse
o NOW, this relationship lets us
believe:
· (v:4a) “by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises”
o Godliness has more to do with what
you believe than what you do
§ Godliness has more to do with what
you believe than what you do
§ I can fake what I do
à If I act differently in church then
in my home then I’m faking church
à If I act differently at work than at home,
I’m faking it
à The honest answer may be, “godliness
has little value to me.”
§ You see what I do flows out of what I
believe
§ People don’t live what they profess…
§ “Worry
is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it
wrong.” – Tim Keller
§ How I live [and respond] betrays
what I believe
à If I’m angry that I didn’t get the
house, or car, or job I was hoping for then I believe God got it wrong.
à If I constantly worry I’m saying God
missed this, He’s not in control
§ Here’s the beauty, God is not angry,
à but pretending there is no problem
prevents you from starting to gain victory
à It stunts your spiritual growth
o Precious & very great – means of
tremendous value
§ What does that look like in my life?
§ How does that work itself out?
§ So, what I want to do is identify
some of these promises
o What are some of these great promises?
§ (Acts 17:24-25) You have nothing God
needs
§ (Ephesians 1:4-5) and He chose you
anyway
§ (John 6:37) Jesus has you and will
not let go
§ (Romans 4:8) Because He has declared
you not guilty – forever
§ (Romans 11:35) You have not, and
cannot earn God’s love
§ (Romans 8:38-39) and you cannot lose
it
§ (Ephesians 1:13-14) And then…He
placed His Spirit in you as a guarantee of your inheritance
§ (Galatians 4:4-7) Because You’re
adopted by the King
§ (Hebrews 12:28) You’re heir to a
kingdom that cannot be shaken
§ (2 Timothy 3:12) You’ll suffer
§ (Hebrews 13:14) You’re hope and home
ultimately, is not in this life
o I threw in the last two because if we
don’t believe the first nine we can’t get through the last two
o Knowing Jesus(:3b) brings me to a
place of belief
· (v:4b) “so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature”
o Through them [the promises, built on
a relationship]
o Partakers of the divine nature
o I think this is two-fold: the now and
the now yet
§ Now regarding our sanctification
§ The not yet regarding our eternal
glorification
§ For today, I’m going to focus on the
now
o I start to live in a way that
displays these promises are real
o What does the process of sanctification
look like?
§ Spasmodic sanctification
§ Little victories are great
§ All too often we want these huge
displays of God’s gifts, but we really don’t see the NT writers talking about
those anywhere like they do loving God and loving one another.
§ Because, what does it matter if I
have no regard for the most important truth of the gospel: unmerited love and
grace
§ Scripture tells us this if we listen:
§ (1 Corinthians 13:2) “I have prophetic powers, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
§ Faithful in little, faithful in much
o Two weeks ago I challenged you to
move a little in a relationship, so here’s what I did:
§ Sunday night with Shelly
§ Disaster
§ Wednesday night – better
§ Big victory – I saw Sunday’s disaster
§ I want Jesus to get glory – success
or failure
· (v:4c) “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of
sinful desire”
o The best way to sum this up:
§ Pursuing Christ is the most sure way
to avoid sin [the word ‘escape’ has the connotation of avoid]
§ The word “sinful” is not in the Greek
, just “desire”
§ The same context as P. Dan preached
on in Genesis
o So, the power of God, working in me to
nurture a relationship with Jesus, that values the promise of God, then
produces a character that displays Jesus and hates the sinful pleasures of the
world.
o Simply put: Jesus is better than sin
· (vv:5-7) “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with
virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and
knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and
steadfastness with godliness, 7 and
godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love”
o For this very reason – Jesus is
better than sin, I would make every effort to
o Every effort – zeal
o Zealous supplement of my faith
§ vigorously nourish in abundance
§ Think of modern supplements, we get
those right?
§ I want to nourish myself, be healthy
§ How about my faith?
o Virtue
§ Excellence of character
§ uncommon character worthy of praise
§ Admiral Nimitz said of the Marines on
Iwo Jima – “uncommon valor was a common virtue”
§ What ought to be common among
Christians?
o Knowledge
§ Again not just information
§ Knowing Jesus
§ Knowledge that produces fruit
o Self-control
§ restraint of one’s emotions,
impulses, or desires
§ Jesus is better than sin
§ You have divine power…
o Steadfastness
§ Patient
§ enduring
o Godliness – Christ-likeness
o Brotherly affection
§ Philadelphia
§ Brothers and sisters
o Love
§ Not an emotion
§ This is the result of this character
§ For this reason, I want to be this
person
§ Climaxing with love is not accident –
it is the catalyst
o Is there a purpose in Peter’s mind
here?
· (v:8) “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from
being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
o What does he mean?
§ I have all these promises
§ I have God’s love
§ But I don’t really have Jesus
o Shrinking the cross
§ Pretending and performing
§ Do you see what a real relationship
with Jesus is supposed to be?
à It has an awareness and a joy in
God’s promises
v There’s a level of ownership
à An awareness of my sinfulness
v I begin to realize I’m more sinful
that I think I am
à I see the good in identifying sin and
repenting of it
o What if they’re not? What if these
are not my qualities?
o If I’m unfruitful in my relationship
with Jesus, I will be unfruitful in family, ministry and the church
· (v:9) “For whoever lacks these
qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was
cleansed from his former sins.”
o What does this mean?
o Nearsighted
§ Squinting
§ Seeing only that which is
§ Without the lens of Scripture – my
real glasses
o Forgotten
§ Pride
§ Arrogance
§ Unable to receive correction
· Believing the gospel
o What if right now you’re saying,
“Wow, I don’t have the relationship and obedience God is calling me to.”?
o Repent and believe the gospel
o God has given you great promises to
move you to love Him [all 3 persons!]
o God is FOR you, He wants this FOR you!
