Alliance Community Fellowship                . of the Christian and Missionary Alliance

Elkins,  West Virginia

.     Message of

Take your Bibles this morning and turn with me to 2 Peter 1.

What a frightful ending to the life of the Chaldean King, Belshazzar.  A man who chose not to humble his heart but instead exalted himself against God, Daniel tells us.  A man who partied hard using the goblets and untensils from the temple. A man who praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, (And I love Daniel's description of these idols), "...which do not see, hear or understand".

Then the verdict from the One Daniel describes as, "...the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways..." : "You, Belshazzar (Your heart and life) have been weighed on the scales and found deficient".

And that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean was slain.  The end.

Peter gives us one of those, "Sit up straight take a deep breath and ponder", challenges in 2 Peter 1.10

2Pe 1:10  Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you...

This challenge from Peter is a call for believers to take a Heart-check.

ILL:
Martin-Lloyd Jones made this statement back in the 1950's:

"If Christianity is what it claims to be, then it should be producing
a type and order of life which is quite exceptional.
If, therefore, we are to meet the challenge of the modern world
we must be living the Christian life; and the question arises,
how are we to do so?"

Peter is about to tell us.

ILL:
G.K. Chesterton once said,

"Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried".

ILL:
Tod Bolsinger, from his book, Showtime: Living Down Hyprocrisy by Living Out the Faith, commenting on Chestertons statement,

 "...maybe in the final analysis that is why faith is so often ineffective and unfruitful.
We really don't try it fully.  We talk a good game, we accept the grace that God has poured into our lives,
but we don't really commit ourselves to living out the gospel."

He continues,

"W want to be a people of character who are respected by others, but we don't dedicate ourselves to allowing God's
transforming power to work in every area of our lives-because, frankly, that takes work."

"...we don't dedicate ourselves to allowing God's transforming power to work in every area of our lives..."

Paul teaches us from the 12th chapter of Romans,

Rom 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed..."

Jesus did not establish His Kingdom by coming to the world and looking like the world in an effort to relate.  That is what we call an "Imitation". Jesus' Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, is an original.

We need to make certain, as Peter admonishes, "...make certain about His calling and choosing you..."

How?  Peter would say, "Glad you ask".

BACKGROUND
This is Peter's second letter to the Church as a whole who found themselves, "...scattered .  Specifically he refers to his audience as, "...aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia..."  This Second Letter is the reminder letter.

Look down in chapter 1.12

2Pe 1:12  Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.
2Pe 1:13  I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder,
2Pe 1:14  knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
2Pe 1:15  And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

2Pe 3:1  This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,

How does Peter begin answering this question, "How can we make certain about His calling and choosing you..."

READ

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

We can stop there.  "To those who have received a faith..."

      1. Your realtionship with Jesus Christ, your faith didn't start with you.

"For by grace are you saved through faith..."

Your faith was and is a gift of God to you.  You didn't initiate, God did.

We do have some part to play in faith.

ILL:

Terry Bridges calls our role in the faith walk as, "Dependant Responsibility"

Dependant upon God to work in me and responsible for my response to that working in me.

Then Peters qualifies this faith, he says it is a faith...

      2. "...of the same kind as ours"

What was so different about the faith of Peter and the other Apostles?  It was a faith the resulted in a transformed life.  Things didn't remain the same after they came to know the transforming Christ.

Then Peter tells us the source of our faith, who or what backs it up.  This life-transforming faith is ours...

            3. "...by the righteousness of Christ."

Let me leave you with three things this morning relating a faith that will change your life and have an impact on the lives of people around you.  We're talking about a faith that works.

            I. It depends on God work and power

READ
2Pe 1:3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
 

Philippians 2:13  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

ILL:

Take the best vacuum cleaner.

Take the best tool for destruction ever invented, the Sawsall.

Take the best crockpot known to man.

Everyone of them is absolutely powerless to do what they were designed to do until they are connected to the power source.

ILL:

My brother is a nuclear operator at a nuclear energy plant in Chattanooga.  They sell electricity to NY City and cities all up and down the East Coast.  Just recently they had a shut down in order to refuel.  If plans aren't made by the customer to get electricity from an alternate source, darkness will prevail.  Why, they have been cut off from the Source of power.

APP:

In order for faith to work, we must continue abiding in the Source.

Jesus made this very clear when He taught his disciples,

Joh 15:4  "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

Joh 15:5  "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (Emphasis mine)

When you "abide" in Christ you live life in a right state with Him.  You do not live with habitual sin in your life.

Jesus goes on to add,

Joh 15:7  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (Emphasis mine)

Jesus is talking about His truth, His words, His teaching living through you and me.

TS: In order for faith to work, we must understand that...

            II. It requires our trust

Effective faith (and that is what we are talking about) must be genuine trust!

Christians living in "Ordinary" do not live out an effective faith; a faith that is transforming.

Remember: In Ordinary, - Nothing changes (No Growth)

Life lived in "Abundance" and "Free" is lived in genuine trust; or with an effective faith.

Effective faith is not about depending on God's grace for salvation and then doing the best we can for the rest of our lives.

Paul told the Galatian believers,
 

Gal 3:3  Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

LOOK with me at 2 Peter 1.3

READ

2Pe 1:3  seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

2Pe 1:4  For by these (His glory and exellence) He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them (through them) you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

We are transformed as we trust God to make good on His promises. This trusting is what makes us different from the world.

Take John 3.16 for example:

Joh 3:16  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Do you trust God for that promise?

What about James 4.17?
 

Jas 4:17  Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Do you trust God for that promise as well?

TS: Effective faith...

            III. Results in our living it out

ILL:
I spoke recently with a young person confused on Romans 3.23

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God".

Her take was, what's the use in trying if you are destined to "fall short"?

ILL:
Dallas Willard makes this comment,

"Grace is opposed not to effort but to earning".

No one can earn their salvation through works but salvation by grace does inspire us to work.

Which brings us to the crux of this passage in 1 Peter 1.

2Pe 1:5  Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,

2Pe 1:6  and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,

2Pe 1:7  and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

2Pe 1:8  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(To Be Continued)

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