II Peter part 2

II Peter 

part two

Now that we have taken an overview of the “eight steps” and laid the groundwork for our study, let’s go back and consider these important truths in a more detailed way.

You see, Peter is saying that we are already in a position to grow in the grace and knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ because God has already granted us everything we need in order to do so. And so there should be nothing holding us back from growing to spiritual maturity. Now we must add these other virtues to our faith.
By grace, through faith we are now: (I Jn.3:2 – We are now the children of God.)

4) Partakers of the divine nature: Through the one time event of the new birth we, as believers in Jesus Christ have already become “partakers of the divine nature.”

Jn.3:3,6-7 – Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

I Pet.1:3-5 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; to receive an inheritance (salvation and sonship) which is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for us and protected by the power of God; to be revealed in the last time.

Acts 2:38 – Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ro.8:9-16 – However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.

Gal.2:20 – "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

II Cor.5:17 – Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
5) Therefore, for this very reason (that God has done His part fully): Apply all diligence, make every effort, be ever zealous to do your part in exercising your opportunity, privilege and obligation in Christ to grow into the fullness of what God has provided.

Ro.6:1-14 – What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Ro.12:1-2 – Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

The message is clear! What is needed now, once we have been born again, is a change in the way we live. A leaving behind of the old fleshly sinful lifestyle and an embracing of the new godly spiritual life in Christ.
But, it is by no means automatic or without real effort on our part.
We must seek it with all diligence!

The next step on out chart after salvation is separation;
Separation to God and from the lusts of the world, the flesh and the devil.
We are to put our faith into practice; we are to restrict our activities and our thoughts to those things that reflect our new position as born again children of God.
Now that our life is complete in Christ we are to develop a holy lifestyle. (I Pet.1:6)

The biblical term used most frequently for holy separation is sanctification.
There are many aspects to our sanctification;

First of all we are sanctified or set apart from the world and to God by the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf:

Jn.17:14-20 – His prayer for us is that while we are yet in the world, we will not be of the world;
That we would be kept apart from the influence, corruption and control of the evil one;
And that we like Him, would be sanctified unto God in truth; the truth of God’s word.

Heb.2:11 – For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

Heb.10:10, 14 – By this will (Jesus will was to do His Fathers will) we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

Secondly we are to take an active and continual part in our own sanctification:
I Pet.3:15 – But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
Ps.34:14 – Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

Thirdly we are sanctified through the work of the Holy Spirit on our behalf:
I Cor.6:11 – But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

And finally, we are sanctified and set apart in Christ by the will and work of our heavenly Father:
I Cor.1:30 – But by His (God’s) doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.

This step of separation or sanctification in our quest to move toward spiritual maturity requires us to add moral excellence or virtue, to our faith.
Our position in trespasses and sin (Eph.2:1-3) before regeneration (Titus 3:5) may be understood as lacking virtue or our having less than excellent moral standing before God;
A condition that needs to be corrected not only as pertains to our standing before God regarding our salvation, but also with regards to our actual behavior in our daily life.
While it is true that upon conversion we receive complete justification and we stand positionaly clothed in the righteousness of Christ before God;
Still, a real change experientially needs to take place in our practice and behavior now.

Adam and Eve were created in a virtuous state in the beginning; more than just sinless but also with good moral character having a desire and a capacity to do what was right and pleasing before God.
This virtue was expressed toward each other and toward all of creation; God called them “very good” (Gen.1:31).
But then came the fall and everything changed, they lost their moral perfection and sin and death entered the world and human virtue was forever diminished.
What Peter is calling for (II Pet.1:5) is a reclaiming of that lost virtue; a determined effort on the part of every Christian man and woman to regain moral excellence;
not only to cease from sinning, but a commitment to, with the help of God and by virtue of the fact that we are now partakers of the divine nature; to determine to do the right thing before God, to each other and toward all of creation;
and this not to be a one time thing, but it is to be an ongoing process to strive to increase daily in our virtue through our decisions and our actual activities.
We have been reconciled to the world that we were once estranged to.
Through Christ God has provided reconciliation for us and for the world (II Cor.5:18-19).
Now let’s take full advantage of our reconciliation by living it out on a daily basis.
Gal.6:10 – So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

The very word virtue seems strange in our modern world; outdated and old fashioned.
In the past virtue was understood as more relevant and more valuable than perhaps it is today. That ought not to be the case.

Masculine virtue at one time was seen as valor, courage or bravery; along with such attributes as courtesy, civility and humility.
Feminine virtue was characterized by such things as chastity, modesty and manners.
Industry and hard work were highly valued characteristics for all people as was honesty.

I would like to pause here and ask you to help me to make a list of traits that you would consider to be virtuous; things that would reflect moral excellence to you.

I would also like to ask you to think with me about morality in general and about ethics in particular. Do you think there is a difference between morals and ethics?
Should there be?

Make your list and write out your answers and hold on to them.
I will post some of what we come up with at the meeting and you can compare.