Kingdom Principle: God grants us godliness by granting us the gift of his Son. As we identify with Christ in us, we are able and willing to live as Christ calls us to live. The process of spiritual growth is giving ourselves over to the life of Christ in us. The problem is that the flesh (old man) is constantly fighting against that life in us.
The ________________________ of our Sanctification
2 Peter 1:5 (ESV) — 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith…
We believe, and out of that belief, we behave.
Verses 5–7 summon the readers to a life of virtue, but vv. 3–4 remind us that a life of godliness is rooted in and dependent upon God’s grace. Believers should live in a way that pleases God because Christ has given them everything they need for life and godliness. The indicative of God’s gift precedes and undergirds the imperative that calls for human exertion. Peter did not lapse, therefore, into works righteousness here since he grounded his exhortations in God’s merciful gifts.
Sanctification is about giving way to the life of God that is living in our hearts. It is about standing aside and letting Christ live in and through us and minister to those around us.
“I believe God made me for a purpose, for China, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure…” -Eric Liddell
Colossians 2:19 (ESV) — 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Goodness, the first quality Peter mentions as springing from true Christian faith, is a rare word in biblical Greek, but very common in non-Christian literature. It means ‘excellence’, and was used to denote the proper fulfilment of anything. The excellence of a knife is to cut, of a horse to run.
The _______________________ in our Sanctification
2 Peter 1:9 (ESV) 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
We see that the main problem in the Christian life is this: we are constantly dealing with the old man who is near-sighted, which causes blindness and leads to forgetfulness.
Deuteronomy 4:9–10 (ESV) 9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
Our greatest danger in every age, is forgetfulness. And this is a persistent and constant danger. The fight is a fight of faith. It is a fight of sight. It is a fight to see reality through a biblical lens and not a worldly lens. It is a fight to remember all that is yours in Christ in the most pressing and demanding times.
Hebrews 11:9–10 (ESV) — 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
