Hope for Holiness
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Today, I want to tell you about our Hope for Holiness
Let me read from something else Peter wrote before praying.
but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Pray
I don’t know if you feel this way, but when I read Peter’s quotes from the Old Testament, sometimes I feel deflated… Like, “God, I fall so short of your holiness. Oh have mercy on me!”
While I think that its good to be overwhelmed by the holiness of God. I feel that I sometimes struggle to believe all of scripture. What I mean is: I believe, as these verses from 1 Peter say, I should be holy and God is holy. I believe that. But then I struggle to believe what Peter says in his second letter we have:
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Man that’s an amazing promise from scripture!
Peter is saying that you and I, who are in Christ, have everything needed to find eternal life and exhibit godliness. Essentially, putting eternal life together and the moral characteristics of God, We would call this holiness. We have all thats necessary to be holy. If we are in Christ.
To show you, who among us has what they need, let me dissect for a moment the end of verse 3.
2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
…through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Through - meaning the gateway by which these things have come to us.
Keywords from 1:3
Knowledge: The full comprehension of a matter.
“knowledge of Him” - The full comprehension of who Jesus truly is.
Son of God, Fully God, Lamb of God, Propitiation of God
Called: To summon by name.
“who called us” - Jesus called us personally by name.
My sheep know my voice.. Thats what Jesus said.
Glory and Excellence: The state of splendor, excellence, and immense worth.
“to His own glory and excellence” - The movement towards Jesus’ splendor, excellence, and immense worth that you originally did not have access to
Jesus is worthy of complete devotion, worship, and obedience.
The statement that we are called “to His…” really sets up what we are about to learn regarding our hope for holiness. What I’m trying to say is that when you were summoned by Jesus personally “to His own glory and excellence”, as Paul says, “not that I have already made it my own [now] but I press on towards the upward call of God”
Jesus’s Spirit was with you when you responded to the summons, and that Spirit has now awakened you to Christ’s glory and excellence and now you are magnetized to it, like a moth to light, and you WILL be transformed to reflect it the closer and closer you get to it.
I could stop here. THATS HOPE FOR HOLINESS. but there is so much more
But before we look at the other 4 sources of hope, I have to warn you, this provides hope, only for those who’ve responded to the summons of Jesus with faith and repentance.
Faith: You convictionally believe the gospel (knowledge of Him)
Repentance: You convictionally turn from sin and move towards His glory and excellence (called to His…)
2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
… through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Sermon in One Sentence
Christians can have confident hope that God will progressively manifest in them the holiness He has already gifted to them.
This text reveals four sources of hope for holiness for Christians.
The first three sources are solely dependent upon God. The last source of hope is dependent upon His provision, and your response.
First...
Power
Power
God’s power.
2 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Those things I mentioned to you earlier, life and godliness. The eternal life and moral qualities of God… and what is necessary for producing them…
The Power of God has propelled them towards you!
You and I don’t deserve this!
Granted: The language points to a gift being handed over.
The free gift of ALL THINGS to manifest holiness in you, both now, and fully in eternity, have been delivered to you because God is infinitely powerful and has the authority and means to do it!
One preacher in San Francisco said that Life and Godliness are real now but not yet fully realized.
Real but not realized.
You have, because God’s power has pushed it towards you, the capacity to get more and more glimpses of your real holiness. But, it won’t be completely realized until eternity.
But, the point is, God’s power has pushed it to you. You saw this same power raise Jesus from the dead.
You experienced this power when you were able to comprehend the gospel. You experience this power when God gives you the ability to forgive a thief, a spouse, a rapist, a corrupt leader.
God’s power is at work. beloved. Have hope that your hurts habits and hangups will be gone. You will find victory over a sin.
Promises
Promises
The Triune God’s Promises
2 Peter 1:4 (ESV)
4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises...
“By which”: Christ’s glory and excellence are what cause Jesus to gift us with His promises.
Notice these are “precious and very great”. Oh goodness. They have to be because they are from the most precious and very great being in all existence.
His value defines the value of His promises.
Remember how I said this is reserved for those who have been personally summoned by Jesus to His glory and excellence. Part of the summoning was Him wooing us with His honest promises.
This book contains promises. [define promise].
a declaration to do someth. with implication of obligation to carry out what is stated
When you think about this book and all the things God has promised to do, have you considered just how big a deal a promise is?
Probably not because we all break most of our promises.
But think about this… This isn’t you spouse, this isn’t you mom or dad, this isn’t your coworker or boss, or president.
We are talking about the one of which these promises reveal that it is impossible for Him to lie! It’s also impossible for Him to make a mistake!
Beloved… These are yours to receive and His to fulfill.
What do we do with this? What do you do with this.
Don’t you want to know what He has promised?
How can anything be better than what He has promised
Why would we believe any other promises that contradict His?
Do you know what has been spent for you to have this.
We just went to Passion and they were calling on college students to spend their money to translate this into languages it is not already in. They spent money.
But money is not just what has been spent for you to read these promises. The blood of our brothers and sisters has been spent for this.
There is a man who was strangled to death and burned at the stake for translating the bible into English.
Write this name down: William Tyndale. Under that, write: Google his last words - There is an excellent article by Steven Lawson on it. Read it.
People like William Tyndale bled for us to get this...
Why? WHY?
He who began a good work....
the wages of sin is death but the free gift....
there is now therefore no condemnation...
He who raise Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies...
for god so loved the world that he gave...
if we confess our sins He is faithful and just...
WE KNOW that if the tent that is our earthly dwelling is destroyed that we have an eternal dwelling with God...
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you
behold He is coming on the clouds with fire and every eye will see Him even those who pierced him
blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life, He who testifies to these things says, “surely I am coming soon” Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
Beloved, He has granted to us his precious and very great promises. THESE ARE YOURS CHURCH!
We have so many reasons to know that God loves us. The beauty of the world. The air in our lungs. The taste of Kobe Express shrimp sauce!
Christ’s substitutionary atonement to save us from God’s wrath.
But think of this for a moment… What if God decided to be like you and me and not keep His word.
Look, He’s God…He can do what He wants. Its impossible for Him to lie. But He has the right.
But here, I think this is what make’s Christ’s substitutionary atonement, as Jesus said, “no greater love”
God has obligated Himself to keep His promises to us!
We have God’s promises.
Participation
Participation
2 Peter 1:4 (ESV)
so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
Partake: When someone who participates in something. In this sense, joining in on something someone else has or is doing …
Jesus is sharing His nature with us.
Not his position as God.
But His privilege as God.
Not privilege in the sense of having the privilege of His authority.
But having the privilege of inheritance. The privilege of immortality. The privilege of sinlessness. The privilege of holiness.
The privilege of, really, all things.
Much of what Peter is saying here is said in Romans 8 by Paul...Listen to this...
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God desires us to be Holy and free of corruption.
God has promised that all that He was doing in this book is leading and causing you to participate in the divine nature. The holy nature.
Jesus is sharing holiness with us. I hope you get this. This is what we have believed in the gospel. When Christ came here. Taking on human flesh. Becoming like us in every way yet without sin. And then suffering on the cross as our substitute. And, as the PROMISES say, He made him sin who knew know sin so that we might become the righteousness of God…
We participate in what He is because he participated in what we are.
Logos Digital Hymnal And Can It Be?
And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God shouldst die for me?
2 He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace!
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For, O my God, it found out me.
Logos Digital Hymnal And Can It Be?
No condemnation now I dread:
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
We have been invited to participate by Him choosing to participate with us!
Power
Promises
Participation
These first three sources of hope are all guaranteed by God. He delivers them. He labored for them.
But this last source of hope, is a labor for us…
Before I say this… I have to make it very very clear that this is not a salvation through works thing.
The bible is clear. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, thats revealed by scripture alone, for the glory of God alone.
We are saved through faith alone.
Here’s what the Bible says, what the promises reveal...
Faith that saves is never alone.
Faith that saves cannot be alone because that faith is drawn to a Holy God.
Remember that I said “It is magnetized towards what pleases Him”.
If your faith is not magnetized towards what pleases God, but is instead repelled by what the promises reveal please Him, than its safe to say that you’ve come to know and be called by an imposter Jesus.
Here’s the source of hope we have:
Practice
Practice
Practice of the qualities that Jesus has and God loves.
I say practice because what Peter says in verse 9-11 is...
For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Peter is saying that the continued practice of these qualities is connected to salvation. Not that they justify you, but that they are a part of you being sanctified.
There are three aspects of salvation that scripture reveals:
Three Aspects of Salvation
Justification: God’s declaration that you are righteous in Christ because you’ve placed your faith in Christ and His work for salvation.
Sanctification: God providing for and working with you towards making you look more like righteous Jesus. [YOU ARE HERE]
Glorification: God completing your salvation by transforming you into a resurrected and glorified person to resemble Righteous Jesus.
Here’s the thing: Contrary what many people practically believe: You cannot have salvation without any of these three things. Each of these are effected by the other:
Cause and effect.
Glorification is the effect of Justification and Sanctification. Justification is evidenced by Sanctification and glorification. Sanctification is caused by Justification and evidenced by glorification.
They are all intertwined. That’s why Peter speaks so matter of factly: “…if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
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.
Supplement: Add to, or furnish...
starting with Faith:
This is supplemented with…
Virtue: Excellence of character: Integrity, doing the righteous thing, exhibiting moral excellence.
Application: Convictionally pursuing to be a person of stand of integrity! Jesus’ holiness is worth me being a man of character. Keeping my word. Not swindling someone. Making sure my business gives God glory and is above reproach. VIRTUE.
This is supplemented with…
Knowledge: Same word here used in verse 3. So if that is the context, The full comprehension of who Jesus truly is, Then Peter must be saying that we are to grow in that knowledge. Like a husband gets to know his wife. What makes her happy. What makes her sad. This is what happens when you really build a relationship with someone! Knowledge
This is supplemented with…
Self-control: restraint of one’s emotions, impulses, or desires, self-control. This is so convicting for me. I am known to be impulsive. But, here, Peter is saying that I have the capacity, with the gifting of all things, to become more and more controlled. We are growing in this basically means to, over time, practice and become more able to say no to what your flesh says it wants! Have you tried saying no to yourself lately? No, I will not look at that. No, I will not say that to him. No, I will not buy that, eat that, drink that. NO I WON’T BECAUSE JESUS IS BETTER! Self Control.
This is supplemented with…
Steadfastness: Resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering. Becoming unmovable in your self control, in your pursuit of knowing the mind of God, in your pursuit of moral excellence. You will not bend to a bribe. You will not compromise and drink the soda when you asked for a water cup, even though you didn’t know they had cheerwine. Teenagers, you are resolved not to cheat on this text even though you studied the wrong chapter! You will be Steadfast!
This is supplemented with…
Godliness: A little misunderstood at times, this means to be awesome respectable towards God… Desiring to live a life that pleases God because you grasp just how glorious he is. Pious, Reverential towards who God is! The way I see this manifesting is treating church seriously. “Man, worshiping Jesus in song, learning from His word, and responding in faith and repentance to the promises we expound, these are all worth it. I will make my time here a priority. I will make my pursuit of him a priority. He is holy. He is worth it. I see God with reverence and awe! This is supposed to effect how you treat Him and how you treat others. I see God’s worth and authority and he has said I am to treat others the way I want to be treated! Godliness.
This is supplemented with…
Brotherly affection: Familial affection towards those who deserve it and those who don’t. Those in your family and those who aren’t. But especially towards those who are in the church. This isn’t just feelings. Feelings are supposed to be led towards the good. But, this is about how you treat others. Not being rude and harsh. Being able to forgive easily. Considering others more significant than yourself. Brotherly affection
This is supplemented with…
Love: Agape. This is not an emotion. This is an action.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
These are all built on each other, complementing one another, and not meant to be separated from each other.
Think of this way. Imagine your faith as a house. Its like your faith has produced a confidence in you. “I know my redeemer lives”. That confidence seems to be able to weather every storm right...
But here’s the problem. That house might be great protection. God is pleased to protect you in your house. But, He’s looking at you and saying, “don’t you want to make this house even more beautiful? Don’t you want it to be more functional? Your just sitting on the floor.” “You do know, when I bought this home, delivered it, and built this home for you, I also bought you and have delivered to you all things you need to furnish it?”
Remember earlier, He said, He’s given us all things that pertain to life AND godliness. Like the life is the house, faith in christ brings life to you, but the godliness, is something that he’s provided power for, made promises about, he’s invited you to participate in it both imperfectly now, and perfectly later. I mean, he’s given you this house, and all that you need to supplement it with.
I mean, what would you do if the Perkins Brothers both, built you a house and provided you with the furnishings, and all you needed to do was unpack them, put them in there, and use them?
I’ve known a lot of professing Christians who’ve claimed to have a house, but literally have refused to put anything in it.
They just sit in the house, their sitting on the floor, sleeping on the floor, going to the bathroom on the floor, eating on the floor, eating off the floor.
I mean, I can’t see how what they eat isn’t spoiled or making them sick because they don’t have any appliances to preserve it in or cook it on. I mean, what do they do, just eat it raw? I mean, do they even eat without those necessities to prepare food. I guess they’ll get sick and die from either hunger or E.coli right. So much for protection I guess...
I mean, their house doesn’t very effective. I don’t think anyone’s really gonna wanna come over and eat off the floor with them. They’re definitely going to freeze to death without a heater.
I mean, really, those who aren’t furnishing the house are doomed to fall.
“We are saved by faith alone but faith that saves is never alone.”
..
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
I heard this week from Pastor Ben Stuart,
“An honest, teachable, and receptive heart precedes a transformed life. you’ve got to have the heart before you have the harvest!”
I mean, he’s essentially saying that a humble heart will be lifted up.
Are you humble enough to recognize, like really recognize, your need for Jesus. Your need for His glory and excellence. Your need for His cross.
Are you humble enough to recognize your need for His power?
Are you humble enough to recognize your need for His promises?
Are you humble enough to recognize your need for His invitation and supplies to participate?
This beloved… This is what draws you to practice all things that he has provided you!
Will you please close your eyes for just a moment...
If you truly know Christ and know you’ve been called by Him...
How’s practice been? What do you need to surrender and then use to supplement?
OPPOSITES
Virtue:
Knowledge:
Self-control:
Steadfastness:
Godliness:
Brotherly affection:
Love:
If you are here and your haven’t truly known Christ up until now...
Do you hear Him today?