Stirring

up Your Memory

Text: 2 Peter 1:8-14 Key Verse: 2 Peter 1:10, Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble Theme: Develop Christian character. (Note five-fold these things (8,9,10,12,15)) Outline: 1) The purpose of Character Development (2 Peter 1:8-11) a) Life of Fruitfulness (1:8) b) Certain Salvation (1:9-10) c) Abundant Entrance (1:11) 2) Repetition of the Facts (2 Peter 1:12-14) a) The intent (1:12) b) The occasion (1:13-14) Details: 1) The purpose of Character Development (2 Peter 1:8-11) a) Life of Fruitfulness (1:8) i) Peter continues with the encouragement to develop Christian character: (1) First positively: If you have them and abound (vs 8) (2) Negatively: he who lacks these things (vs 9) ii) Text: For if these things are (literally be in you - Present Active Participle ) yours and abound (GK = - - Present Active Participle), you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (1) Cf 2 Peter 3:11, Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness (same verb as in 1:8) (2) Barren & unfruitful: Greek: doesnt work (ineffective) doesnt bear fruit (3) On fruit: Cf. Matthew 13:22, Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful
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iii) These things look back to the character ladder of 2 Peter 1:5-7 iv) in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (1) Looks back to 2 Peter 1:2 & 3 (2) Knowledge of Christ is essential to our relationship with Him (3) Cf John 10:14, I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own v) RBP: God has created us so that we normally grow physically, mentally and emotionally. Character development is bound up with human development. We believers have an added dimension, the development of the spiritual side of our characters b) Certain Salvation (1:9-10) i) Text: For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; (1) Again these things looks back to character qualities (2) The pitiful condition: Blind and forgetful / a Myoptic Amnesiac (a) The eye condition (obviously a metaphor for seeing spiritually!) (i) ESV: is so nearsighted that he is blind (ii) NASB: is blind or short-sighted (iii) NIV: he is nearsighted and blind (b) The mind condition: (i) noun hapax Cf verb as in 2 Peter 3:8, But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (ii) They have forgotten the greatness and significance of the amazing redemption that we have in Christ (c) Forgotten has in view looking back blindness looking ahead

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(3) In light of this peril (the Myoptic Amnesiac!) (a) Main verb: Be diligent (i) be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble (ii) - Aorist Active Imperative 1. Think: Endeavor / strive / to exert one's self, endeavour, give diligence 2. Also 2 Peter 1:15, be careful to ensure (NKJV) 3. Cf Philippians 2:12, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (iii) Calling and election: 1. Theological sense of election: of the act of God's free will by which before the foundation of the world he decreed his blessings to certain persons 2. Peter certainly understood it cf John 15:16, You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 3. Cf Ephesians 1:4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (iv) Promise: if you do these things you will never stumble 1. Stumble: ESV: for if you practice these qualities you will never fall

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c) Abundant Entrance (1:11) i) Note traveling terms (1) Reservation: 1 Peter 1:4, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you (a) Peter also uses this word to refer to the final destination of fallen angels (in 2 Peter 2:4) (also 2 Peter 2:9) (2) Entrance: 2 Peter 1:11, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (a) Greek: (3) Tent: (a) 2 Peter 1:13, Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you (b) 2 Peter 1:14, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me (c) Tent: Greek: (i) Meaning: 1. The temple as God's habitation 2. of the tabernacle of the covenant 3. metaph. of the human body as the dwelling of the soul (ii) 2 Corinthians 5:1 & 4, For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. (4) Exit: 2 Peter 1:15, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease (Greek: = exit)

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2) Repetition of the Facts (2 Peter 1:12-14) a) The intent (1:12) i) Text: For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. ii) God has provided abundantly: 2 Peter 1:2, has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness iii) The Christian character traits have present application iv) And eternal implications v) Hence Peters resolve: for this reason vi) Christians need to be reminded because the spiritually numbing dazzling allure of the world will dull us of spiritual sharpness and hinder our growth vii) RBP: forgetting Gods truth is hazardous to our identity as Christians b) The occasion (1:13-14) i) Text: Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, 14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. ii) Peter did not know when he would die but he had heard from the Savior how he would die John 21:18-19, Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, Follow Me. (1) Peter refers to his body as a tent a temporary dwelling! (2) Putting off speaks of his dying (see vs 15) iii) to stir you up (1) To wake from sleep (a) Cf Joseph being wakened by the announcing angel (Matthew 1:24) OR (b) Jesus being awoken from the storm-periled ship (Mark 4:38)
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