LESSON 12: THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

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1 FOUNDATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH LESSON 12: THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS How can I be sure I am a Christian? 1: SUMMARY In this lesson you will learn that God has given us everything we need to live productive, fruitful Christian lives. As we continue to seek Him and serve Him in our daily life, our faith in Christ will make us more and more like Christ in our character and conduct. Assurance that we have been saved in the past and will enter heaven in the future, comes from seeing the fruit of genuine faith in the present. 2: BIBLE STUDY 2 Pet Under the inspiration of God s Spirit, Peter writes to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ. (2 Pet 1:1). He is nearing his own death and wants to remind believers of the essentials of the Christian faith and encourage them to put their faith into practice (1:13-15). Read the opening paragraph in 2 Pet 1:3-11 which is all about how to live the Christian life: God s Gracious Supply (1:3-4) Diligent Dependant Effort (1:5-8) Assurance of salvation (1:9-11) God s Gracious Supply (1:3-4) According to vs 3, God has granted, or graciously and freely supplied us with everything we need for life and godliness. The phrase life and godliness encompasses both our present earthly existence and our eternal heavenly existence. We experience God s enabling power through the knowledge of Him. The knowledge Peter speaks of here is more than intellectual understanding, it refers to a comprehensive and intimate knowledge, one that is only gained by being in a deeply personal relationship with God. In salvation, God has called us to Himself, and He Himself equips and enables us to live abundant, fruitful Christian lives, as we seek Him and walk in dependence upon Him. Jesus said, This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (Jn 17:3). Knowing God is the beginning of life, the nature of life, the basis of life, the definition of life, the means of life. All of God's good purposes toward us are realized as we enjoy and pursue this true and intimate relationship with God through faith in Christ. The Christian doesn t live a holy live in order to be saved, we live pursue holiness because we have already been saved. Vs 5 begins with the phrase for this very reason make every effort, so the 1

2 reason why we put so much effort into living godly, productive Christian lives is found in the verse which precedes it. Try stating in your own words the reason why we are to strive for godliness according to vs 4. As vs 4 indicates, God s promises to us as believers are very great and very precious and form the objective, reliable, lasting rock-bed of our faith. Peter doesn t begin his exhortation with the commands of God which we must obey, but with the promises of God which we must believe. It is through faith in what God has promised, that believers have escaped from the corruption of sin that is all around, and because we continue to believe these promises, we press on toward ever increasing godliness. If we never had the assurance of ultimate victory over sin and death, we would surely lose heart along the way. Perseverance comes from an unshakable confidence in what God has done and is doing for us in Christ that we were saved in order to become partakers of the divine nature. Paul stated this confidence in a different way in his letter to the Philippians: And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6) Have you ever felt like giving up on the Christian life? What circumstances or events caused your hopelessness and what encouraged you to persevere? Diligent Dependent Effort (1:5-8) Salvation is something God does for us: He paid the penalty for our sin by dying on the cross, He brought us the gospel, He drew us to Himself in saving faith, He forgave our sin and justified us, He changed our hearts (Rom 8:28-30). Salvation is by grace alone, its a free gift and we do nothing to deserve it or contribute toward it. Christian growth, on the other hand, takes effort. Peter commands us in vs 5 to make every effort and uses a word very much like our English word agonize. He 2

3 wants believers to be clear that living the Christian life requires ongoing, diligent, disciplined effort on our part. Our faith in Christ must be accompanied by an active pursuit of Christ as we seek to become more and more like Him in our character and conduct, and to serve Him for faithfully with our lives. That is what Peter means when He says make every effort to supplement your faith with... Daily Christian life is therefore characterized by dependent effort. We depend on God s promises and continue to rely on Him for strength and guidance as we apply ourselves diligently to holiness (1 Pet 1:13-15). How does dependent effort differ from self effort alone? What does it look like in daily life to be diligent in pursuing holiness, and yet to keep depending upon God in the process? Peter goes on to list some of fruits or outcomes of our faith in the verses which follow. In so doing, he is not intending to provide us with a comprehensive checklist of Christian virtues, but a representative sample. These are the kinds of character qualities a Christian ought to be striving to exhibit. Virtue: A Christian s life is to be characterized by goodness, moral excellence. When others look at our lives they should not be able to point fingers at sin we are justifying or ignoring. Knowledge: A different Greek word is used here than in vs 3. This word emphasizes understanding or wisdom as to what is right or wrong. A Christians must be growing in our understanding of God and His will as we seek to apply biblical truth to our daily lives. Self-control: The passions, or strong desires of our our human nature need to be brought under control and directed toward godly ends. A Christian should not be characterized by greed, anger, lust, gluttony, pride, or sloth (Gal 5:16-21). These things must be put off in order that we might put on the godly virtues described in this passage.dwight Moody put it this way, Obedience means marching right on whether we feel like it or not. Many times we go against our feelings. Faith is one thing, feeling another 3

4 What passions do you find the hardest to keep under control personally? Godliness: Godliness involves centering our whole lives on God and God alone, wanting only what God wants, and stopping at nothing to be and do what God wants. Godliness requires a god-ward attitude so that we are doing the right things with the right motives, not merely to please people but primarily for God. Brotherly kindness: Sanctification is not merely avoiding evil, but also pursuing good and that good is directed toward others. Brotherly kindness requires that we love people not because they are nice but because they are family in Christ, because in His sovereignty, God has given them to us to love. As the Apostle John asserts, if we don t love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we don t love God (1 Jn 3:10) and he goes on to urge us not to love only with words, but with actions. Love: This is the self-sacrificing love with which God loved us in Christ (1 Jn 3:16). Christ s own love is the model and pattern of Christian love and is the hallmark by which the world will know that we belong to Him (Jn 13:34-35) Compare 2 Pet 1:5 7 with Gal 5:16 24 What are some similarities and differences between these two passages which both deal with the fruit of the Christian life? In vs 8 Peter defines the productive and fruitful Christian life as one which is characterized by the above qualities. Fruitfulness is defined by who we are, as well as what we do and don t do as believers. Our inward character needs to be conformed to Christ and not merely our outward actions. We should be growing in every area of Christian character, not neglecting any aspect of 4

5 virtue and we should be continually growing more and more like Christ until the day we die. Even after we have been a Christian for 40 years, we should be able to look back over the last month or year and see how God has continued to make us more like Christ. As the diagram below pictures, we might grow more at one time than another, but the overall direction of our lives should be away from sin and toward holiness. And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18) Assurance of salvation (1:9-11) What if your life is not characterized by steady growth toward Christ-likeness? Peter concludes that whoever lacks these qualities has either forgotten what their salvation was for, or was never saved in the first place. It is clear from vs 10 that it is only in this way, by this path of ongoing, lifelong sanctification, that there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In other words, everyone who 1) has been saved by Christ, 2) is being sanctified by Christ and 3) will ultimately be richly welcomed into heaven by Christ. These three are all essential components of salvation. Like links in an unbroken chain, without one, you cannot have the other. In Rom 8:29 30 Paul also lists a series of unbreakable links in the chain of salvation. List them Assurance, or confidence that 1) I have been saved and 3) will enter heaven, comes from the evidence that 2) I am being sanctified by Christ. Without the fruit, we cannot be sure about the existence of genuine, saving faith. That is why Peter urges believers in vs 10 to be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure. As we see God producing these qualities in our lives, as we depend upon Him and seek Him, we can become increasingly confident that we truly know Him. 5

6 Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, but assurance of that salvation does not come from merely knowing the facts of the gospel, or by pointing to some salvation experience in the past it come from seeing the fruit of our faith in the present and seeing how that fruit has grown and ripened since the day we first came to know Christ. Obviously then, a new believer, or someone who has not been applying themselves diligently to Christian growth, would not have the same level of assurance or confidence that they are truly saved. Peter s primary exhortation is not to worry about whether we are saved, but to be diligent to live out our Christian faith so that we don t need to worry whether we are saved or not. Are you sure that you are a believer? On what basis? Yes No 3: APPLICATION Which of the Christian virtues Peter mentions, is most lacking in your life? How can you be more diligent to apply your faith in this area on a daily basis? Name one thing you can do to help you depend on God more as you strive for holiness 6

7 4: FURTHER DISCUSSION These questions are intended to help you think more deeply about the subject matter at hand and provide the basis for further discussion with another mature believer. What are some inadequate things Christians point to in order to give them assurance of their salvation? Why are these less reliable than the evidence of Christ-like character? (hint: Mat 7:15-23) What are we to make of people who grow up in the church and profess faith in Christ at a young age, but then abandon Christ in later years? (hint: Jn 10:27-30; 1 Thes 5:23-24; Col 1:21-23; Heb 6:4-9) Unsaved people can display many of the godly virtues listed in 2 Pet 1:3-11. What is the difference between their virtue and Christian godliness? 5: MEMORIZATION The following Scriptures would be good to memorize and meditate upon as they summarize the truths contained in this lesson: 2 Pet 1:5-8 1 Cor 9: : FURTHER STUDY 1 John was written in order to give believers assurance of their salvation (1 Jn 5:13). In this letter John provides a series of objective tests to verify the genuineness of your faith. Consult the following passages and list the tests (1:5-10; 2:15-17; 2:28-29; 3:4-10; 3:16-19; 4:1-6; 4:7-9; 4:15; 5:4-5 5:10-12) Read the free ebook Can I Be Sure I m Saved? (Crucial Questions Series Book 7 by R.C Sproul; obtainable from 7