Reflecting Your Christian Confession: II Peter 1:1-11

Below is a video link of a sermon I preached recently, wherein the topic of salvific assurance is treated more completely than my previous post on the subject. Assurance is an important issue in the Christian life, and, for this reason, two posts in close proximity are, perhaps, warranted.

http://vimeo.com/39208215

Thoughts on Easter

Why is it important that Christ’s resurrection actually occurred in history, rather than simply a story that brings one a sense of hope? If Christ has not been raised, then we are spiritually dead—but, he has been raised, though. This Easter morning we were reminded that Christ is risen, and that he is the giver of true life. The apostle Paul says it thusly:

¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  ⁶ To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.  ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  ⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  ¹¹ 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. Romans 8:1-11

Blessed Assurance

Recently, I preached a sermon on 2 Peter 1: 1-11. The text reads as follows:

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 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, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, 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. 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. 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.

After we finished looking at the text exegetically, we turned our attention to the subject of salvific assurance. In other words, what are we to believe about our salvation? Can we know whether we are truly saved? The Bible appears to answer this in the affirmative. Peter, in this passage, provides us with one important clue to answering these important questions. Now, the doctrine of assurance can be looked at in two ways. First (and Peter does not touch on this point), there is the objective sense in which we find assurance. Objective is defined as: “not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased.” So the objective way in which we find assurance of our salvation is by looking at the cross of Christ. Christ made sure the salvation of anyone who will come. If we have reached out to Christ and have trusted him as our only hope of salvation, then we may gaze upon the finished work of the cross as an objective means in order to find salvific assurance.

Now, Peter shows the way we experience assurance in a more subjective way. Subjective may be defined as: “existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought.” In other words, once we gaze upon the finished work of the cross, we then believe. And, through the help of the Holy Spirit, we begin to seek after those Christian virtues spoken of in Peter’s epistle, which ultimately bear fruit—they become, in a progressive sense, a reality in our lives. This work of the Holy Spirit is something we sense and perceive in our lives. The apostle Peter says it in the following way: “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.”