Gospel Knowledge Demands Gospel Living!

We were in Charleston, SC for Labor Day weekend, so missed our home church service. However I listened to Pastor Kurt online when we got back and as usual he shared a powerful lesson.

What you believe dictates what you do.

As Christians we believe in the promises of the Gospel. But then our agenda must be Gospel living: following the precepts of God.

There are 1260 promises in the Bible (250 in the New Testament)

There are 6468 commands in the Bible (1050 in the New Testament)

2 Peter 1:1-8 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 1 tells us that Peter’s readers share a common faith. We believe the same thing as Peter. One faith no matter the time or place. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith and He never changes. The Word of God keeps us stable and strong. Its boundaries keep us safe. It’s designed to help and support us.

Jude 1:3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.

This faith was passed down through the Bible. And we get this faith by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. His work, His power, His accomplishment!

Back to our 2 Peter verses: looking at verses 2 and 3. We believe a complete knowledge. A knowledge that comes to us because of our pursuit of it. Our desire for it. Grace and peace will be multiplied to us when we have true knowledge of God and His promises. Stay in the Scriptures daily!

Verse 5: God calls us by His moral excellence and then asks us to live by moral excellence. He doesn’t save us to stay in our sin. He changes us! The Gospel changes us!

Verse 4 shows that the Gospel is based upon His precious and magnificent promises. The Gospel tells us that God has done everything for us and if we trust in Christ, these promises are ours. If we do He causes us to change both on the inside (a new nature) and on the outside (our behavior, our attitude, our actions). “Partakers of the divine nature means we are born again.

The end of verse 4 tells us we’ve also escaped the penalty of sin! But 1 Peter 2:11 tells us there are still lusts within us that are waging war. Believers are soldiers. Sanctification is an ongoing work.

We have positional sanctification – He has received us. But we are working on practical sanctification – waging warfare and putting to death our lusts and sin.

If you are saved, apply it! Make God’s difference for His Glory. If we believe our lives must say so! After all we want to be useful to the King. Don’t we?