2
Peter 1:12-15 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these
qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you
up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of
my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And
I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time
to recall these things.
Nag, nag, nag!
Sometimes that’s the way we feel about the sermons we are hearing. Repetition
of the same message might sometimes seem boring. But Christian friends, it is
important that we know the truth, live by the truth, and share the truth with
those around us. There is no new message. The gospel always remains the same!
From the very beginning there are those who have come along and tried to
pervert the truth. Peter intended that his readers be reminded of the virtues
of Christianity until they had them down pat. In his first letter he had said
that believers should always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks for
a reason for the hope that is in us. We need to know the truth and all the
Christian qualities well enough that we can share with others at any time.
It is very important
that we build our lives on the truth! There are not a lot of choices! There is
the truth and there are lies. If you base your life on a lie you will die. If
you base your life on the truth you will live. That is the reason we need to
study the Bible and listen to teachers and preachers who expound the truth. The
world all around us is pouring false messages into our minds. The only way to
escape those messages in this world would be to completely isolate yourself.
Newspapers, billboards, movies, magazines, and especially the Internet can draw
us away from the truth. The more a person turns away from the truth and faith
the dimmer their spiritual vision becomes. Peter describes that drift away from
truth and faith as becoming “nearsighted”, spiritually. He states that such a
person could even come to a point where he would have forgotten that he was
cleansed from his former sins. Well, how do we go about reinforcing the truth?
We need to begin by…
Abiding
in Jesus’ word. If you want to follow along, turn with me to
John 15:4. Abide
in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
On a day-to-day basis
we need to abide in Christ like a branch abides in the vine. The branch has no
life itself. Life comes from the root and stalk of the vine. When the branch
becomes separated from the vine it is useless and serves only as kindling wood
or waste to be burned. Abiding in Christ through his word allows us to be
effective and fruitful. Mylon Lefevre wrote a song about it that was made popular
by Elvis Presley. It goes like this:
Without
Him I could do nothing, Without Him I’d surely fail; Without Him I would be
drifting, Like a ship without a sail.
Jesus,
O Jesus, Do you know Him today? Do not turn Him away! O Jesus, O Jesus, Without
Him How lost I would be.
Without Him, I would be dying, Without Him I’d
be enslaved; Without Him Life would be hopeless — But with Jesus, Thank God I am
saved.
Jesus,
O Jesus, Do you know Him today? Do not turn Him away! O Jesus, O Jesus, Without
Him How lost I would be.
While Jesus was on the earth He Himself said,
“I can do nothing on my own.” If you need to check that out read John 5:19-30.
As the God – Man, Jesus appears to have been limited in knowledge and ability.
He came here to seek and save that which is lost but also to model the life of
faith for us. If He, the Son of God, could do nothing on His own, how much more
do we humans need direction and knowledge in order to serve Him? In the last
days of life on earth Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am
sending you.” (John 20:21) Jesus has sent us out into the world with the
same source of strength and wisdom that He had. Just as He had to abide in the
Father we have to abide in Him in order to reinforce the truth in our life.
Without Him — nothing! Let that truth be burned into your brain so that you can
be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ who gave us
spiritual life.
We need to abide in His word and in…
Knowing
the truth. We will show that we are His disciples. Turn with me to John 8:31-32. So
Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.”
Verse 32 is often
used, out of its context, for human knowledge. You might find it inscribed on a
building or a monument at any secular college or university in the land. “You
will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” But Jesus wasn’t talking
about head knowledge He was talking about our relationship to him. In order for
verse 32 to work in our lives we must live by verse 31! “If you abide in my
word, you are truly my disciples,” is the basis of our knowing the truth and
being freed by it. We need to remember that…
Jesus
Himself is the truth. Turn
with me to John 14:6. Jesus
said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.
You need to know the
context of this statement, and I’m sure most of you do. Jesus was in the last
days of His ministry on earth and was communicating everything He possibly
could to His disciples. He has just told them that they know the way to where He
is going. This was confusing to Thomas who replied, “Lord, we do not know where you’re going. How can we know the way?”
After that we have Jesus’ statement that I just quoted. Jesus is the truth. We
must abide in his word on a daily basis but we are not on our own. Jesus gave
the promise that he would always be with us even to the end of the age. When he
told his disciples that he was sending them out the same way he was sent the
next thing he did was to breathe on them and say, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
There’s a school of
thought that will slip into the church and entrench itself that says Jesus left
his disciples on earth to finish the job that he had started. That’s just not
true! Abiding in Jesus, who is the Truth, and drawing our strengths from him,
in the same manner as the branch does the vine, leaves us functioning on earth
with the same power that Jesus had. Holy Spirit resided in Jesus from his
conception to his crucifixion. When we come to faith in Christ that same Spirit
comes to live in us. Just as Jesus could do nothing on His own accord we can do
nothing, that really counts, on our own accord.
I’m afraid that much
of what happens in the churches today is largely centered on human flesh rather
than the Spirit of God! We try to understand what God wants us to do and how He
wants us to do it. But most of our efforts are based on our own abilities
rather than His ability. Jesus’ disciples could see that they did not have the
ability to do the things that needed to be done. And, by the way, none of us
have that ability in ourselves either! The living Lord Jesus gave a promise to
his disciples that carries over to us today.
There
is help to live by the truth. Turn with me to John 14:15-17. “If
you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask
the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him
nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Obedience
to the Lord Jesus Christ is first and foremost in reinforcing the truth in our own
lives. Loving Jesus is not just a feeling, though it may contain many feelings,
it is an act of obedience! Jesus promised that He would give His disciples, and
us, another Helper, the Spirit of truth!
Paul
told the Corinthians that we were all baptized into one body in one Spirit. (1
Corinthians 12:13) That Spirit empowers the church through spiritual gifts.
Those spiritual gifts are for the common good not for glorifying the
individual! Everything that God calls us to do, including living by the truth,
He empowers us to do. He will not leave us alone. The Helper has been sent into
the world and dwells in the heart of every person who has come to faith in
Christ. That Spirit serves many functions in the believer for the benefit of
the church. Turn with me to John 16:12-15 “I
still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When
the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will
not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he
will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will
glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All
that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine
and declare it to you.
Jesus had spent most
of three years with these men. That must’ve been an amazing experience for
them! They walked with him day by day, observed the miracles that He performed
and heard the teachings that He gave. At the same time, there were many things
that He wanted to teach them and had not because they were not really ready yet
and, as Jesus said, “you cannot bear
them now.” So He was sending the Helper who would teach them all the things
that they needed to know. The Helper that Jesus talked about would come into
their lives convicting of sin and righteousness and judgment. He would guide
them into all truth.
We have not been
called to live the Christian life in our own strength or abilities! It is God’s
plan that the Spirit of truth would live through us. Remember, God never calls
us to do something that he doesn’t enable us to do. There are many reasons why
the things God calls us to do seem difficult. Isaiah probably stated it better
than any other. He said, “the Lord’s
hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot
hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and
your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah
59:1-2)
Reinforcing the truth
is not just “head knowledge”! If we are going to live by the truth and abide in
Christ we must also be sure that our sins are forgiven up-to-date! God is able
to do anything we need in this world but He will not reward sin! He sends His
Spirit to live in us but we are instructed not to quench the Spirit. The word
“quench” gives us the idea of putting out a fire. Holy Spirit comes to live in
us enabling us to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. But often times we turn away
from the Spirit and that is sin. We are also instructed not to grieve the
Spirit. Grief is a “love” word!
When we offend
another person, and the Holy Spirit is a person, they become angry or insulted
if they do not love us. But when we offend a loved one they are grieved!
The Helper that Jesus
released into the world must often be grieved by the way we ignore Him. Sin
separates us from God’s power but not His presence. Even though the Holy Spirit
is in us we act as though He is not. Have you ever been in a group setting with
a friend who turns to speak to someone else and completely ignores your presence?
It grieves, or offends us, when we are treated that way. It is no less true of
our relationship with God. He is always with us yet often completely ignored.
In order to reinforce
the truth in our life and allow the fruit of the Spirit to show through, we
need to abide in Jesus’ word, recognize that He is the truth and that He came
to set us free. We need to seek His help so that we can live out the truth! We
need to turn away from sin that separates us from his power. We need to confess
our sins to God because He is faithful
and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (1 John
1:9)
We need to live out
the truth in our own lives…
And
to share the truth. Turn with me to Mark 5:18-20. More than once Jesus instructed people that He had
helped not to tell anyone. But what we see here is a little different scene.
Jesus and the disciples had crossed over the Lake of Galilee to the east side.
When He arrived he was met by a man who was filled with demons. After Jesus
cast those demons out into a herd of pigs he was invited to leave by the local
people. Now let’s read As he was getting into the boat, the man who had
been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 And
he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them
how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” 20 And
he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for
him, and everyone marveled.
The man, quite
naturally, asked Jesus’ permission to go with Him. After all, who wouldn’t
rather be with Jesus then with a group of people who considered a herd of pigs
more important? However, Jesus had a greater plan for him. The man who is now
healed and converted had the responsibility, just as we do, to go back to his
friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for him.
The Holy Spirit comes
into our lives to enable us to live out the qualities found in second Peter
chapter one by releasing spiritual fruit in our life. We are to apply ourselves
to the process of adding to our faith: virtue, knowledge, self-control,
steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. We do this by abiding
in Jesus’ words, recognizing that He is the Truth, and welcoming the Helper! We
have a responsibility not just to live out the truth but to share the truth as
well. God enables us to live the Christian life. However, sin often separates
us from the power of God being released in our midst. The truth is not just an
idea it is a lifestyle! While we live we must reinforce the truth in our lives
and share it with others. None of us know when we will depart this world so we
need to be up-to-date on our confession and forgiveness. Remember, it is appointed unto man once to die and
after that the judgment! (Hebrews 9:27b)
Peter had been
warned, or informed, that he would soon be “folding his tent” and moving on to
his heavenly home. Since he knew for sure that his time was very limited he
wanted to be certain that his dear Christian friends knew about the values of the
Christian life in such a way that they would be able to share the truth. We are
commanded by the Lord Jesus to tell the world about the gospel of Christ. We
are to begin at home, go to the neighboring towns, and then reach out to all
the world. Peter wrote his letters so that after his departure his Christian
friends would be able at any time to recall what he had taught them. Are you living
out the truth? Are you reinforcing it daily? Today is the day to begin!
All scripture quotes are
from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard
Bible Society.
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