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Paul here is giving Timothy 3 distinct commands that we, as men, can and should apply to our lives because just as Timothy was a pastor and leader in the church, we too are pastors of our homes and leaders in our churches.

1.  Preach the Word – We are to proclaim the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  True, it’s tough for people to listen to us about Jesus when our lives don’t line up with Scripture, but just living it in front of people and hoping they will get saved rarely is the case.  God has chosen to use the medium of preaching to stir people’s hearts.  Preaching here doesn’t mean you have to stand on a table and yell or get up behind a pulpit.  “Preach” means to proclaim… speak it out!  Even if that person doesn’t get saved right then and there, God uses His truth through our words to plant seeds in their lives that others may get to harvest.

2.  Be ready – You never know when the opportunity to preach, share, or correct will come.  I think this effects two aspects of our walk.  First it requires us to be prayerful and in the word on a regular basis so that we are ready to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ.  Secondly it requires us to be looking for those chances God will bring our way.  Both of which are hard if we’re not ready!

3.  Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching – The third command is probably the more difficult of the three.  It requires several disciplines: love, patience, and knowledge to discern and correct error.  There are two main ditches people on this road often fall into.  The first shows a cowardly lack of love.  We tend sometimes to overlook certain behaviors or belief systems of others because they may be close to us and we don’t want to push them away or offend them.  I understand this to some degree because this is the ditch I find myself headed toward more times than not.  But the truth of the matter is that this attitude shows that we really do not love that person as we say we do.  If we love someone and want the best for them, then we would want them to get right with God so they can have the most peace and life in Him, and not just standing by watching them drown in their sin!  The other ditch is equally as unloving, but shows itself in pride and arrogance.  These are people who think they have it all together and if someone is doing something different than them, whether it’s sin or not, they’re wrong.  They are God’s spokesperson on Earth and He should be glad they are on his side.  They see what’s wrong, but lack the love and patience.  They correct out of a haughty spirit just so they can be right, not because they care about that person’s spiritual life.  On a side note, if we truly believe that our salvation and sanctification is an act of grace, then taking pride in or ownership of that is the biggest contradiction I’ve ever seen.  We would do well to keep an eye on ourselves to make sure we are avoiding both of these ditches.

The purpose of rebuke and correction is restoration.  We can’t just tell someone they are wrong, we need to teach them why they are wrong from the scriptures, how to repent, and then help them along the way!  The fact is that false teaching is everywhere, whether it is picked up from teachers with impure motives, teachers who mean well but are just wrong, or whether it is an ill-conceived idea or belief someone comes up with on their own.  We are to be prepared (Bible reading, study, prayer, repentance, etc.), to proclaim the truth, and lovingly correct wrong when we see it.

We live in a much different time and culture than that of Paul and Timothy.  Though some modern cultures still physically persecute and even kill Christians, the one we live in isn’t much of a comparison in those regards.  That being said, I believe the promise of 2 Tim 3:12 still holds true.  All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Our persecution may or may not be physical, but if there is none, I think we need to ask ourselves why.  If there is no persecution from our culture does that mean that our lives don’t at all differ from our culture?

I’m not saying that you go around picking spiritual fights or declairing jihad on those you disagree with.  But, are we striving, by the grace of Christ through the Holy Spirit, to live a godly life of worship to the Father?  Even living in the “moral” South there is persecution when you try to live your life according to the Bible in stead of the moral, religious traditions of your fathers.  I think it is good that we examine our lives in this way.  Either we are blending into culture so as to “not rock the boat”, or we have surrounded ourselves with only people that believe as we do and therefore are not in the world at all spreading the light of Christ.

I mention all this only because I have had to ask myself the same questions lately.  My prayer is the God lines me up with how He designed the world to operate (as revealed in His Word) and when persecution comes, He gives me the strength and boldness to endure and give an account as to why I hold that belief.

2 Pet 1:8-15 – The big idea is fruitfulness.  God wants our lives to be fruitful and for us to enjoy our salvation.

1:8    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.

2 enemies of fruitfulness: Laziness & Busyness.

• Lazy people don’t do enough, Busy people do too much.  Both destroy fruitfulness.
• When someone is lazy, it’s easy to detect their sin… They’re lazy.  They’re not doing what they are supposed to be doing!
• Busy people are equally guilty of being unfruitful, but are rarely rebuked b/c they look like they are holy and doing much for the Kingdom.  They do too much! Phone calls, emails, driving, games, practice, church, ministry, work, hobbies, etc…  They have exchanged fruitfulness for busyness.
• We need to work on our lives, not just in them.  Pull back and see the big picture.

Four things that will help us avoid the traps of laziness and busyness.

1.Vision
1:9    For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

• Blind to the future and the past.

Two ways to be blind

• Blind to past: Forgetting what Jesus has done for them.  They are busy trying to do something that Jesus already did. Righteousness, forgiveness, reconciliation.
• Blind to the future: Don’t see where they are going.  They are consumed by this world, living for the moment.  Unwilling to see the future.  God has given them the ability to see where they are going and live with the end in mind.
• Søren Kierkegaard (Danish philosopher) “Define your life forward and live it backward” or “Reverse engineer our lives”.  Have a vision for what we want our lives to look like and put our lives together in such a way to get there.
• A vision is a map.  I’m going to Jesus, I will give an account to Him, I will be judged and rewarded by Him.  I need to live in light of that.

2.Enjoy the assurance you have in Jesus.

1:10    Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

• If you’re not a Christian, you shouldn’t have any assurance of salvation, if you are a Christian you should enjoy the assurance of your salvation.  We didn’t choose God, He chose us, therefore our security depends on Him holding on to us, not us holding on to Him.
• Peter is talking about assurance, not security.  Assurance has to do with us, in our minds.  Security is up to Him.  If we are sure in our salvation, we will enjoy it more!
• We enjoy our salvation by supplementing and exercising our faith.  We keep walking with Jesus!
• Have you ever had a season where you doubted your salvation?  I have.  Looking back I can see that it was a time where these qualities were not increasing in my life.  I’ve never met a person who doubts their salvation and is reading, studying, memorizing their Bible, praying, going to church, going to Sunday school (or home groups), repenting, ministering, etc.
• Phil 2:12  “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling”.
• Never fall – Big statement.
• Sometimes we over-emphasize the extraordinary testimonies. “I walked away from God for 20 years and destroyed my life.  Now I’m back and all is great!”
• I would want you, I would want my kids to have a boring testimony.  Having a life that’s not without stumbles, but always walking with and loving Jesus!
• He’s not saying here that you will never sin or slip up at all, because as we know, Peter still stumbled.  Remember, he fell into favortism and Paul had to rebuke him.
• He is saying here that if you strive for these qualities, you won’t have these huge pitfalls into sin, like he had when he denied Christ.

3.Live for your reward.

1:11    For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

• We will not get our rewards here on this Earth.  “Don’t store your treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy.  Store your treasure in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy.”
• As believers, we will not be judged for salvation, we will be judged for rewards.
• Live for that day.  C. S. Lewis – I live with two days in mind, today and that day.

*Side Note: Practical applications for fruitfulness.  Work on your life, not just in it.  Either live your life on purpose or life will live you.  You’re always reacting to things rather than being proactive in your planning.

3 quick rules for fruitfulness (Driscoll): Plate, Priorities, Pruning

Plate.

• You have to recognize and understand the size of your plate.  How much capacity do you really have.  Need to honestly assess that.  Some people can handle more than others.
• Multitaskers can get a bigger quantity of tasks done, while those who don’t multitask well can do a few things, but do them with great quality.
• Lazy people never fill their plate.  Lots of spare time.  Too much TV, laying around, don’t get much accomplished.  Unfortunately, unless they are confronted or the Holy Spirit convicts them, they never change.
• Busy people stack their plate way too high.  Things fall off.  Other people have to pick things up for them. They start a lot of projects and have trouble finishing them.  When they finally do realize that they are doing too much and they’re stressed out, they say “something’s got to go.”  What do you think is the first thing to go?  Not hobbies or TV.  More times than not, it’s church and ministry.
• Know the size of your plate and fill it.  Do no more.  Do no less.

Prioritize.

• Before you fill your plate, you must prioritize.
• How it works with me:

1.Christian – Read the Scriptures, pray walk with God and His people.  I read other books to help me know and understand more about God and His church.

2.Husband – Love Pam, live with her, work on our marriage together, love and serve God with her.

3.Daddy – read with them, pray with them, read the Bible to them, worship with them, correct them, instruct them, spend time with them, play with them, take them on daddy dates, be there for them, etc.

4.Job – work hard, do a good job, provide for my family, be a good witness.

5.Ministry – Volunteer my time, run sound, run website, teach.

6.Be alive – None of this stuff happens if you’re dead.  Find a way to get some exercise.

No matter how big your plate is, that is a full plate!  I don’t have time for anything else much.

7.Hobbies – If there is anything left over.  Sometimes my hobbies give me a little exercise and sometimes my hobbies are also ministry opportunities.  I can kill 2 birds with one stone.

• There is a lot of stuff I can’t do.  I have no more time.  I’m not a good golfer anymore, don’t play softball, fish, hunt, etc.  Are those things sinful?  NO.  But they’re not priorities.  Especially when I have little kids at home.  Maybe later in life when I am not needed at home so much ,but not now.
• What happens with some people is they put their hobbies on the plate first and everything else works around it.

Prune.

• The key to life is pruning.  If you have a tree that is fruitful and you don’t prune it, it will eventually become unfruitful.  Dead or dying limbs take up too much energy and resources.
• The key is knowing what to cut &  when to cut them.
• What relationships do you need to let go of?  Can you watch less TV, What obligations do you need to let go of?  What disorganizations do you need to let go of?
• Are you organized?  Do you have a schedule?  Do you have a budget?
• Pruning is a constant thing.  It will change with your season of life.  Life is all about seasons.
• Jesus said I only do what I see the Father doing.
• Life is a checkbook.  You either pay for things with money or you pay for things with time,  Everything costs!  God holds us accountable for all the checks we write.
• Count the cost for everything before you agree to anything. (ministry, friends, work, help)
• Again, the key is fruitfulness.  Work on your life.
• Ecc 10:10  If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen {its} edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.
• Are you swinging a dull axe?
• Pull back, see the big picture, make a plan and go to work.

4.Do what you know to do.

1:12-15    Therefore I intend t 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.

• You already know what to do… Do it.
• Peter is writing his dying letter, his last words on paper.  We should be hanging on his every word asking ‘what is the secret to life?’  His response.”There isn’t one”.  You already know what to do, just remember to do it.
• If someone knows the good he should do and does not do it sins.  James

Date:  Peter probably wrote this letter from Rome not long before his martyrdom, sometime during a.d. 64–67.

Purpose & Background:  Peter writes this brief, final reminder to the churches so that his readers will by God’s grace live a life that is pleasing to God. In doing so, Peter must also combat the false teachers who were apparently exerting pressure on the churches to depart from the true knowledge of Christ (see esp. ch. 2). The false teaching is not only a theological challenge but also a moral one, holding forth some form of sexual permissiveness as a legitimate Christian lifestyle. While the false teaching can be described based on what Peter writes, it is historically impossible to identify who the false teachers were. For example, there is no clear historical evidence that these teachers were Gnostic or proto-Gnostic.

Read 2 Peter 1:1-15 in it’s entirety, then we will go back and hit it verse by verse.

1:1

• “Peter” – One of Christ’s inner 3.  Walked with and talked with and learned from Jesus.  He was with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Appointed head of the Jerusalem church.
• “Servant” – Bondservant/slave “Devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interest.
• “Apostle” – “A delegated messenger, one sent forth with orders”.  There is a difference in the office of apostle and the spiritual gift of apostle.  The office of apostle was limited to those sent out personally by Christ and closed with the death of the last apostle (John).  The gift of apostleship is given to people today as the Holy Spirit sees fit and is marked by boldness and bravery to establish or plant churches where there are none.
• “To those who have obtained a faith” – He’s writing to believers.
• “of equal standing with ours” – In God’s eyes, we have equal standing to the apostles in Christ.  The ground at the cross is level!
• “by the righteousness of our God” – All of this is based on His righteousness not our own!
• “God and Savior Jesus Christ” – Other religions say you worship a god and then work on your life to get rid of your sins or faults in order to save yourself.  That’s why I love Jesus so much!!

1:2

• There is no greater aspiration in life than to know God.  Not just knowing about Him, but truly knowing Him intimately.  In his book “Knowing God” J.I. Packer states that knowing someone is really more dependent on them allowing you to get to know them than it is your attempt to know them.
• Therefore knowing the God that created the universe would be nothing but grace.  He has opened Himself up to us in His Word.  He has given us that grace and granted that we should know Him.

1:3

• He has placed His Holy Spirit within us and the Spirit has given us the grace, power, strength, and desire to live the godly life that he will go on to mention in a minute.  If you were just to read the next section you might get the idea that Peter is telling us we need to work for our salvation.  That’s why it’s so important to read the sections above and below the section in question as well as keeping in mind to whom and why the letter was written.  There was a teaching floating around at that time that stated that you could live however you wanted, the most important thing is that you love one another and that pleases God.  Sounds a lot like where we find ourselves in “American Christianity” doesn’t it?
• We can not work for our salvation… In verse 1 he says that our right standing before God is based on Christ’s righteousness.
• Nor are we working to keep our salvation.  Christ started it, not me.  He will finish it, not me.

1:4

• It is through the Holy Spirit that He has granted us these great promises and it is through these promises that we are partakers of the divine nature.
• Partakers – “Partners/associates/companions”
• “having escaped…” – The Holy Spirit gives us freedom from our sinful desires.  Without Him, we are slaves to the flesh, always doing what it desires.

1:5

• What reason? (v3) – Because He has given us the power and promises to do so…
• There are 2 commands in this verse.  One we will spend the bulk of our time on, the other I think gets overlooked because we just read over it like a newspaper.
• Supplement or “add to” your faith – That’s the command we will look at the most.
• “make EVERY effort” “employ every effort in exercising your faith” (AMP)- He is not saying that we should just give it a try and if we fail… ahh oh well, at least you tried. No!  Make this your life’s goal, make every effort.
• What are supplements? – Physically, they are things you take to help you have a better quality of life and get the most out of it.  They did not give you life nor do they keep you alive.  They help you feel better ie. give you more energy, help you sleep, aid digestion, lower blood pressure, etc.
• Some translations read “add to your faith”  You cannot add to your salvation, Christ paid it ALL.  Anyone who teaches Jesus plus anything for salvation, preaches a false gospel.  So what is Peter talking about?
• Taking the power and promises God has given us and applying them to live moral, godly lives, so that we may experience the abundant life Jesus promised us in John 10:10.  When we apply His power and cultivate these qualities, we are becoming more like Christ and increasing in our knowledge of Him.

Side Note:  Biblical living is often mis-labeled as “legalistic” so that others can continue to live guilt free in their immorality.

1:5-7 – Supplements

Virtue

• “Moral excellence or goodness”.  Greek word for virtue is sometimes used to express the idea of strength or power.
• Bravery or boldness to do what’s right in all situations.

Knowledge

• Greek – “A deeper knowledge of the faith”
• Are you still learning?  are you still trying to know more about God?  We all have so much more to learn, no matter how old we are or how long we’ve been saved.
• Are you reading & studying your Bible?  Are you reading or listening to other books, teachers, preachers?
• If you WANT to know… you can!  There are so many great resources out there today!  Keep learning!

Self-Control

• “Being one who masters his own passions and desires”
• There is an emphasis in this verse on sensuality since that was one of the main heresies Peter was trying to combat.
• Paul says in 1 Cor 6:12 “’All things are lawful for me’ but I will not be enslaved or mastered by anything”.
• Again, Christ has set us free from the enslavement of the flesh.  That’s not to say that those desires won’t be there, but we are to use His strength to master those desires.

Steadfastness

• “Perseverence, constancy, endurance”. “Someone who is not swerved from their intended purpose no matter the circumstance or trial”.
• Don’t be wishy washy.  Stay the course you know God has marked out for you.
• “A holy stuborness” – Mark Driscoll
• Don’t give up, don’t quit.
• We live in a world that says “If you see that you’re going to lose, bail out and save face.”
• Don’t give up on God because He doesn’t “show up” and get you out of every jam that you get yourself into.  He never promised us He would do that.  He did promise us He would get us through them.
• He will never give up on us.  He will never leave us nor forsake us!

Godliness

• “Reverence, respect, piety”.
• In an age where so much emphasis is place on God’s desiring a “personal relationship” with us, it would be easy for us to begin to view God as a person.  He is not!
• He is different from us, high above us, Holy, Awesome, All-knowing, All-powerful, mighty, just, His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts!
• He is personal with us for sure.  He opens Himself up to us in that way.  But He is in no way like us except for the fact that He added to His divinity, humanity and clothed himself in the body of Jesus of Nazareth in order to save us and sympathize with us.

Brotherly affection

• “Love between siblings”
• We are to treat fellow believers as brothers and sisters.  Not just in name only.
• Rom 12:10

Love

• Greek – “Agape” “Affection, good will, benevolence, brotherly love”
• Love is not just a feeling, it is an action we must choose!
• We have been influenced way too much by the Greko-Roman idea of love and romance.  If we do not feel it, then we don’t do it.
• Agape love says “Christ loved me, I can love others whether I feel like it or not.
• 1 Cor 13

1:8

• You will be fruitful in Knowing Jesus.  Doing these things helps us know God.  It’s not about getting or staying saved.  He is writing to believers.
• We will also be effective in ministry.

Let’s be doers of the Word and not just Hearers only!

Let’s not get trapped into this Americanized, ho-hum Christianity that is lazy and self-centered.

Let’s head the words of Peter and do something.

This will be Peter’s final letter to the church.  He knows it and gives us his final advice and encouragement as he prepares to depart and be with Christ.  He has lived a great life and has become a great leader of the church in Jerusalem, but Peter has had some obvious issues throughout his sanctification process.  He is writing, in this passage, to tell us how we might avoid some of the pitfalls hel fell into.

If you were to read this passage without keeping in mind verses 1-4, you may think that Peter is preaching a gospel of salvation by works, but as we will see in the next few weeks, he is keenly aware that salvation is by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone.  As I read and studied this passage I became more and more excited because Peter tells us that if we practice the qualities mentioned here, they help us grow in knowledge of Christ and fruitfulness in ministry!  Man has no greater aspiration than knowing the God that created the universe!

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” 2 Cor. 2:14

Despite the hardships, agony, disappointments, or frustrating circumstances we may find ourselves in, we have the divine promise that in Christ we are being led in a triumphal procession. This covenant promise is ours in Christ for one main reason. Christ is the Victor. Through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Christ conquered death once for all. At the cross, He purchased the redemption of His people and sealed our victory over sin and death. As Christian men, by virtue of our adoption into God’s family, we are participating in the most amazing triumphal victory parade the universe has ever known. Our Victor is faithful to complete the work He has begun in us as stated in Philippians 1:6. Someone once said that “the eyes of faith can see the unrelenting progress of the kingdom of God.”* Day by day we participate in this victory parade. May God give us grace to be men counted faithful to Him and living in light of His victory.

*note from Reformation Study Bible, 2 Cor. 2:14.

Jesus does things differently than the traditional rabbi model of the first century.
Traditional Model:
Every Jewish boy would have gone through this process
1.Bet Sefer (House of the Book):  Ages 6-10

• Memorize the entire Tora (Gen-Deut)
• Best of the best would move on.

2.Bet Talmud (House of Learning):  Ages 10-14

• Memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• Learn the Jewish art of questions and answers (not our current learning system)
• The best of the best again would be permitted to move on

3.Bet Midrash (House of Interpretation):  About age 14/15

• Rabbis had slightly different ways of interpreting the Texts (The way they thought they should live out the Bible in order to best please God)
• The Rabbi’s method of interpretation or extra rules he would add to the Scripture was called his “yoke”, which makes what Jesus said make more sense.  He wasn’t just making some random farming reference.
• Mt. 11:29-30
• The best of the best would go up to a powerful rabbi and request to be one of his talmid (student/disciple/apprentice)
• Then the rabbi, wanting his way of teaching to continue on, would only chose the absolute best as his disciples.
• The rabbi would subject them to a series of questions and tests to see if they were able to carry his yoke.
• If they did not meet his expectations they were told to go home and learn the trade of their father and prepare to take over the family business.
• If they met the rabbi’s expectations (if he thought they were good enough) he would say to them “Come follow me”.
• They would leave everything and everyone to follow the rabbi everywhere he went.  They would follow so closely that they were said to be covered in the dust of the rabbi as his footsteps would kick up the dust.
• They would give their entire life to become exactly like him.

Jesus had His own way of doing things.  Lk 5:1-11

• Where did Jesus go for disciples?  Not a school.
• Why were they fishing?  They weren’t good enough to make it as rabbis.
• Put yourself there and just watch Peter’s face as a young rabbi tries to tell him and his friends, who had fished their whole lives, how to catch fish… Just a funny side note.

Mt 4:18-22

• Did you ever wonder why they “immediately” left everything to follow Him?  Part of it I believe has to do with the story in Lk 5, but also a rabbi thought the were good enough to carry his yoke and help him spread it.
• From that point on, the disciples of Christ were marked more by how they lived than by what they know.
• Marked by obedience to Christ’s commands – even the strange ones. Mt 17:24-27
• What was Christ’s final command to them?  Mt 28:19-20   … Not converts!
• Teaching them to obey ALL.  The goal was more disciples.
• By living the way of Christ, we are lining ourselves up with the way God designed the universe to operate, where we find fullness of joy.

Jesus’ disciples did things differently…

• Early church disciples were marked by their obedience and way of life.
• After the great commission the church started off with a bang.   Acts 2:41
• Worship of other gods: Going to the temple, sacrifice, go back to normal life.
• Early church was different.  Acts 2:42-47
• The early church was so different than popular culture they were known simply as “The Way”
• Acts 9:1-2
• “Christians” weren’t named until Antioch.  Acts 11:26 – Luke may not have cared for the name since he doesn’t use it again throughout Acts.
• References to “The Way” – Acts 19:9, 23, 22:4 (Paul later tells Timothy in a letter that God saved Him so that all would know the patience and mercy of God 1Tim 1:12-16) Acts 24:14, 22.
• Being a disciple of Christ was not merely something you said, but rather a way of living that stood in contrast to culture.
• They were driven by a passion for community, the poor, and the teachings of Christ.
• Bible belt is full of people who profess Christ yet in no way have these passions.  Sad statistic!
• Has true justification happened if true sanctification does not occur?  Can you biblically make that case?  NO!

The early church was marked by ACTION.  Is it this action that justifies us?  No.  Again Jesus does things differently… Always going after the heart!
Lk 18:9-14.
18:9 – Jesus was not afraid to confront people face to face.
18:10 – Pharisee = religious ruler.  Tax collector – Jew who purchased the right from Rome to collect taxes for Rome. Traitors.
18:11 – The pharisee  is very moral.

• His prayer is not a “bad” prayer as far as the verbage goes – It’s God-focused.  “…God I thank You.”
• God, through good parents or good teaching etc., has saved him from a life of destruction.
• We all do it.  “God, thank you for saving me from the road I was on, headed toward more wickedness and evil.”
• It’s not bad to thank Him for that!

18:12 – He’s very religious.

• He has a deep passion for the things of God.  He’s serious about his holiness.
• Fasts twice a week when the law only required one day a week.
• He tithes on everything: money loaned to him, etc…
• Not a bad prayer.  We’ll find out what’s wrong with it in a minute.

18:13 – The tax collector is broken.

• He mentions nothing religious or moral, although he probably had something he could boast in… ‘I haven’t murdered’, At least I’m at the temple’.  He’s just broken.

The next verse is about as disturbing as any found in the New Testament.

• 18:14a – If God would have only put a period there, we could all shout and rejoice that God would be so good to justify (right standing before God) a tax collector.  Then we could all go home in peace.
• But there isn’t a period, there’s a comma… forcing us to take a look at ourselves.
• 18:14ab – The tax collector has right standing before God, the pharisee does not.
• 18:14 – The problem with the pharisee’s prayer is not that he gives credit to God for the way he lives (spiritual growth), It’s that he believes his way of life (spiritual growth) justifies him.

The tax collector’s prayer says ‘I am deserving of Hell, the only way I can be saved is if by the mercy of God, he grants me justification through the cross of Christ.’
Again, Jesus goes after the heart.
Mt 21:31
The mantra of every true follower of Jesus is “Christ Alone”!

Here’s how we can become confused:  We come to Christ, He frees us from our baggage and we begin to grow in Him and live in The Way.  But, then we begin to focus on ourselves (our holiness, our victories, our happiness, etc.) and Christ is in the picture less and less because we’re working on things, trying to do and not do.  It’s in this cloud that we begin to exalt ourselves by looking down on those who are struggling and thinking less of them (like the pharisee).

We may not say that, but that’s how we begin treating others.  You see it in your church or on TV all the time.  Any time a Christian berates and beats down someone else for their lifestyles is pure pride.  Without the grace of God and His Holy Spirit giving us a new heart to desire Him… We Are Them!!!  Repentance does need to be preached, but out of love because we want them to be at peace with God through Christ, not just because they need behavior modification.

The fundamental root of Christianity is this:  All we have, we got from God.
It’s ALL Grace!

• Life
• Salvation
• Justification
• Sanctification
• Glorification

Some may say it’s dangerous to teach grace like that, that some people may abuse it.  That’s true, some probably will.

The answer:  Rom 6:1-2  “By no means” Greek = It cannot happen.

If we are in Christ, as we pursue Him, He will change us!

Sanctification will happen and we will begin to live in “The Way” of Jesus, but only because He has made us dead to sin and alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit trough the will of the Father.

Three main types of Christians:

1. Claim Christ with our words, yet have no desire for Him or holiness.
2. Claim Christ, try to live right, and then beat others down with our words or attitudes.  Thinking it is our righteousness that justifies us.
3. Remember that it’s all grace.  Live for His glory, allow Him to change us, and share His message in love with a lost and dying world.

Which one will you be?

Romans 5:1-2  “1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

We know that we are “saved by grace through faith” and that we are justified at salvation.  This verse goes deeper than that.  Since or Because we have been justified by our faith… we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  My Justification put God at peace with me.  See I didn’t have anything against God, I wasn’t angry at God or hate Him so there really wasn’t any reason for me to be at peace with God.  But by my actions and because of the sin in my life, the Bible says that I was working against God and I was His enemy and a target for His righteous wrath!

Because I have been justified (as if I had never sinned) through my faith in Christ, the wrath of God toward me was diverted to Jesus on the cross!  So Jesus put God at peace with me!!  Verse 2 goes on to tell us that because of our faith in Jesus, that through Him we have access to the grace that gives us the power to stand (against the devil and our flesh), so can we rejoice in the hope that one day we will be with Him in the glory of God forever!

This book “Romans” blows my mind every time I read it, so I’m so thankful God reveals cool things like this to us every now and then.

The qualities Peter mentions in verses 5-7 are qualities people in the world and most people in the church would call fundamental and legalistic.  They think that way because for years we have had preachers tell us that these are things we must do in order for God to be happy with us.  That is the very root of religion, working to please/apease a god.  But our God was please to crush Christ for us!  That’s why Christianity is different than every other religion on the planet.  Other religions take and demand that we give and do.  Christ gave himself and came as a servant.

So you have some people that view these qualities as fundamental or legalistic, you also have a different group (mostly in churches) that say “If you do these things, God will surely bless you, bring you wealth, health, and prosperity.”  Both are PRIDE, which by the way God is a big fan of.  Both are doing things in the flesh in order to control God.  One keeps us in right standing with God, keeps his wrath away from us, the other makes God into a big old santa-like fairy in the sky bringing gifts to those on the “nice” list!

Peter give us a biblical view of these qualities.  He says we do them in order to be effective and fruitful believers.  Effective in leading others to Christ and fruitful in our own lives faithfuly leading our families and others in the way of Christ after the point of salvation.  So if you do these things with the wrong motives, you get into legalism & religion, or pride, thinking God owes you somehting because of your fleshly deeds (which by the way He considers filthy rags).  Also if you look back at verse 3, it is Him who gives us the power to do these things.

But in closing, you have a group “emerging” in the last few years that tries to avoid anything they see as religion and legalism.  They are right to avoid religion and legalism, but they avoid the actions, not the heart motives.  So now you have a group of people who refuse to do some of these things, and Peter says in verse 9 that they are blind and forgetful of the life Christ has saved them from.