The Lord Jesus Christ
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
1 Peter 4:10
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Please open your Bibles to 2 Peter 1:3-11
(Many of the bullet points in this sermon will need elaboration …)
Sometimes it seems that we become so involved in our lives and maybe even in ministry that we forget just how great God is.
Some of the basic things we know from God’s Holy Word are:
- God is the Creator
- God is infinitely …
o Eternal
o Powerful
o Knowledgeable
o Present
In the Scripture we will be looking at today we will see two variations of the titles of Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
Let’s read: 2 Peter 1:3-11
(Prayer for help)
Before we get to the titles of Jesus let’s look at some of His other attributes as seen in this passage …
2 Peter 1:3
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”
- “His divine power”: whose divine power? Jesus’ divine power …
- “Him who has called us by His (once again, Jesus’) own glory and goodness”
o Jesus calls us to know Him
o Jesus is divinely glorious
o Jesus is divinely good
2 Peter 1:4
“Through these He (Jesus) has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
- (Jesus) has given us His very great precious promises
o Promises that we may:
o Participate in the divine nature
o Escape the corruption caused by evil desires
Jesus then gives us a to-do list …
2 Peter 1:5-7
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.”
- Make every effort …
o God does not believe in spiritual socialism or spiritual welfare …
o You can’t hang around with a bunch of genuinely spiritual people and hope that the Lord is going to
take some of their spirituality and give it to you just because …
o You must make the effort yourself!
- “That’s impossible” you say! We are unable to be righteous at all and you would be absolutely correct!
- But … according to verse 4, “through (Jesus’) very great and precious promises … (we) may participate in
the divine nature”
- But … that is contingent upon us “making every effort” to cooperate by the power of the Holy Spirit
2 Peter 1:8
“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.”
- “For if …” (the biggest 2 letter word in the Bible “IF” - we are morally responsible beings)o
- Let’s take a look at verse 8 stated in a positive form …
o If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, you will be effective and productive in your
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
o Don’t you WANT to be effective and productive for Jesus?
- What qualities will you have?
o goodness; knowledge; self-control; perseverance; godliness; brotherly kindness; and love
- These ALL flow from our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
2 Peter 1:9
“But if anyone does not have them he is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”
- Those are some frightening things
o To be spiritually nearsighted; only able to see things that are up close
? The temporal mortal world
? Blind to the eternal
- “forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins”
o Many teach that when we are saved we are forgiven of all our sins; past, present and future
o This seems to say the opposite
o Of course to establish a doctrine we would have to look at many other Scriptures as well
o We do NOT proof text
Let’s just read that verse once again …
2 Peter 1:9
“But if anyone does not have them he is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”
And now, let’s invert verse 9 from a negative warning to a positive promise!
“Whoever has these spiritual qualities has excellent spiritual vision, remembering that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”
- This does not mean that we should remember and dwell on our past sins, just that we need to remember
that we have been cleansed from our past sins. Glory to God!!!
2 Peter 1:10
“Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never fall.”
- How do we make our calling and election sure?
o (re-read verses 5-7)
o Engage PASSIONATELY with the work of Jesus in our hearts …
o Grow in goodness; knowledge; self-control; perseverance; godliness; brotherly kindness; and love
o Remember that we have been cleansed from our past sins
What benefit comes from this?
2 Peter 1:11
“You will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
- Pretty good ending right???
Now, let’s take a brief look at the titles of Jesus found in this passage
“The Lord Jesus Christ” and “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
Sometimes we forget the magnitude of God
- He is NOT “The Man Upstairs”
- He is NOT The “casual” God
- We DON’T give God nick names
- We DON’T use the Lord in a joke
- He IS the Lord
- He IS the Christ, the Messiah
- He IS the one and only Savior!
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?’
“Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’”
- Saying, “Lord, Lord” does not make Him the Lord of your life
- He IS still Lord of all just not Lord of your life
- You could spend your entire life in ministry but if your ministry is not driven by the Lord Jesus Christ and directed by the Lord Jesus Christ and empowered by the Lord Jesus Christ then He is not REALLY Lord to you at all.
- Instead of receiving “a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” such a person would here, “I never knew you, Away from Me, you evildoers!”
Jesus is NOT a casual “hobby” type God, He is an all consuming God.
That is what Lord means!
Lord is combined with Savior; they are inextricably intertwined.
He cannot and will not be one without the other.
Lord AND Savior Jesus Christ
- Lord = God
- Savior = Redeemer
- Jesus = the only Name by which we must be saved
- Christ = the Messiah; the promised redeemer of the world
What is Jesus to you today?
If you were to stand before Jesus today what would He find?
- An unbeliever?
- A lukewarm, casual “Christian”?
- A passionate follower of Jesus?
Test yourself:
John 14:23-24
“Jesus said, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.
“He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.”
Are you in or out?
Comments leading to Communion
Closing prayer with dismissal
