Read the Bible in a Year (23DEC19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, December 23’s Bible reading is 2 Peter 1-3.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, December 24’s Bible reading is 1 John 1-5. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

2 PETER Introduction

The Apostle Peter’s second letter was addressed to the same audience as his first letter to warn them about the false teachers in their midst. This letter is believed by scholars to have been written around 66 A.D. Peter teaches the church how to deal with the false teachers and he encourages them to remain faithful as they wait for Christ’s return. Peter urges the church to allow their faith to show through the works they did so that Christ may be credited.

 

2 PETER MOMENT – (23DEC19)  “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire’ ” (2 Peter 2:20-22). Peter knew that his time on earth was short as he had been told by the Lord. Nevertheless, he desired to be a good shepherd to the Lord’s sheep and warn them to beware of the wolves in the form of false teachers that were among them. Peter let the church know that he did not base his teaching from myths and fallacies heard by others, but he and the other apostles had been eyewitnesses and heard with their own two ears the honor that God had placed upon His Son. Therefore, Peter reassured the church that everything he and the apostles had spoken to them was reliable and should be heeded to. To make this message even clearer to them, the Apostle Peter wrote: “ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). Peter wrote this to let the church know that the prophecies given to them by the apostles were not of their own origin, but they were words that came directly from the Lord through the moving of the Holy Spirit. This was to give them confidence in knowing that the faith through which they believed was true and not something of human origin as the false teachers would have had them to believe with their self-imposed doctrines of demons. The church needed this warning so that they would not be tossed back and forth with every wind of doctrine.

The Apostle Peter wanted to ensure that the church was knowledgeable regarding the practices and deceptive methods of the false teachers, for those who followed them would be led astray. Such teachers exploited the people due to greed, but their wickedness was not going to escape them. The Apostle Peter wrote: “…the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment….” (2 Peter 2:9). Peter warned that the false teachers would have their day of judgment before the Lord. They would pay for the heresies that they introduced to His people causing some to fall away from truth and be turned over to lies. There was another issue the Peter addressed within his writing that the church today is often split over – the once saved always saved ideology. 

Many within the body of Christ feel that once a person becomes saved that there is nothing that they can do to revoke their salvation. Well, let’s see what the Bible has to say about that. When addressing the church and warning them about the false teachers in their midst, Peter wrote: “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:21). Peter was speaking of believers who had once known and followed The Way, having turned their backs to the truth, would have been better off had they never known what was right than to follow such a path like a dog who returns to its vomit. Let’s break this down a little further. When we accept Jesus into our hearts and believe on Him, we are at that point justified, which means that we are saved by grace just as the thief was on the cross. The Bible says: “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:8-9). Sanctification comes when we put to practice what we know to be Truth and walk out our salvation. This is us being “set apart” from the world by living in accordance to His WORD. Nevertheless, if we “choose” to live contrary to what we know to be right and take on the mantle of sinful living again, this is where a person forfeits their eternal home.

Does that mean that when a person sins, their names are removed from the book of life? No! When speaking to the Prophet Ezekiel, God had this to say: “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die” (Ezekiel 18:24). What God was saying, which still applies today, is that a person may have been righteous at some point during their life, but if they turned away from their righteous (salvation) then it is not God who causes them to lose it, but they freely gave it up to follow their own desires; therefore, it would be as if they had never been saved. This is not to say that if a person falls into sin that they will immediately be lost. No! This is why Christ died so that we may be able to repent and turn from our sins. The Bible says: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27). Jesus died to redeem us from the penalty of sin, not so we can continue in it and therefore, take for granted the gift that He gave through Him being the Ultimate Sacrifice. 

Throughout the New Testament, the authors tell the church to contend for the faith. That is to live Godly and not pursue wickedness which only leads to death. The Bible says: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). The Lord does not want us to try to get away with sin, but He wants us to put it aside so that we may be saved. Those who teach once saved always saved are teaching in error, for they want to make people comfortable in their sins, but sin will not enter into Heaven. The Bible says: “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?” (1 Corinthians 10:21-22). God gives us freedom to choose Him or Satan. We cannot have it both ways. The Apostles Peter and Paul, when writing to the church, encouraged them to not abuse their freedom in Christ to live as though He is unknown to them. Peter wrote: “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves” (1 Peter 2:16). The Apostle Paul had this to say: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13). So, what does this all mean?

Are we saved once we repent from our sins and accept Christ into our hearts? Yes. Can we lose our salvation? Only if we “choose” to do so. God never removes anyone’s name from the book of Life just for the sake of doing so, but one can be removed if they choose to live in habitual unrepentant sin and turn from the faith. Therefore, our salvation is for sure as long as we stay in God. Committing a sin does not cause one to lose their salvation but continuing in sin, from which Christ died to free us from, does if we refuse to submit our lives over to Him. Something to ponder….