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“. . . And in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness” (2 Peter 1:6). Godly perseverance is a sure evidence of true salvation. Commentator Michael Green has this to say about the believer who displays biblical perseverance: “The mature Christian does not give up. His Christianity is like the steady burning of a star rather than the ephemeral brilliance (and speedy eclipse) of a meteor.” The Greek word translated “perseverance” in today’s verse (hupomone) refers to consistent endurance in righteousness and faithfulness in resisting temptation. The precise meaning for hupomone is hard to pinpoint. There is no exact...

“And in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance . . .” (2 Peter 1:6). Personal self-control demonstrates the certainty of your salvation. In Peter’s day, the word translated “self-control” was used to describe athletes. The successful ones abstained from sexual activity and an unhealthy diet for the sake of disciplined training exercises. You practice personal self-control when you control your desires and don’t allow them to control you. Let me share some practical tips that have helped me with self-control. 1. Start small. For example, begin by cleaning your bedroom or office, then extend that discipline to the...

“. . . in your moral excellence, knowledge” (2 Peter 1:5). Moral excellence cannot develop in an intellectual vacuum. It’s a frightening thing to realize the extent to which our culture downplays knowledge in favor of emotions. These days people are more likely to ask, “How will it make me feel?” instead of, “Is it true?” Sadly, the church has bought into the spirit of the age. Many people go to church, not to learn the truths of God’s Word, but to get an emotional high. The focus of theological discussion also reflects the contemporary hostility to knowledge. To a...

“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence” (2 Peter 1:5). God’s provision does not preclude our responsibility. There are some who believe that since God has provided everything needed for the Christian life, believers should expect Him to do everything for them. Their motto is, “Let go and let God!” If Peter had a motto for the Christian life, it would have been more along the lines of the popular World War II song, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!” Peter knew the Christian life is a struggle in which believers...

“Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you” (2 Peter 1:12). Remembering where you’ve been is the key to getting where you want to go. The summer of 1980 was a turning point in my ministry. After nearly a dozen years as pastor of Grace Community Church, I took a three-month sabbatical. In my heart I wasn’t sure if I would come back. I felt I had taught my congregation all I knew, and I feared boring them...

“Not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:12-13). Christians are rejected by the world but accepted by God. An ancient proverb states that you can judge a man’s character by who his enemies are. That is also true in the spiritual realm. The world loves its own, but since Christ chose believers out of the world, the world hates them (John 15:19). That this is...

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:1-3). God’s children are able to discern false doctrine. A sure...

“By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13). Experiencing the ministry of the Holy Spirit is evidence of genuine saving faith. In John 14:26, Jesus described the Holy Spirit as “the Helper.” One of the most important ways He helps us is by assuring us that we belong to God. Several works of the Holy Spirit, if present in our lives, give evidence of the genuineness of our salvation. In 1 Corinthians 12:3 Paul writes, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by...

“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22). The answers to believers’ prayers bring assurance of salvation. Another reliable way to know if you are a Christian is if God answers your prayers. The apostle John gives us the infallible reasoning for this statement. First, you can know your prayers will be answered if you keep His commandments (1 John 3:22). And second, John says the only way you can obey God’s commandments is if you belong to Him (v. 24). Therefore,...

“The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him” (1 John 2:10). Loving other Christians gives assurance to your own faith. Loving fellow Christians is instinctive for genuine believers. Paul told the Thessalonians, “Now as to the love of the brethren . . . you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9). He further encouraged them to “excel still more” in love (v. 10) because there is always room for believers to love one another more completely. Nevertheless, if we are truly saved we will...

“No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). A decreasing pattern of sin in a believer’s life means his faith is genuine. A sinful life pattern is incompatible with salvation. If you could continue in the same sinful pattern after being saved from sin, that would mean salvation is ineffective. Therefore, 1 John 3 deals with the saving work of Christ and reveals just how effective it is. Verse 5 says Christ “appeared in order to take away sins.” If...

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). True Christians long for the return of their King. The words of the old hymn, “This world is not my home,” express the attitude of every true child of God. True Christians have a hope in their heart, a hope focused on the...

“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Genuine believers love God and reject the world and all its philosophies. As the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), Satan has designed a system that the Bible simply calls “the world.” The Greek term (kosmos) refers to a system encompassing false religion, errant philosophy, crime, immorality, materialism, and the like. Of it the apostle John wrote, “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust...

“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). True believers obey God’s commandments. Before Jesus ascended to Heaven after His resurrection, He gave the following Great Commission to His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20). Notice that a true disciple was to observe, or obey, all of Christ’s commands. The apostle John understood well the Lord’s instruction. He knew...

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that...

“What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). Enjoying communion with both God and Jesus Christ is solid proof that one’s salvation is real. When we hold baptisms in the church I pastor, invariably every person who gives their testimony will describe the overwhelming sense of forgiveness they now feel and the new purpose they have for their lives. They are expressing a wonderful result of salvation in Christ, of which Jesus...

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). The apostle John presents eleven objective and subjective tests for assurance of salvation. The New Testament epistles are filled with enough material on assurance to fill volumes of commentaries. Yet there is one small epistle, 1 John, that was written to deal exclusively with the issue of assurance. The apostle John states his reason for writing this letter in our verse for today: “These things I have written to...

“We also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:11). The final link in the chain that eternally binds believers to Christ is their joy or exultation in God. Perhaps nowhere outside of Scripture has Christian joy been expressed more beautifully than in these stanzas from Charles Wesley’s hymn “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”: O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace! Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb, Your loosened tongues...

“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:9-10). Jesus Christ delivers His brethren not only from sin and its judgment, but also from uncertainty and doubt about that deliverance. God is a God of wrath. But the wrath due to be poured out on all mankind, Christ took on Himself. That’s what the apostle Paul meant...

“We exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:2-5). God promises all believers that one day they will receive Christ’s glory. The security that every believer desires in his or her salvation is founded on the very fact that God is the author of salvation—every aspect of it is solely His work, and thus it cannot be lost. The final piece of God’s great work is the ultimate...