The Soberness and Responsibilites of Our Salvation

Reading through the New Testament this morning, I found myself in 2 Peter. Peter is warning us. He first addresses his letter to "those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours". After saying this, Peter warns us of our responsibilities as believers and tells us to "make your calling and election sure". The new testament clearly warns us we can fall from the faith. Meanwhile, the pulpits are filled with false teachers who are tickling the ears of those who are literally practicing sin in their lives.

I came home as a prodigal in 1990. Several years later, the Lord showed me that much of what God had written I did not believe, but I was believing what the teachers taught me the scriptures meant. I then set my heart on seeking God to help me as I went through the New Testament. I would do this many times, even to this day. I read slowly and constantly asked myself if I really believed what was written. I was shocked!! It changed my life and many false teachings I believed, were exposed. You cannot imagine how hard it is to truly do this. You will find yourself skipping over passages you know! It will be a war with the enemy and your own mind will even resist! 

2 Peter 1

1From:a Simeonb Peter, a servantc and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah.d

To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.e

2May grace and peace be yours in abundance through full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. 4Through these he has given us his precious and wonderful promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, seeing that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, you must 

make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, 

your moral character with knowledge, 

6your knowledge with self-control, 

your self-control with endurance, 

your endurance with godliness, 

7your godliness with brotherly kindness, 

and your brotherly kindness with love. 

8For if you possess these qualities, 

and if they continue to increase among you, 

they will keep you from being ineffective 

and unproductive in attaining a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.f 

9For the person who lacks these qualities is blind and shortsighted, and has forgotten the cleansing that he has received from his past sins.

10So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, 

for if you keep on doing this you will never fail. 11For in this way you will be generously granted entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah.g

12Therefore, 

I intend to keep on reminding you about these things, 

even though you already know them 

and are firmly established in the truth that you now have. 

13Yet I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I am living in this bodily tent, 14because I know that the removal of my bodily tent will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,h has shown me. 15And I will make every effort to see that you will always remember these things after I am gone.

The apostle Paul also addressed this issue of falling away. Two passages follow:

1 Timothy 4 ISV

1Now the Spirit says clearly that in the last times some people will abandon the faith by following deceitful spirits, the teachings of demons, 2and the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences have been burned by a hot iron. 3They will try to stop people from marrying and from eating certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

6If you continue to point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good servant of the Messiaha Jesus, nourished by the words of the faith and the healthy teaching that you have followed closely

Acts 20 ISV

25“Now I know that none of you among whom I traveled preaching about the kingdom will ever see my face again. 26I therefore declare to you today that I’m not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27because I never shrank from telling you the whole plan of God. 28Pay attention to yourselves and to the entire flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to be shepherds of God’sh church, which he acquired with his own blood. 

29I know that when I’m gone, savage wolves will come among you and not spare the flock. 30Indeed, some of your own men will arise and distort the truth in order to lure the disciples into following them. 31So be alert! Remember that for three years, night and day, I never stopped tearfully warning each of you.

32“I’m now entrusting you to God and to the message of his grace, which is able to build you up and secure for you an inheritance among all who are sanctified.

Brothers and sisters, Paul shows the seriousness of our responsibility in the following passage. He is not exaggerating. He is giving us a pattern. He was truly concerned, at the time of this writing, that he could become a castaway.  Personally, I take this very seriously. I will not be rebuked by the Lord, if I do. It is written!

1 Corinthians 9 ISV
24You know that in a race all the runners run but only one wins the prize, don’t you? You must run in such a way that you may be victorious. 25Everyone who enters an athletic contest practices self-control in everything. They do it to win a wreath that withers away, but we run to win a prize thatj never fades. 26That is the way I run, with a clear goal in mind. That is the way I fight, not like someone shadow boxing. 27No, I keep on disciplining my body, making it serve me so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified.