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Welcome back for day three of our look through 2nd Peter chapter 1. This great
chapter we started with talking about God's great promises and that we need to
build our life on those promises. You want a great life?

Build your life on God's great promises. And then we saw eight inner qualities
that come into your life as you trust those promises in your life. And now,
beginning in verse 8, we're going to look at what happens through your life when
you have these eight qualities.

Again, remember, it all starts with God's promises. And those promises build
into your life and then God's able to build through your life. Listen to verses
8 to 11.

You don't get these eight qualities of growth all at once. You grow into them.
They're an increasing measure the rest of your life.

These eight qualities, he says, will keep you from being ineffective. And these
eight qualities, he says, will make sure that you never fall. So he's talking
here about the fact that the end of this process is that you have what I am
calling through this book a fall-free faith.

And we started by looking inward and not outward, the eight qualities that God
wants to build into your life as you trust in his promises. Now, let me explain
this a little bit more deeply. What does it mean to have a fall-free faith?

Well, I guess you have to explain, first of all, what does it mean for faith to
fall? Paul talks in Galatians about falling from grace. Some people think that
what he says and what Peter talks about here, as he talks about making sure that
you do not fall, means that somehow you could lose your salvation.

You could be saved, know Jesus Christ as Savior, but then do something, say
something, not trust in a certain way, and then all of a sudden you have been
shut out. You've lost your salvation. Well, think about this logically.

If doing wrong things can make you fall, then that means you have to do the
right things in order to make yourself stand. That means your life in faith is
built on works, you doing good things. And the whole book of Galatians is
written to say that is just plain foolish.

It's foolish to think that you're saved by faith and somehow you keep yourself
saved by your works. You're saved by faith and you continue to be saved by faith
in the fact that when you were saved, God's promises will always stand. So what
does it mean to fall away?

It means to fall away from trust in God. This happens to believers all the time.
You know someone, you know several people this has happened to.

They had a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. You know that they did. They began to
grow but through some disappointment or through some focus on the world or
through some selfishness in their own life or some hurt that came into their
life, they stopped living their life for the Lord.

They stopped reading the Word. They stopped going to church. And now you look at
them and they look a lot like people in the world.

They've fallen away from living a life of faith. This happens to people all the
time. I don't want it to happen to you.

You don't want it to happen to you. How do you make sure this doesn't happen to
you? By trusting in God's promises.

That's where it all starts. As you trust in God's promises, these eight
qualities we talked about yesterday will come into your life. And those
qualities will cause you to become more and more like Jesus.

And as you become more and more like Jesus, you will stand. Now let me just go
into this a little bit deeper because this is such an important issue. And talk
a little more in depth about this idea of falling away from faith.

And the fear that I know some of you face as you hear those words. Many people
who are saved, genuinely saved, they know Jesus Christ as Savior, struggle with
feeling the security of their salvation. You know that you've asked Jesus Christ
to be your Savior.

And you know that you want to follow Him. But you look at your feelings, or you
look at your actions, you look at your struggles, and you wonder, "Am I truly
saved sometimes? " You need to understand that when it comes to salvation, there
are three kinds of security.

False security, conditional security, and eternal security. False security is
believing that you're saved when you're not. And that's true of many people.

Jesus tells us it is. You may be counting on your good works, or some religious
ritual, or the fact that your parents were Christians, or that you live in a
Christian country, to say that somehow you are saved. But Jesus told us in
Matthew 7, 21-23 that some people will suffer from false security.

He said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom
of heaven. 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 perform many miracles?

' And I will say to them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you
evildoers. '" So He says here, it's not based on good works that you're going to
know Him.

It's based on a relationship with God. That's where it starts. And some people
have false religious security, because they're basing their salvation on their
good works.

So make sure you don't have false security. If you've never trusted Jesus for
salvation, if you're somehow trusting that you're going to be good enough to get
to heaven, deep down, not even deep down, very shallow level, you know that's
not going to happen. So trust Him right now.

Say, "Jesus Christ, I trust You. Your forgiveness. Your life.

I'm tired of trying to keep myself saved or get myself saved. I trust You. What
You did for me on the cross.

The love that You have for me. I trust You for salvation right now. " Don't live
with false security.

There's a second kind of security that I call conditional security. And that is
believing that something that you do or don't do keeps you saved. It's the
feeling that you have to keep some law or avoid some sin in order to keep
yourself in God's grace of salvation.

It's amazing to see the list of conditions that we've added to the Gospel over
the years. This group adds this. This group adds this.

Another group adds this. You didn't put yourself in the grace of God and you
can't keep yourself in the grace of God. Only the grace of God can do that.

Only the power of God can do that. So don't live with conditional security as a
follower of Christ. The third kind of security has been called eternal security.

That's the knowledge that your salvation is eternally secure in the hands of
God. Eternal security is based not on your circumstances but on the promises
that we looked at yesterday. Eternal security is unconditional hope.

It's based on God's love for you, Christ's sacrifice for you on the cross. Now
to break through doubts that you might have about your salvation, you've got to
have this third kind of security, eternal security. And that security, like
everything we've talked about in this first chapter, it's based on God's
promises.

Jesus promised us, John 3. 16, "God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but will have
everlasting life. " That's the promise.

Believe and you won't perish. You will have everlasting life. Do you trust his
promise?

Jesus promised us in John 5. 24, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word
and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has
crossed over from death to life.

" The question is, are you going to believe your feelings or are you going to
trust his promise? John 10. 27, Jesus said this, gave this promise, "My sheep
listen to my voice.

I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never
perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand.

" These are promises worth trusting. And my security is not based on my good
works or my good thoughts or my good actions. My security is based on these
promises that Jesus gave me.

And Jesus' promises are going to be kept because Jesus gave his life for me on
the cross. He was resurrected for me, for you, from the grave. He will keep his
promises.

So as Peter talks about making your calling, your election sure in these verses,
he's not talking about causing yourself to be saved. He's talking about
strengthening the security of your salvation. And you do that by trusting God's
promises.

If you're feeling insecure, you ask, "How am I trusting myself? " instead of
trusting him. And you get back to trusting God's promises.

Pray with me. And as we pray, just remind yourself of those promises of God.
"Whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life.

"Crossed over from death to life. "They shall never perish. "No one can snatch
them out of my hand.

" And just pray, "Jesus, thank you for these promises. "Thank you that my
security is not in me, it's in you. "And based on this security that I have in
you, "I pray that I'd live a life of trust.

" Trusting you, trusting your promises, so that these qualities would begin to
flow into my life. And as that happens, I know that that trust is going to be
confirmed, affirmed, strengthened in my life. I pray for this.

I ask for this. In your name, Jesus. Amen.

Join us tomorrow. We're going to talk about how to be continually renewed in
your faith. Thank you.