June 27th, 2023
For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been looking at 2 Peter 1:1-8. We talked about the power of God’s divine nature in us that causes us to bear fruit. As a reminder, 2 Peter 1:5-8 says,
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This week, we’re going to continue in this scripture with 2 Peter 1:9 which says,
“For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
As believers, we reflect God’s character to the world around us and if we don’t, then we’ll be ineffective or unfruitful in His Kingdom. Peter gives us the reason this happens in verse 9 and it’s so interesting! It’s an identity issue. If we become blinded to the truth and forget who we are, we won’t be who God wants us to be. The understanding that we’re forgiven, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, is the crux of our salvation! We can’t forget who we are and what He’s done for us!
Now, that doesn’t mean that we dwell on who we used to be. Many people live in the memory of their “former sins,” and call it testifying, but your testimony is not your past. Your testimony is actually the declaration of what God has done in and for you. Who are you now? That’s the testimony of God’s goodness! We don’t read about the 38 years the crippled woman was crippled. We don’t read about the 40 years the lame man begged at the Gate Beautiful. We don’t read about the 12 years the woman with the issue of blood tried everything she could to be made well. We have read for generations not the details of what they suffered but the moment that heaven changed their stories! Our testimony is the declaration of what God has done because that demonstrates who He is! We overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our Testimony. Testimony means to “do it again!” Our testimony is about Him and we only overcome by exalting Him above everything. He is already exalted, and nothing can change that, but we overcome when exalt Him up in our own lives. The focus of your testimony should always be on what He’s done, not who you were! We testify that from the depths of darkness and sin, He delivered us, and He will do it again!
Now, the people Peter was talking about didn’t actually “forget” the gospel in the natural, but they were living with spiritual amnesia, as though they hadn’t been forgiven. This is what so many Christians do, and why so many people live in bondage to memories that should have no control over them. If the memory of something you did, or that happened to you, still brings guilt, pain, or shame, then that’s an area of bondage. In Christ, you are free from your past. You get to choose what you call to mind, and God commands us to “remember not the former things” (Isaiah 43:18) while at the same time reminding us not to forget what He’s done and who He is. Our history with God is important and it’s essential to remember what He’s done, but only in order to build our faith to move forward, not to live there. David said,
“I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.” (Ps. 77:11)
We must dwell on the promises of God and forget anything that would keep us from moving forward, in Him. Paul said it this way:
“One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:11)
When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your past—so you shouldn’t either. There’s a generation that needs to know Him and the works that He has done and still does.
Judges 2:9-11 says,
“And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.”
After Moses and Joshua died, a generation rose up that didn’t know God for themselves. God’s promises were from generation to generation, but they didn’t just get to walk in those promises, by default. That generation failed to grab ahold of God for themselves and when they did they forgot who God was and who they were supposed to be. It’s time for a generation of believers to rise up and remember who God is and who we are. We carry God’s divine nature in us and as we abide in Him, we reflect that nature to the world around us. Then and only then, will we be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of Him. We don’t have spiritual amnesia and we aren’t like the generation in the verse above that forgot what God had done! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever and what He’s done in generations past, He will do again on the earth today. He’s still the light of the world. He’s still the healer. He’s still the deliverer. If we will take ahold of those truths, we’ll see Him do today what He’s always done and demonstrate His goodness to a hungry generation!
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This week, we’re going to continue in this scripture with 2 Peter 1:9 which says,
“For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
As believers, we reflect God’s character to the world around us and if we don’t, then we’ll be ineffective or unfruitful in His Kingdom. Peter gives us the reason this happens in verse 9 and it’s so interesting! It’s an identity issue. If we become blinded to the truth and forget who we are, we won’t be who God wants us to be. The understanding that we’re forgiven, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, is the crux of our salvation! We can’t forget who we are and what He’s done for us!
Now, that doesn’t mean that we dwell on who we used to be. Many people live in the memory of their “former sins,” and call it testifying, but your testimony is not your past. Your testimony is actually the declaration of what God has done in and for you. Who are you now? That’s the testimony of God’s goodness! We don’t read about the 38 years the crippled woman was crippled. We don’t read about the 40 years the lame man begged at the Gate Beautiful. We don’t read about the 12 years the woman with the issue of blood tried everything she could to be made well. We have read for generations not the details of what they suffered but the moment that heaven changed their stories! Our testimony is the declaration of what God has done because that demonstrates who He is! We overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our Testimony. Testimony means to “do it again!” Our testimony is about Him and we only overcome by exalting Him above everything. He is already exalted, and nothing can change that, but we overcome when exalt Him up in our own lives. The focus of your testimony should always be on what He’s done, not who you were! We testify that from the depths of darkness and sin, He delivered us, and He will do it again!
Now, the people Peter was talking about didn’t actually “forget” the gospel in the natural, but they were living with spiritual amnesia, as though they hadn’t been forgiven. This is what so many Christians do, and why so many people live in bondage to memories that should have no control over them. If the memory of something you did, or that happened to you, still brings guilt, pain, or shame, then that’s an area of bondage. In Christ, you are free from your past. You get to choose what you call to mind, and God commands us to “remember not the former things” (Isaiah 43:18) while at the same time reminding us not to forget what He’s done and who He is. Our history with God is important and it’s essential to remember what He’s done, but only in order to build our faith to move forward, not to live there. David said,
“I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.” (Ps. 77:11)
We must dwell on the promises of God and forget anything that would keep us from moving forward, in Him. Paul said it this way:
“One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:11)
When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your past—so you shouldn’t either. There’s a generation that needs to know Him and the works that He has done and still does.
Judges 2:9-11 says,
“And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.”
After Moses and Joshua died, a generation rose up that didn’t know God for themselves. God’s promises were from generation to generation, but they didn’t just get to walk in those promises, by default. That generation failed to grab ahold of God for themselves and when they did they forgot who God was and who they were supposed to be. It’s time for a generation of believers to rise up and remember who God is and who we are. We carry God’s divine nature in us and as we abide in Him, we reflect that nature to the world around us. Then and only then, will we be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of Him. We don’t have spiritual amnesia and we aren’t like the generation in the verse above that forgot what God had done! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever and what He’s done in generations past, He will do again on the earth today. He’s still the light of the world. He’s still the healer. He’s still the deliverer. If we will take ahold of those truths, we’ll see Him do today what He’s always done and demonstrate His goodness to a hungry generation!
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