More on Assurance

2 Peter 3-21
Make Your Calling and Election Sure
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 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. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Christs Glory and the Prophetic Word
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

There is a lot in there, but the main things that I would like to focus on are:
1. Through Christs power we have escaped the corruption of this world
2. How to live our lives
3. This Christian thing is not a myth

1. Through Christs power we have escaped the corruption of this world
This is in vs 2-4,
Christ has granted us knowledge of himself and has called us to His own Glory and excellence. He has given us through His power things that pertain to life and godliness and also given us promises that we can hold onto so that we can escape the corruption that is in this world because of sinful desire.
How has all of this happened? Christ came to us in person! His life was written about (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and the promises that He made were also recorded in scripture.

2. How to live our lives
This in in vs 5-15
First things first, We must have faith in Jesus Christ!
Now, we supplement this faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. These qualities keep us from being ineffective and unfruitful in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. If we lack these qualities, Peter say we are nearsighted to the point of blindness because we have forgotten that we have been cleansed from our former sins. Also Peter says that if we continually practice these qualities and increase in them, we will not fall, that is away from Christ. We will still sin, but if we increase in these qualities we will not loose our salvation. "For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance ito the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
Peter also tells us to remind each other of this! "I think it right, as long as I am in the body, to stir you up by way of reminder".

3. This Christian thing is not a myth
This is found in vs 16-21
Peter states that he and the other disciples didn't follow a cleverly decised myth. He was an eyewitness to the majesty of Christ! "For when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,' we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain."
Even more than this Peter says that we have the "prophetic word" this is the Old Testiment, which we would do well to pay attention to. There are many prophecies in the Old Testiment that point to the Messiah and Peter says that these were not just written by men, they were produced by man as they"spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." Jesus has fulfilled all of the prophesies of the Old Testiment. He is the Messiah, the Christ.

We have assurance of eternal life with Him, because it comes through Him!
We must press on in this sinful world and allow Christ to develop within us the qualities of virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

Press on through the Power of Christ

Dave