Supplements of Faith

2025 Theme:  Faithfulness

Series Title:  On Guard

Scripture:  2 Peter 1:1-11

July 6^th, 2025

Something to think about:

As we begin a new series this month, we will be spending time working through the Apostle Peter’s second letter to the church.  In this letter, Peter is instructing the early, fledgling church to continue to guard their faith in the midst of persecution and false teaching that was rampant in the first century.  Due to the difficulties of being a believer in Christ, there were those who were falling away from the faith, or being deceived by false teachers who were leading in a different direction than even Christ was leading.  As a warning and an exhortation, Peter reminds the church to stay strong, to live out the faith they had when they first believed, and to remember the promises of GOD through Christ Jesus. 

With this in mind, we begin our study today with the first few verses of Peter’s second letter.  In these few verses, Peter reminds the early church of the importance of a growing, thriving faith.  Let’s take a closer look:

Turn in your Bible to:  2 Peter 1:1-11

Biblical scholar, Bruce Barton writes, “Peter was concerned that the believers’ faith remain sound and steadfast.  Only knowledge of God and Jesus as Lord could help them remain faithful in the face of false teaching (a theme in this letter).  But knowledge must not remain static; that is, believers must not have knowledge for the sake of knowledge.  Their knowledge must lead to changed behavior (or ‘godliness’).”^[1]

Key Point:  “Faith can only grow when supplemented by holy living.”

What is the process of a growing faith?  Let’s break this passage down further today:

• Faith is  for  .

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT),  ³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.  We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.  These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

• True faith requires  .

2 Peter 1:5-7 (NLT),  ⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.  Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

• A  faith is a  faith.

2 Peter 1:8-11 (NLT),  ⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ⁹ But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

¹⁰ So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.  Do these things, and you will never fall away.  ¹¹ Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Something to take home:

Having faith is like throwing a pebble into a pond.  You can't throw it in without creating little ripples.  If there are no ripples, that's evidence that there was no pebble in the first place.

Do you have a faith that has led to your salvation through Christ Jesus?  Is your faith alive and well and activated in your life, and is it revealed by the way you live?  Have you grown in your faith, and are you continuing to mature in productive and useful ways in the Kingdom of God?

Author Jerry Bridges reminds us that "Faith and holiness are inextricably linked, and that obeying the commands of God usually involves believing the promises of God."[2] 

Remember the words of Peter:

2 Peter 1:10-11 (NLT),  ¹⁰ Dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.  Do these things, and you will never fall away.  ¹¹ Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Key Point:  “Faith can only grow when supplemented by holy living.”

^[1] Barton, Bruce B. 1995. 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Jude. Life Application Bible Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Pub.

[2] Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, p. 145.