Why Sincere Christians Drift Spiritually: How to Keep Your Spiritual Edge 2 Peter 3:1-9
Why do sincere Christians drift spiritually? Why do believers who genuinely love God become spiritually dull and slowly lose their spiritual edge? Peter shows us that spiritual stability doesn't come automatically. In the opening verses of 2 Peter 3, he teaches us how to develop a sincere mind, keep it spiritually stirred, continually feed it on God's Word, keep first things first, and never let biblical truth escape our notice. So grab your Bible, and let's discover what God's Word has to say about Why Sincere Christians Drift Spiritually: How to Keep Your Spiritual Edge, all on this week's Light on Life.
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This Week: Store God's Word in your inner man and cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He continually reminds you, stirs you, and helps you keep first things first.
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Accept the Challenge
Develop. Remember. Stay Stirred.
This week, ask the Holy Spirit to examine your spiritual life.
Is your mind able to stand in God’s spotlight?
Have you been giving the Holy Spirit God’s Word to work with by storing it in your inner man through reading, meditation, and confession?
Set aside time every day to feed on God’s Word and depend upon the Holy Spirit to continually remind you of what you have stored within.
Remember: Spiritual stability is not automatic. It is developed as you cooperate with the Holy Spirit and continually respond to God’s Word.
Scripture:
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB 2020) —
We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
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Each week's podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week's question:
Join the Conversation:
Which of Peter’s five instructions challenged you the most: developing a sincere mind, staying spiritually stirred, storing God’s Word in your inner man, keeping first things first, or refusing to let biblical truth escape your notice?
Share:
What practical step are you taking this week to cooperate more fully with the Holy Spirit’s ministry of reminding and stirring you through God’s Word?
Remember:
The Holy Spirit faithfully reminds us of the truth we have stored in our inner man. As we cooperate with Him, He keeps us spiritually alert and firmly established in God’s Word.
About Emery and Sharon
For nearly five decades, Emery has devoted his life to helping people grow in Christ through the power of the Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Together with his wife, Sharon — his partner in life and ministry for 44 years — he equipped believers to live Spirit-filled, practical lives of faith.
At the heart of the mission is this: helping believers apply God's words so faith becomes active and unstoppable.
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Podcast Notes:
Why do sincere Christians drift spiritually? Why do believers who genuinely love God become spiritually dull and slowly lose their spiritual edge? Peter shows us that spiritual stability doesn’t come automatically. In the opening verses of 2 Peter 3, he teaches us how to develop a sincere mind, keep it spiritually stirred, continually feed it on God’s Word, keep first things first, and never let biblical truth escape our notice. So grab your Bible, and let’s discover what God’s Word has to say about Why Sincere Christians Drift Spiritually: How to Keep Your Spiritual Edge, all on this week’s Light on Life.
Well again, welcome.
Let’s pray.
Father God, thank you for your Word today. Your words are Spirit and they are life. Help us by your Holy Spirit today to keep our minds stirred, our hearts aflame with the ever-living, life-giving eternal Word of God. Thank you for lifting us today in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
2 Peter 3:1–9 (NASB 2020) — 1 Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder, 2 to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. 3 Know this firstof all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their noticethat by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people. 8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice,beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
As you read this passage, it’s easy to see what Peter’s intention is by the Holy Spirit concerning those who mock the Second Coming of Jesus.
Now, we’ve talked about the Second Coming many times here on Light on Life (see especially the series on First and Second Thessalonians).
But look at the first eight verses with careful eyes and what you will is a pattern for continued spiritual growth and development.
I boldfaced some words for you in the podcast notes to make this easy to see.
For those in the listening words hear the string in a succinct paragraph.
I am stirring up your sincere mind by reminder. Remember the Word of God spoken beforehand. Know this firstof all concerning mockers who willingly allow Bible truth to escape their notice
Do not let these truths escape your notice.
Peter isn’t simply teaching us what to believe about the return of Jesus.
He’s showing us how believers can stay spiritually awake as time leads us to that event.
We must continually stir ourselves up.
We must remind ourselves of God’s Word.
We must keep first things first.
And we must not allow God’s Word to slip out of our thinking.
Let’s take a moment and develop this out for you so that you can see it.
Start With A Sincere Mind
The Greek word ’sincere’ [eilikrinēs] derives from these two words: sunlight and to judge.[1 A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933).]
Putting it all together generates a beautiful word that means something that can withstand judgment under sunlight, revealing no faults when held up to clear light.[2 William Barclay, New Testament Words (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1964), 67–68.]
I don’t know about you but that’s flat cool.
A sincere mind is a pure mind that can stand the spotlight.
Light reveals every fault.
Light exposes everything hidden.
Does porn permeate your thinking?
Do bitterness or unforgiveness toward someone do somersaults in your head?
What about envy, pride, or fear?—are they hiding in the crevices of your thinking?
Peter says God wants to develop a mind that doesn’t fear the light because it has nothing to hide.
That’s the kind of mind the Holy Spirit is moving to develop in you through the Word of God.
Now, most of us should be thankful that no human can see into our minds.
We’ve all had thoughts that we are less than proud of.
The Word of God doesn’t just expose our wrong thinking, it tells us what to do with these kinds of thoughts.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NASB 2020) — 5 We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
We are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
The word captures a penetrating idea: Could your innermost thoughts stand being brought under full light?
Could your deepest motives endure revealing light?
Could they withstand the scrutiny of God’s eye[3. ibid]?
Wow! - It’s obvious that developing a sincere mind would take some knowledge of the Word of God.
But here is what the word sincere shows us—it is possible to come to a place where you are not embarrassed by what goes on in your head.
Your mind can be pure and captive to the Word of God.
Can I tell you this? — It should be that way.
That’s exactly where the Holy Spirit is taking you.
Now you can gauge where you are in this be asking this simple question and with that thought here is the Question of the Day.
Can your mind pass inspection under the most revealing light?
The Psalmist prayed.
Psalm 139:23–24 (NASB 2020) — 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there is any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
In these days leading up to the Second Coming, make it your aim to have a sincere mind.
Stay sincere—stay stirred.
Keep Your Mind Stirred Up
So, with minds sincere and open to scrutiny, we now come to another essential growth component: the stirring up of the sincere mind.
2 Peter 3:1–9 (NASB 2020) — 1 Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder,
The word ’stirring’ [diegeirō] means to wake up thoroughly.
Now, this is a spiritual waking up kind of stirring.
Think of physical sleep for a moment and with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.
Think about what happens when you first wake up from your sleep.
Here you are, you’re awake.
First congratulations to you, some did not even make it through the night.
But, do you understand that just because you’re awake doesn’t mean that you’re alert?
So, there you lie—your eyes are open—you’re awake but not really.
You’re conscious but not really.
Groggy, foggy, boggy even but not fully alert.
You’re just not with it yet.
Your reactions are slow—your mental faculties are dull.
Many people need a few minutes and maybe a cup of coffee before they perk up.
That’s what the Holy Ghost is saying through Peter—wake-up.
Stir yourself awake.
Stop being sluggish.
Hebrews 6:12 (NASB 2020) — 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and endurance inherit the promises.
Applying this back to our passage spiritually, sluggish or not being alert doesn’t mean that you are not saved, it’s that you’re too drowsy to run the race God has set before you.
You have to get ‘the stir going on’ and drive the spiritual drowsiness out.
Stir yourself up on your most holy faith.
Now don’t wait for someone else to do this for you—you do it—you stir yourself.
Now, there’s more to this word, stirring.
The tense of the word ‘stirring up’ should be considered.
What the tense shows is that this stirring must be not only in the present BUT ongoing as well.
You can easily paraphrase this as, stir yourself up and keep yourself stirred up.
You see Peter’s intention in this letter wasn’t just to wake believers up to the truth of the Second Coming but to keep them up.
Now, if believers in Peter’s day needed to be continually stirred up, how much more do we need that same stirring?
More importantly, who is going to do the stirring?
Peter is dead and gone on to heaven.
He’s no longer physically here to stir us.
But what we do have is his words, inspired by the Spirt of God.
So, what will you do?
Will you take hold of the Word of God?
Will you look to the Great Helper, the Holy Spirit, to help you stay awake?
Romans 13:11–12 (NASB 2020) — 11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Now, did you catch this thought as we looked at the two words sincere (mind) and this word stirring?
These believers already possessed sincere minds.
Their thinking was pure.
They loved the Lord with all their hearts.
They weren’t living in rebellion.
Yet, Peter still had to tell them to wake up!
You can have a pure mind with pure thinking, not being embarrassed for anyone to know your thoughts, and yet be groggy, foggy, and generally asleep spiritually.
You see, purity and alertness are not the same thing.
You can be proud of your purity and be asleep as a dog.
So, stay sincere—stay stirred.
Keep Feeding Yourself the Word
Now come, to yet another essential growth component: the word category that includes remembering and being reminded.
2 Peter 3:1–2 (NASB 2020) — 1 Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder, 2 to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.
How is your sincere mind stirred?—by the vehicle of reminder.
2 Peter 1:12–13 (NASB 2020) — 12 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. 13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder,
The word ’reminder’ [hypomnēsis] literally means just that to remind.
Now, the word starts with the letters H-Y-P-O—hypo which adds something marvelous to the definition of this word.
Hypo means “under” or “beneath.”
The rest of the word means to remember.
Put all this together, the word ‘reminder’ suggests an operation that occurs beneath the consciousness to prompt recollection.
When I say beneath the consciousness, I’m referring to your spirit—the inner man.
Truth which has been stored in your inner man can be brought back to your conscious mind.
How does that work in reality?
Well, it’s not automatic.
There must be a prompt that brings God’s truth back to your mind.
Now here’s the good news: it’s not something—it’s Someone who supplies that prompt.
He has a name—the Spirit of the living God.
The function of reminding is one of the Holy Spirit’s essential works in the life of a Jesus’ follower.
John 14:26 (NASB 2020) — 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.
The Holy Spirit is the Helper—your helper.
He will bring up from the inside of you that which you have stored in your spirit by your study and meditation of the Word of God.
Have you ever had a Scripture suddenly come up inside you at exactly the moment you needed it?
Have you ever awakened from sleep with an ‘inside thought’ — it could a verse of Scripture, a piece of a song, even a person’s name.
You weren’t trying to remember it.
You weren’t even thinking about it—but BANG— there it was.
Don’t miss that—the Holy Ghost is in operation.
He’s bringing something up inside of you.
Now, where remembering God’s Word is concerned make no mistake about this.
You need input before you can experience output.
Meditate on the Word, think on the Word, speak the Word—get it inside you and then watch the Holy Spirit remind you and stir you with the truth of His Word.
In this area, it pays to go the extra mile—build a treasure trove of the Word of God in your heart.
You know in school you were taught many things, some of which you eventually realized that you didn’t need.
You didn’t use this knowledge on your job or in our personal life.
What you were taught was disposable knowledge.
I went through many layers of advanced math that I never really used.
But, the revelation knowledge of God’s Word is not in this category of things you should forget.
God’s knowledge is never disposable.
Hebrews 2:1–3 (NASB 2020) — 1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,
Now, one of the ways I try to not let the things of God slip away from me is to write down in a journal the truths that strike my heart.
I then take those truths and meditate on them over and over.
Even with that, though, I still find I am in desperate need of the Holy Spirit’s ministry of reminder.
Understand, there are a variety of ways that this ministry of reminder works.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit moves directly in your heart and brings truths you need up from inside of you.
At other times, God will use a ‘Peter’ type person to stir up what’s kept down underneath.
The message of 2 Peter 3 encourages us to keep our sincere minds stirred through continual remembrance of the Word of God.
Stay sincere—stay stirred.
Know What Matters Most
2 Peter 3:3–4 (NASB 2020) — 3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.”
For the sake of not allowing ourselves to be hoodwinked by false teachers, there is something that we are to ’know’ first.
This ‘first of all knowledge’ ties us back to chapter one of this same letter.
2 Peter 1:20–21 (NASB 2020) — 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Here are the same words: ‘know this first of all.’
So if we had the chance to ask Peter the question, ‘What is it that a Jesus follower is supposed to know first?’
What would he say?
He would say know first that no word of God is of private interpretation.
Now I’ve heard this comment parroted down through the years: ‘everyone has their own interpretation of the Bible.’
You especially hear this comment when you are sharing Bible truth that ‘plows a persons field crossways.’
They really don’t want to hear it so they say, ‘That’s your interpretation.’
You say — Jesus is the only way to God — they say that’s your own interpretation.
You say — sex before marriage is wrong, wait until you get married — they say that’s your own interpretation.
You say — you need to live right, Jesus is coming again — they say that’s your own interpretation.
That’s as wrong as thinking can get.
No scripture is of private interpretation.
People will often follow up with something on the order of ‘that’s your opinion.’
Again, wrong.
It’s a Bible fact that Jesus is the only way to God, period.
It’s a Bible fact that sex before marriage is wrong, period.
It’s also a Bible fact that Jesus is coming again, double period.
You have to have help not to understand these plain statements from the Word of God.
So, know, first of all that no scripture is of private interpretation and since we know that’s so, what we read in 2 Peter 3:3 is clear.
Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.
The source of this statement is the apostles of the Lord Jesus.
Notice Peter isn’t introducing a new doctrine.
Mockers in the last days was the settled teaching of the apostles right from the beginning.
Jude says exactly the same thing.
Jude 17–18 (NASB 2020) — 17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.”
We are to know these things first and not be surprised by mockers who arise questioning the Second Coming of Jesus.
Know these things first and keep first things first.
The word ‘know’ [ginṓskontes] used here in 2 Peter 3:3 indicates an ongoing established awareness—a sustained grasp of biblical truth rather than just a doing a drive-by on spiritual truth.
Bible truth should never be a one-time recognition but a sustained awareness that mockers will arise to pervert the truth in the last days.
Many people live right here—they possess a ‘one—time’ recognition of Bible truths.
You can hear these one-timers in church say ‘Amen’ instead of saying Oh-me.
They fail to personalize scripture—truth is basically in one ear and out the other.
If this describes you, then Peter’s command to “know” is exactly what you need to hear.
Our sincere minds must continually hear, know, and be reminded of the truths that will keep us growing so we won’t be deceived.
Don’t Let Truth Escape Your Notice
So, the mockers are coming to a theater near you.
If they haven’t arrived yet in your neighborhood church, thank God for it.
But, if you think they have then know that they’re not just blind to the truth of the Second Coming—they have willfully chosen not to believe it.
2 Peter 3:5–8 (NASB 2020) — 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their noticethat by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people. 8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice,beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
Note that the phrase ‘escape your notice occurs both in verse five, where it refers to these mockers of the Word of God and also in verse eight where the same word is applied to you as a Jesus follower.
The espression escape your notice, [lantha’ni] is one word in the Greek and it conveys the idea of people who fail to perceive or recognize what should be evident to them.
We’re not talking ignorance or lack of knowledge here.
What we are talking about is a willful blindness.
These false teachers mocked the promise of Christ’s Second Coming, and they deliberately ignored the biblical record of Creation and the Flood because those facts knocked the legs out from under their argument and cramped their style.
They chose not to see what is plainly available to see.
Have you ever met a person who chose to be blind to the truth?
Backsliders come to mind here.
The atheist who suppresses evidence fits the bill.
The false teacher who twists Scripture so he can twist money out of your pocket is certainly in view.
What about the Jesus follower who is deliberately living in sin?
What about the agnostic or the skeptic who refuses to even examine evidence because it upend their world?
These are all examples of people who chose not to acknowledge the facts of God’s Word.
Now, as I said previously, Peter intentionally uses this same Greek word twice.
He uses it of mockers who wilfully let truth escape their notice.
And he uses it of believers who are commanded to never let truth escape their notice.
Wilful ignorance is all a matter of choice no matter how you slice it.
Putting the Word of God Into Action
So where does all of this leave us?
Peter has painted a picture of the kind of mind every Jesus follower should develop.
A mind that isn’t afraid to stand in God’s spotlight because it has nothing to hide.
A Jesus follower who is spiritually awake instead of sluggish and asleep
A man or woman of God who continually stores God’s Word in the inner man so the Holy Spirit has something to bring back to remembrance when it’s needed.
A believer who keeps first things first by knowing what God has said.
And a child of God who refuses to let the truths of God’s Word escape their notice.
None of that happens automatically.
That’s the responsibility of every believer.
It’s your responsibility.
The Holy Spirit will help you.
The Spirit of God will remind you.
He absolutely will stir you.
But you must give Him something to work with.
Store God’s Word richly in your inner man.
Then, as you walk with Him day by day, the Holy Spirit will continually bring God’s truth back to your mind, keeping you spiritually awake, keeping first things first, and helping you never let His truth escape your notice.
Okay, then what truth must I make sure never escapes my notice?
Well, for that piece, stay tuned to next week’s podcast.
If today’s teaching encouraged you, be sure to subscribe to the Light on Life Podcast so you never miss a verse-by-verse study of God’s Word.
Then visit emeryhorvath.com to download the complete podcast notes, Companion Study Guide or Teacher’s Guide and explore hundreds of additional Bible teachings designed to help you grow in God.
Finally, if this episode strengthened your walk with God, consider sharing it with a friend, Bible study group, or church family member.
In a world filled with wrong thinking about God, there’s no greater gift than helping someone keep first things first and remain firmly established in the truth of God’s Word. If you want to keep your spiritual edge in these last days, stay sincere—stay stirred.
Why Sincere Christians Drift Spiritually: How to Keep Your Spiritual Edge.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.
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