“For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.”
and are established
“Established” means to fix, make fast, to set. “Established” means to put or place something firmly in a location — to cause to be fixed, to establish in a place. The idea is stabilizing someone in truth.
The Lord called upon Peter to stabilize his brethren (Lu 22:32). Paul wanted to visit Rome to establish them in the faith (Ro 1:11). He sent Timothy to Thessalonica for the same purpose (1 Th 3:2). It is God’s work to stabilize the saints (1 Th 3:13; 2 Th 2:17). Christians are to stabilize their hearts before the Lord (Jas 5:8).
“Established” carries the idea of strengthening, causing someone to become stronger in the sense of making them more firm and unchanging in what they believe. Asia Minor saints became stabilized in the truth and were in a state of molding to the truth. Peter’s purpose was to set the cardinal truths of their faith in their thinking.
Lu 22:32, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Ac 14:22, “Strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith.”
Ac 16:5, “So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.”
Note the word “know” in “though you know.” We gain stability by knowing. We first acquire knowledge, then gain strength or sureness of faith. We cannot reverse this process. Strength does not precede knowledge. It is the knowledge of God’s Word that gives stability. We do not gain stability by reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” or “How to Succeed in Selling?”
PRINCIPLE:
If the believer cannot take the shocks in life, he will have little spiritual stability.
APPLICATION:
A shock absorber on a car gives stability to the vehicle. If we cannot take the shocks of life, we will have no equilibrium in our faith. We will tend to vacillate in daily spirituality; our walk with God will be up one day and down the next.
All Christians need equilibrium. What gives us the counterbalance to the problems of our lives? Truth, God’s truth. Equilibrium is a state of balance produced by two or more forces. There needs to be symmetry between what we believe and what God says in His Word.
1 Pe 5:10-11, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
