Good to see everyone. Okay, we're
going to be in 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Our text is going to be in verses
5 and 6. 5 and 6. I'll read it. Peter says,
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and
to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance
patience. Now, we're going to continue
our study this morning, and we're considering or looking at these
exceeding great and precious promises that are given to us
in Christ. And as we continue through this
section, and any time that you're here in 2 Peter 1 and you're
reading this portion, Remember that these are spiritual blessings,
and all the spiritual blessings that we have, they are given
to us in Christ. Just remember, it's always in
Christ. As Ephesians 1.3 says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ in Christ. That's where we receive. That's
why we receive or why we have these spiritual blessings given
to us. They're all in Christ because of Christ because he's
a wonderful Savior he's sufficient and he has saved us and done
the work so that we are now the people of God and It's as we
studied earlier in 2nd Peter 1 verse 3 that it's according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness and through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to grace and virtue, which could also, or more rightly,
be interpreted by or through glory and virtue, by his glory
and virtue, so that I think they chose that word, too, there,
so that we understand it's not by our glory and virtue, but
by the glory and virtue of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because
our God is willing and an able Savior, He makes known to us
by His divine power that, verse 4, in Christ are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. And I like to just keep
repeating that because It's such a blessing to my heart to see
that and to be reminded that everything we have is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So it's good. It's very good
for us to be reminded of that truth. now in this section here
verses five through seven as Peter's listing out these graces
that the Lord is working in us what we find is these are fruitful
evidences are fruitful evidences being born in us being worked
out in us that we are partakers of the divine nature that we
are partakers of the body of Christ we are in the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ now last week we looked at virtue And
we saw how this virtue, it's not a discipline or a product
of this flesh. Our virtue, our goodness, our
holiness, the walk that we walk, it's not a product or a discipline
that we work in our flesh, that we bring up in our flesh, but
rather this virtue is born in us of Christ. So the form of
that new man, it's the form of that new man that's created in
Christ Jesus. It is goodness, it is Holiness
the seed we are the seed of Christ in us that that which is born
in us Just says we are born of the seed of man. It takes man
seed to bring forth us as children So it is we are Christ's seed.
We are Christ's offspring So what he's formed in us is of
his seed and it cannot sin as it says in first John It cannot
sin. It's it's it's perfection. It's
of Christ. So it's incorruptible and it
cannot fail so therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new
creature old things are passed away behold all things are become
new all right so now we're gonna look at these three more of these
graces which he exercises in us which he brings out in us
in which we now bear these fruits we bear these these graces, these
evidences, if you will, as we walk out among our brethren and
as we serve the Lord and serve our brethren. We're just bearing
these spiritual fruits. that he's producing in us. Right. And as we are learning in in
Mark these things all just happen immediately. They could. But
the Lord is pleased to work these things out in us so that it's
it's it's it's seemingly imperceptible to us. But there's such a blessing
to one another to our brethren who who see these evidences in
the product of the spirit working in us. All right, our title is
Knowledge, Temperance, and Patience. And we'll have three divisions.
Each one we'll just call the Grace of Knowledge, and then
the Grace of Temperance, and the Grace of Patience. All right,
now in verses 2, 3, and 8, we're looking at the word knowledge.
And in verses 2, 3, and 8, It's talking about a knowledge of
God and a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, if
you look at verse two, it says, grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. So that what we see here is that
it's speaking about a knowledge God that God is that God exists
that Jesus Christ is that he exists that he came into this
world in the flesh that he is so that that were there in verses
2 3 & 8 it's talking about a knowledge of God all right that that God
is is has been revealed to us that we know God is And the thing
is, though, we don't stop there. We don't trust in the fact that
we believe that there is a God. A lot of people will say in the
world, yeah, I believe God. Yeah, I know there's a God. And
they believe God. And James clarifies for us that
that's not salvation. That doesn't mean that we are
the people of God and that we're children of God. He says, James
2.19, thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. So just knowing that there is
a God, that isn't salvation for us. That doesn't mean that we
are godly children, that we are his offspring. It just means
that we know and confess there is a God. Alright, so that's
the the knowledge that that type of knowledge that's being spoken
of and What we understand though what we're learning or what we
come to know is that we only know the true and living God
Through the Lord Jesus Christ that he that Christ himself is
the one that reveals to us that God the Father is and apart from
Christ we cannot know God the Father it says in Matthew 11
27 all things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth
the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father Save
the son and he and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him so our
correct knowledge of God is Building on the fact that we know that
there is a God, our correct knowledge of Him is only given to us through
a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who makes
known to us who the true and living God is, and His character,
and who we are, and how He deals with us. So it's a revelation
of Christ as he's pleased to reveal the Father to us. In John
14, 8 and 9, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father,
and it sufficeth us. It'll be sufficient if you just
show us the Father. And Jesus said unto him, have
I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how
sayest thou then, show us the Father? So this is the knowledge
that's spoken of in verses 2, 3, and 8. It's the knowledge
that God exists, and that the Son of God is Jesus Christ, and
he's been sent into the world of the Father. But here in verses
5 and 6, the word knowledge is a slightly different word in
the Greek, where it says, you know, add to your faith virtue,
and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance. And
if we look over in 2 Corinthians, just hold your place here, put
a marker and go over to 2 Corinthians and we'll look at a couple of
verses and we'll see how he uses this form of the word knowledge.
Sometimes it's seemingly interchangeable, but in 2 Corinthians it gives
us a good clarification. Go to chapter 2, verse 14. what
we find here is that it means a knowledge in the gospel through
through a revelation to our understanding of the gospel that that that
the Lord is revealing to us of what he's accomplished in his
son the Lord Jesus Christ it's through that knowledge that that's
the type of knowledge that that we see here what what we are
before God who Christ is why he came and what he accomplished
so it's this knowledge of of of the gospel. It's a knowledge
of what we are and who God is through this gospel. So in verse
14 he says, now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to
triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge
by us in every place. So that we're seeing here that
what has been revealed to us in the gospel, what he's shown
us, that we ourselves are sinners, that we ourselves can't work
a righteousness, that we can't make ourselves perfect and accepted
of God by our works in the flesh. We can't merit his favor. That
revelation, that comes to us through a knowledge of the gospel,
through him making known to us what he's saying. So it isn't
just a parable in our ears. So it's not just confusion, but
we hear what he's saying and we're delighting in it and rejoicing
in it. So that through this gospel, it has the effect of being a
sweet smelling savor. It permeates and affects our
entire understanding of God and how he saved us, what we are,
how he's delivered us from the condemnation, all that he's doing. It just permeates our whole understanding
of God. We can't help but know these
things now. The light has been shed into our hearts and we can't
deny it. This is the truth of God. It moves us, it instructs us,
it informs everything that we now know. It's like when you
come home and your wife's making a good, savory meat, and that
smell just fills up the whole house, and you're just, ah, like
it just, it nourishes you. You're so excited for that, and
that's what Christ is. That's how he's been revealed
to us, so that he just informs our whole mind and all our thoughts
about him, and we rejoice. The way we get excited, When
we know that the Lord has just blessed us with that good meal
that's to come, we're just excited of what we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It just permeates us. Alright, he says in 2 Corinthians
4, 6, 4, 6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that it's
not just this knowledge that there is a God, but now we know
who this God is. And that by his power working
in us, he has delivered us from darkness, delivered us from the
condemnation, delivered us from this fallen dark kingdom, and
brought us into the kingdom of his son. And he puts us there
in his kingdom. It's it's a knowledge of his
effectual accomplished salvation for us and we're made to rest
there. He he he breaks in on these dark
hearts. It's like it's like we're in
a prison buried down far below in a castle. And we don't even
know the depth of the darkness that we're in until he kicks
open the door and the light shines forth and we see the brightness
and the warmth of his glory and power. And then we know, wow,
I really was in darkness and I had no idea. So he does this. And as he's instructing us and
teaching us, he's working these gifts in us. He's working this
knowledge. He's working these truths in
us so that they're real and we experience them and we learn
them by experience. And he works these out in us
as he's moving us to action here in the church and among the people
of God. And then it says in 2 Corinthians
8, 7, He says therefore as ye abound in everything in faith
and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence Give in I'm
sorry and and in all diligence and in your love to us see that
ye abound in this grace Also now Paul was talking about because
of this knowledge and and what we're abounding in and growing
in he was talking about giving but but my point in bringing
that out what what we see here is that because of the light
and the knowledge that we now have in the gospel it moves us
from being complacent and indifferent to the things of God and the
things that we're hearing and it moves us to being fruitful
and profitable to our brethren in in in the church it moves
us to love and service of of our God and of our brethren here
in the church So, that's what this knowledge does, it produces
something. You know what we see here in
Second Peter chapter one that our Lord he first gives us faith. All right. And he gives us the
ear of faith so that now we finally hear what's being said in the
gospel. It's no longer a parable to us
it's no longer a mystery where we're wondering what are they
talking about. Now we we see and know that. OK. Now I get
it. I'm I'm a sinner. desperately need the mercy and
the grace of God he's shown it and given it in his son Jesus
Christ and what Christ has accomplished for me so he's growing us that's
all faith that's receiving that that's hearing that and and receiving
it as Paul wrote to the Romans in 1017 So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So we see and we
understand that as we're sitting here and just learning and being
fed under that gospel, we're growing and and and we don't
even realize it but until you look back and you you see how
the Lord's grown you and and and taught you and settled you
in the Lord Jesus Christ and because we see that and we understand
that we want to bring our friends and family here we want to encourage
them to come and and hear this gospel because that's how he
saved us just by sitting here and hearing the gospel that's
how he worked this faith in us and so As he's doing that, we're
seeing the fruit that he's working in us and how it's all worked
in the new man. He's growing our understanding
of these things, that it's not my flesh, it's not something
I'm doing, it's not my discipline and my hard work, but it's all
in spite of my discipline, in spite of my righteousness, which
is nothing more than self-righteousness, in spite of my attitude the Lord
keeps conquering. and overcoming this flesh and
overcoming the darkness that's in me by nature and the law of
sin and death that's in this flesh. He overcomes all that
so that we believe Him and we trust Him and we're settled there
in Him. As He says in Colossians 3, Verse
9, Paul says, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have
put off the old man with his deeds. And what are those deeds
of the old man? Well, he says in Colossians 2.8
what those deeds are that were to put off. And that's but he
says verse eight, but now he also put off all these anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Right. Because that's the way
the old man does things. That's the way the old man. dealt
with issues, and we still see it. It still rises up in us when
we get short with one another, and we assume one another's attacking
us, or saying things in a way, and we respond in kind, or we
think we're responding in kind, and really we're just instigating
the problem, making it worse. We still see it, and I'm reminded
when I see it in myself, that's the old man. That's the old man.
That's how the old man deals with things. Lord, help me to
be gracious and merciful and patient and kind with my brethren
and those that I love. And, you know, that's how we're
to be. But it's it's his work and it's a patient work, just
teaching us and breaking us from those deeds of the old man. And
then he says in Colossians, I'm sorry, three, three, ten. And
I've put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him." So this is the creation
of Christ. This is formed in us by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Just as faith, just as virtue,
so is our knowledge. It's grown and established in
us by Christ and as we'll see and understand, so is our temperance,
so is our patience, and so are the other fruits that we'll look
at the next time. This knowledge, as he's growing
us and teaching us, it's ripping down and tearing down all those
false views and false understandings of Christ, and tearing down our
natural way of thinking, how we're to deal with situations,
just our natural way. We all have disposition towards
certain things. Some of us get angry. Some of
us get clever. Some of us are passive, aggressive. Some of
us are just outright aggressive. We all deal with it, but those
are works of the old man. And so he's he's teaching us
by this knowledge of the gospel. He's he's destroying those things.
As Paul said in Second Corinthians 10 verses four and five for the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. All right. Now let's move on
to the grace of temperance and it says, and to knowledge, he
says, add temperance or as you're grown in these things, being
grown in these things, add temperance, add temperance. And so that it's
just as we're growing, we're seeing, as we understand what
Christ has accomplished for us, what he's done for us, that we
ourselves are sinners and unworthy of grace and mercy from God,
We see the fullness and the sufficiency of Christ, how that He took upon
Him the burden of our debt, the debt of sin that we earned. The
wages of sin is death, and we earned that. But Christ came
as a faithful Savior, as the Lamb of God, provided for the
people of God. And He is righteous and perfect
in all His ways. He came here and he worked good
and righteousness and demonstrating that he is a kind and merciful
Savior. How you see Christ in dealing
with people, that's how your God deals with you. He received everyone that came
to him. He didn't turn away anyone. He corrected all the self-righteous,
all those who trusted in their own works and had confidence
in themselves. He spoke the truth to them by
telling them, you know, you're you're wrong what you're thinking
and what you're doing. God isn't receiving it. It was
to wake them and shake them and break them out of their their
their their darkness. But to all those who are broken
and all those who have nothing to give to him, he's a welcoming,
kind and gracious savior. He's not hard. He doesn't he
didn't whip those people and beat those people. He said to
that woman who was caught taking an adultery, Woman, where are
thine accusers? He said, if no man has condemned
you, I don't condemn you either. And then he told her, go and
sin no more. But he set her free. He set her free. And so all of
us here, no matter what you've done, no matter what sin you've
committed, the Lord is a kind and a gracious and a forgiving
Savior to all who come to him. and say, Lord have mercy on me,
a sinner. He receives all those sinners. So in light of that, as he's
growing us in these things, he's teaching us and so that we become
reserved in terms of the things of this world. And what that
word means simply is self-control. It doesn't mean stop everything
that you're doing or that you think is wrong. He's saying exercise
self-control, understanding the days are evil, understanding
what we're in and what's going on and how these, it has a sense
of the sensual appetite and the passions that are just natural
to our flesh. And he's saying, look, because
of the days that we're in and because of what's going on around
us, exercise self-control exercise self self-control that's what
he's saying and and what we find is again it's not a discipline
of the flesh but rather it's a fruit of the spirit being born
in us so that there's a willingness and there's an instruction and
there's a teaching through it so that as we do things that
are out of control the lord's gonna teach each of us in the
heart what we need to learn, what we're predisposed to each
of us towards certain excesses and things of that nature. He'll
work them in us and he'll teach us so that we're not judging
one another for having a drink of alcohol or if you like to
smoke a cigar or a pipe or tobacco. There's so many people that condemn
people for doing that and yet they'll pick up a greasy, fat
hamburger and they'll eat the hamburger and put that in their
body. But they can judge other people for having alcohol or
smoking a cigarette. And so that's not what it's about. But it's just exercising certain
self-control in these things. Because those things don't mean
that we're holy just because we avoid those things. That doesn't
make us holy. As Christ said, whatsoever entereth
in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the
draft. I think it is the drought or
draft. So Paul clarifies. this as as we're learning and
being grown in this he's he's he's teaching us through through
his words so that so that it's not just a worldly exercise that
you know in in the flesh but because you can do that you can
certainly get pretty disciplined in the flesh and and then start
thinking that you're something when really you're nothing And
he says to the Colossians in Colossians 2 verses 20 through
23, he talks about that. He says, wherefore, if ye be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living
in the world are ye subject to ordinances? And he's not saying
go out and sin with abandon, but he's just saying, Why do
you think that just because this world is a wicked place and there's
people take things to excess is that now you're made holy
by your will worship? And he says, touch not, taste
not, handle not, which when I used to read that thought he was telling
us touch not, taste not, handle not, and I was totally wrong.
What he's saying is that's just will worship. That's what man
does. He says, that's wrong. Don't
touch that. Don't do that. Don't do this.
And so man makes these these laws and these rules up so that
he can feel good or give instruction to other people. who don't know,
and he thinks that it's working good, but he says, all these
things are to perish with the using after the commandments
and the doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of
wisdom, and I love what he calls it, he calls it will worship.
They have a show of wisdom in will worship, all that is is
just a product of the flesh, it's just will worship, so that
you can now lord it over another and say, Don't do that. You need
to stop doing that and that's not what what the Lord is teaching
us. He's just teaching us self-control
in situations that Because because you're gonna learn he's gonna
grow you and show you when I do this thing It's not profitable
for me And so then you'll stop it your or you'll you'll limit
the things that you do because he's shown you in the heart that
this is not Profitable for me or for my brethren for me to
keep doing this thing. So he'll he'll he teaches us
in that way in the spirit He says in Romans 14 verses 14 and
15 again towards that profitableness He said I know and am persuaded
by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself
But to him that esteem at anything to be unclean to him it is unclean
But if thy brother be grieved with I meet now walkest thou
not charitably destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ
died right so if if you know somebody doesn't really like
you drinking wine they just don't drink wine around them you don't
have to say hey liberty liberty brother I can you know I can
do this and then shove it down their throat you know we don't
like things shoved down our throats so don't don't put it in someone
else's face and just be patient and love them and and be kind
and gracious and have your wine to yourself and the privacy of
your own home. You know, just know the people
that don't mind it. Things like that. I'm not trying
to lay down any law. I'm just trying to use it as
an example so that we can understand it a little better. He said in 1 Corinthians 7 verses
30 and 31, I think this does it well. Paul said, they that
weep as though they weep not, and they that rejoice as though
they rejoice not, and they that buy as though they possess not,
and they that use this world as not abusing it. It's always
saying this, don't abuse it, for the fashion of this world
passeth away. So in light of the gospel, we
just exercise self-control as the Lord is teaching us and instructing
us. And I can't tell you what each thing is that each of you
needs to do or stop doing, because I don't know. But the Spirit
does, the Spirit in you, He testifies to you and He teaches each of
you and works with you. And if it gets to a point where
you don't like something, Stop and pray Lord help me not to
to do that because I see how it's not profitable in doing
this thing So, all right. I think we have time for Let me um Yeah, let's let me stop there
because I really want to be good about stopping um when I say
to keep this thing to 30 minutes and we're about there. So I'll
pick that up. I'll add the next one in on the next time. But
I hope that what we see here is that it's, you know, there's
not a hard fast rule and some of these things but it's a growth
of the spirit in us teaching us and we see that it's not our
work in the flesh but it's a spiritual fruit that he bears in us that
we're born of the seed of Christ we're his offspring and he's
teaching us these things and he's growing us in these things
and we want to we want to apply our minds and apply our thought
to it and our heart but all the while praying Lord help me have
mercy on me I don't want to be a Pharisee I don't want to be
you know I don't want to be puffed up and self-righteous in these
things but I don't want to be an offense either to people and
I don't want to do those things that are harmful or unprofitable
to the kingdom of God but it's all his work and so we rejoice
in what he's done in us so all right let's pray our gracious
Lord we thank you father for your mercy and your grace and
lord for giving us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
and that you by your spirit make us partakers of the divine nature
and lord that you you help us you're you're delivering us from
the darkness of our minds in the darkness of this world and
Lord help us in the things where we don't rightly understand how
to apply ourselves to this word or how to apply your word to
ourselves Lord but we're thankful that you are a kind and gracious
and merciful Savior. that you lay down your life and
shed your blood for your people, that we might be your people
and brought into the beloved. Lord, grow us in Christ and help
us to love one another and to walk rightly before you and before
one another. We thank you for these things,
for what you've done and for the knowledge that we have in
this gospel. Continue to grow us in grace and in faith and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.