Alright, let's look at 2 Peter
chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. I began in this
passage last Sunday morning and I want to continue talking about
this subject, calling and election. And I took it from verse 10 of
2 Peter chapter 1 where Peter writes, Wherefore the rather
brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. So we're going to talk again
about calling and election. And the issue here, and I won't
go back into everything I said last week because it's not necessary,
but the issue here is assurance of salvation. That's what he's
talking about, making your calling and election sure. And election
is just exactly what it says. It's talking about God's election
of grace. Paul called it the election of
grace in Romans chapter 11. He spoke of a remnant out of
Israel. And he said it was a remnant according to the election of
grace. God chose a people before the
foundation of the world and gave them to Christ. So it's an election
of grace. The old reformers used to call
it unconditional election. So it's an election that is not
conditioned on the works of a sinner, but it's an election that is
totally by the grace of God in Christ. I'm going to take my mechanics
off. I don't like undercurrents. I'll just stay close to the pulpit.
But anyway, this is an election of grace. And it's an election
unto salvation. God chose a people for his glory. Unto salvation. It's not fatalism. It's not a doctrine that gives
anybody an excuse to be negligent in the zeal of evangelism. In fact, that's the thinking
of man. That's the natural thinking of
man. Well, if God chose a people, then we don't have to evangelize.
No. Brother Terry read there in 1
Corinthians 1 that it pleased the Lord by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. And if it pleases God, then it's
going to please God's people. whatever reasoning we have. And
I'm the first one to tell you, and you know this is so, I tell
you all the time, you know, there are a lot of things that we cannot
figure out in our little old finite minds about the infinite
mind of God and how things work out logically and all that, but
that's not the case. Somebody asked me, said, well,
why do you believe in the doctrine of election? I'll tell you why
I believe in it, because the Bible teaches it. You say, whether
it makes sense to me or not, or to you, and of course the
biggest thing is people say, well, that doesn't seem fair.
Well, read Romans 9, Paul answers you, the Holy Spirit answers
you in Romans chapter 9 about that. Is God unfair? Is God unjust? And the Apostle Paul was inspired
by the Holy Spirit, just lays that to rest, and he says, who
are you? to reply against a holy, infinitely
wise God who does nothing but justice and whose judgments are
always according to truth. So this is talking about here,
it's talking about assurance of salvation. calling and election. So the question then comes down
to this, and it's very simple. And I know many people may not
like to deal with it this way or ask it this way, but I mean,
I don't know of any other way. Am I one of God's elect? How
can a person know that? How can we understand that? Well,
Peter says this. Notice he says, wherefore the
rather and brethren give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. Well, how do you know you're
one of God? You know it by your calling. And so what is this
calling? Well, it's the calling of the
gospel. That's what it is. It's the calling
of the gospel, the gospel preached, heard, and understood in the
power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. when the Holy Spirit
gives us spiritual life, eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts
and minds to understand. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
2, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. And so this calling is the calling of the gospel. Look
over at John chapter one with me. In John chapter one, look at
verse 11, talking about the coming of Christ into the world. And it says, Christ came unto
his own. That's verse 11 of John 1. He
came unto his own, and his own received him not, but as many
as received him. Now there were some who received
him, and that's by this calling, the calling of the gospel. To
them gave he power. Now that word power there is
not what you normally think of as power. There's several words
used for power in the New Testament. One of them is a word from which
we derive our English word dynamite, dynamis. You'll find that word
in Romans chapter one in verse 16. The gospel is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and the Greek also. That's the dynamite of God. In
other words, when the gospel comes into your ears and explodes
by the power of the spirit in your heart, you'll believe it.
That's the power of God. That means dynamite. But here
the word is right, a right, a privilege. Notice who has the right to claim
to be a son or a child of God? Who has that right? That's what
it's talking about. So the power, it'd be more like
the power of attorney that we speak of. Whoever has power of
attorney has the right or the privilege to conduct your business
affairs in your behalf because you gave them that right. So
this is the right here. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the right or the privilege to become the sons
of God. Now what he's talking about is
to make a claim that I'm a child of God. I'm a sinner saved by
the grace of God. Christ died for me on that cross. I'm washed in his blood, and
I'm clothed in his righteousness, and I stand before God not guilty. I stand before God completing
it. Do you have a right to make that claim? Do I have a right
to make that claim? That's what he's talking about.
Well, if we've received Christ, what does that mean? We'll talk
about that in just a moment. That means to submit to him in
his person, who he is. He's God and man in one person.
Don't deny him. Don't reject him. And to submit
to him in the power of his finished work. What he accomplished on
Calvary. He didn't try to save anybody.
He came to save his people from their sins. He's not trying to
call anybody. That's why you left out that
second verse there. Talking about how long he entreated in vain.
Christ doesn't entreat anybody in vain. You won't find that
in this book, and that's why I'm so glad you know that we're
intent on singing the hymns in the way that fits the scripture.
He didn't die for anybody in vain, and he didn't call anybody
in vain. The Bible says the word of God accomplishes whatever
purpose God has for it. And so he says in verse 12, but
as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now his
name is that which identifies and distinguishes him as the
one and only Lord and Savior, the Lord our righteousness. That's
his glory. Now look at verse 13. Now who
are those who receive him? Those which were born. You see
that? Everybody sitting here this morning
has been born, but he's talking about another birth here. He
says, which were born not of blood. So that's not our earthly
birth. He's not talking about we're born into this world physically.
Nor of the will of the flesh. In other words, this birth doesn't
come as a result of your will. There's a lot of people who teach
that the new birth is the result of the exercise of what they
call man's free will. But you see, man, the scripture
teaches this. Man doesn't have a free will.
We're born dead in trespasses and sins. Our wills are in bondage
to sin, just like our minds and our affections, our heart, you
see. And in order for us to be saved,
we must be born again. You must be born again. You must
be given a new will, a new heart, ears and eyes, spiritual ears.
And so he says, those who receive him are those who are born not
of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man. That's the
will of other men. I can't will you into the kingdom
of God. I can pray for you, and I do. I can preach the gospel to you,
but salvation is by the will of the Lord, not by the will
of the church, not by the will of the preacher, Not by the will
of the elders, not by the will of the denomination or the committee,
but by the will of God. That's right. And he says, but
of God. Do you see that now? And that's
how that calling comes about. Christ said in John six and verse
37, we read it last week, all that the father giveth me shall
come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast
out. So don't think that the doctrine
of election is what keeps sinners out of the kingdom of heaven.
You know what keeps sinners out of the kingdom of heaven? Sin,
self-will, self-love, self-righteousness, and pride. That's what the book
says. That's what the Bible says. And in order for God to save
his people, he overcomes our wills according to his will and
brings us to him. And election does not teach that
God turns away sinners who want to be saved his way. There's
nothing in the Bible. Listen, I'm gonna tell you something.
Whosoever will. Whosoever will what? Somebody,
I think it was Henry, told us one time in the preacher school,
he said some lady called him, arguing with him about the doctrine
of election. And she said, well, I believe
whosoever will. And Henry said, well, I believe
whosoever will too. But he said, my problem is with
the whosoever won'ts. And that's the problem, man by
nature is not a whosoever will, he's a whosoever won't. That's
why Christ said, no man can come to me except the father which
hath sent me draw him. And I will raise him up again
the last day, John six and verse 44. And here's what you need
to pray. And here's what I need to pray.
Oh Lord, don't leave me to my own will. And if that which separates you
as a believer from an unbeliever is your will, then at the bottom
of all that is salvation by works. God saved you because you were
willing. And he wouldn't save them because
they were unwilling, which makes you better than them. That's
not salvation by grace. And that's not this calling.
Now you understand that. I mean, this is what the scripture
says. And so we pray, Lord, save me. And God has never and never
will turn away any sinner who comes to him begging and pleading
for mercy his way. And his way is the way of Christ.
His way is the way of the cross. You see that? So how do we know
this? Now, back here in 2 Peter 1,
now you know what Peter's doing here in this last epistle. He's trying to encourage the
church, believers scattered throughout the different areas of Asia Minor. to continue in the faith and
to stand firm for the truth of the gospel against those who
would creep into the church, false preachers, false believers,
and try to draw them away from Christ, try to draw them away
from the truth. That was happening back then. John and Paul both called it
the spirit of Antichrist. And it's when people who come
into the church, come into the assemblies, like what we have
here, and they claim to believe what we believe, but they're
on issues, they get on issues, legalistic issues, works-oriented
salvation, something that would draw your minds away from the
assurance and the peace and the rest that we have in Christ and
in Him alone. Christ crucified and risen again.
He's our hope. He's our peace the simplicity
of Christ Paul called it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 He said
they come in they preach they claim to preach Jesus, but it's
another Jesus He said this in 2nd Corinthians 11. They claim
to be preaching by the power of the Spirit, but it's another
spirit They claim to be preaching the gospel, but it's another
gospel It's a false gospel. And it may sound so close. Christ
himself said in the last days that many of them would seem
so close that if it were possible, they could deceive, and he used
this term, the very elect. He used that term. I guess some
of these fellas today in religion should have called him up and
said, well, I believe whosoever will. Well, I do too. I do too. But he said, if it were possible,
now, it's not possible to deceive the very elect unto the end.
But he said, they've come so close. Paul said in 2 Corinthians
11, he went over in verses 13, 14, and 15, he talked about those
who disguise themselves as angels of light and as ministers of
righteousness. But they transform, he said.
They don't stay with that simplistic, single message of God's grace
in Christ. And the reason they can't stay
there is because that's not where their heart is. It's gonna be
Christ plus something. Well, these false preachers had
some success, and that's sad. That's the sad thing about all
this. There were people who fell prey to their heresies. And Peter and Paul and John,
all three of these apostles who were very instrumental in being
used of God to write in the New Testament to the churches, they
basically said this about that situation. They said, you've
either got one of two things going on there. When a person who at one time
professed to believe the gospel, the true gospel now, A person
who at one time professed to know and to love Christ and His
truth when they're drawn away from it. You've either got a
false professor there, one who never knew the truth, and if
they're drawn completely away from it to the point of denying
it and apostatizing from it, that's the word the New Testament
uses, falling away from it, they never knew Christ to begin with.
John says that in 1 John 2 and verse 19. Had they been of us,
they would have remained with us. but they were not all of
us, and they went out. That might be made manifest.
And Paul said in Hebrews chapter 10, he said, we are not of those
who draw back unto perdition. In other words, we don't total,
we may get distracted sometimes, we may waver sometimes because
we're sinful human beings, but we will not totally, if you ever
knew Christ, if you, listen, if you were ever a recipient
of this calling here, calling and election, You will never,
by the grace of God, totally leave Christ. You'll not do it. And the reason is, is not because
you're so good and powerful, nor me. The reason is, is because
the grace of God is powerful enough to redeem you and to keep
you unto the end, bring you to glory. He is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day, 2 Timothy 1.12.
He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto the Father
by hymns. Hebrews 7, I think 24, 25. But you see, that's the
thing. If you're a true believer, you'll
never totally leave. But in this situation, you've
either got a person who is a total false professor, never was saved
to begin with, or you've got a believer who's very sick and
needs to be recovered. That's why he says here in verse
nine, look at verse nine of 2 Peter 1. He says, he that lacketh these
things, now what's he talking about? These things of the grace
of God, we'll read through them in just a moment, is blind and
cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged
from his own sins. He's either talking about a person
who claims to have been purged by the blood of Christ, but never
really was, or a person who's truly saved and who's just diverted
from the faith and needs to be recovered there. But let me give
you a couple more scriptures about this calling. I want to
show you this because this is important. If we're going to
make our calling and election sure, we've got to know about
this calling. So let's turn first of all to the passage that Brother
Terry read, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Now study the scriptures here. Now a lot of people, when they
talk about the calling, they'll go all over the map with things. They'll talk about dreams and
visions and near-death experiences and all that. Well, I've never
had any of that. I've never had a near-death experience.
I mean, I look back on things I did when I was crazy and, you
know, and young, and, you know, I know the Lord delivered me
from being killed and all that, but I've never seen the light,
you know, and, you know, don't go toward the light. I've never
done that, you know. And I know people, you know, A lady told me one time, she
said, you're not going to tell me that wasn't real. And I said,
I'm not trying to tell you that wasn't real. I said, hell's real,
but I don't want to go there. We're not talking about the reality
of something here. We're talking about what the
scripture says about this calling, you say. So people, you know,
they go to dreams, visions, joining church, walking an aisle, getting
baptized. Is that what this calling is? The Bible says no. Now let's
look at this calling. Look at first Corinthians chapter
one, verse one. He says, Paul called to be an
apostle. Now that's Paul's calling to
be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. You
see, that was by the will of God, not by the will. Paul didn't
make himself an apostle. And he mentions a man, Sosthenes,
who was with him, our brother. Now look at verse two, unto the
church of God. Now you know what the word church
literally means in the original language? It's the word ecclesia. Ecclesia. We get the Old Testament,
the Greek translation of that book, Ecclesiastes. And that
means the congregation. That's what that's talking about.
And so in Ecclesiastes you have Solomon the preacher preaching
to the congregation. That's why they call it Ecclesiastes. and the Greek word ekklesia.
You know what it literally means? It means called out ones. If you're a member of the Church
of Christ, you've been called out. Now how have you been called
out? All right, that's the church, all right? And he says in verse
two, under the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them
that are sanctified, now sanctified there means to be set apart.
If you're called out, you're set apart. Called out of the
world, set apart from the world, in Christ Jesus. And look here,
it says called to be saints. Now that to be there is in italics
if you have a King James version. And that means it was supplied
by the King James translators. But here's how it would literally
read. Called saints. You're identified as saints.
Now you could say it this way too. Called out saints. What's a saint? It's a sanctified
one. It's one who's been set apart. What is a saint? He's
a sinner saved by the grace of God in Christ. And he's been
called out of the world. All right? And he says, with
all that in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord, both theirs and ours. Now, how do you know you've been
called out, called saints? Because you've called upon the
name of Jesus Christ, your Lord. Have you called upon his name?
Well, what is his name? It's not just a label. It's not
just a title. It's a truth that lies in him. Look over at verse 17 of 1 Corinthians
1. Now keep in mind, now see what
we're doing here is we're giving diligence to make our calling
and election sure. And if your calling doesn't fit
with what I'm reading here in the scriptures, don't get mad.
Don't get angry. You know, that's what happens
a lot of times. I mean, Stephen stood in Jerusalem and preached
the gospel and he called them to faith in Christ. That didn't
fit with their calling. Their calling is, well, we're
children of Abraham. Well, we've been circumcised.
Well, we keep the law of Moses. Well, now if that's your calling,
that's not the calling of the saints. But if you're calling,
whatever experience you're calling was, and I'm not telling you
even to look back in the past and find some spiritual birthday
or anything like that. I'm just talking about have you
called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? And let me tell
you something. If you've called upon him once, you'll call upon
him again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again,
and you'll never stop. All right? Are you calling upon
him today? If you're a believer, you are.
Because you have no place else to go, you're like Peter, to
whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Don't
call upon the preacher, don't call upon some experience you
had in the past, call upon Christ and him crucified and risen again.
So he says in verse 17, for Christ sent me not to baptize but to
preach the gospel. That's the good news of how God
is just to justify the ungodly. That's the good news of how God
saves sinners by his grace, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ, that's not talking about a piece of wood, that's
talking about the finished work of Christ on the cross, what
he accomplished by redeeming his people from their sins. What
he did by putting away our sins, finishing the transgressions,
bringing in everlasting right, on the cross, Christ worked out
a righteousness that enables God to be a just God and a savior. And that is my righteous, he
is. And he said, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect for the preaching of the cross, the preaching of Christ
crucified, the finished work of Christ for all my salvation,
for all my righteousness is to them that perish, literally who
are perishing, foolishness. Now those who are perishing are
those who haven't been called, unbelievers. And this calling
is foolishness to them. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God. Now that word power there is
the word dynamite. It exploded in my soul. It exploded
in my mind, in my heart, in my will, in my affections. God lit
the fuse. So to speak. And the dynamite
went off. And let me tell you something.
If you've ever been around dynamite that went off, you can't help
but be affected. Depends on how close you are
to it. Well, this dynamite's in the heart. Isn't that right? And then he says in verse 19,
he says, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Let's look down at verse 22. Now listen to this. Now he says
the Jews require a sign. That's their calling. Now what
sign is he talking about? Well, you know, people look for
signs. Lord, give me a sign. And you know, our Lord said,
a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. In other
words, we're not looking for signs, we're looking what God
says. That's all I need to know is what did God say? That's better.
Listen, if lightning came down and struck the building right
now and everybody just floated up in the air, I got a better,
I got a more sure word of prophecy than that. And that's what God
says right here in this word. But the sign the Jews were really
looking for was circumcision. That's what they were looking
for. They were looking for a sign. Have you been circumcised? It's
like a person today who comes around, claims to believe in
Christ, to believe salvation by grace, but the only thing
they're concerned with is have you been baptized? Or have you
done this? Or have you done that? No. They're
looking for a sign. And he says the Greeks are seeking
after wisdom. They're seeking after human wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified, there's the calling. The person
and finished work of Christ, unto the Jews a stumbling block
and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called. Christ crucified, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God, that's dynamite again, and the
wisdom of God. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. You see that? And look down at
verse 29, those who have received this call, it says, that no flesh
should glory in his presence, but of him, of God, are you in
Christ Jesus, who is made unto us, of God, who of God is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's all in all, you see that?
Christ isn't just part of my salvation, he is my salvation. I love what old Simeon said there
in Luke chapter 2 when they brought the baby Jesus into the temple
to be circumcised on the eighth day according to the law which
he was under. And Simeon lift up that child
in his hands and he said, now I'm ready to depart for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. In that person. And it says,
that according as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory
in the Lord. Now, don't think of glorying
here as somebody who goes around bragging all the time. Think
of glorying in this way. If somebody were to ask you,
what or where is your assurance of salvation? What would you
say? Well, I joined the church when
I was 12. That's what you're glorying in then. Well, I haven't
missed a Sunday. Or I was baptized. Or I heard
Brother Mahan or Brother Parker preach. That's what you're glorying
in. Huh? Where is your assurance
of salvation? I'll tell you where my assurance
of salvation is. Christ and Him crucified. That's
it. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not stand. I trust the
sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the
solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking.
There's your glory. Those who have been called, that's
their glory. Let me show you two more passages.
Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. You see, this is not some complicated,
mystical experience or journey that you go through. You don't
have to put on a robe and walk toward Mecca today. All you have
to do is read and study and pray, God, reveal Christ to me in your
word. That's it, isn't it? And you don't have to go to some
preacher to figure it out either in that sense now. Now what I
mean by that, God uses preachers, I'm one of them. But we're just signposts to point
you to Christ, that's what I'm saying. And I think, I can't
remember who it was, but he told the story about some preacher
who said he got a revelation from God and he called another
preacher and he said, he said, brother, he said, I got this
revelation from God and I want to see what you think about it.
And the other preacher said, well, what do you care what I
think about it? If you got a revelation from God and what I say doesn't
mean anything. Yeah, that's it. If you get a revelation from
God, that's it. Well, you're only going to get revelations from
God in his word. But look here, 1 Thessalonians
chapter one and verse, verse Paul writing, he says, we give
thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in
our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and
your labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ
in the sight of God and our Father, knowing brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Now how did Paul know that? Well
look at verse five. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power. There's dynamite again.
And in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, and as you know
what manner of men we were among you for your sake. Is the gospel
to you just words? Or is it the power of God unto
salvation? One other, 2 Thessalonians chapter
two. calling and election. You see,
knowing your election, the gospel came to you in power. It brought
grace to your soul. It convicted you of sin, showing
you that without Christ, you're nothing but sin. It convicted
you of righteousness, showing that the only hope of salvation
is in the person and finished work of Christ. My hope is in
Him. It convicted you of judgment,
it brought you to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works
and idolatry, and established your heart with grace. Look at
2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. He says, but we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now that's election. chosen,
you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. That's the new birth. The Spirit set you apart in believing
the truth, verse 14, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, called
by the gospel, the gospel of God's grace. Now look back at
2 Peter 1. Let me just close by reading some passages to you. As Peter goes through here, here's
what he says. He starts off with the foundation
of salvation. And you could honestly say the
foundation of election and the hope of our calling. Verse one,
he says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to them that have obtained like precious faith. Now that word
obtain has this sense. Whatever this like precious faith
is, you don't earn it, you don't deserve it, you didn't work for
it, you obtained it, it was a gift from God. Faith is the gift of
God. It's like precious faith because
every believer has this same faith. It's the gift of God.
For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
And it's precious because it's a gift from God. Oh, I'm telling
you, do we really understand that a believer is a miracle
of God's grace? That's amazing, isn't it? Christ
told his disciples, unto you it is given to believe, to hear,
to see. It's given. This is a gift from
God. And why did he give it to me
and to you? There's absolutely no reason in ourselves that he
would give it to me or to you. The only answer that the Bible
gives on that is in Matthew chapter 11 where he says, for so father
it seemed good in thy sight. He didn't say I seemed good in
his sight or you seemed good in his sight, it seemed good.
That is God's purpose in saving his people. It seemed good in
his sight and it was good in his sight through Christ. Nothing
good in us. And he says, obtain like precious
faith with us. Now look here, he says, through
the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, or
literally, it would read this way, through the righteousness
of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's where faith comes
from. That's where the life of the
Spirit comes from. It comes from Christ. And that
righteousness is what? The righteousness of our God
and Savior Jesus Christ, that's the entire merit of His obedience
unto death on the cross. That's what Christ did at Calvary.
You see, our faith, our repentance, the graces and gifts of the Spirit
are all the fruit and the result and the effect of the death of
Christ on the cross. We're made righteous in Him.
We're not made righteous by our works. The Holy Spirit does not
come and help us to make ourselves righteous by our cooperation.
It is totally a work of Christ on the cross. And that's it. Our sins were charged to him,
imputed to him, and his righteousness is imputed, charged, accounted
to us. And so he says in verse two,
grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. In other words, this is growth
in grace and knowledge of Christ. And look at verse 3, according
as his divine power, there's that dynamite again, his divine
power, the power of God unto salvation, hath given, notice
there, he what? Given. What do you give? You give gifts. And this is a
gift of grace, it's to the undeserving. He gave this to those who deserve
hell. And he says, he has given unto us all things. Now how many
things did he give us? I don't know how many of them,
but I know it was all of them. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All things that pertain
unto life, that's spiritual life, that's eternal life, heavenly
life. and godliness. What is godliness? That's walking in worship and
service to God through Christ, in faith in Christ. Everything
that pertains to salvation is a free gift that's given us in
Christ. Through the knowledge of Him,
it comes by means of knowledge. Get that down. Oh, knowledge. Well, does that mean you have
to be smart? Or some kind of a... No. No,
it's a very simple knowledge. It's a very plain knowledge,
but it's a knowledge impossible to receive except by the Spirit
of grace. Knowledge of him that hath what?
Called us to glory and virtue. Now where is that glory we're
called to? In Christ, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
What is this virtue? It's moral excellence. It's the
perfection of excellence. Where do we find that? In Christ.
So he's called us to glory and virtue in Christ. He's called
us unto Christ. And then he says in verse 4, What is that? The promises of
life, salvation, blessing, forgiveness, anything you can think of that
is a blessing from God to His elect people who are called by
the Spirit to Christ, it's given. These promises, 2 Corinthians
1.20 says, all the promises of God in Christ are yea and in
Him, amen. In other words, we don't earn
any of these promises. None of these promises are conditional
towards me. If they were, I'd lose them.
but they're all conditioned on Christ. And so he says that by
these, now that is by these promises, you might be partakers of the
divine nature. Now what is the divine nature?
That's the nature of God himself, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. He has, that's the divine nature. How do we become
partakers? Well that word partakers is a
fellowship word. It's the same word John used
in 1 John 1 when he talked about our fellowship is with the Father
and with the Son. And what he's saying is when
we're called, you see, we're called to glory and virtue in
Christ, when we're called to Christ, we enter into a fellowship
with the nature of God himself. Because in Christ dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Our fellowship is with God, that's what he's saying. And that way
we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust,
through their unlawful desires, whether it's a religious desire
or an immoral desire. We're in fellowship with the
Father and the Son through the Spirit. Our fellowship is with
God. And so he says in verse five,
and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith. Now that word
add doesn't mean that we can add these graces as if it's in
our power. It really means supply. Really
what it's talking about is you've been given a supply. Now take
out of that supply and use it. It's like the gifts and graces
of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. And so he says, supply
to your faith virtue. Moral excellence, but not just
morality. You see, religion can clean up
the outside of the cup. But moral excellence has to do
with the motives of grace and gratitude and love. That's the
virtue. Really has a lot to do with courage
here. To stand for the truth. And then
he says, and to virtue, knowledge. In other words, grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. Verse 6, and to knowledge, temperance.
That's self-control. That's what that means. Discipline
yourself. And to self-discipline, patience. Patience is endurance. That's perseverance by the power
of the Spirit. And to endurance, godliness. That's worship. and service to
God. Be a worshiper. And to godliness,
brotherly kindness. That's kindness and love and
gentleness to the brethren. Edifying the church. And to brotherly
kindness, charity. That's love that gives. That's
love in action. In other words, don't just tell
me you love me. Show me. That's what he's saying.
And he says, for if these things be in you and abound, these graces
of the Spirit that come by the grace of God through Christ,
they make you that you shall never be barren, neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
see, if these things are in you by the power of the Spirit, they
will puff you up and make you proud. You won't plead these
things as your righteousness, but you abound in the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, who is your only hope of salvation. But he
that lacketh these things is blind. That's the word we get
farsightedness from. If I take off my glasses, I can't
see far back. Well, you're blurry. And that's
myopic. That's what that means. In other
words, those who don't have these things, they can't see afar off.
They're just looking at what's immediately there. Things of
the world, things of today, not things of the future. And they
cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins. Now what I told you, that's either
a person who claims to believe the gospel and has never come
to faith in Christ, or a believer who's very sick and needs to
be recovered. And so he says, for that reason,
the rather brethren, give diligence. to make your calling and election
sure. If you do these things, you'll
never fall. God will keep you in his grace. All right.