You'll turn back with me now
to 2 Peter chapter 1. I want to talk to you a little
bit about making your calling and election sure. Peter begins
this letter by saying that he's writing to them of like precious
faith. He's writing to God's elect.
He's acknowledging that work of God in their heart as far
as he is concerned from what he can see and from what he can
hear from others. He was convinced that there was
a number in these churches, these are general epistles, they're
going out to several churches, it's not talking to one church
individual. But he was convinced that there
was a nucleus in each one of these churches who sincerely,
truly knew God. And he zeroes his remarks into
them. And the Word of God is called
the children's bread. And that's what Peter's doing.
And then Peter goes on to explain how this faith comes. It comes
as an act of God. God gives faith. It's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's the work
of grace in a man's heart. He's born of God. God gives him
all these things. He gives him everything that's
necessary. And I really like how Peter includes
that in his opening address to these churches, that he's inclusive
of all these things. He's given us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness. God's taking care of those things.
There's nothing iffy about them. There's nothing impossible about
them. They can all be done and all be had by God's elect, because
they're given to him of God. Did Moses have power to split
that sea? When he walked up to that sea,
he had a staff in his hand. Is there some power in that staff
or power in him to split that sea? Absolutely not. But God
told him what to do, and when he did it, the sea split. Well,
these things concerning faith and concerning eternal life,
when Peter said he's given us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness, you don't have that power in you, but he
gives it to you. And just like that old man with
the shriveled up hand, he said, stretch forth thy hand. Well,
he hadn't moved that hand for how many years? He stretched out that hand. He
couldn't, but he did. And so when we get down here
and we begin to talk about these things, things concerning making
your calling and election sure, these are not things that you
can do. If you're a natural man in here this morning and not
saved by God, this is an utter impossibility for you to do.
So don't think that you're going to, you know, I'm going to learn
to be kind and I'm going to learn to be knowledgeable and I'm going
to learn to do this and I'll make myself a Christian. No,
you'll make yourself a refuge is what you'll do. But these
things are of God. And my message, and I pray that
it's given to me of God for you, is making your calling and election
sure. Now it's not my desire to make
anything more complicated or harder than it needs to be. And it's not my intention to
always keep you in continual dismay concerning the salvation
of your souls. I don't want you... There was
a famous preacher out of New Orleans years ago, Grace Preacher. And his famous thing was, are
you sure? Are you sure you're sure? And
he'd go on and on. He went up to visit Henry, and
he had all the deacons worried about their salvation before
they left the meeting that morning. That's not my intent. That's
not what I'm trying to do here this morning. It's not my desire
to always keep you in continual dismay concerning the salvation
of your soul. But neither would I want you
to be trusting in something that's not of God, only to awake at judgment and
find yourselves numbered with the enemies of God. The Apostle
Paul said he kept his body under subjection. He knew what his
old flesh was all about, and he kept it in subjection. Did
he keep it by his own power? No. No, but he submitted to God
who enabled him to keep it. And he kept his body in subjection. Now here's why. That is, as much
as he could, lest having preached to others, he himself should
be found to cast away. Preacher, are you saying that
a believer can fall from grace into perdition and judgment?
No, sir. No, sir. But I'm saying a man
who thinks he's saved can. A man who just supposes that
he's saved can. Christ said of those who hear
his voice that they're his sheep. And he said they'll never perish.
He said, All which the Father hath given me shall come to me,
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. We're not
of them that draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. But what I am saying is that
it's possible to make a profession of faith, give assent to a doctrine,
and not be born of God, and not be led to repentance, and not
experience the true faith of God. It's highly possible. Demas was a man that the Apostle
Paul, I don't have a tenth of his understanding, and the Apostle
Paul called Demas his fellow laborer. And then later on he
said, Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world.
Is it possible to make a profession of faith and fall into perdition? Absolutely. Absolutely. Salvation as it's manifested
by our faith is an experiential work. That is, it's an active
work. It acts in us. There was a time
before you believed when you lived without understanding.
You lived without a true knowledge of God and without conviction
of sin or righteousness or judgment satisfied. You had no idea what
those things were. Paul describes that time as walking
in the vanity of your mind. Lots of men walk in the vanity
of their mind. Why do they believe they're saved?
Because they had a feeling. Huh? They had a feeling. A warm
feeling came over them. Tears came in their eyes. You
know what the most deceptive thing in the world is? Tears. Tears. At that time, he said, you were
walking in the vanity of your mind. That's in Ephesians 4,
17 and 18. Vain ideas and vain principles
and vain motives with a vain end and being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that was in you because of the
blindness of our hearts. And to save such a one requires
a new birth. That man has to be born of God.
An intervention has to take place in his nature. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. He can't and he
won't. Now let that be established.
He cannot and he will not. It tells us both in 1 Corinthians
2.14. To save such a one requires a
new birth. The old man, that which dominates
and reigns and keeps his goods at peace through that vain mind
and that profession of faith, that old man which dominates
and reigns must be overcome by a stronger than he and his authority
taken from him and the new authority established. This new king shuts us up to
his word, to his gospel, to his servants, and to himself. Then that man is taught of God. He's taught of God. Taught of
the awful condition of his soul. Souled under sin. You think about that. Souled
under sin. When Joseph's brethren sold him
into slavery, he was a slave. He had no rights. He had no position. They didn't care who his blood
relatives were. They didn't care anything about him. He was a
slave. Because he was a slave, he was judged with a wrong judgment
and thrown in prison, no questions asked. We've been, in a like manner,
sold unto sin. He was sold unto sin by nature,
a child of wrath, ignorant, bankrupt, depraved. And then God comes
when he convinces a man of sin, then he has to convince him of
righteousness because now he knows he has none. You see what
I'm saying? You can't be convinced of righteousness
until you're convinced of sin. When a man's convinced of sin,
then he sees and senses and feels his need of the righteousness
of God because he don't have one. And when he sees the righteousness
of God, he embraces it, he takes it, he willingly receives it.
He rejoices in it. He don't want that other righteousness
anymore. Paul was a man whose whole life
was centered around self-righteousness. He was a self-righteous Pharisee.
and a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He held the coat while they stoned
Stephen and didn't shed a tear. He was a self-righteous man. He thought he was doing God a
service when he sought out those papers and went and got Stephen
and had him stoned. He thought he was doing God a
service. But when God convinced him of
sin, He said, oh, that I might win Christ and be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness. He understood what that old righteousness
was. It was filthy rags. And then
when God convinces you of righteousness, then He convinces you of judgment.
Not that there is a judgment, but that this judgment, which
you now know is upon men and know how awful and terrible it
is, has been satisfied. on your behalf through a substitute. Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now let
me tell you something. That's good news to sinners.
When you feel the burden of sin and God sends you this gospel,
it's good news. It's good news. You see what
I'm talking about? Faith is an experiential work.
It's not just hearing and learning and saying, okay, I agree with
that. I agree with that. I see that.
I see where that's taught in the scriptures. It is that, but
it's more than that. It's experiential. It's something
you feel in your heart. It's good news. Good news. God, in electing grace, made
provision for you and His Son. And when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son. He kept His promise. And He sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem you that were under
the law, that you might receive the adoption of children. And then He sent His Holy Spirit
to you, because you're a child. And then you cried, Abba, Father. Everything God requires of the
sinner, He provides in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now for a wise
and prudent intellectual to be convinced that this is scriptural
doctrine is one thing, but for a lost and condemned sinner to
understand these things is quite another. He's moved by it. He's moved. He doesn't just move
from one location to another as far as his way of thinking
and his doctrine is concerned. He moved. Everything in his life
has been moved. Paul told the Corinthians that
when he came to them to preach, his speech and his preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and power. What does that mean? Well, you
get a vacuum cleaner. We don't have too many anymore,
but when a vacuum cleaner salesman comes to your door, if you're
ignorant enough to let him in, He's going to take everything
out of the box and put that sweeper together, and he's going to demonstrate
to you how well it works. And in demonstrating how well
it works, you're going to buy the sweeper. And if he's a good
salesman, you'll buy the sweeper. Because you see him. You're seeing
it with your own eyes. You see what I'm saying? Paul
said, when I come, I didn't try to amaze anybody with my speech. I didn't try to be an intellectual
among intellectuals. He said, when I came to you,
my speech and my preaching was not with that kind of thing.
He said, I just plainly declared the gospel to you and the Holy
Spirit demonstrated it. And when the Holy Spirit demonstrates
it in the mind and the heart, the man will embrace it. And
he'll lay hold of it. And it'll move him. And it'll
become active. And it'll follow him all his
days. You see what I'm saying? Now
that's how Paul preached. Peter says it this way. He calls
it sanctification of the Spirit. Now listen. Unto obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. No matter how you say it, it's
an experiential work and one which produces an inward work
of grace. James tells us just as clear
as language can be used, he said, as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also being alone. Now that's what this making your
calling and election sure is all about. That's why Peter writes
these things. The Lord our God will prove his
gift of faith by demonstrating such a faith and doing so through
the lives of those who truly believe. He's going to demonstrate
it. Hebrews chapter 11 is a whole
chapter of examples And at the end of it, he said, seeing then
that we're encompassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses. You don't have to say, well,
I don't know if what you're saying is really true or not. Read Hebrews
chapter 11. It was true of every last one
of them. Every last one of them. The Lord
our God is going to prove His gift of faith and He's going
to demonstrate this faith through the lives of them that believe.
Titus puts it this way. He said, the faith of God's elect
is one which acknowledges the truth which is after godliness. That's Titus 1 verse 1. Now having
said these things, listen to our text here in 2 Peter chapter
1 verse 5. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge,
temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness,
and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. Now what Peter's doing here is
not telling us how we're saved. and not telling us that faith
in and of itself is not sufficient, but rather how to examine ourselves
whether we be in the faith. That's what he's doing. And when
he tells us to add to our faith, he's telling us to add to our
understanding of faith and our examination of our faith a true
understanding of what this faith is and what this faith produces. So let's look at each of these
things, and in so doing, we'll examine ourselves. First of all,
he tells us that true faith is virtuous. If you have faith,
it's virtuous. Now, virtue here, I believe,
means moral integrity. This man's not a cheat. He might
have been one at one time, but he's not one now. He's not a
cheat. He's not a liar. And he's not
a thief. A true believer understands that
he is an example of God's grace and an ambassador of Him to this
present evil world. And he wants to live a life honoring
to Christ and becoming of the grace of God. He understands
that and he wrestles to do that. There's a constant warfare within
him to do this, to accomplish this. Brother Mahan used to call
it adorning the gospel of Christ. Now, we're not saved by works,
but true faith produces works, and in so doing, it manifests
itself as true faith. That's what the book of James
is all about. And if I would examine myself,
whether I be in the faith, I must add to my examination an attitude
of virtue. Does this faith that I have produce
this in me, that I want to honor Christ, that I want to live such
a life that's honoring to him? Or do I just don't care? Long
as I've got a fire escape, long as I can stay out of hell, so
what? I just live any way I want to
live. I'm not a believer. Believer's faith is virtuous.
It's produced virtue in him. Secondly, true faith must have
knowledge. And there's two things here that
we need to see. First and foremost is the knowledge
of Christ and His work as our Redeemer. Now you can't have
faith apart from that. So that's why I don't believe
this is what he's talking about here in this particular place.
But it is included in your faith. There can be no faith without
a revelation of Christ and Him crucified. And why? Who He was? Who is this man? Why did He come? Where is He now? What did He
do? Faith has that knowledge. How
shall we call on Him in whom we have not believed? And how
shall we believe in Him of whom we have not heard? How are we
going to hear that preacher? It has to be knowledge. And we
preach the Christ of God as He set forth in the Word of God.
He's the head of the body of the church. He's the first begotten
from the dead. He's the all-sufficient sin offering
and Redeemer. He's the end of the law for righteousness. And he who enables God to be
just and justifier, he's the one mediator between God and
man. And that's how we preach him.
And true faith has that knowledge. It grasps that knowledge and
rests in that knowledge. Must have a basic understanding
of Christ as he's set forth in the Word of God. But this knowledge
that he's talking about here in 2 Peter 1 is an experiential
knowledge. and one which only a man of true
faith can have and which yields to him the peaceable fruits of
the Spirit. He understands what true faith
is. Experientially, he understands. Has God showed you mercy? Did
He pick you out from among men? And you in your own eyes worse
than any of them. And why did He pick you? He picked
you for His grace. He picked you in His mercy. He picked you because He loved
you. He always did, from eternity, love you. And He sent His Son
to die for you. And He made provision for you.
You not moved by that? You understand what I'm saying?
This experiential knowledge, it goes beyond the head to the
heart. It's an experiential knowledge
and one which only a man of true faith can have and which yields
to him all the peaceable fruits of the Spirit. Brings joy to
him. Peace. How can you have peace? Man, this world's upside down.
I'm at peace. I'm at peace. I'm at peace with
God. That's the only piece I care
to know anything about. It's a knowledge both of experience
and growth in grace that gives him both an understanding of
the will of God in his life and his willingness to do it. Is my faith acquainted with the
grace and mercy of God? Does my mind comprehend something
of the love of God for me, his sacrificial death in my stead?
The provision of a perfect righteousness and his long-suffering kindness
and patience toward me as a young rebel? Well, you cannot truly know these
things and not be moved by them. So you add to your examination
of this faith knowledge. Knowledge. Does my faith know
these things? If it don't, I don't have true
faith. Thirdly, add to your knowledge temperance. What in the world
is that talking about? Temperance means moderation.
Moderation. It's a careful and watchful restraint
concerning all things, but especially our sensual passions. It's good
for a man to have wholesome and restful activities. Sports, some
of you young kids playing basketball. granddaughters playing basketball
this year. And my grandson playing in the
band. They have all sorts of things that they do, all these
activities. And some of you like fishing or traveling or camping,
but never to the excess. I don't want to get so involved
in hunting and fishing that I just lay the church aside. Say, well,
we'll put that on the back burner from now. It's hunting season,
boy, let's go. No, I don't want to do that.
I don't want to do that. But I can go fishing. I can go
hunting. I can do these things. But I
do them in what? Moderation. That's what temperance
is. OK to have a little wine. I told
Timothy, man, he was a young man trying to govern a church
as their pastor, a young fellow. Boy, I've been there and done
that. I'm telling you, that put knots in your stomach. And Paul
knew that. He said, Timothy, have a little
wine for your stomach's sake. Get you a good glass of wine
before you go to bed. Help your digestion, help settle
you down, let you sleep. You want to have a couple of
beers with your meal in the evening? Go ahead. Just do it in moderation. Do it in moderation. Same thing
about eating. you can overindulge. To live a life that adorns the
gospel, we believe we need to learn to live a life of moderation. So as we examine our faith, let's
add to this examination virtue, knowledge, and temperance. Temperance. And then listen to this, fourthly,
patience. What's that? Patience is a spiritual
attribute which enables believers to endure all things with the
understanding that God's in control, and when His will is accomplished,
it'll all be done for your good and His glory. That's what patience
is. been buffeted with things for
months now, every week. I don't even pay attention to
it anymore. It's just one thing right after the other. We had
a new sink put in, and then I went down to help my son-in-law hang
some drywall. When I got back, the new sink
wasn't drained. And so I worked around on it for about an hour,
got it draining and running real good, went to bed, got up, and
the commode wasn't flushed. I mean, it happens on a daily
basis anymore. It's just things that I don't
know. I guess when the Lord gives you
some understanding as he gives you this, he also gives you these
other things lest you be puffed up and get out of control. You
get the big head. So these things coming anymore,
it just kind of rolls off of me like water off a duck's back.
I just expect it, you know. I got the fire extinguisher out
and everything else. I'm ready to go. So Paul stated it this way in Romans
5 verse 3. He said, we glory in tribulations
also, that's troubles, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. That is, every time we get into
trouble, he gets us out. And after a while, you acquire
patience. You know he's going to get you
out. faith that never learns patience
is not the kind of faith that God the Holy Spirit gives and
matures in chosen sinners. Paul said, he delivered us from
so great a death, now listen, and doth deliver and shall yet deliver by patience. Add to your faith virtue, and
to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance
patience. All right? Fifthly, add to patience godliness. Now godliness in its strictest
meaning has to do with a right mind in the worship of God. Whenever he's talking about godlikeness, It has to do with a right mind
worshiping God. In other words, we're not coming
in here and doing all this swaying with the music and clapping our
hands and beating on the drums and working ourselves up. We
come in here and through the preaching of the gospel and the
contemplating on those things and our hearts are raised up
with joy and comfort and peace and we praise him and so on.
We have a right mind. We have the mind of Christ. and
we can worship him, and that's what godliness is in its strictest
sense. But in general, I believe it's
used here, it has to do with a right mind concerning the whole
of practical religion. The whole of how we live, and
how we make our decisions, and how we spend our money, and how
we raise our children, and so it encompasses the whole of the
life of the believer. And godliness is the substance
of real faith. And godliness supposes knowledge
and honor and affection and gratitude and dependence and submission.
And where these things are experienced and known, there's a reverential
fear of God established in a man's heart. To every believing soul, Peter
says, he hath given all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue. And then, sixly, he said to godliness
were to add brotherly kindness. Now, this is not a kindness.
If a man pulls in the parking lot here, we've had someone pull
in here and said, I'm having some car trouble, do you mind
if I pull my car in here and work on it a little bit, will
I be in? Well, no. Get you a spot out there in the
shade, and if you need anything, let me know. That's kindness
in general to all men. And some of you have been in
grocery stores, and there'd be somebody up there that you know
hurting for money, and they've got some stuff there in their
cart, and they can't pay for all of it, and they lack $2 or $5 being able to pay for it.
And I know that you have on occasion just said here, here, just take
this and don't worry about it. You can go on and on with examples.
But that's our kindness toward all men. That's not what this
is talking about here. This is talking about brotherly
kindness. Brotherly kindness. This is a kindness given to fellow
believers for Christ's sake. Listen to this, Ephesians four and verse three. Let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted. forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. I got a rose bush out back, and
I forget from time to time that it's not thornless. And I reach
in there, boy, and it gets me every time. It gets me. A big
thorn will go down in a knuckle, something off of that bush. And
I just After a while, I don't want to get around the bush.
I know if I touch that thing, I'm going to get stung some way.
Some believers are like that. So what do we do? Do we ignore
them? Do we isolate them? Do we stay
away from them like I do that rose bush? No. Be kind one to
another. Tenderhearted. Tenderhearted. That is, be touched, be concerned
with whatever's troubling them. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. Yes, but he offends me all the
time. How often did you offend God? How often do you offend God right
now? Well, we're to forgive him even
as God, for Christ's sake, forgives us. That's continue, unless I'm
a total idiot, that's what that means. That's continue. And then the greatest thing of
all, if we're gonna examine our faith, let's be sure that it
has this, charity. What is charity? Well, man says
that's love. Just write the word love in there.
Well, yes, it is love, but it's more than love. Charity is active
love. It's practiced love. It's sacrificial love. Love which
is willing to give itself. And if you're willing to give
yourself, you're willing to give anything else. but willing to
give yourself. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Charity
is love which intends to make the one it loves better than
they are. Listen to this. Christ gave himself
for his church to sanctify her and to present her to himself
as glorious. having no spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. His love for her intended to
make her better. That's charity. That's charity. And when we love one another,
our intention is for your betterment. For your betterment. And when
I prepare these messages, I always have that in mind. I want those of you who are here
to leave here bettered. better than you were when you
come in. That's charity. Brotherly kindness
is followed by charity, which is selfless giving, and then
long-suffering and patient hope. 2 Peter 1 verse 8, For if these
things be in you... Now, we know that Peter said
that you're elect of God, that you've been sanctified by the
Holy Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of
Christ. He's applied that blood to your heart. He's made you
to know that your sins are taken away. And He's given you all
this fruit. And it's to make us that we shall
listen to this. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he
that liketh these things is blind. He hasn't seen anything. He's
just seen some facts. He hasn't seen with the heart. He's just seen with his head.
He's blind. And he can't see very far. And
he's forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. That was his
profession. But he forgot about that. Wherefore,
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure, for if you do these things, if you do these things, you'll
never fall. You can't do those things that
he just mentioned. For so, or as I've just described,
an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May God the Holy Spirit teach
us what this is saying.