Now let's turn back in our Bibles,
if you will, please, to 2 Peter chapter 1. I believe that we would all agree
that there's something special about a new year. It's like a
new or fresh start. And I'm hoping this morning,
on this first Sunday of 2019, to challenge each and every one
of us, those of us who know Christ as our Lord and Savior at least,
to take special heed to the Apostle Peter's words in verse five,
when he said, giving all diligence. giving all diligence. We are
to give all diligence to add to our faith these seven things. Virtue, knowledge, temperance,
patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. And the incentive
to do so is stated in verse number eight. We will not be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
isn't that the desire of every child of God, not to be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ? And I don't
mean just to know about him, but I mean to know him in such
a way that we are more like him. And I take note that Peter wrote
this second letter knowing that it was very near the time when
his life would end in this world. If you notice in verse 14, he
says, knowing that sharply, I must put off this, my tabernacle,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. And it appears
to me at least that he was even now able to see with a clear
eye the need to encourage God's children to press on. Paul's words to the Philippians
come to my mind when he said concerning himself, not as though
I had already attained, either were already perfect, that is
mature, but I follow after. if that I may apprehend that
for which I have been apprehended of Jesus Christ." You notice
the very last words that Peter writes, his inspired words in
chapter 3 and verse 18. He continues with this same theme,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. I have three observations that
I want to bring to us from these verses, verses five through eight. The first is simply this, that
every child of God has faith. He begins with these words, giving
all diligence, add to your faith. There are three graces which
many times we call, and you see writers refer to these three
graces as cardinal graces. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13,
the apostle Paul mentions these three. Now abideth faith, hope,
love, but the greatest of these is love. The three cardinal graces. faith, hope, and love. And every
child of God, everyone who is born of the Spirit of God, and
remember this, our Lord Jesus Christ said, you must be born
again. Man by nature does not have a
spiritual living life that has a relationship with God Almighty. In other words, when we come
into this world, all of us by nature are spiritually dead. Now, we may go through the form
of religion. We may have our names on church
rolls. In fact, we may be very religious. In fact, our Lord said that to
a very religious man, didn't he? Nicodemus. Except you be
born again. you cannot see the kingdom of
God. We must be born from above, born
of the Spirit of God. And everyone who is born of the
Spirit of God will have these three cardinal graces, that is
faith, hope, and love. And I would just say this, when
we call these cardinal graces, let's remember that they all
have the Lord Jesus Christ as their object. Faith, hope, love, each one has
the Lord Jesus Christ as its object. For instance, Christ
is the object of the child of God's faith. Look with me in
Galatians chapter three. Christ is the object of the child
of God's faith. No one is converted, no one is
saved who does not believe, who does not have faith in Jesus
Christ. Here in Galatians chapter 3 and
verse 26, the apostle said, for you are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. You know, the context in which
he is writing this, in which he states this, is because teachers
had come among the believers saying that, no, it's not faith
alone, it's not Christ alone, but it is rather putting yourself
under the law as it was given to Moses and obeying the law. And the Apostle Paul, in one
swipe of the pen, He does away with that, for He declares, for
you are all the children of God, not by your obedience to the
law, not by circumcision, not by keeping holy days, not by
abstaining from certain meats and all of that that was given
in the law, no, no. For as you are all the children
of God by faith in Jesus Christ. In John chapter 1 and verse 12,
we read to them, the gospel is to be preached in all the world,
all the world. Go into all the world and make
disciples, the Lord Jesus Christ said. It's to be preached to
all the world and whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. But in John chapter one and verse
12, we read, to them, that is those who believe, those who
have faith, those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, to them
gave he power. And that word power is privilege. Privilege. Oh, what a privilege. Some people believe it would
be a privilege if they were the child of the king or the queen
of some country or the child of some president. But oh, my
friends, the privilege that God has given unto each and every
one of us who trust in Jesus Christ to be called a son of
God. Faith. And then we think about
hope. Christ is the object of the child
of God's hope. Look with me in Hebrews chapter
6. Hebrews chapter 6. In verse 17, we read, wherein God,
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the
immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable things,
we sang that hymn just a few minutes ago. How firm a foundation,
you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent
word. And one line says what more What
more could He say than to you He hath said? What more could
He say? This is one of these immutable
things, God's Word. God who cannot lie, who cannot
change. His Word, how firm, how stable,
how settled it is. Yes, even in heaven. But by two
immutable things, not only His Word, But by his oath, God took
an oath, and because there's none greater than himself, he
swore by himself two immutable things. Notice, in which it was
impossible for God to change or to lie. We might have a strong
consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope
set before us. And that hope is Christ. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. He's the hope that is set
before us and those of us who have fled for refuge to him.
Just like the angel told Lot, flee, flee for thy life. So men and women, not physically
but spiritually, when convicted, when burdened with sin, recognizing
that we are away from God when we flee in our spirit to Christ
by faith as our only hope lay hold upon Him. What strong consolation
we have. And then third, Christ is the
object of the child of God's love. We love him because he first
loved us. Oh my. In fact, the Apostle Paul
even said, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, Let him
be anathema, which means let him go to hell. If any man love
not the Lord Jesus Christ, Maranatha, the Lord cometh. Now, if you still have your Bible
turned here to 2 Peter, and I hope you do, verse 1, or chapter 1,
rather, I want you to notice before we move on to these seven
things, the apostle says in verse five, and beside this giving
all diligence add to your faith. And I want you to underline that
your, your faith, your faith, giving all diligence add to your
faith. God, the Holy Spirit, gives faith. There's no question about that.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. But the Holy Spirit does not
believe for us. He does not believe for us. He
gives us faith, and it's our faith. It's our hope. It's our
love. giving all diligence add to your
faith. In other words, you personally
must believe in Jesus Christ. You must be in union with Him
and He in union with you so that you are one with Him. You are
in Him by faith and He is in you by His blessed Spirit. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's my first observation.
Every child of God has faith. If you don't have faith in Christ,
then don't deceive yourself in believing that you are one of
God's children. You have no cause, no reason
to think that. Only those who believe in Jesus
Christ. are given the privilege, the
right to be called sons of God. Now my second observation, every
child of God is encouraged to give diligence to add to your
faith. It's your faith. But now the
apostle Peter says, giving all diligence, add to your faith. Now let's consider the word diligence
first of all. What does that mean, diligence? Well it means to give this the
highest priority, your highest priority. It means to put this
at the top, high on your list of things to do. It means to
recognize this as the utmost of importance. And how do we
do this? How do we do this? How do we
give diligence, recognize this is high on my list of priorities? It must be. Well, God has given
us certain things to use, certain things for our benefit in using
that we may add to our faith. These things that he's going
to mention. Here's a short list. First of
all, the Word of God. If a person neglects the Word
of God, I'm speaking about the written Word of God. If a person
neglects the written Word of God, he's not going to give diligence. He's not giving diligence. She's
not giving diligence. Another matter would be prayer,
to neglect the throne of grace. Another would be preaching and
teaching. People neglect the preaching
of the Word of God, the teaching of the Word of God. They're not
giving diligence. They're just deceiving themselves.
Examples. The many examples that we have
in the Word of God. And not only from the Word of
God, but other brothers and sisters in Christ. The fellowship of
believers. You neglect the fellowship of
believers, and you're just asking to become blind, like Peter says
later in this chapter. That's all you're asking for,
when you neglect the fellowship with God's people. Hebrews chapter
10 tells us, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is. Now I know it's not possible
for many people to be in every service, but listen, when you
could be here and you choose not to be here, that's bad. You're not giving diligence.
You're not giving diligence. And that's what Peter is saying
here, giving all diligence. Add to your faith. I'll tell
you the ordinances he's given us as well. The Lord's Supper,
for instance. Tonight, God willing, we will
observe the Lord's Supper. You say, that's a church ordinance.
That's the ordinance of Christ. He's the one who said, this do
in remembrance of me. and people neglect the Lord's
Supper, the Lord's Table, that's not giving diligence. And we
need not deceive ourselves. No, Peter exhorts believers,
God's given you faith, God's given you hope, God's given you
love in Christ. Now, giving all diligence add
to your faith. Now let's go through these seven
things First of all, virtue. Virtue. This word isn't necessarily
speaking of good works, the word that's translated here, virtue,
but it does remind us of what James writes about faith. He
said, faith without works is dead. It's just like a corpse
without any breath. So faith without works is death. Faith, true faith, living faith,
will always be accompanied with good works. Good works, yes,
that may be seen. Our Lord said in the Sermon on
the Mount, let your light so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Now that doesn't mean, and you know later on, He warns in that
sermon of those who practiced at that time when they would
do alms, that is, when they would perform a work of righteousness
of some kind, a good work, they would sound a trumpet so everyone
could see them. But still, the Lord is admonishing
us to be engaged in good works. I read this past week of a place
of worship, and I thought this was good. Above the door, when
you entered in, it said, enter to worship. When you come through
those two doors there, it might be over the top. Enter to worship.
But above the two doors when you go out, leave to serve. Exit to serve. It's not just speaking of good
works, but that certainly is included. A man wrote a book
recently, well, a couple of years back, on good virtues, you know,
a conservative commentator, good virtues. And yes, lost men may
have good virtues. That's not what this verse is
speaking of. The word here that is translated
virtue actually means courage. Courage. And this reminds us
that every believer, whether we signed up for it or not, whether
we knew we signed up for it or not, every believer is engaged
in a spiritual warfare. Every believer. Every believer
has these three enemies which are constantly attacking. That
is the world, the flesh, and Satan. And this scripture here,
Peter says, add to your faith virtue, in other words, courage. And I think of Paul's words to
the Corinthian believers. He said, watch you, stand fast
in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. And when we think
about that, virtue in the sense of courage, Do we not see how
that prayer is needful and necessary? Praying and asking the Lord,
because in ourselves we don't have any strength. The Bible
makes that very clear, that man at his best state is altogether
vanity. And in the service of the Lord,
we don't personally have any strength, and yet Christ is our
strength. He personally is our strength
and we must sue Him. Oh Lord, we must sue Him for
strength, for grace, to be courageous, to be bold in confessing Christ,
confessing our faith, confessing the truth about the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's some of you here today.
I don't know whether you believe or not, but I know this, you
need to step out and be bold if you do believe. Be courageous. There's probably not a child
of God in this building who, when you first confessed Christ
as your Lord and Savior, did not do so with much fear and
trembling. When you thought about going
to the front and talking to the pastor, the preacher, and standing
up before the congregation and confessing, you did so with fear,
right? I know I did. We're fearful of
a lot of things. We're fearful that we will bring
disgrace upon Christ, that our confession maybe will be nothing
but a sham, and we'll do like so many we've known who follow
for a while. But they're like those in the
parable. They spring up fast. The seed springs up fast. But
after a while, it turns to nothing. Yes, you need to be bold, courageous,
stepping forward and saying, I want to be identified. With
Christ, I want to be identified with his gospel. I want to be
identified with a group of people who love and serve Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior. Some of you need to follow him
in baptism. Add to your faith virtue. And
then to virtue, he says knowledge, knowledge. Now this refers to
the revealed will of God. You say, well, what is the revealed
will of God? Well, here it is. Here it is. Some say, I just wish I knew
the will of God. Here it is. Here it is. It's all contained in this book.
This is God's revealed will for you and for me. And knowledge
we need to add to virtue, to courage, we need to add knowledge
that is of God's will. How would God have me to live?
How would God have me to conduct myself? Where are you going to
find that out? On television? Of course not. Where are you going to find that
truth out? In the word of God. God's word. How would He have
me deport myself, my conduct, my interaction with other people? We need knowledge, and that knowledge
comes to us from the Word of God. You know, Paul spoke of
his kinsmen according to the flesh as having a zeal, but it
was not according to knowledge. God has ordained good works that
we walk in them, but what is a good work? How do we know what
is a good work and what is not a good work? We find out from
the word of God, his revealed will. We need to maintain good works
for a number of reasons, but one reason is that we would encourage
others. You know, zeal, being zealous
in the things of God, is contagious. When you see a brother or sister
who is zealous in serving the Lord, it makes you want to be
zealous. When everybody's asleep, then everybody's asleep. Nobody's
moved. Nobody stares. knowledge. The proverb says, iron sharpeneth
iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. When
you come to worship God and you shake hands with someone and
greet them and they greet you and they do so in a lively way,
you can tell they're happy to be here and they're thankful. Well, it's pretty hard to be
discouraged and down and and give off that negative atmosphere. Knowledge. The third thing that
he mentions were to add not only virtue and knowledge but temperance. Now this word over time has come
to be associated with abstinence. And there's no doubt that it
includes both our eating and our drinking. But it means much
more than that. Temperance. I think today, for
most believers, it would include the use of our time. The use
of our time. Temperance. We should be temperate
in the use of our time. For such things as entertainment,
recreation. You know, if you're not tempering,
you can waste a lot of time in these things that are ready at
hand in the generation in which we live. Many generations have
lived where their life pretty much was a struggle. And there's
people today who live like this, no doubt. And they work, and
they work, and they work, and when they come home, They're
tired, their body's tired, or their mind's tired. And they
rest, and they get up the next day, and when they come to worship. But we live in such a time where
people do not, for the most part, work in the same way as people
did years ago. And it's so easy to come home
and turn on the television, listen to the radio or whatever and
just waste a lot of time and not be temperate. Add to your
faith temperance, Peter says. Paul told Timothy, God giveth
us all things to enjoy. He does, he gives us all things
to enjoy. Yet we must practice temperance
with the all things that he gives us to enjoy. John Newton made this comment.
He said, Satan will not often tempt a believer to gross crimes. Our greatest snares and source
conflicts are usually found in things lawful in themselves,
but hurtful to us by their abuse, engrossing too much of our time
or of our hearts are somehow indisposing us for communion
with the Lord. We must be temperate. We must
recognize those things that take our heart away from the Lord
and be temperate in those things. I like the way he said he cautioned
people in his congregation who complained or stated the fact
that they had to deal with people in the world all the time. dealing
with people in the world, and he said, I tell them to do this,
deal with those people in the world like you would if it was
raining. You've got to do it, take care of your business, but
don't just stand there in the rain. You know? If it's raining
and you have to take care of your business, do it in the rain.
But once the business is conducted, it's over, you don't need to
stand out there in the rain any longer. And that's the way it
is for you and I, if you can take that and think about it.
Yes, we're in the world, but we're not of the world. We do
business in the world. You work on your jobs. You interact
with all kinds of people. That's necessary. That's needful.
But when it's not needful, don't stand out in the rain. Be temperate. And then the fourth thing is
patience. We need this. We need this in
order to run the race that is set before us. Recognize that
it is the Lord who has set your race before you. Paul was very
familiar, you know, with the Olympic games. And I don't know
how this works in some races. Some of you know this much better
than I do, but I know that When you start off, you're in a lane,
and sometimes if you move out of your lane too fast or before
you should, you're disqualified. Now, God has put you in the lane
that you are to run. He's put me in the lane that
I am to run. And he said, let us run with
patience the race that he has set before us. He set before
us. And if we're going to run in
this race, we cannot all the time be looking over our shoulder
at these other runners. And why didn't God put me in
that lane? How come this is my race? We need patience. We need patience to run the race
that God has set before us. Looking under the prize. Keep
your eye on the prize. the finish line. And number five,
godliness. And according to one of the old
writers, this may mean internal or external. Well, if it's internal,
it lies in the exercise of the grace of faith, hope, and love,
and fear, the fear of God. If it's external, the whole worship
of God prayer, praise, hearing the word of God, attendance upon
all ordinances. Let's take it to mean both inward
and outward. And let us, by the grace of God
in this year, you and I, let us be less complaining and more
praising. Less complaining and more praising. As in everything, the Lord Jesus
Christ is our example. And he said this, shall I not
drink the cup which my father hath given me? And whatever that
cup is in his providence, he gives it to us. Let's accept
it and let's worship God. Scripture speaks about God inhabiting
the praises of Israel. Let's praise more and complain
a whole lot less. Number six, brotherly kindness. Someone said, without this, all
these other things I've just named, virtue, knowledge, patience,
temperance, without this brotherly kindness, It's all just an empty
show. That's all it is, an empty show. Paul said, be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for
Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Don't you wish we could
learn, my friends, to when we see something in someone else,
maybe it's wrong, absolutely wrong. that we can recognize
but by the grace of God. Who hath made thee to differ?
And what do you have that you have not received? No wonder Paul said, I am what
I am by the grace of God. If God gives you grace to be
faithful, be kind, and be courteous, you know, there's nothing wrong
with children of God being courteous. In fact, Peter tells us, be courteous, brotherly kindness, kind one
to another. And the last thing he mentions
is love. We're to be kind to our brothers
and sisters in Christ, but our love is not to be confined only
among the household of faith, especially to the household of
faith, Paul says, but not exclusively. Love. Love suffereth long and is kind. Love envieth not. Love varneth
not itself. Is not puffed up. doth not behave
itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil. May the Lord help us to add to
our faith love. We need prayer, don't we? We
use prayer. We use the word of God. And here's
the last thing. The third, every child of God
has this wonderful promise. Peter tells us the end of adding
these things to our faith is that we will not be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge. And I believe I would substitute,
if I might, the word communion of our Lord Jesus Christ. If
we will add to our faith these things, We will not be barren
or unfruitful in the communion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fruitfulness
in the knowledge of his person, of his work, of his ongoing advocacy
for us, his intercession with the Father. And to be not barren
in the knowledge of Christ would mean to be made more conformed. to his image, to grow in grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord add his
blessings to his word.