Seven Graces of the Christian Life: Part 2

To continue this message, last week I spoke on John 3 .16.

I think that was appropriate and I needed to hear that. We took a small break from 2

Peter, but this is part two, the seven graces of the Christian life, the qualities, the seven graces, the seven qualities.

And I'd like for us to just take a little bit more of a second glance and a deeper look into what the text and what these verses are actually speaking to us.

And I need this personally, and this is why I went to revisit it. And also, there were some things

I did not quite finish. I wanted to go a little bit deeper because of the time. I said, that's good about expository preaching.

I need to remind myself of that. I could cut it off and pick it back up. So that's what we're doing here.

So please, in saying that, please turn with me to the second epistle of Peter, first chapter, second epistle of Peter.

Only three chapters in this wonderful book, but he packs a lot in, doesn't he? But you notice, before I read the text, is if you read these three chapters, he's dealing, as 1

Peter dealt with issues and problems on the outside, now he's taking it to the inside, which

I believe personally is far more worse. It's like the Trojan horse that comes within.

And this is where Satan is working harder. He's already got the folks on the outside. He goes and takes the

Trojan horse on the inside to corrupt it and to corrupt the gospel and do everything he can to pull people away from the truth.

And he uses false teachers. He uses hirelings. He deals with that in chapter two.

And in chapter three, he closes it out with that wonderful chapter about the coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ and all the details and the revelation that's going to take place. But if you read here in chapter one, notice where he starts.

Foundationally, he's giving us what a true believer really looks like.

The sanctification. And he presumes upon that, that these people that is reading this, they're in the faith.

And he's giving this to the church. This is his heart. And this heart, he received this from Jesus.

Everything that the apostles speak of in the New Testament is commentary on what

Jesus taught them. So they were passing the torch along.

And Jesus had a great concern. You notice in John 10, you read John 10. He speaks, first of all,

I'm the good shepherd. And then he starts talking about the hirelings. And then he starts talking, I'm the only way the sheep have to come in.

No other way. Any other way is a thief and a robber. He goes into details about the shepherd, the sheep.

But he also mentions the wolves and the hirelings, the warnings. And isn't it, don't you love that about the word of God, about Jesus's ministry?

Such truth, such warning, such encouragement. But Peter does the same thing here.

So in this verse, I'm sorry, in these verses, we're going to look at today these wonderful seven graces again.

It's speaking about sanctification. Not salvation necessarily, but sanctification out from salvation.

Let me say one more thing before we read the text. As I was studying this and I was looking into other commentaries and other commentators, speaking of people that has looked into these verses, they have taken this as the way of salvation.

These graces. The Catholics, the

Church of Christ. So what they're saying is, you do these things, get you to heaven.

You see, they're in reverse. They got their gears in reverse. Put it in forward.

Always regeneration, salvation first. Then sanctification, not the other way around.

That's their problem. They got the gears reversed. So in other words, it reverses it.

When it reverses it, it's saying, by our works, by doing these things,

I earn my way to heaven. No, no, no, no. It's what God has done. That's why he's...

And we're going to see from the text. This is exactly where the course Peter takes us. What God has done through Jesus Christ, and then we received regeneration, obtained it, right?

And then through that, the good works follows. And that's all he's saying.

Not the other way around. But hear the word of God. Verse 5 to 11.

Verse 5 to 11. But also, for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge, self -control, to self -control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short -sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure.

For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's all bow in prayer, please.

Our Father and our God, our

Lord and Savior, we thank you for the access that we can come before you.

We pray, Lord, now that you would speak, Lord, and sanctify our hearts through and by the

Holy Spirit. And I pray, Lord, that you would change us more and more into the beautiful and lovely image of your dear

Son. Lord, that's our prayer today, that we would see Jesus. And we ask this for your glory and honor in his mighty name.

Amen. Now, I briefly touched on this about the views people have taken on this.

And I was studying, and I came across a sermon preached by the late expository preacher

W .A. Criswell. He was a great expository preacher, by the way. I don't believe he was reformed in the sense as we speak of, but he was a gospel preacher, and he preached the

Word. He was expository, not topical. I love expository preaching.

I don't know about you. Once you get a hold of it, you don't want to hear topical preaching anymore. Topical preaching could be good, it could be exhorting, but when you start digging and you hear expository preaching, there's something about it that gives the meat.

It gives you something to chew on and to grow thereby. In my spiritual life,

I don't know about you, I've excelled in growth by God's grace through His Word, through men that God has raised up in preaching expository preaching.

That's why I think so much of R .C. Sproul in his expository.

He's more of a teacher. He was more of a teacher. John MacArthur, who's still with us, praise God. A very faithful in expository preaching and others.

D. Martin Lloyd -Jones was one of the great expository preachers of the times.

But once you hear it, but W .A. Criswell was very good. This is what he said of this text before us, and I quote him.

There are two ways to look at this sentence. One is as a ladder. Firmly fixed on the basic foundation of faith, the ladder rises rung by rung, step by step until finally we come to the glorious climax, the top of the rung of love.

That kind of interpretation would look upon the sentence as meaning beginning with faith, beginning with the

Christian life, with our conversion. We perfect virtue and then go on to perfection of the knowledge, then rise to the perfection of temperance, and then beyond temperance, patience and perfecting one grace and one virtue and one excellency after another.

We finally rise where we come to the full image of God himself who is love.

Sounds like a pretty good interpretation to me. But Criswell says this. There's another interpretation, though, that is this.

Rather, I would say the sentence means that intertwined with the great faith that brings us full born into the kingdom of God that gives us life, intertwined with faith are the seven other strands, and each one of those is built out of and into the other.

They support each other, and they are related to each other, and they are born in the babe.

And as the days come, he develops, and he's talking about maturity there, he develops these separate graces, these separate virtues, these separate divine excellencies.

And I love the way he says this. I humbly, earnestly think that this second interpretation of the text is the thing that Simon Peter had in mind when he wrote it.

And the reason I think that lies in the language of the text itself.

And as you will follow me, I believe you will come to see this as one of the most beautiful and most meaningful of all of the descriptive sentences of the

Christian life to be found in any literature, including the Bible, end quote.

I personally agree with the late W .A. Criswell on that interpretation.

Even though that first interpretation sounded quite well, I see what he's talking about on that second interpretation.

And as I was looking and reading how many other people take this and use this as salvation, these graces, as somehow earning their way to heaven, know what he says, and this is what

Criswell is saying, these are the graces given to us in salvation.

Then from a babe, a newborn babe, as the babe desires the truth, like a baby desires milk from its mother, grows thereby in that.

And from that seed, that seed is the new birth. And that's what he's saying.

That's what Peter is actually saying in the text. I personally agree with Criswell on that, on his view on this text, because the language, the view that Peter takes by the

Holy Spirit. Now, that's the real interpreter. He's the real interpreter, is he not? The Holy Spirit of God.

So that's where I want us to take us, is by God's help, look at the text. With that in mind,

I've noticed, like I said, studying this, and we don't believe in work salvation, do we?

We do not believe in work salvation. Actually, Jesus is the one that worked for our salvation.

He earned our salvation. God is our salvation, and Jesus is the one that literally earned it by keeping the law perfectly.

Who in the world could keep the law of God perfectly? Only Jesus. And he did it.

And he did it representing his people. But you see here in the text, the second interpretation is of grace, which

God supplies. Then by the Holy Spirit of God, we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the

Lord Jesus Christ, and eventually what Paul says in Ephesians, into the full stature.

Don't you love that? We start small, we start humbly, and we must stay humble, right?

Until we rise and grow into the full stature of in the church.

And it doesn't, if you notice growth and age doesn't take place overnight, does it?

It takes little time, little here, little there. You know, as a child,

I see little Ethan back there looking to his daddy, looking up to his daddy, and I'm thinking he's only two years old right now.

But one day he's going to be a Lord Willie. He'll be a large, huge man.

I told Ben he may be even bigger than Ben. Ben will be looking up to a little two -year -old.

Would not grow that big overnight, will he? It takes some time. And it's like it, all of us in the family of God.

It takes time. God is patient with us, is a loving heavenly father. Speaking of Father's Day, he is the great father.

That loves us with an infinite love more than our earthly fathers, even the best earthly fathers can ever do.

Well, here we have growing in the grace and knowledge of God and growing up into the full stature of Jesus Christ.

Now, in order to set this context for this study this morning, we need to quickly just review verses one through four for the reason to get the context, for we'll see what

God has done for us in salvation. Now, we've already looked at this, but I think it's very important for us to truly see what

Peter is saying in this text. We must go back and see and get the context, the verses before previously, so that we can grow in salvation.

And again, it's not the order is always salvation and sanctification, always that order, not the other way around.

You'd be surprised, or would you, that so many people in the churches and pastors and preachers literally teach that somehow, especially our

Armenian friends, that it's something that you do, you cooperate with God, you do this, you do that, and it becomes work salvation.

God forbid, to use Paul's language, God has done it all, and that's what

Peter tells us. And I want you to see this. Look at verse one through four.

I'll start with the very beginning. Simon Peter, a bond slave, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained, that means received, like precious faith with us, by the righteousness of God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

See, salvation has come by the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

God the Father brought it to us through Jesus, the righteous one. Now, notice what he says.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our

Lord, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Now, I'll stop right there. You see that basically it summarizes all that Peter has said to us in that text and leads up to verse five, that God has given to every believer everything needed to live the

Christian life basically to have victory over sin. This is what he's saying.

Now, we're not talking about complete perfect victory even though the victory is perfected in Jesus Christ.

There's another doctrine that's preached out there on sanctification that you can get to a point of sanctification.

They called it, the old Methodists called it entire sanctification. Now, our dear friend

Brother Ravenhill believed in this because of his Methodist old holiness upbringing.

And I've been in the holiness camps enough and I know what they teach on this, these views of sanctification.

And it sounded so great, folks, I'm telling you. I thought, oh, the victorious life in Jesus Christ, that place of a plateau of getting to entire sanctification.

I thought, this is great. This is where I want to go. But I come to find out in reading

Romans 7, the apostle Paul, even himself, the greatest Christian ever lived, could not attain to that.

Now, Paul can't attain to it. I know I cannot. Now, a lot of people twist that around.

They interpret that. They say that's Paul's views in Romans 7 prior to his

Christian life. No, he is the Christian there. There's views that's taken to that.

But Romans 7 is speaking of the Christian Paul as of now. That's why a lot of people, they bypass that Romans 7.

I never heard our entire sanctification, friends, go much to Romans 7.

Well, there's a reason. Let me tell you a little bit about this sanctification experience they believe in.

They also believe in the eradication of sin on this life. Now, we want to definitely kill sin.

That's scriptural. We want to put it to death. We want to mortify it. That is scriptural.

We must put the deeds of the flesh, we must put it to death, right?

But to eradicate it completely in this life, is it going to happen? It's just not going to happen.

Now, if these folks was listening to me, and if I had the old

Pentecostal holiness folks, and the old Methodists, the old Methodists, not these liberals today, they would be saying,

Pastor, you got it all wrong. You're throwing out victory. No, we're not throwing out victory. There is victory in Jesus Christ.

But what I'm saying is, we're not talking about a place that you can live above, where you can live above sin 24 -7.

And I'm going to get to that in a minute, and you'll see what I'm talking about, but we don't get there. But there is victory in Jesus Christ.

This is our victory, even our faith. Our faith, not our sanctification.

Our sanctification is not perfect. It's directed, it's flawed, is it not?

It is so, I'm flawed in it. I fall short in this. My thought life has to be controlled by the

Spirit of God, and I have to battle with this every single day of my life, especially on the road.

That's where self -control is. I'm telling you, you know what

I'm talking about. See how sanctified people are on the road. I like to see some of these holiness people on an

Atlanta highway, in Atlanta, see how they would handle that. But anyway,

God has already given us the victory. God has done His part. Through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. So that's true. That part is true. So that the

Christian can live victorious over sin by His grace. And again,

I like what MacArthur says. It's not the perfection. It's the direction. He's got it right.

And that view of sanctification is scriptural. Not being made perfect in sanctification, but going in the right direction.

Now, it doesn't give us an excuse to sin, does it? Because we fall short? No. Scripture says,

Jesus says, the flesh is weak, the Spirit's willing. That doesn't mean that gives us an excuse to sin.

No, God forbid. A Christian chooses to do so as every day we live.

And there is a choice that we do make. That's why there is the book of the wisdom of Solomon.

The Proverbs. You notice how many times he mentions about choose life. Choose. There's a choosing.

But in our choosing, God helps us. We do the choosing. Now, a lot of people say, well, hold on in salvation.

You did the choosing. Well, yeah, in a sense, we chose. But I like what Spurgeon says. Before you chose him, he already chose you.

While we were seeking God, God already was seeking you. He was there before you were. You know, you got a lot of these folks saying,

I found the Lord. I found the answer. Well, that's true. But before I found the Lord, he already found me. He's not the one that was lost.

I was lost. He's the seeker. That's glorious.

And that's what I love about the grace of God. It comes to us. He does it all.

And that's what Peter's saying. Notice that. As his divine power has given to us all things.

Through these, you may be partakers of these. You may be partakers of the divine nature. Being given to us exceedingly great and precious promises.

Us to us. God's given. God's given. God's given. So, if we're not living victoriously and choosing to live holy, we do forfeit the blessings, don't we?

What do we forfeit? We forfeit joy. We forfeit peace.

C .H. Spurgeon said this. Faith saves us, but assurance satisfies us.

I like that because a lot of times I battle with my assurance. Full assurance, he says, is not essential to salvation.

But it is essential to satisfaction. He goes on to say this.

No believer should be content with hoping and trusting. He should ask the Lord to lead him on to full assurance.

So that the matters of hope may become matters of certainty.

I love that. See, if we are battling with it, let's ask

God to help us, even in our repentance, to deal with the things that hurts and wounds our assurance.

There should be a certainty. And it makes me think, when I read that quote from C .H. Spurgeon, I said, First John.

First John. That you may know. That you may know you have eternal life.

That you may know. If you go through the book of First John, circle how many times. That you may know.

That you may know. That you may know. That book was really written to encourage the believers of their assurance in Jesus Christ.

So, Spurgeon's right. Faith saves us, but assurance satisfies us.

Well, so again, Christians who live in defeat do so because we fail to do so on our part in sanctification.

Sanctification is hard work. See, God's done. He's did everything in salvation.

Now comes sanctification. That's the battle. That's the battle. And you know, that's the wonderful thing about it is we know that there's a battle.

We're concerned about that battle. That should give you assurance. Because people out there that are lost and hell -bent, they don't care.

They don't care. They're in their sins. They could care less.

We care. Lord, sanctify me wholly because we know within us in this body of sin, it's with us, it remains as a remaining sin until we're glorified.

No entire sanctification, I'm telling you. The life of faith is active, is it not?

That's sanctification. Faith is always active. It's never passive.

Faith is always coupled with obedience to the Word of God. It's lived by stepping out into trusting

God's promises, His Word, and obedience. Not perfect obedience by far, but obedience that's directed.

Flawed obedience? Yes, but obedience nevertheless. Never perfect.

Jesus is the only one that had perfect obedience. He's the only one that had perfect submission.

I know preachers right now that do not like the saying, blessed assurance, because it mentions perfect submission.

That is speaking about Jesus. My goodness, who in their right mind can stand up behind a podium, a pulpit and say, or any

Christian for that matter, say, I have got perfect submission and perfect obedience.

I'd say, sit down, you liar. You see, only

Jesus had that, and that's what pleased the Father. That's why the

Father in heaven said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And what's wonderful about it,

He lived that perfect obedience as a man, full of the Holy Spirit. Don't you love it?

Well, never perfect, but faith does please

God. Hebrews 11, 6. And by the way, what

I'm talking about here is opposite of let go and let God. I can't remember who said it exactly, but it actually, the right way of saying it is, let's go and let's get going.

Let God, let go, I'm sorry, let go and let's get going.

Because sanctification is work. So the quest, the question is, what then is our part in living a victorious life over sin?

What is our part? Is that not a loaded question? What is our part with living a victorious life?

Peter gives them right here. These seven graces. He gives them here, notice it, he begins in verse 5 with the phrase, but also for this very reason, which points us back to the previous verses, by the way, which we looked at.

God in His infinite goodness and in His infinite love and grace has already done

His part in salvation and granting us everything, I love that word, everything that pertains to life and godliness to live this

Christian life. But we also must work out our own salvation with fear and tremor. Salvation's done, but now you got to work it out.

Work it out with the attitude of fear and trembling. We don't see that much today, do we?

Fear and trembling. And then he says this, for it is God, this is Paul, who works in you to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Notice what he said, it is God who works in you to will and to do

His good pleasure. So we work it out, He's worked it in us. So look at verse 5, this is the transitional point right here.

That's the transition from salvation to sanctification.

What God has already done for us, now what we have to do. And this sanctification is the doing, but it's the help of the

Holy Spirit. People get confused about this. Yes, we do it, we repent, but it's the

Spirit of God that is working within us. Without the

Spirit of God, and we'll see after a while, we're none of His. There's no one that can even do it, the work of sanctification, unless we are

God's children. So what God has done in salvation, what we do in sanctification, that's basically what he's talking about.

The seven qualities, the seven graces to which we are applying all diligence, he said.

And I like that, don't you? Applying, giving, all diligence.

Or another translation, your translation may say, making every effort. You make every effort to supply alongside of our faith.

Keep this in mind also, these steps are not optional. Let's remember this, these are commands.

God is commanding this. God is saying, this is not optional to make, for we are having a part to play in our sanctification, living out the

Christian life victoriously. So, we have to uphold our end by God's help and grace, in obedience to His commands.

Actually, the Greek word here is interesting. It brings out the nature of what is happening.

The word applying or giving all diligence means to bring in beside, to bring in beside.

But also for this very reason, that's what he's saying, giving all diligence, bring in beside.

So the idea is this, that along with our faith that is foundational, each of us,

I'm sorry, each of the other qualities of having a Christ -like character, he says, bring this aside, bring it aside.

Giving all diligence, add to your faith, supply.

The word supply was used to refer to training. It's a training word, supply.

And staging, as we looked at, a grand chorus for some high celebration, which the entire expense was paid for by a rich patron.

That's what he's talking about. Isn't that amazing? It's a training. It's almost like sending us to boot camp for training, but God's already supplied all that.

He's paid the way. You go, it's paid for. Now we're going to have you go through the training and be disciplined and get ready for war.

That's actually what he's speaking of. This resultancy and this word coming to mean supply, add, furnish, to furnish in a complete lavish sense.

So the full sense here is to bring alongside your faith, which is a gift from God, determined effort to fully and completely supply, add, equip, to provide that faith with the things, the qualities, the graces in these verses.

Now that's where he goes to. So what is it that we're to bring alongside our faith?

What is it that adds or equips our faith? I like the word equip, to equip the faith.

Now, like I said, in part one, we saw these qualities. And once again, we're going to take a second glance. I'm going to go over them again.

I don't know about you. I need it. I need to hear this again and again. The first thing he mentions is moral excellence.

In the old translation, the old King James, the new King James says virtue. I like the word virtue, but it means moral excellence.

Notice what it says in verse five, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge. Let's look at moral excellence first, virtue.

Add to your faith virtue. Divine power is given to all things that pertain to life and godliness.

That's back in verse three. Through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue.

That's not a small thing. He's called us to glory and virtue.

That is our call to moral excellence. It makes me think of what

Paul said in 1 Thessalonians chapter four. God has called you, notice the language here, not to holiness, but in holiness.

He's called you, that is the calling. Didn't Peter say this in 1

Peter? Be holy for I am holy. He's called us in holiness to be holy as he's holy.

We're children of God. God's holy. We're to reflect our heavenly father and to resemble him in that holiness.

Everything about Jesus was perfectly holy in everything that he did.

People say, yeah, what about him taking, going into the temple and losing his life? Losing his temper and all this and turning over the table, the money changers, and running them out with the whip.

And I even heard some people say, yeah, he whipped them with the whip. I said, show me in the Bible where he whipped them.

He never whipped them. He ran them out with the whip. There was nothing unholy about that act.

That was the zeal of the Lord. That was the zeal of truth himself.

Seeing the temple defiled and the love of money in the temple.

It was a holy anger. It was a holy anger.

Holy. Everything about Jesus was holy. And this is what Peter is talking about here is holy virtue.

The virtue is giving God's glory. This is the glory of God. That's the purpose.

We looked at that purpose. Moral energy. Very power that performs the deeds of excellence. Performs the purpose in life.

That's to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. I like the catechism, don't you? What is the chief end of man?

What is the chief end of man? We all know it, don't we? To glorify God. To enjoy

Him forever. To love. What does that mean? To love God supremely and love one another.

And we can't love one another unless we love God first. And we can't love God first unless He loved us.

And He's poured His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So I was thinking a little bit about the synonym of excellence.

Chaste, honorable, moral. The antonym would be wrongness, immorality, unrighteousness.

Unholy and impure. It's the direct opposite. It kind of gives you an idea of what

Peter is talking about. That having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

God has marvelously, wonderfully rescued us from that. He saves us from our sin.

Well, to live this out daily, we must be morally excellent. It's far better than just being moral, by the way.

It means to be morally pure. It makes me think about what Jesus said on the Sermon on the

Mount. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man will see the

Lord. Holiness, purity of heart, the purity of life, moral excellence.

The second is from virtue, moral excellency, moral excellence,

I'm sorry, knowledge. And we looked at this knowledge. And what does it refer to?

That's a good question. The specific knowledge of what God has revealed about Himself in His written word and in nature.

God has given so much knowledge, hasn't He? And you think about the knowledge that He gives in creation.

But look at the knowledge He's given in through these 66 wonderful books, all compiled together, called the

Bible. The knowledge of God. The knowledge of God. Paul tells us that nature itself reveals

God's eternal power, His divine nature in the extent that all men are without excuse and fell into knowledge and worship

God. And if you notice, you don't have to turn there, but you know Romans 1 well. Verse 20 says this, for since the creation of the world,

His invisible attributes are clearly seen. You notice that?

Clearly seen. Being understood by the things that are made, even

His eternal power in Godhead. What's that saying? His divine nature, His deity.

That God is God. God created all things, the stars, the universe. We have the account in Genesis, don't we?

We've been going through that, as we've been going, R .C. Sproul's been leading us in Genesis from dust to glory.

So that, and then he says, people are without excuse. And you know,

I really do believe, see. And to the people of our day, just like in Paul's day, to the philosophers that put up the unknown statue of God to an unknown

God, they didn't know. And Paul starts at creation in Acts 17.

I said, this is wise. This is the Holy Spirit upon that man. And that we must do the same thing.

Before we take him to the divine revelation, the special revelation, we must first point out, look around you.

Look at the sun. Look at the stars. Look at you. You may not have, these people today may not think they have an identity, but they were made who

God made them. And they're trying to change that, of course. And they're deceived by it, and they're blind, having no identity with God and who they are, where they came from, why they're here, and where they're going.

But nature says that, doesn't it? And that's what, isn't that what David said in Psalm 19?

The Word of God, he starts at the first half of the chapter about nature speaks. Nature proclaims the glory of God in nature.

And then he takes to the special revelation. His Word that's perfect, that's sure, that's right, that's clean, that endures forever.

Well, so true that its effect is to restore the soul, make wise the simple, he says.

Rejoice the heart, enlighten the eyes. It endures forever, and it's righteous altogether.

Don't you love that? Everything God does is pure and powerful, and he restores man back to where he should be.

Sin has corrupted him. Sin has taken him into the mud, as we have known.

And that's why Peter says, see, you have escaped that corruption that is in the world through lust.

He's rescued us. And there's the knowledge of God. No wonder he said it's the scriptures are more valuable than gold and sweeter than honey.

The knowledge of truth and importance of both the warnings and bringing him

God's blessing. This includes what Peter says in verse 4, see, by which we have been given its seemingly great and precious promises.

That's who he's referring to. Correct insight, discernment, applied to our daily life, diligent study in the scriptures.

We are to diligently study the scriptures as a brilliance were an axe. And to see whether they're so.

The scriptures pursue the truth of the word of God like a deer pursues the brooks of water and a dry and a desolate land.

The third grace is self -control. This one hits me all the time. It's temperance, knowledge.

He says, to knowledge, then there comes self -control. This is the fruit of the spirit.

Again, it's an abstinence. It's to abstain, I should say, from lust, from unholy desires of the world.

It's a constant battle, isn't it? Because it's thrown out in front of us. Billboards, magazines.

Now we have the iPhones to deal with. It's like it bombards us. It pushes its way in.

Don't let it press you into its molding. We have the knowledge of God.

We have the knowledge of the truth. And we know the will of God through the word of God. And this literally actually means to holding oneself in.

That's what it means. That's self -control. Holding oneself in was used of athletes.

It was used of the athletes that were self -controlled and disciplined. They were self -restrained and self -disciplined.

We looked at the example of, what's his name?

That the birds study you. I can't think of it now. Yes, Audubon.

We looked at that, didn't we? He was a disciplined man. But for a bird, take a picture of a bird. How much more should the

Christian be disciplined? My goodness. A believer in Jesus Christ is to control the flesh.

To control his thought life. And I'm telling you, that's a battle. That's why we must renew our mind with the word of God every day. Day by day.

Aloha, we must control our passions and our bodily desires. There is a discipline to be made there.

And that takes work. That takes the discipline. And by the way, before it could go to the body, it must start right here in the mind.

Notice how many times the mind, the mind, the mind. Listen, that could take us to Colossians 3.

Set your mind on things above. Set your mind on things above, not on earth. Romans 8, 5 through 10.

You could turn with me there if you like. I want you to see this. For those who live according to the flesh set their what?

Minds on things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.

For to be carnally, that means fleshly minded, is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Then Paul tells us why. Why? Why are we set these things?

Why to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Why? Because, notice what he says.

He tells us why the fleshly, the carnal mind, is enmity against God.

It's in rebellion to God. It's against God completely. Notice that in the world?

Man thinks different than the way God thinks. God is diametrically opposite.

Then he says, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

Verse 8. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That hits me.

When I get fleshly and carnal, right then and there, I'm not pleasing God. That convicts me.

But he says this. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Remember what he said later on in Colossians?

Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's Christ in us.

Notice that. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. Well, that's black and white.

You got the spirit of God or you don't. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

That's a loaded truth. You know what he's saying? Paul is basically meaning here in verse 10, the body is unredeemed.

It's unredeemed and dead in sin. That's why I mentioned that earlier. We cannot reach that plateau of entire sanctification and eradication of sin.

We still live in an unredeemed body and dead in sin. The spirit is alive because of righteousness.

And if you have a translation there that has the capital S at the end, it's basically should be a small s.

It's your spirit because our own personal spirit is alive. In other words, it's reborn, made alive, it's quickened.

So, Paul is saying that if God's Holy Spirit dwells in you, it indwells within you, your human spirit is made alive.

It's quickened by the Holy Spirit and it can manifest true righteousness.

And notice back verse 4 in chapter 8. If you go back a little bit. So that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

And this is exactly why Jesus in John 3, 6 spoke to Nicodemus.

And this is why he said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit.

And then I love what he said to him, do not marvel. In other words, don't be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again.

You must. He tells a religious man, you must be born from above.

That's our message. That's the message. That's the message to the church.

That's the message to the lost. That's the message to anyone that's outside of Jesus Christ.

We must be born again. That comes from the Master. That comes from the Lord. So what does this have to do with our personal sanctification, self -control?

Everything. You see? You see? You see the direction? Without generation, we could not even desire self -control.

Without regeneration, we cannot even be sanctified. Without regeneration, we cannot have perseverance.

We cannot have virtue. We cannot have the knowledge of God. We cannot have all these things.

And that's what he's saying. In faith and regeneration, through conversion, you build and grow into this.

Well, so much could be said about that. It'd be impossible to live out these lives, this life, unless there's true salvation.

So in other words, true salvation takes place in order for true, genuine sanctification to please

God. So self -control temperance is the fruit of the Spirit. The fourth is perseverance. To self -control perseverance, the word here in the

Greek language literally means to abide, to dwell under. So the idea of perseverance, endurance, we are to turn aside when our faith is tested by trials.

James 1, 2 tells us, count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various multicolored trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

That means patience. Perseverance. Perseverance. Now, let me mention out here, mention this.

Perseverance is slightly different from patience. It's slightly different.

Which is, patience is the fruit of the Spirit. Only impatience, or long -suffering, as some translations has, deals with trials and hardships because people, because of persecution.

Perseverance deals with trials that's caused by things. Our situation, our circumstances, we have to persevere in the trials, living in a sin -cursed, fallen world.

Does it always turn out the way we think sometimes? And I don't know about you, when things don't quite turn out, we could be somewhat anxious.

That's why Scripture deals with that. Do not be anxious. But we could get really bogged down and let these besetting sins slow us down from running the race of faith.

I like what the old hymn says. State upon Jehovah's, one titled it.

God is in control. Every joy or trial comes from above. Traced upon our dow by the

Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for us to do. They who trust

Him wholly, find Him wholly true. That's the words of Francis Havergal. I love that, don't you?

We may trust Him fully, all for us to do. They who trust Him wholly, find Him wholly true.

State upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed as He has promised perfect peace and rest. Moving on, the fifth one, godliness.

Perseverance, godliness. Godliness means basically to live completely for God.

To be joyful, living for God. Joy unspeakable and full of glory, even when we don't feel like joy is present.

We live by faith. The just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. Let me squeeze in something here.

I read this week, and I sent this to Brother Keith, and I'm going to bless everybody here with it, okay?

David Brainerd. David Brainerd was one of the most godliest men. I'm sure, has anyone read anything from his diary?

It is awesome. Oh, good God. It's absolutely awesome, isn't it?

Absolutely awesome. You read about his life story. A missionary to the Zandians.

At times it snowed, and I read this young man in his 20s. It would fall on his knees in the snow, and by praying, melted the snow.

He died at the age of 26, I believe, from tuberculosis. He was the man that influenced

Jonathan Edwards. And yet, God took him home at a very young age.

Thursday, April 1st, 1742, he prayed this. I sing him in his diary.

I seem to be declining with respect to my life, and warmth and divine things had not so free access to God today.

In prayer, as usual of late, oh, that God would humble me deeply in the dust before him.

I deserve hell every day for not loving my Lord more, who has,

I trust, loved me and given himself for me. And every time I am enabled to exercise any grace renewingly,

I am renewingly indebted to God of all grace for special assistance.

Where then is boasting? Surely it is excluded when we think how we are dependent on God for the being in every act of grace.

Oh, if I ever get to heaven, and listen to him, if it would be because God will and nothing else.

For I did, I never did anything of myself, but get away from God, as Brother Keith mentioned this morning.

But get away from God. My soul will be astonished at the unsearchable riches of divine grace when

I arrive at the mansions which the blessed Savior has gone before to prepare.

David Brainerd, what a prayer. His life exemplifies true godliness, does it not?

I don't have much longer. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

We brought nothing into this world, we carry nothing out. We came naked, we're going to leave naked.

But everything that we can have, we can get all the treasures in Jesus Christ here and now.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. By the way, you never see this from a false teacher, do you?

They got the love of money in their heart. How many times did the

Word of God mention this? Just read the whole chapter of 1 Timothy chapter 6. The seventh,

I'm sorry, the sixth, verse 7, to godliness, brotherly kindness, brotherly kindness, loving one another, a brotherly love, phileas.

Philadelphia, the Greek says, speaks of love that exists and friendship between two brothers.

Makes me think of David and Jonathan. The story of David and Jonathan is one of the great friendships.

Jonathan went to great lengths to protect David from his father at the time,

King Saul. And David looked after Jonathan's children, by the way, long after he was dead.

Great friends to those for each other. You could read that story in 1

Samuel chapter 20. Wonderful, wonderful. It even mentions in verse 41 that David bows before Jonathan three times because Jonathan was a prince.

That's humility in David. He shows respect to Jonathan. But that's brotherly kindness, brotherly affection.

Speaks of David bowing down more than once, three times, that acknowledged him as a prince and humbles, he humbles him before him in affection for his brotherly friend.

How about the seventh? Agape love. This is the love that goes beyond the love.

This is the greatest love, 1 Corinthians 13. Agape love, godliness, brotherly kindness, and then brotherly kindness.

And then you got this great love here, self -sacrificial love that Jesus showed.

It's the best interest of all. This is the love of God that is given to us in Christ Jesus. It's the love that is modeled in Jesus.

You see this in John 13. Go with me very quickly to John 13 as I try to wrap this up very quickly.

By the way, John 13 is a very important chapter because it speaks about Jesus showing and demonstrates the washing of the disciples' feet.

There's the Last Supper. And all that's given there, it's just incredible, especially

Jesus serving. And I want you to notice this. In verse 29, some thought because Judas had the money box.

See, Jesus is being betrayed. Let me back up.

Verse 27, after the piece of bread Satan entered into Judas, Jesus said to him, what you do, do quickly.

Jesus knew. And in that setting, as no one knew at the table for what reason he said this to him, some thought because Judas had the money box that Jesus said to him, buy those things which you need for the feast that you should give something poor.

Having received the piece of bread, then he went out immediately and it was at night. That's, of course, when evil does its thing at nighttime.

So when he had gone out, Jesus said this, now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.

They didn't understand why he was saying this, but he knew why. Because he was going to the cross. He was being betrayed.

Evil was doing its best here. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately.

Then he says, little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.

You will seek me. And as I said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come. So now

I say to you, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I've loved you, that you also love one another.

By this, all will know that you're my disciples if you have love for one another.

Peter pipes in, Lord, where are you going? Peter, Peter, Simon Peter, he's listening.

Jesus answered him, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterward.

Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now?

I will lay down my life for your sake. Yeah, right. You know what happened.

Jesus said it. Jesus predicted it. Jesus answered him, will you lay down your life for my sake?

Most assuredly or verily, verily. Amen, amen, Jesus said. I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times.

Notice that right there at the end of the chapter. Peter, Jesus knows that Peter, his most loyal disciple, was going to deny him.

And then the betrayer, Judas, basically went out to betray him.

And then in the middle of that, Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Jesus loved them to the end.

Even though that they fell away, Judas completely fell away. He was the son of perdition and here's

Peter going to deny him. Jesus loves him, sets the example. We are to love one another.

Now, Peter says all these seven qualities. Let me close this about the graces and the marks of our lives.

We could be sure that we will be gaining that intimate relationship with Jesus Christ in fruit that results in fruits of righteousness.

That's it. These characterize us. This should continue to be in us and grow in us for its application.

Any true believer, if you will be faithful in all of this, in sanctification.

Scripture basically says, back to what he says, notice, therefore,

I'm sorry, let me back up for it. These things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren, that means useless, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ. We'll look at the rest of the scriptures, Lord willing, next week.

But think of this. Other words, if these marks are in you, you had the marks of maturity.

These are yours and will be used and you will be used of God. You will produce good fruit to one degree or another.

What kind of usefulness? What kind of fruit? It comes only in the intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said it in John 15, I am the vine, you're the branches. And basically, he was saying that in that is that relationship that we have with him.

And he said, without me, you can do nothing. That's the key, isn't it not? Peter says, if these seven qualities, these marks, your lives, you can be sure, you can be sure that you will be gaining that intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, that fruit and be useful to the kingdom of God.

Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time of study in your word.

Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to come before you. Lord, what a privilege. We bow before you.

We tremble before this word, Lord. We bow in your holy presence, recognizing that you alone are worthy of glory and honor, power and thanksgiving.

We thank you for Calvary's cross. We thank you for the great sacrifice that Jesus gave of himself for us unworthy, vile sinners who deserve hell.

Oh, Lord, how great is your love to reconcile us to yourself through the death once and for all that was given, paid in full, the

Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing that we have in you that unless we receive it and obtain it through the blood of the covenant of Jesus Christ, his cross.

So now, Lord, as we follow Jesus, we have a cross to bear. Obedience.

And Lord, we pray, forgive us, Lord, for not loving you more.

Oh, how we need your holy grace to trust and love you more so that we will live out in obedience these commands that you have given to us.