Examine Your Faith 2 Peter 1:8-11

Two Sundays ago, the youth group of Eureka Baptist had their annual disguised adult competition.

We had 13 adults disguised in strange outfits. Men had mustaches, beards, and long hair they normally didn't have.

And the women wore wigs and other disguises. The youth went all over Walmart trying to find these strange characters.

When the students found each of the adults, they were required to ask the question,

Are you saved? It was a way of knowing if this person was from Eureka Baptist or a shopper who just looked strange.

Pastor Doug came up with this way of identifying the disguised adults because each of the disguised adults are followers of Christ.

This question the students asked is the most important question anyone can ask.

Are you saved? This terminology of being saved comes straight out of scripture.

In Acts 16 .31, the Apostle Paul pleaded with the Philippian jailer, Believe in the

Lord Jesus and you will be saved. It is important for us as Christians to understand what this means.

Theologian R .C. Sproul once wrote a book titled, Saved From What? To be saved means that you are saved from something.

The Bible makes crystal clear that every human being is a sinner deserving of eternal judgment.

God is the holy judge and as the holy judge, he is going to punish the sinner with the only appropriate judgment for choosing selfish pursuits and rejecting the glorious God.

The only appropriate judgment is to forever be separated from God's goodness to instead forever be under his displeasure.

When R .C. Sproul writes this book, what he says is that we are ultimately saved from the wrath of God.

His holy wrath. Because this is what hell is. Hell is a place where humans who rejected

God and died in their sin will forever experience God's disfavor.

And heaven is the opposite. Where you forever experience God's favor. Hell is a place where no human ever wants to go.

People might think that this world is a cruel place. And in many ways it is.

But the suffering of this world pales in comparison to the suffering of the place of torment that Matthew 25 .43

describes as the eternal fire. This world, even though there is suffering, there is also the experience of God's goodness.

But the future place of torment for the ungodly is entirely absent of God's goodness for all eternity.

So when we ask the question, are you saved? This is the question we're asking.

The blessed experience of those in heaven is the presence of God. And anyone who does not have this experience will experience the dreaded experience of hell.

So the most important question anyone can be asked is this. Are you saved? This question raises another question.

That question is how can you know that you are saved? And do you know what's comforting?

You can know that you are heaven -bound. You don't always have to wonder as you go through your life, am

I saved? You can know. The Bible provides clear marks.

And the Bible tells us that we should examine ourselves to see if we have these clear marks.

One of those places where we are told to examine ourselves is in our text this morning as we continue our sermon series through 2

Peter. So this time I encourage you to turn in the Bible with me to 2 Peter. We're going to be looking at verses 8 -10 of chapter 1.

And if you don't have a Bible, we have those red Bibles in the pews. The sermon is titled,

Examine Your Profession of Faith. And I'm going to begin by reading the text.

2 Peter chapter 1, verses 8 -11. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.

For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here's what this sermon, what this text is calling you to do.

Understand that the fruitful and useful life is the

Lord's design. Understand that the fruitful and useful life is the Lord's design.

And we're going to see three reasons why in this text. But before we jump in, let me give you a little recap of where we have been.

Last week we looked at verses 3 -7 of chapter 1. And in that passage,

Peter described the divine power that is shown in our lives. His power is shown in rescuing us from death and ungodliness and replacing that with life and godliness.

As he rescues us, he also wants to make us more like him each day. And we become more like the

Lord each day as we take in the word of God and live it out. Everything we need to live a life pleasing to the

Lord is revealed in the pages of scripture. Peter instructed us to discipline ourselves to live out the word of God day by day.

Just as an athlete disciplines himself to achieve more as an athlete, so the Lord tells believers to discipline ourselves so that we become more and more like him every single day.

Now this leads us to our text this morning that we've already introduced and read, but now we will zero in on. And I'm going to begin by taking a closer look at verse 8, where once again

Peter says, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ. The first question we need to ask is, what are these qualities that Peter is speaking of?

The answer, of course, comes from verses 5 through 7. We looked at these qualities in detail one

Sunday ago. There were eight qualities. We are to add our faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self -control, and self -control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection.

What we are to do is to meditate on the word of God day by day. And as we meditate on the word of God, we are to make sure it plants deep into our hearts.

And as this happens, we train ourselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to live out

God's word. As we do this, we become partakers of the divine nature. Another way to say this is that we reflect the divine nature.

The plan that the Lord has for each Christian is that your life would be one of growing, not one of stagnancy.

This is what Peter is saying in verse 8. If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter says the knowledge of Christ, what he is saying is learning the word of God and being transformed by the word that we take in.

So as you discipline yourself to follow Christ, what happens is that you bear fruit and become useful to His service.

This is what Peter is saying. Growing in Christian virtue prevents you from being unfruitful and ineffective.

What a tragedy it is when we don't live like a

Christian and therefore are not useful to the Lord's service.

It's like a soldier going out to the battlefield, but the general doesn't send the soldier out to battle because the soldier has no use for him because the soldier hasn't been doing what he is supposed to be doing and therefore he's not prepared for battle.

The Lord isn't going to send you to perform a task for Him if you're not following Him like you're supposed to.

One thing I have said in previous weeks is the whole reason we are here on earth is to be useful to the

Lord's service. So if we are distracted in some way, going on our own way for a time, during that time the

Lord is going to see us as useless to His service. He wants us to be willing and ready to do what

He has called us to do. He wants to use you greatly in this world.

But the question is, will you let Him? We often have such mediocre plans for our lives.

I remember when I was in high school, my parents can tell you this, they're here today. In all honesty, I wanted the easiest life possible.

All I wanted was to go to college, get a job, find a wife, have a couple children, retire, and then enjoy retirement and then die.

There was not this vision that I want to do great things for the Lord with the time that God has given me.

But in my early 20s, the Lord got a hold of me, reminded me of why

I'm here. It's a sad thing to sleepwalk through life, but many do it, and it can easily happen if we're not careful.

We're not supposed to sit in front of our phones all day, have all we think about is the next vacation, or the next stop in life.

We need to be thinking about, what does the Lord want me to do for His sake in my life right now?

It is true that we should have enjoyment in our lives and thank the Lord for those times, but one of the purposes of times of rest is intended to refresh us so that we are energized to be in His service.

So discipline, our walk with Him, keeps us from being unfruitful and ineffective, as Peter says.

If we are not bearing fruit regularly in our life, then we will be ineffective.

We won't be used by the Lord greatly, and we won't reflect His character, which the

Lord means for us to shine brightly before others. That's why He has us here. Matthew 5 .16,

starting in verse 13, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your

Father who is in heaven. If we aren't being disciplined in following the

Lord, then we won't shine, but rather we'll be dull. It is the

Christian who bears regular fruit who is going to shine brightly and be used greatly by the

Lord in this life. Understand that the fruitful and useful life is the

Lord's design, and the first reason why is that lacking fruit makes one dull in the

Lord's work. The second reason why you are to understand that the fruitful and useful life is the

Lord's design is that lacking fruit leaves one with no confidence of saving faith.

Now we get to the part of the text where Peter talks about when someone should have assurance of salvation and when someone should not.

We start with when someone shouldn't. Verse 9. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

This verse is not written for an unbeliever who says, I'm not a

Christian. An unbeliever who says he's not a Christian knows he's not a Christian.

This verse is written for those who call themselves Christians, but may or may not be.

In the previous verse we learned that one is effective for the Lord when one is bearing fruit for the

Lord. As one reflects Him and shines brightly before others and is useful to His service, this person is in a place where, well

I'm getting ahead of myself here, they have assurance. The opposite is true for the one who is not disciplined in one's walk with the

Lord. In this case, one is not fruitful and therefore is not useful to Him.

Peter even says this in verse 9. This person's mediocrity in the Christian faith shows that the person has forgotten what

Christ has done on this person's behalf. Peter compares this person to one who is nearsighted.

One who is nearsighted can't see very far and in many ways is blind.

Jody, you can tell us that, right? Peter is using this illustration to say that this person's focus is on near things and not on big things.

His focus is on the things of this world, not the things of heaven. This person is like Esau, who in Genesis 25 sold his birthright to Jacob for a single meal.

Esau's focus wasn't on the great promises of God that God made to Abraham. Esau's focus was on instant gratification.

This is what these stagnant professing Christians are like. Their focus is almost exclusively on the present.

Their focus is on their job, their family, their next shopping item, their hobbies, their weekend, their retirement.

Now strong Christians, of course, focus on these things too, but there's a difference. It's with eternity in mind.

These professing Christians don't give much thought to eternity. Their focus is on the things of this life and getting the most enjoyment out of the things of this life.

It is always about the next task, not the big picture. C .S. Lewis once said that some people are so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good, but the opposite is true.

People are so earthly minded that they're really no good to anybody else. The people who are most beneficial to others are those who are heavenly minded.

And when these people profess to put their faith in Christ, they may not have understood

His Lordship. Sometimes you hear people say, Jesus is my Savior, but not my

Lord. The Bible knows no such distinction. While it is true that some follow

Him closer than others, whether one follows Him closer or more at a distance,

Jesus is still the person's Lord. I heard one pastor say one time that people often use

Jesus as a ticket to get into heaven. You know, you go to a concert, you go to a sporting event, you get that ticket, you get in, right?

What do you do with the ticket? You throw it away. People want

Jesus to get them into heaven. He's fire insurance. Nobody wants to go to hell.

But these people don't realize that Jesus is the treasure. And heaven without Jesus is no heaven at all.

These people have forgotten that Jesus saved them and has called them to follow Him as Lord. They are content going through the motions, thinking that they are okay.

Now this person might be a genuine believer, but might not be. As I've heard one pastor say, none who profess faith in Christ possess faith in Christ.

One can say that he or she believes that Jesus died for him or her, but the proof needs to be in the pudding for one to know this.

This is where we answer the question, how does one know that you are saved? Peter has answered this.

Saved people reflect God. As verses 5 -7 of this chapter told us, true believers have faith, virtue, knowledge, self -control, steadfastness, godliness, and brotherly affection.

Those who are truly saved do sin, yes. But as my old professor used to say, it's not that you are sinless, but you do sin less.

True believers have a desire to follow the Lord and therefore do see some good fruit in their life.

To lack fruit, to have little to no visible fruit in your life should make you question whether you really have a relationship with the

Lord. You may have heard some say, and I've heard this on several occasions, we don't want people questioning their salvation.

The Bible doesn't say that. I read it this morning. 2

Corinthians 13 .5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves? That Jesus Christ is in you?

Unless indeed you fail to meet the test. What is the test?

It's a fruit test. Do you have the fruit of the

Spirit? The letter of 1 John is such a gift to us. The letter of 1

John tells us how we can know that we are born again. That our names are written in heaven.

1 John 5 .13 says, I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life.

The letter of 1 John gives four marks that you are born again. And I encourage you, write these down.

Four marks. The first is doctrinal. You understand the

Gospel. 1 John 4 .2 says, By this you know the

Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

So what John was doing is that he was fighting heresies. Specifically, this is the

Gnostic heresy of that time where they didn't believe that Jesus really took on a body. That Christ took on a body, but that He appeared to take on a body.

And one of the tests of whether or not someone was genuinely born again was did

Jesus really take on a body? And it's not just that, but it's sound doctrine right across the board.

And first and foremost, the Gospel. Do you believe that you are a sinner deserving of hell?

Do you believe that Jesus is the only Savior that went to the cross, died for our sins, and rose bodily from the dead?

Do you believe that He is coming again? Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God? This is basic Christianity.

Do you believe in the Trinity? The Father is God, the Spirit is God, the Son is

God. You must believe the core tenets of the

Christian faith to be born again. True believers have that.

1 John 3 .14 says this concerning the second mark. So here's the second mark. The second mark is that you love the church.

1 John 3 .14 says, We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers.

Genuine believers love everyone, yes. But they have a special love for their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

True believers value not just every believer they come across, but true believers value the local church.

Because God designed it that we would love one another as we covenant with one another in the local church.

Anyone who has no value for the local church should have no confidence that one is saved.

That might sound like a bold statement. And we live in the era of Lone Ranger Christians.

But true believers get that prompting from the Spirit to say, you need to covenant with the people of God.

We just ate the Lord's Supper today. Could you imagine not doing that? God, you'd be disobedient not to do that.

We sing songs together. We sit under the preaching of the Word. We fellowship with one another.

You submit yourselves to biblical leadership as we look after your souls. This is all in the

Bible, clearly written. And genuine believers understand this. Here's the third mark that one is born again.

In 1 John, what John writes is that one hates his or her sin.

1 John 3 .9 says this, No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.

Such an interesting verse. It doesn't say that people born of God don't sin.

There have been some movements like that in church history. They're like, yeah, you can actually reach a point in your life where you are sinless.

The Bible does not teach that. In 1 John 1, it actually says,

If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But 1

John 3 .9 says that no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. So what does he mean? Here's my understanding of it.

No one born of God is comfortable sinning. It doesn't mean you don't sin.

You're just not comfortable in it. You might go to a raunchy movie, and you might not have known it was a bad movie.

But you get into there, and you're like, I've got to get out of here. There's just this discomfort of just being in the presence of sin.

I remember going to these sales meetings before I was a pastor, when I was a sales rep for a running shoe company.

And it was like Sodom and Gomorrah. I don't want to be there. I wanted to run.

And there are certain sins in our lives where we know we're supposed to put it to death, and we don't want it to be in our lives anymore, so we try to kill it.

That's evidence that you are born again. That's the Spirit's work in your life.

Then we get to the fourth mark. And this lines up with what Peter has been instructing us. Genuine believers walk in holiness.

1 John 3, verses 23 and 24, where he writes, And this is

His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.

Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him. Genuine believers take seriously the commands of the

Lord in the Bible. Believers want to live lives pleasing to Him, and don't view

His commandments as optional. Sincere believers see keeping

His commandments as a great joy, not a burden. So ask yourself, do you see these qualities in your life?

To lack these qualities makes one nearsighted and blind, as Peter said. They are not tightly attached to the

Lord, walking with Him as one should be, but rather, in many ways, living like the world.

This person who walks at a distance might not even be walking with Christ at all.

This position leaves one with no confidence that one is born again.

It might not mean that this person is not born again.

But if there's no fruit, or hardly any fruit to spot, there's no confidence.

So understand that the fruitful and useful life is the Lord's design. And the second reason why is that lacking fruit leaves one with no confidence of saving faith.

And here's our third and final reason why you are to understand that the fruitful and useful life is the

Lord's design. And that is that showing fruit provides one assurance of salvation.

In verses 10 and 11, we will see this. Starting in verse 10, Peter says,

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

What we see here is that Peter is addressing brothers. And when he's addressing brothers, what he means is brothers and sisters in Christ.

He's writing to people who belong to the church, therefore, they profess faith in Christ.

But he desires that all who profess faith would truly possess faith. What he calls them to do in verse 10 is that they would be eager to make their calling and election sure.

So we see this again. In 2 Corinthians 13 .5, examine yourselves to see whether you're in the faith.

2 Peter 1 .10, Be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure.

To be eager is to be willing. It's to not be afraid to do it.

But be very willing to examine oneself to see if you truly have a relationship with Jesus.

Then he says that you are to make sure your calling, that is the Lord calling you to believe, and your election, that is

Him choosing you to follow Him, you are to make sure that you truly belong to Him.

How do you know that you truly belong to Him? Peter has already explained this as we have seen.

But he says it again at the end of verse 10. If you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

That's powerful. If you practice these qualities, you will never fall.

The qualities are the same qualities that Peter mentioned in verse 9. And there he's pointing us back to verses 5 through 7.

Remember those eight virtues that he listed? That we are to be disciplined to carry out through the power of the

Holy Spirit? As you seek to reflect the Lord by pursuing these godly traits with the

Spirit's help, Peter says, you will never fall. To never fall means that you will never depart from the

Lord. And we see people all the time walking away from the

Lord. These people didn't have these qualities to begin with. There's actually a term that's been applied to these people because it's happened so much.

They're called ex -angelicals. And they didn't truly possess these qualities, but appeared to possess these qualities.

And you know what 1 John 2 .19 says about these people? They went out from us.

But they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

The test of time. Twenty years ago,

I belonged to a youth group. Twenty years later, a majority of those people in that youth group are not walking with the

Lord. Time has passed. And they professed faith in Christ back then.

But they went out from us. And there might be a time too where maybe someone's a prodigal son and they return.

But people truly do depart from the faith. And sometimes it's obvious because people walk away completely.

But other times, people don't appear to fall away, but still keep the Christian name. They gladly profess the name of Christ, but don't reflect

Him. It is the ones who bear fruit in some measure who are among the elect.

And if one looks like the world, then it may very well be that one belongs to the world.

Now it is true that at times, Christians can look like the world. And this commands in Scripture, don't be like the world.

Because the world has a strong pull. And I can't tell you how much I see this in the ministry.

The last place we should see it is pastoral ministry, but we see it. The temptation is so strong.

If you take a stand here, you're going to get in trouble. You're going to lose friends.

You're going to lose respectability. We see it all the time. That's worldly thinking.

To want to achieve a certain status, maintain a certain status, to be liked.

This doesn't just happen with rank and file Christians who sit in the pew. It happens with pastors, with missionaries, with parachurch leaders.

The pull of the world is strong. The world wants you.

The devil wants you. And people fall into it, not because it's not attractive, but because it's very attractive.

The world has a strong pull. And there are Christians who don't mature that much in the faith over time.

But every professing Christian who is pretty worldly should ask the question,

Am I saved? But what Peter is telling us is that the question, Am I saved?

is not a question that needs to be asked your entire life. But there does come a time when every

Christian, a certain distance on one's journey, should ask it.

I remember reading a book on assurance of salvation a number of years ago to see if I met the marks that Scripture gives concerning what a true

Christian looks like. And by the end of the book, I was confident I am saved. According to this passage, you only have true confidence that you are saved once you evaluate the fruit in your life.

And if you do see the Lord working over time, even if it seems small, be encouraged.

Be encouraged. You can have confidence. The Lord wants you to have confidence that you are saved.

1 John, I have written these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Now I want to caution against over -evaluating yourself. I've always been an over -analyzer, so I know what this is like.

As you evaluate yourself, you will see sin in your heart. But if you are genuine, you will also see fruit.

And as you see the sin in your heart, you need to remind yourself this is why Christ came.

He came to deliver you from the judgment that you deserve for your sins. 19th century

Scottish pastor Robert Murray McShane once said,

For every one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. He died when he was 29 years old, by the way.

Isn't that amazing? So as you examine yourself and you're troubled by what you see, but you also see that the

Lord has worked in you, remember to look at Christ and give Him praise for paying the full penalty for your sins.

But make no mistake about it. True believers do bear fruit. And you should honestly ask yourself, am

I practicing these qualities that Peter describes in verses 5 -7? Do I bear the fruit of the

Spirit described in Galatians 5, verses 22 -23? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self -control.

If you honestly see these things in some measure, be greatly encouraged. You are saved.

But don't lie to yourself. If you don't see these, truly believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ. You will not be able to fool Christ at the final judgment. Either you are genuinely saved or you're not.

Truly believe and you will see the Spirit's work bear fruit in your life over time.

If you do pass the fruit test that Scripture gives us, verse 11 tells you your grand future.

For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What a wonderful verse this is.

The only way anyone will receive entrance into Christ's kingdom is through Christ alone.

As I have explained in this sermon and hopefully every sermon, He died for you. He rose from the dead.

And through what He accomplished, He gives you eternal life. His design for you as you go through your life is that you will bear fruit as we have seen.

As you have believed in Him and have shown a transformed life, you will forever belong to the

Lord. The end of this life is really just the beginning. Think about how short this life is.

Think of the song Amazing Grace. When we've been there 10 ,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we know less days to sing

God's praise than when we first begun. This life is as Scripture says in Psalm 90, 70 years, or even by reason of strength, 80.

Some may make it to 100, but it's truly a breath and then it's gone.

But the question is, where will you spend eternity? For those who have believed in Christ and in His finished work and show that some transformation has taken place because if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation.

The old has gone. The new has come. My father is here today and my dad actually gave his testimony one week ago.

He's supposed to go five minutes. He went 15, right? It was such a good story though. And he tells the story about he grew up in the party life.

A drinking family, smoking family. He gets saved meeting my mom.

My mom had that conversation, I can't date you any longer unless you become a Christian. So he took it very seriously and he read a book,

The Late Great Planet Earth by Hale Lindsay. He read the book, realized he wasn't saved, prayed to receive

Christ and then not long after that, he goes to a bar, the places he used to hang out at and he described it as Han Solo walking into the strange meeting place where all these strange creatures were.

It was a completely different experience. This place that was once so full of life was now dead.

That's a new creation in Christ. There is a change that takes place once you come to faith in Christ.

And for those who are saved, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into Christ's kingdom.

And how wonderful to receive a warm welcome into Christ's kingdom. This is what Peter says it will be like for the faithful as they pass from this world into Christ's kingdom.

How important it is that our eyes be fixed on that day and not some worldly pursuit that distracts us from what he wants from us.

So as we summarize in conclusion, understand that the fruitful and useful life is the

Lord's design. And we've seen three reasons why in this text. Lacking fruit makes one dull in the

Lord's work. Lacking fruit leaves one with no confidence of saving faith. And as we have just seen, showing fruit provides one assurance of salvation.

The Lord calls us to fruitfulness in this life. And by His grace, may this describe each one in this room.

That we would shine brightly for Him. And that we wouldn't go through our lives always wondering, am

I saved? That we would know with 100 % confidence, I am saved. Because I see the

Lord's clear work in my life. Now next

Sunday, Peter instructs us concerning the importance of always being reminded about the important truths that the

Lord has given us. So I look forward to looking at this with you next Sunday. But at this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father in heaven, what an amazing reality to know that You are saved.

To know that if Your heartbeat stops right now, You will be instantly in the presence of God and the holy angels.

To be in that place, Lord, is incredible. And the opposite is true for those who do not have that.

What a horrible place to be. To be one heartbeat away from hell. And my prayer,

Lord, is that no one in this room would be in that position. But they truly would have refuge in Jesus Christ.

As Paul said to the Philippian jailer, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

So may we have a room full of people, Lord, who are heaven -bound and growing in our faith and useful to Your service.