Sermon: The Great Pursuit to the End

You may remember that we are in a, at the beginning, uh, the second sermon in a series through the book of second Peter, uh, if you'd turn with me in your Bibles to the second letter of Peter, we'll be reading in chapter one. Ben gave us a great Ben Prizer gave us a great introduction to this book a few weeks back. Our text tonight is going to be chapter one verses five to 11. But since it's so relevant, uh, we're gonna go back up

and read the first four verses as well. So let's read together the second letter of Peter chapter one verses one to 11

Simeon Peter, a servant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us

his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire for this very reason. Make every effort to supplement your faith with knowledge and 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

and brotherly affection with love. 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's blind having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling an election for if you practice these qualities you'll never fail

for in this way there will be richly provided for you, an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask that you would, uh, bless the reading and preaching of your word this evening that we might learn from you what you have for us. We pray that you would, that we would hear your voice as it is uh, comes to us through your word. We thank you for this time that we have

and we, uh, pray your blessing upon us in Christ's name, amen.

Looking at this text, uh, I would like to tackle a couple of related theological matters. First, namely what it means and what it doesn't mean to supplement our faith and also what it means and doesn't mean to make our calling an election. Sure. And with those unpacked then I would like us to dig in to this list that we have in verse seven versus five to seven, what it might specifically look like to put these virtues into practice.

Now, when I, when I teach, uh, the kids in our profession of faith class, the whole outline of the class is the three Gs. Now, many of you have taken this class. I won't, uh, ask for a show of hands, but so many of you have taken this class that I expect that you already know what the three Gs are. Uh, the three Gs are guilt, grace, and gratitude. Thank you very much. Uh, very good. Uh, we'll start with guilt. Humans are sinful by nature and in need of a savior.

Next grace, Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the atonement for our sin and to win us restored fellowship with the Father. And finally, gratitude In light of so great a salvation, we must live lives that are marked by Thanksgiving to God. So Christian, why should you resist sin? Why should you love your neighbor? The answer is because of the great grace that has been given to you in Christ. Now certainly words and prayers of thanksgiving and praise,

but even beyond that, we demonstrate our thanks to God for his mercy to us and what we do and in how we live. Gratitude grounds the life of the Christian saved persons live by gratitude. We're not saved by any work that we do, but since Christ has done the work to save us, the only fitting response is the sacrifice of praise and thanks. The only fitting response as Paul puts in in Romans 12, is to live as a living sacrifice to our Lord.

Now the logic of why our lives must reflect the love and mercy that we have been shown is the consistent pattern that the Bible gives when it comes to God's commands for his people. How his people bought by him must live the imperatives we say or the commands always follow the indicatives or the truth statements. The calling to holy living always follows the reminder of the great grace that we have been shown. The logic always follows the question,

this this line of reasoning in this question, Christian, how should a person in your position saved from your sin rescued from slavery? How should you behave in light of what is true of you? And we see that here in our text from Peter tonight, but we see it in all of Paul's letters. We see it in James, we see it in the 10 Commandments. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me. The grace of God is and has always been the basis for the commands of God. And so here tonight in our passage, we see this same pattern, a set of instructions or maybe we could say a set of callings upon the Christian life that flow from the realities that are gloriously true of those who belong to Jesus Christ. This is part of what it means that the Christian lives in an already

and not yet state, already justified, already set apart, seated with Christ in the heavenly and also called to fight the old man, to fight our self-centered tendencies and to live into the realities that are true of us. We are both saved from sin and fighting sin. You are righteous in Christ. Now be righteous in Christ here on earth. You have hope in Christ. Now, live out that hope that you have. Verses three and four, lay out the realities that are true

of the Christian by faith. And Ben very capably unpacked these for us. But let me give a synopsis first, the divine power of Christ our Lord has granted to the Christian all things needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of him that is through the knowledge of Christ. And second Christ has granted to us his precious and very great promises through which we'll become partakers of the divine nature.

Just reminding you again what Ben said last week, what we see in the, in these verses is that the person and work of Jesus Christ are the whole story. The Christian has all things needed for life and godliness because Christ's divine power has granted it to them. Knowing him grants it to them, the very great promises of Christ are granted to the Christian by Christ, by faith, the Christian is united to Christ and his work is applied to us.

He took the wrath that sin deserved and thus our debt has been paid and he earned eternal life with God by his obedience. So by the grace of God, we are forgiven and rewarded in Christ, all of grace, all of Christ, all through faith. And let us go a bit farther and note that what Christ has won, he will not lose what he has accomplished in us. You or I cannot unac accomplish. All of that is the very reason referred to here in verse five, all that I just said.

Because all these things are true, make every effort to supplement your faith with these following things in verses five through seven. The command here to supplement your faith is not prior to your justification in Christ, it is because of your justification. With all of that as our frame of reference, we can now ask this question, what does it mean to supplement our faith? Other translations say, and you've probably heard, make sure to add

to your faith this list of virtue, uh, knowledge, self-control, et cetera. Does this mean make sure to supplement your faith? Does this mean that somehow our faith is deficient or incomplete? Well, as we've seen, it's not that something other than grace appropriated by faith is needed for our justification before God. Rather as we grow in grace, as our faith deepens, there is work to be done. The Greek word here that's translated as supplement

or ad was used referring to rich benefactors who would put on athletic competitions or theatrical performances and they would lavish upon their guests and upon the competitors, the the things that showed them honor and esteem, they were able to perform better these these performers because they had no lack. Now there's no, there's no perfect analogy here because nothing is like the beautiful grace of our God. But, but let me, let me give some a try.

Imagine you got put on a championship basketball team and you got a spot on the roster and no one will ever be able to take it away from you. Now you could lean into that privilege and stop exercising, stop practicing, stop watching tape, stop listening to the coach. Or you could train hard, lean into what is best for the team. Practice run drills go hard. By doing so, you would be honoring your election to the team by growing and pursuing excellence.

Or imagine that you inherit a great treasure, a priceless work of art. What are you gonna do with it? Are you gonna keep it in your closet or are you gonna make sure it has the place of honor in your house has the beautiful frame protection from the sun and lighting that accentuates it just right. You show your value for the gift by working to accentuate it and even to glorify it Or imagine you are a gardener who is planting your tomatoes in the spring, you know that

soil will produce the soil and the sun and the and the rain are gonna produce fruit out of this tomato plant. You don't have to do anything but you work to weed out the invasive plants. You you work extra nutrients into the soil and maybe you are, you're careful that the plant gets the right amount of water. Maybe you prune a branch or two. Your little implanted tree will produce fruit by nature, but you do the work to make the fruit richer and sweeter

and more of a blessing. It's not the case that more than faith is needed to be saved, but Peter says to us here, you have been given such a gift. You can't just ignore it. Gratitude for the gift value for the tr treasure delight in your election requires that you make every effort to build upon it. It will be richer, sweeter, more of a blessing to others, more honoring of the great gift. If indeed what you do is make every effort

to supplement the gift with virtue knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. Next, looking down to verse 10, we are told that in supplementing our faith in this way, that we are being all the more diligent to confirm our calling an election. So let's, let's ask the question. Does the command to confirm here mean that somehow our calling and election are in doubt? Now the very idea that of God's calling

and election being uncertain or dependent upon us in some way is illogical. On the face of it, if God calls, if God elects, then he accomplishes. He is the act of power. He is the agent of our salvation and nothing that we do makes that reality more true. We cannot do anything to guarantee our own salvation. Indeed Christ himself has guaranteed it by rising from the dead. Ephesians two tells us that he has done this so that no one

may boast Salvation is his work and all the glory for our salvation belongs to him. So what then is meant here by make your calling an election? Sure. We are being called to live in a way that's characterized by these virtues that follow, which will confirm our calling an election and what is meant by calling an election. What is meant is to demonstrate or to prove as just as James shows us in his letter. Faith is not just a noun,

it is also a verb. We can talk about having faith or possessing faith, but we must also talk about exercising faith. Faith is demonstrated more than it is spoken or claimed. We will know that you have faith by the fruit of that faith in your life and this fruit is not merely brought about by the sitting on our hands and waiting for it. The fruit is pursued and labored for. And if that seems like justification by works to you,

I think you are not understanding our Lord's words when he said, if you love me you will keep my commandments. Imagine. Imagine the husband who when asked, do you love your wife? Says Of course I do. And then is asked, in what ways have you demonstrated that love to her and he can't come up with an answer? How then is your own love for Christ shown? Is it a warmth in your heart that no one will ever know about? No, it must be expressed.

There must be something in your life that shows your love. Likewise, if I believe that Christ is Lord, if I believe that I have been bought with a price, if I really believe this to be true and not merely an abstract or theo theoretical concept, then my life must show it. My actions will confirm what my heart knows. It's like that old example of the ice on the lake. It's one thing to say that you believe that the ice will hold your weight,

but your steps will prove your belief. And what Peter lays out for us here is a list of the areas of life that as you grow in the Christian life will be areas of testing for your faith, areas of life which you will need to work your faith out with fear and trembling areas in which you will need to work your faith out. Peter's saying here, you who believe don't fail the tests that are to come the tests of faith. So let's turn then to these

specific ways in which your faith will be proven. Peter says, make every effort to supplement your faith with these things, to pursue these things to so that your faith will show itself the exercise of our faith in the areas of zeal, the life of the mind, the war against sin, the right worship of God, your relationship with other believers and your relationship with unbelievers. Make every effort to add to your faith virtue knowledge,

self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. Let's look at each in turn add to your faith virtue. Now the word that's translated here as virtue in verse five is the same one that it's trans that is translated in verse three as excellence. Sharpness is another word and relates to a really good blade. What what makes a blade a really good blade? It's sharpness. What makes a faith a really excellent faith?

Well the degree to which you take this seriously and get after it. Another word is zeal. You pursue it diligently. You go after it hard. You treat matters of the Lord with weight and seriousness that they deserve you. Pursue the things on the rest of this list. You care about the things that Christ cares about and your priorities reflect his priorities. The first test that your faith faith is going to face is actually do you care enough about these

things to get after them? I'm thinking a lot this week about the called conference that's coming up this next, uh, Friday and Saturday. Um, and one of the things that I want to get across that I want our high schoolers and the high schoolers from the presbytery to hear, uh, is that missions and discipleship is the calling of all believers. Not just that a certain type of Christian cares about these things, but the rest of us care about normal things.

No, this is our calling. This is about all of us. You are either a goer or a sender. We want our high schoolers to hear that Matthew 28 is a calling for them. God clearly cares for his people among the lost and is given the great commission as the means by which they must be saved. And you do you see in this case, adding virtue to your faith means that you care deeply about the loss. Just as the Lord cares deeply about the lost

add to your virtue knowledge,

treating the faith with the weight that deserves, we should also invest in learning about Christ and His word and make that learning a priority. Another test will be are you content staying at a surface level with your faith or are you gonna dig deep? The see the calling isn't merely to read your Bible until you feel good or so that you can check off a box. It is to read it and understand it and know it deeper and deeper to continue to grow In your knowledge of it,

it is to make a plan to learn what you do not know it is to to read books about it and discuss it with other people. It is to grow in your comprehension of God's plan throughout redemptive history. Now you say, I'm I'm not an academic like some others. You don't have to be super smart to do this. Challenge yourself to grow, to get to know him more, to get to know Him in his word more deeply. Growth in the knowledge of God's word should naturally produce in you greater

and deeper affection for what Christ has done and a greater and deeper understanding of the certainty of your standing before God. By grace and a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the gospel plan, it will produce in you a deeper and clearer knowledge of the depth of your own sin and the incredible distance that you Christian have traveled from curse to blessing in Christ. It should produce in you humility before God and for his,

before his people and boldness to speak what is true

add to your knowledge, self-control. Now it is so good that you are learning the Bible so deeply and so richly Now work on taming that tongue. Now work on toward disciplining that lustful eye. Not so you might curry favor with God or as if you could achieve your own salvation. But because the pursuit of gossip or lust or rage does not belong in someone who has been given so great a salvation, it does not fit. It is not consistent.

It treats what Christ has done as light. It treats as weighty our petty desires. The struggle with sin is plainly attest to the faith that we've been given and Peter exhorts us to fight. And even though in this life we will not be completely free of our sinful nature. The internal war demonstrates the vitality of one's faith, demonstrates the value one has for Christ and demonstrates that what you believe about the forgiveness of sins in Christ is true.

If I say that Christ died for my sin, how am I going to regard my ongoing sins as not a big deal? Someone died on my behalf for real. Someone who above all others did not deserve. It suffered for me. Someone loved me that much. I want him to know how much I love him for it. I want him to know that I treasure it. I show my treasure by my fight. Notice that it specifically, I do not say I show my treasure by my perfection.

I show it by my fight. I demonstrate my love by my continual turning away from sin to Christ. Add to your self-control steadfastness so you we are not only fighting to kill sin, but we are standing firm with perseverance. When the bad weather of life hits Peter takes as a given, that hardship will come upon the Christian. That one of the major tests of your faith will be the hard providence is that you will face and Peter's exhortation here is

to stand firm. Trials are not merely something that you might have to deal with sometimes or something that goes away When you come to faith in Christ, they are a part of what it means to grow in grace. They are to be expected. They are the road upon which the Christian faith walks. In his first letter, Peter said it this way, beloved, do not be surprised that the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. So do not allow your resolve to waver under the weight of hardship. Tests and trials will come and you must hold fast to Christ. Only in him is their victory. Only in him is their hope. Only in him will your trials find meaning and purpose. And only in him will you find the strength that you need. And remember as you endure that our God is in the business

of redemption and he will always, always redeem the trial that you face. Remember that he is the God who turned the greatest injustice ever performed against a man into the salvation of all men. In the long run, all things are made new and good by our God. Add to your steadfastness godliness. The word here translated godliness means a right attitude toward God and the things of God. Reverence and the pursuit of right worship.

Zeal for the name of the Lord and for his house. This looks like attentiveness in worship, corporate worship, family worship, individual worship. It looks like listening to the sermon not to have your ears tickled, but to hear God speak not as consumers or critics but as seekers. Some of us preferred to be graders than rather than worshipers. Well I didn't like that song and I didn't like that illustration in that sermon.

I like it when so and so prays better and such and such. Stop where the word is rightly proclaimed and the people are gathered in Christ's name. He is here. Are you hearing him? Are you even listening? Are you just going through the motions? Do you see that this is a consistent and continual test of your faith kids? Now I think that this one can be hard for you sitting patiently for a har a long time listening to big words and sometimes words that you don't understand.

Praying with someone else who is leading prayer can be hard to know how to do. But I want you to hear this. Christ is actually speaking to us in His word and we are actually speaking to him when we pray. And when we sing the words of these songs, it's important that we think about the words that we're singing and understand them and say them from our hearts. He is hearing and answering our prayers. It is important that we take these things seriously

and do our best to join in. Now we're not always gonna be perfect at that, but it's important that we fight for it, that we do our best. He Jesus is pleased when you try to join the worship and making the effort to express our faith by being attentive to God in worship is what he's calling all of us to do. Add to your godliness brotherly affection, worshiping properly. Always be sure to love the brethren well. Is interesting that these last two brotherly affection

and love are listed. They're distinct, they're differentiated. The Christian is called to agape love for the neighbor, for one's neighbor. That's next. But Peter here calls us to a specific affection toward those who belong to us in Christ. They will know that you belong to me, our Lord said by your love for one another. This is a special challenge to us in a culture that is divided in the ways that we are. Sometimes we can feel more union with the pagans who agree

with us on cultural matters than we do with believers, even believers in our own church. But that's not a flaw in the word. That's a flaw in us. We are to remember and embrace the union that we have with one another by faith in Christ forgiving one another when we fail and seeking one another's good, we need to be quicker to see good fruit in one another and slower to be suspect of motives. We need to care for one another's physical needs

and pray for one another. When we are in trial, we need to put one another before ourselves and seek to serve and not to be served. The relationships within the church, like all of these areas are a proving ground for your faith life and add to your brotherly affection. Love the calling to love is not limited to other believers. It is to our neighbors. In general. The distinction is important 'cause different things are owed to neighbors than

to brothers and sisters. But we are called here to a general agape love of all people. Our attitude toward the lost must be one of charity and compassion hopefulness that the Lord might have mercy upon them. Our Lord himself commanded us to do good, to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us and to pray for those who persecute us. He commanded us to be like the Samaritan who found the man on the side of the road.

Self sacrificially, giving care across lines of animosity. Our Lord commanded us to love our enemies, that we might be like our Father in heaven. Consider that. Stop and consider that we emulate our Father. We follow in his footsteps by showing love to our enemies and doing good to them. Who indeed are the enemies of God. Well, we in our sin were his enemies, but he has done good for to us and shown us mercy. Had he not chosen to overlook our enmity to do good

to us, we would've been lost. And we are like him when we do exactly the same. Again, these these seven different areas are, as I said, a proving ground for your faith. There are undoubtedly more, but isn't it surprising in reflection how comprehensive it is? The Christian life is worked out, is demonstrated, is is, is wrestled through in how zealously you pursue God in the life of your mind, in your internal fight against sin

when you face the inevitable trial in your attitude towards worship and your attitude towards your brothers and sisters in Christ and in how you regard the unbelievers in the world around you. Peter is saying here what James said and what Paul said, let your faith be proved in all areas of your life. These are the constants of the Christian life, these this list. And Peter says, your faith in Christ determines how you should act in all these circumstances.

Let it come out in these circumstances. And if you don't try and live out your faith, if you don't let it lead how you behave in these places, Peter tells us you will be so nearsighted that you are blind because you have forgotten that you were cleansed from your former sins. What Christ has done for you matters so much that it should matter in every circumstance of your life. And if you let, excuse me, if you do, let your faith

lead you in these circumstances, if you pursue that and grow in the demonstration of your faith, in all of these ways, you'll be kept from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. May it be so of each and every one of us. Let's pray together.

Father, we ask for your strengthening power and grace. We know that even as you call us to strength of faith in these areas that we are needy and weak, we believe help our unbelief, help us. We ask to stand firm, help us to grow. Help us to know that you who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it in the day of Christ Jesus. Help us to rely upon your strengthening grace and help us to fight, help us to put into practice what we know to be true

by faith in Christ. It's in His name that we pray. Amen.