This is the Truth Network. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast, equipping our leaders of this great weekly Bible study held at Dario, our wonderful, gracious host. all across North Carolina. This is to equip, encourage, and guide you as you prepare to teach the word and guide the discussion at each location, each week.
And we continue our journey now through the book of Daniel. Here we are with today's special guest, Dr. Sam Warren. There I was, a freshman at a Christian college. struggling with, of all things, assurance.
How do you know you're saved? How do you know that you truly are born again? You truly are one of his. And my mentor, a godly man named Rick. who was my discipler, happened to be studying 2 Peter, of all things.
That's what we're in, guys. And he said to me, He said, Stu, here's how you know. You're really saved. You're someone who is adding. To your faith.
If you've been Brought into the new birth, your faith, your life will have new growth. And Peter takes us right there. He gives us great assurance of salvation. He challenges us. He even talks about: get ready for this, gang, the doctrine of election.
In our journey through 2 Peter. Dr. Horne, this is a heavy passage, but man, it's so important. Because the foundation has been laid with these rich indicatives of the multiplied grace and the knowledge of Christ and all of these exceeding great promises that his divine power has given us and then Peter says, okay, you're not just going to sit on your blessed assurance. You're going to start building.
You're going to start adding. This is a passage of growth. 2 Peter 1:5 through 11. What hits you as we approach this wonderful, epic passage of scripture, Dr. Sam Horn?
Well, I appreciate that, Stu. And actually, you know, it kind of resonates with what you said earlier. This passage has been formative. In my life, for many decades, for more than two decades, almost two and a half decades, my wife and I were privileged to lead a leadership development program that involved a whole lot of life coaching out of scripture. For a group of teams that would come together every summer.
And we did that for almost 24 years. And we trained thousands of teenagers and this was the core passage. because it is what is required. These are the ingredients. for a successful life.
And for the kind of life that Peter's listeners. or engaging in, you know, in our day and age. We tend to look at the Bible through Western eyes and our normal. Is very different than their normal would have been in Peter's day. Our normal is we get up in the morning out of a really nice bed and we go in and we have a nice breakfast and we drink one or two cups of coffee or nine or ten cups of coffee or however many we do.
And we get in one of our two or three cars and we drive off and we head off to our job where we have a nice paycheck and insurance and benefits. And we're called to live out our faith. In very, very comfortable circumstances, and if God in any way disrupts that, we think we've just fallen into the abyss. But if you go back to the first century, no Christian had that. Most Christians that Peter was writing to Would have been relentlessly resisted, they would have been ruthlessly persecuted, they would have had a very different reality every single day of their life.
And they were called to live out a vibrant faith. Under very different circumstances. And the New Testament writers actually present that as the normal. for Christian experience. In other words, we look at those kind of people and think, wow, those are super Christians.
And Peter and Paul and James would have looked at each other, kind of like, what in the world are these people talking about? This is normal. This is what all of us do. And they would look at us and say, you guys are actually abnormal. You've truncated the Christian experience so that it is so comfortable, there's no pressure.
And the Christian life was never, ever intended to be lived.
Sort of in that kind of comfort. It was intended to display the beauty and the power of the gospel under pressure. And that's exactly what we have here. We have God through the pen of Peter getting people ready to thrive under that kind of a context. That's excellent.
And by way of, we like to do review and then preview of what's coming. By way of review, Dr. Horn, you have these four Just epic verses that Peter opens up with, just pouring out God's grace in this. the one of my favorite, absolute favorite versus In Scripture, his divine power has given us all things. for life and godliness.
And this is a rich truth. And but this is, you know, you have indicatives and you have imperatives in the Bible, in the New Testament. What God is not saying is, okay, now you're saved by grace, you're saved by faith, now go live your life on your own and go work hard to make God love you. Uh we we know that's not the the gospel of grace Is not just in justification, but it's also in sanctification. We're to grow in grace.
The fruit that comes out of our life is the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God that Galatians 5 talks about. And so, Dr. Horne, the indicatives are super important. It kind of helps us set the stage for these beautiful imperatives that are coming. In five through 11, with, you know, and give us a little brief review, and then, you know, we could obviously jump right into the preview of these seven.
Wonderful, what you call building blocks, bricks, you know, equipping. Uh traits.
Well, I would say it like this, Stu. You know, think about what would happen if. you had the opportunity to take a 12-month journey. That it was that was so significant, the rest of your life would depend on the outcome of that journey. In preparing for that journey, you would want to know certain things.
So there are certain facts you would want to ascertain, like you would want to know what the destination is. You would want to know where the journey was headed to the best of your ability. There were certain facts. That he would gather.
So, if the word indicative is actually a term, it's a linguistic term that basically points us to things that are. In other words, these are the facts. Here's what we know. This is what's already present. Here's what's on the table.
The imperatives That you mentioned are the things God wants us to do on the basis of the facts we know.
So the first four verses Tell us what God wants us to know.
So, that we can then start acting on that knowledge. And what God wants us to know is that when we became believers, we obtained a faith. that was of equal standing. To that of Peter and Paul and James. In other words, we entered into something that is the normal experience for Peter, James, and Paul.
We look at those people. And as I said earlier, we tend to put them on a pedestal and say, well, you know, I could never, ever accomplish their level of spirituality. But I'm going to sit at their feet and try to learn from these super Christians. And Peter like blows that up. He says actually What you need to know is the gospel that saved you.
Gave you a salvation just like the one it gave me. You obtained a faith of equal standing. And it didn't come by your righteousness or by anything that you did or earned or merited. That's. What my good friend Paul was trying to teach us in Romans, what gave you this faith, this salvation that is just the same as mine, Peter would say, is a righteousness.
that came from God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so, grace and peace are now available to you and will be multiplied to you because you know God. and you know Jesus who is our Lord. And then we go on, Peter says, to understand that this God. This Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Has given us something through his divine agency, his power. And what he has given to us. are all things that are necessary for life and godliness. In other words, We God has given in salvation more than just. more than just a pardon from sin.
There's a positive side to what Christ did, and that is, he has made available in abundance everything we need for life and godliness. um and it's all coming from the one who has already called us to experience his glory and his virtue And what he has given us are these great and amazing promises.
So that we would become partakers of the divine nature. And that's what we talked about last time. We're not little gods, we're not all of a sudden omniscient and omnipotent. It's talking about being filled with the qualities that fill God, the communicable attributes of God. And the reason that we can do that is because we have been, and Paul would say it this way: we have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness.
and given it permanent standing and access into the kingdom of his son. And when you moved out of the kingdom of darkness and were placed into the kingdom of God's Son, your nature changed. You became a new man. And as a new man, you have a new heart, a new conscience, and a new desire to pursue God. And now Peter is saying, look.
God has given to us these amazing promises, this amazing position. And now he's going to give us everything we need for life and godliness.
So those are the indicatives. And then, as you start getting into verse 5 and going down to verse 11, we find out. That we're supposed to do something on the basis of that knowledge. And that's where the imperatives come in, those commands. Fantastic.
And I want you to jump right into those. I want you to kind of jump in as we now preview this week's lesson, specifically these verses, verses 5 through 11 of 2 Peter chapter 1. Dr. Horn, what you just said is beautiful. Our identity, the indicatives are who we are in Christ.
Those are the facts. You are a son of God, a daughter of God. You are a child of God.
Now, These imperatives are how.
Now, here's how you live out what God has worked in. What a beautiful thing. Dr. Horn, break down these verses. Help our folks kind of how do they how do these verses We've got these seven beautiful traits.
that we're to add to our faith. I know you have a a neat way of categorizing them and for our folks in a simple way. And then we have a couple admonitions and and sobering words related to making our election sure. And really a high note of this grand entrance that we'll have, this celebration coming into. You know, entering into glory one day.
Will you take us, take our, how can our, how do our people get their, wrap their arms around these verses? To teach them, break them down for us as we get into now the previewing this week's message from this text. Yeah, so at the heart of it are seven qualities. that we need to add to our life. If we're going to have the kind of life that Peter is calling us to and that the Holy Spirit is energizing us for.
in the life that we live here under pressure. And so before we get to those seven, this is how I would do it. I would set it up. There are things that Peter puts around those seven qualities. and I would make sure I really had that in my head.
So for example, Before he even gets to the seven qualities, he talks about a foundation in verse 5. He says, add to your faith. And so that's the prerequisite. If you take these seven qualities and you try to put them on a dead soul, There's no life. I used to, and when I mentioned that leadership program, I used to bring a dead tree.
A dead tree branch, a big branch that had all kinds of leaves on it, a dead one. And I stuck it in the corner of the room. And I went down to the commissary and I got apples and bananas and pears and oranges and whatever fruit they had, and I got duct tape. and I tape the fruit on that tree on the branches, all of the branches. And for the two weeks that we were together, we watched what happened to that fruit that was duct taped on the branch.
And if you take this passage and you just look at virtue and knowledge. and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection and love, and you duct tape them on a dead soul, you're going to end up with very, very bad fruit.
So, the prerequisite to all of this, the foundation is there has to be faith. There has to be true, genuine life. It's got to be personal, add to your faith. It's got to be present. It's a faith that is right now existing and it needs to be developing.
It needs to be growing. And so that's the prerequisite. And then there's this exhortation. And the exhortation is give all diligence. And the word there, giving all, is a word that means bring everything to the table, bring all of your force.
Bring all of your energy, bring everything you have to the table because this is important. And what you're going to use all of that energy for is to add something to your faith.
Now, don't make this mistake. Peter is not saying that your faith was sort of like a starter kit. And you got enough to get you through week one. But now you got to add a bunch of stuff. That's not what he's talking about.
When you got the gospel. and and you got faith you became a christian In essence, you got all of it. There's no more gospel to get. There's no more salvation to get. There's no more righteousness from God to get.
But but what Peter's saying here is you've got to bring Some things to the table for that faith to be effective. In the journey. In other words, think of it as this journey that you're taking. and you've got a ship now. And in order to be successful as you sail the ship of your life from where you are now to the father's house, you've got to outfit that ship.
You're going to need maps. You're going to need food. You're going to need provision. You're going to need all the supplies to make that journey successfully. And Peter says there are things that you need to work really, really hard to make sure you bring so that you can outfit.
The ship of your life. for the journey. And then in verse eight, he talks about. Why? In other words, he gives an explanation.
If these things are in you and increasing. Here's the positive. They keep you from being effective, ineffective, or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you will be spiritually healthy and productive. in your relationship with Christ as you live under pressure.
If you don't. If you don't do this. Then you will be blind. Look at verse. eight again.
If uh verse 9 rather Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind. The idea there is that he's stumbling around, he has forgotten. The word forgotten is not mental, it's not like. I think way back when I was a kid, I went to this camp and I can't remember what I did. That's not the idea here.
The word forget is a moral word, it means to turn away from. Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is squinting. That's the word for blind. Having turned away from what he was cleansed from. This is explaining what happens to a believer who's genuinely saved, and 25 years later.
His life's a mess. His marriage is destroyed by some sin that he's been caught up in. that he was delivered from 25 years earlier. What happened to that man or what happened to that woman?
Well, they didn't add to their faith. They didn't outfit their faith.
Now, there's a really huge motivation for all of this. In verse 10, we find out a huge motivation. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never stumble. And the idea of making your calling and election sure.
It's not so much. That you're working hard to add something to what Jesus already did. It's the idea that you're living in such a way. That the gospel has so changed your life that there's no doubt in your mind or in anybody else's mind that you possess the gospel. you know as a pastor oftentimes i've i've been called to do funerals for family members of people in our church.
And Then there's two kinds of funerals. One I love to do and the other I dread. The one I dread is when somebody comes along and says, Hey, Pastor, my dad passed away, or my mom passed away. And we'd like you to do the funeral. And I'm like, that's great.
Tell me a little bit about your dad. Was he a believer? And then here's what comes out.
Well, I think so. I think he might have been. You know, my dad really never talked much about God. He was not a church guy. He, you know, wasn't super into church.
um my um my grand uh my mom said that when he was a teenager he went to this camp and and he heard a sermon and he got saved and and then she married him but but honestly i mean he was a good man he was a moral man uh but he never talked about god i i i just don't know And then there's another person who comes to you and says, Hey, I want you to do a funeral for my dad. And you say to that person, well, tell me about your dad. Was he a Christian? Oh, oh, Pastor Sam, you wouldn't believe my dad loved God. He talked about God all the time.
And here's his Bible. I mean, look at his Bible. Everything in his Bible is marked up. And, you know, he lived out the gospel according to the Bible in our home. Every time the doors were open, he was in church.
He wasn't a perfect man, but he was a gospel man. You're looking at two people, one of them, and probably both of them in heaven. But one of them you know for sure because they made their calling election sure, and the other you wondering about. And I think that's what Peter is talking about. Because in verse 11, he says: if you live this way, if you add these things to your faith.
What's going to happen is it's going to so transform your life that people are going to be impacted by your life and you're going to get an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The idea there is fruitful. You're going to bring your boat into the harbor, and it's going to be so laden down with people. That are coming with you, and people are going to go, where did all those people come from? Because when you set sail, it was just you and the boat.
And the answer is: I don't know. Every port I got to, people wanted to get in the boat with me. And when you sail into the harbor, you aren't just going to limp in, you're going to come into that harbor and they're going to bring out the big trumpets. To herald your arrival. That's the idea that Peter is saying.
And that's why these seven qualities are so incredible. Uh Wow, and I love you to break these down, Dr. Horn. I just love all those illustrations. I'm trying to process these.
I'm trying to write down and get all this in my mind. It's excellent. You know, it's interesting. We used to traditionally kind of boohoo or shame people that doubted their salvation, but it's actually. Quickly, Doctor Horn, that can be a healthy thing.
You know, when you're searching for that assurance because they're There could be a sign of the Holy Spirit's convicting work in your life. If you're not questioning your salvation and you're living openly in. in a uh non-growth mode of spiritually then that could be even more dangerous, right? Yeah, I mean, that's what I think Paul was saying to the Corinthians, right? 2 Corinthians 13, when he said, examine yourself.
In other words, put your life under the spotlight. You know, take the light of God's word. and do a ruthless examination.
so that you are not overly competent. um that that your faith is genuine. You know, James talks about this in chapter two when he talks about. He engages in this conversation with someone and he says, show me your faith. And the other person says, well, I believe in God.
And James says, congratulations, that's wonderful. You know, we all believe in God. You know, what was the very first line in the Shema of Israel, that great Shema of Israel? Hero Israel, the Lord our God is one. Congratulations.
You have great theology.
So does the devil. The devil also believes and trembles. And he's not going to have it.
So simply having the right theology doesn't get you in. You have to have A living faith, not just a dead faith, not a lifeless faith. You gotta have a faith that's alive.
Well, how do you know if your faith is alive?
Well, it's producing things. It's working out things. For example, you know, how do you know a tree is alive?
Well, it's producing things. It's producing beautiful green leaves. It's producing fruit. It's growing. And yes, during the wintertime, you may wonder what's going on with that tree.
But as soon as spring hits, man, there's flowers, there's growth, there's fruit. And then here's another tree. And when spring comes, there's no life. The branches are bare. And for 12 months, for 18 months, for 36 months, for 48 months, for 62 months, or you just keep going.
That tree is as bare. As it was in winter. And finally, somebody comes along and says, you know, actually, I think that tree's dead. And Paul is saying a Christian. can comfort himself.
That because he believed something about Jesus when he was a teenager. He can go for 40 years and there's no fruit. There's no growth. There's no fruit of the Spirit. There's no love, joy, peace, long-suffering.
The qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13 don't show up in his life. Biblical wisdom that Proverbs talks about is absent. This passion for Jesus is missing. There is no desire to be around God's people. There's no hunger for God's word.
But if you ask that person, he would say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I'm a Christian. I prayed this prayer when I was a kid, and I know when I die, I'm going to heaven.
Well, what are you living for?
Well, I'm living for money. I'm living for power. I'm living for prestige. There's no difference between that man and the pagan next to him that works at his job Monday through Friday. But if you ask that guy, he's going to say, no, no, no, I prayed this prayer when I was 12.
And Paul would literally sit that brother down. And he would say, look, I'm not your judge. but you need to be your judge. And what you need to judge is this. You need to take your faith.
And put it ruthlessly under the microscope of all of God's word, everything that God says should be happening in the life of a Christian. And you need to examine yourself and you need to assure yourself that those really are happening, because if they're not, you have a dead faith.
So, in essence, this is Peter's version of that. Yeah. And, you know, this, you know, you get into the doctrine of election, predestination. We dealt with it some foreknowledge in 1 Peter, in the first few verses of that great book, the prequel to 2 Peter. Dr.
Horne, this verse, make your calling in election sure. This is an election debate we should be having.
Okay, this isn't all of us trying to climb into the mind of God. And Figure out, okay, who is in the elect, who's not in the elect, and such. But this is, hey, Let let's Produce the fruit. Let's go into what it looks like to be a believer. You know, like James, show me your faith.
You know, by your works, you know, how is God working How is he who began a good work in you working that out now? How are you growing in Christ? And so that will come up here, and I'm excited about that discussion. I'm also. Intrigued by these seven traits.
There are Pastors that literally have preached seven sermons on these few verses that we're doing one week on.
Okay. I know I did more than seven on these. I did some of them I did two on.
Well, that's rich.
So that's important, friends. That's why we're going verse by verse through the Word of God. That's why your pastor should be teaching the Word expositionally, verse by verse. We're not going to go seven sermons on these five or six verses, but, Dr. Horne.
Break down these things. And by the way, great study, everyone. This is what makes the Word of God so rich and so much fun, this adventure of studying God's Word, because you can look at each of these. And jump off of them into all kinds of other cool places. But, Dr.
Warren, how do you break these great seven traits that we are to be adding to our faith?
Well, you know, that's an important, really significant. uh issue and and i i really think before we just jump in there let me just make one more comment on uh On the um On the issue of of calling an election sure that that word sure Is not sort of implying that we have any part in our salvation. In other words, It's not like God is saying, okay, I saved you, but now you've got to come along. And you've got to come along and add a bunch of stuff to that. You know, that really is not.
What is going on there? And so it's simply saying, confirm it. Confirm, affirm. Validate what God is doing to others. And the way you validate it is through your life.
So that's, you know, I think that's helpful, was helpful to me.
So, there are these seven qualities that we are to add to our faith. And of course. We've already been told here's what you know, it's not like this is coming out of the blue. Remember these commands Are coming out of information God has already given us. God has already said to us, I've given you everything you need for life and godliness.
And what I've given you is knowledge, intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ. And I've given you great promises that are precious and sure. and out of all of that you have everything you need to add these seven qualities to your life So quality, so I broke them down this way. There are two internal qualities. That I need to be constantly valuing and adding, and making sure that the Spirit of God has freedom to work in my life.
One of them is moral virtue, moral excellence. The idea here is add to your faith virtue. And you can see that. at the end of verse five. Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue.
The word virtue there. Oftentimes we think of the word purity. We think of the word, we almost exclusively attach it to some kind of sexual purity. But actually, the word virtue in that text is something very different. It includes that, but it is so much bigger.
It's the word moral excellence. The ancient... Uh the Romans and the Greeks in Paul's day had this word. And they would use it like this.
Something is virtuous. When it does what it is supposed to do, I have a pen in my hand. And it's a really nice pen. It was a gift. It's probably a pen that's, I don't know, $100 or so.
It's not a cheap pen. And it's beautiful. I love this pen. And I carry it everywhere. But what would this pen, what would its value to be to me if it didn't write?
And the answer is it would take that $100 pen and make it worthless. And so, a virtuous pen is a pen that does what it was created to do. It writes a virtuous knife. Does what he was supposed to do. It cuts things.
A virtuous field is a field that grows things. And so. Peter says, if you are going to add to your faith, the first thing you're going to have to do is you're going to bring all of your diligence. And make sure that you are living for what you were created to live for. Why did God save you?
What was his purpose for your life? And live in such a way that when God looks at your life, He is pleased because you did what Paul told you to do. You discerned and are now doing the will of God. This is Romans 12, 1 and 2. Right.
I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God. that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable Perfect. Right. And then that you stop being transformed. Into the world, but that you be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Why? So that you can discern and do the perfect, acceptable, whole will of God for your life. That's all wrapped up here in this word. Virtue. And so, as Peter starts off, the first thing he says is: You want to have an abundant entrance?
You want to avoid stumbling around. You need to identify and do the will of God for your life. You need to do what God called you to do.
So add to your life virtue. That means I'm going to need knowledge. right so that's the second thing look at look at the next uh virtue there in verse six And virtue, you know, add to virtue knowledge. The word knowledge there is not just head knowledge. It's not more facts.
In other words, Peter's not saying, hey, if you want to really succeed in the Christian life, you need to go to a Bible college or you need to go off and you need to go to seminary or you need to find a Bible Institute or you need to take three courses. All of that's helpful, but that's not what this word knowledge means. This word knowledge is a word that carries the idea of intimate. acquaintance that produces discernment. Intimate acquaintance that produces discernment.
And we all have that. I mean, for example, if you've been married for any length of time. You have an intimate relationship with your wife that gives you discernment. You already know when you're trying to figure out where to go for dinner. you already know which restaurants are off the list.
without even having to ask her. You already know what her favorite food is. You already know as you're, you know, maybe you're shopping for a Christmas present and you're going through Macy's or some really nice place and you're looking at clothes. You already instinctively know that the outfit that you're looking at, she's either gonna really like it or she's not.
Well, how did you get that knowledge? And the answer is you lived with your wife. That's the idea here. Add to your faith. moral excellence that comes out of living intimately with God.
living intimately with Jesus Christ that gives you discernment. about as well i mean as a christian have you ever been somewhere And you're sitting there, and all of a sudden, there are things going on around you, and internally, you start to get real uncomfortable. Maybe, you know, maybe you're with a group of guys and you went somewhere after work, and it was just going to be an afterwork get together. And hey, you know, we're going to have fun. And then you get in there, and all of a sudden, you find yourself walking in to a club, and you get into that club, and there's a woman up on a stage with almost nothing on.
And instinctively, internally, there is this. this inward cringing like I'm not supposed to be here. Or maybe you're at a movie. And all of a sudden, there's a turn in the movie and it becomes very, very immoral. And it's not just a sort of a passing reference.
It becomes a major, major theme in the movie to the point that you're inside of you, there is something screaming, you need to get up and go out. This is not the place for you. How do you know that? And the answer is. You live with Christ.
You live with the Spirit of God. You are gaining discernment internally based on what you've read in the scriptures about Christ. And so these are internal virtues that come. And then there are two sort of outer disciplines or personal disciplines: self-control. And endurance.
Self-control is a word that means to bring something under mastery. This is the idea of what would happen if you had a horse in the ancient world. You would have to master that horse. All of that energy, all of that strength would have to be brought under control. This is the idea of what a good athlete would do.
A good athlete would bring himself under discipline so that when it counted, he could do what he really wanted to do. He would avoid doing what he wanted to do at a particular moment.
So that when he got out on the field, he could do what he really wanted to do. You know, some of our listeners will have been good athletes. And there's nothing more frustrating as an athlete when on the game that the season rests on, you're out on the field and all of a sudden you break free. And the ball is passed to you, and you catch that ball, and it's you and the end zone, and you're running all out. But by the time you get.
to the 20 yard line, your legs are done. And as hard as you want to go, and as passionate as you are, and as deep as you reach down in, you just don't have the strength anymore. And you get nailed from behind, and the opportunity to win the game, and actually, the season is lost because you couldn't get to the end zone, even though it was wide open for you.
Well, where did that come from?
Well, it came way back at the beginning of the season when you were like, I really don't want to do wind sprints. I hate wind sprints. These are awful. I'm not doing them. And the coach says, you are doing.
So you did him, but you did them half-heartedly. and you didn't really you just did enough to look to the coach like you were doing the win sprints but it never benefited you because you didn't add to your faith you didn't bring all diligence And now, on game day, at the most important moment where you really want to get to that end zone, you can't because you didn't have self-discipline. And that's the point. When you live in the Christian life and you really want to please the Lord, it's going to take this kind of self-discipline that you bring to your life. And the reason you need that is because you're going to need.
Steadfastness. or endurance. You know, think of these big beams that hold up buildings. Or think about steel that is tempered, that literally supports entire structures, or think about bridges that are supported by concrete pillars. And those pillars are under intense, immense pressure.
all the time. And Peter is actually saying that the normal Christian life. Is a life that is going to be lived in this world with an immense amount of pressure. And in order to have pressure, in order to endure, you're going to have to have self-discipline.
So you're going to have to bring endurance to the table. This is what James talks about in James chapter one.
So there are these. Internal qualities, and then these there are these external disciplines. And then there are these relational expressions. And there are two of them. uh look at verse End of verse six, and to your steadfastness, godliness.
That's my relationship to God. The word godly is not so much talking about piety so that I could impress Stu Epperson or Sam Horne. The word godliness there is a word that meant to live in a way that makes God smile. It's my desire to please God. God, I want to live even if nobody's watching, even if nobody ever knows.
I want to live so that when you look down. I'm bringing joy and pleasure and you're smiling. That's the idea behind godliness. And then there is this other expression called brotherly kindness. And that is that is in essence what happens when When we're in the household of faith, you know, some of the hardest people to love are other Christians.
Because they hurt you. They disappoint you. They sin against you. They don't meet your expectations. And there is all of a sudden, you know, we're in the same family, but there is this distance.
I just don't like that person. I'm not going to invest a whole lot in that person. I'm not going to be around that person. And Peter says, listen, as you live in the world, that's the way the world lives. The world should look at you guys and see this brotherly affection, this fraternal affection between you.
And then the last thing is love. This is agape love. This is the word that describes the kind of love that God had for us. And it's what I call a John 3:16 love, a Romans. five uh six seven and eight kind of love where while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, for God so loved the world.
That he sent his only begotten son. You mentioned election and predestination earlier. You know, as a reformed theologian, I believe in those things and I'm thankful for those things. But we can get so lost in those things and so bound up in those things that we forget the fact that God really does love the world. He really doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked.
That he really isn't desirous. It is not his desire. It may be, in the larger purposes of life, his decreed will, but it is certainly not coming out of a heart that just sort of desires to vindicate an enemy. He's not willing that any should perish. He doesn't take delight in the death of the wicked.
And it is a great grief to God when somebody dies and goes to hell because they've resisted and rejected his son. It is a great joy. To God, when we love our enemies the way that He loved His enemies, and we were that enemy. You know, there's a an olive oil. Not an olive oil, an olive wood store in Bethlehem that I go to.
I lead study tours over there. Constantly over the years, probably done, I don't know, 15-16 of them, and um. And there's Olivewood stores a high-end. It's a good friend of mine. His name is Kondo.
And you go in there and he has a normal olive wood that a tourist can buy for 40, 50 bucks. But then he's got some pieces that are $40,000, $50,000 pieces. And I love to just go over there and admire them.
Well, one of the pieces, a more high-end piece, not at that level, was a picture called Mercy. And it's a picture of Jesus. And there is a Roman centurion. that has collapsed on Jesus' shoulder. and jesus has his arms wrapped tightly around this roman centurion And if you look down a little bit down the side of the olive wood, there's a mallet, a hammer in one hand of that centurion, and there's a nail in the other.
And Jesus is comforting this centurion. And I've thought, man, if I had the money, I would buy that. I've thought about that. I think about that all the time. when I think about this word love.
This is how Jesus loved. Unconditional with no expectation. This is how he loved me. Because I was that centurion, right? In a real sense, I was the one who nailed him to that tree.
And he loved me. And that is the most powerful force. In the universe, mercy and love come out of grace. And this is what these virtues do. When you put all of these virtues in the life of a person.
And the Spirit of God energizes those verses or those virtues. then that person will bring to the kingdom a boatload of people. His boat will come in burdened down, barely above the waterline because so many people are in that boat. That joined him because they saw what faith under fire looks like, and it's beautiful. And they tasted grace.
from a person like this. Wow, and I love how you closed on that note of love and that image of that centurion of Christ's amazing love as he bled and died for us. Dr. Horn, this last thing we want to do. In this passage, and I don't believe it's Peter's intent at all, is to shame everybody and say, Okay, God's going to zap you.
If you're not stepping in line and being a little Christian and checking off your boxes, this isn't a list here in 2 Peter 1 to create shame and all that, but it is to sober us up and to say, hey, what's going on? The engine light comes on sometimes in the Christian life, right? And we've got to stop and say, okay, am I growing? And Dr. Warren, I think about all the list, and we're going to get out of here.
We're over time, but I just think about the list of the Bible. You know, the fruit of the Spirit. You got these, the list of things: love, joy, peace. You have the list of marks of wisdom. Wisdom that is from above is peaceable and pure, and all these things.
You have the list of 1 Corinthians 13: love is patient, love is kind, all these things. And I really, this morning I woke up at 4 a.m. and something was missing in my meditation. I was meditating on these traits. And I thought, you know, like you said, God doesn't just want us to go.
Have more virtue and go have more forbearance and go have more. It's not a competition or a fleshly endeavor. This is all of him. And I thought about this. This is something the Lord just kind of dropped into me.
And maybe you can. Dr. Horn, tell me if I'm all wet or not on this, but I thought. You know, each one of these traits, Jesus Christ perfectly embodied. Absolutely.
You know, it says in that verse, I believe it's verse four after, or verse three: you know, the divine prompt, the divine nature has given us his divine power, has given us all these things, the life of God through the knowledge of him who has called us by glory and virtue. He is the, Jesus is the, you know, in him we saw the fullness of glory, in him, we saw the fullness of. Virtue. So if you take him. He is, you know, he is.
Uh he is Godly. You know, he was perfectly virtuous, morally excellent. He was in every way, shape, or form, the one that loves us closer than a brother, brotherly kindness. He persevered, right? He had the patience, the forbearance.
Of anyone. You know, he had the self-control. You know, like he disciplined himself, you know, and it says to the point of blood, you know, in the death of the cross in Hebrews 12, I think specifically verse 3 and 4 after verse 2 there. And so Jesus, and I'm reminded of, I think it's Romans 15 or somewhere in there where Paul says, He says You know, we have the armor of light, and he says. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so isn't there a very real sense, Doctor Horn, that If someone forgets exactly which order these wonderful list of faith builders, Uh, you know, what place or what cadence they fall in, if we just cling to Jesus, it's going to produce all this stuff in our life. And there's a mention of the knowledge, yes, sir. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, Steve, somebody, somebody said it like this. You know, these are the ingredients.
And if you put them in a blender and you turn the blender on, the blender does all the work, right? The Spirit of God does the work. He knows exactly how to mix up these ingredients. And what's happening is the blender is bringing all of these ingredients in. And when you actually drink the smoothie, it tastes a lot like Jesus.
I know that's like a really dumb illustration. But but it resonated with me. It's like, you know what? That's exactly right. This is how I become like Christ.
Yeah, we use the word Christ-like all the time. We need to be more Christ-like.
Well, how?
Well, I got to become like Christ before I can be like Christ. In other words, I can't act like Christ before I am like Christ. And God put me in Christ, right?
So God's already done the hard part. Spirit of God, if I'll take these little seven qualities, and then you know, Paul's gonna talk about. You know, the virtues in 1 Corinthians 13. If I'll take these ingredients and just dump them in the blender. And let the Holy Spirit just turn them around in my life.
At some point, I'm going to taste. I might taste like Jesus. And that's the beauty of this. It's powerful. Yeah, when you think about the intentionality, I mean, there's all this language of be diligent to do this, you know, give every effort toward this.
There's an intentionality, there's an intensity. of growing in grace And ultimately, to simplify the whole conversation, You become exactly like who you hang out with.
So, if I'm gonna grow in the knowledge of Jesus, if I'm gonna hang out with Jesus, let me tell you something: I'm gonna be different. When I walk in the room, there's gonna be a peace about me, there's gonna be a presence about me because I have Christ. You know, they said of the disciples, they said, These guys, these dumb as dirt fishermen who stood down the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 5, it says these guys, they've been with Jesus. There's something supernatural about them. All of these things are bound in the person and work of Christ, and He's working it.
Yeah, He's worked it in us, He's put it in us now, He's working it out of us. And we are to be intentionally building others up, not tearing down, but. Building up. And that's what edifying means. That's the point of the local church.
You're going somewhere where you're fed and you're built up and you're building others up. You're discipling others. You're being discipled. And so, some important things in here, questions, you know, almost on a sub-narrative that some of our leaders may ask: like, how are you growing? How are you intentional about your adding to your faith?
How are you helping others grow? How are you building others up in the faith? Who is building you up in the faith? And how is how are you who is closer to God? Today Because Sam Horn, Stu Epperson are on this earth today.
So, when I lay my head down at night in bed, who is closer to God because I'm on this planet because of what Christ is doing in me? to me and then through me As my faith, because this is contagious. You know, there's, like you said, there's going to be a bunch of people in that boat that you're taking that's on its way to sail into Gloryland, right, Dr. Horn? That's right.
Well, we're over time. Let me pray. And let's just ask God to help us. All of us, not just you and me, but our leaders and the people that are studying this. to grasp this because the rest of the book's going to unpack it.
Lord, thank you that we could talk today. Our hour has been amazing. It's been, it always passes so fast. And I know that it's an hour that many people will invest, and I pray that it would be profitable for them. I pray that you would bless do.
and the work he's doing and this Bible study in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Dr. Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com.
Follow us on YouTube. Facebook and all social media, including in Stu Graham, and be encouraged, stay in the word. Read it. Share it, study it, memorize it. meditate on God's Word.
Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Proverbs 30 verse 5.
