Make Your Life Count
Dr. Oliver Araiza
Oliver Araiza is a local church evangelist out of West Union, West Virginia and founder of Gospel Voice Radio Network.
“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 1:1-11)
Notice what Simon Peter says here in verse 12, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” With verse 12 in mind, there’s not a single person here that this message doesn’t apply to. If you don’t know anything about what I’m talking about, then you need to know; but if you know everything I’m talking about and you’re living for the Lord to the enth degree, you still need to be reminded. I know this is bad English, but ain’t none of us here have got that far yet! Amen? We all have room to grow, and the Bible says here that, even though you know them, and you’re established in the present truth, you need to be reminded.
There are seven ingredients that Simon lays out in this passage to help us to become growing, abounding, maturing Christians. We need to be mature. We don’t need to be babies. We don’t need to fuss and gripe and throw temper tantrums because we don’t get our way. Say, “Amen,” right there. This will help you and show you how to be a mature, abounding, growing Christian, knowing and seeing how God is at work in your life. He said it over and over. What does He want you to know? That you’ll have the knowledge of Him. That’s a wonderful thing. While we look at this passage I want to talk to you about “How to Make Your Christian Life Count.” I believe the secret is found in these verses.
One of the most important truths that I believe is essential for spiritual maturity is having a proper understanding of Who Jesus is, and how He works in our life. In verses one, two, and three, he lays it out. In verse one – he states his name, Simon Peter, and calls himself a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Christian friend, don’t ever stray away from the fact that you are a servant to the Lord, Jesus Christ. I stress that because many folks may not think what they do for God is that important. You may simply gas the buses up or clean the church, but my friend, when you do that stuff with a motive of wanting to serve God and show Him your love, you are doing it as a servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
We’re not serving men. We’re serving the Lord. Simon Peter said, “I am a servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ.” He had a clear understanding of who Jesus was, and what the Lord was doing in his life. Here Simon Peter connects himself immediately with Jesus. I’m “...a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ…through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Then he says, “Also, I’m not just connected to God, but I am connected “...to those that have obtained like precious faith… through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” (II Peter 1:1) So he connects himself to Jesus and he also connects himself to God’s people.
I’ve tried to teach my family this. I’ve told them over and over, “We are so blessed because we have hundreds and hundreds of people who love us that we can call, ‘friends.’” What makes that bond so dear, and so precious, and so binding? It’s Jesus. I preach in a different church almost every week of my life. Often I’ll go preach for a brand new church. Sometimes I preach a revival meeting or do something with the teenagers. It is absolutely amazing how close of a bond can be created between Christians and especially servants of the Lord in just a few short days. Why? Because of Jesus. Peter said, “I’m a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, but also I am connected to those that have obtained like precious faith.” He connects himself to Jesus and to God’s people.
Then he says, in verse two, “Grace and peace…” Those are two wonderful words. “…be multiplied unto you…” How? “…through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,” Do you know, the average Christian really doesn’t take a lot of time to think about how God is at work in their life. My friend, what a wonderful blessing it is to know that you’re saved. I’m sure, if we had a testimony time, a lot of folks could stand up, be real sincere, and say, “Thank the Lord for the day that I got saved.” But can I say something to you, dear friend? Do you realize that Jesus wanted to be just as intimate and close to you yesterday and today as the day you got saved? He’s doing a great work in us right now, but so many times, we’re unaware. We have no knowledge of what Jesus is doing in our life. Thank God we have a testimony of being saved, but my friend, Jesus wants to be involved in your life every day. That’s what he’s saying in this passage.
Verse three, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” God wants you to realize how He’s at work in your life.
Then in verse four, he’s getting down to the meat of it, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:” I love to read about the promises in the Word of God. Amen? But when I see these words that describe a little more, these adjectives describing the promises of God; “...exceeding great and precious promises,” that makes it even more exciting to me! Because you see, God is not like you and me. There have been times that we have made promises, and then were just absolutely unable to keep our promise, because we’re not aware of things in the future. Because the way things happen, we sometimes cannot keep a promise at that very moment. But that never happens to God. He always keeps His promises. He talks about these “exceeding great and precious promises.”
Do you know? I think one of the greatest promises in the Bible is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” The Bible promises that, when the temptation comes your way, you do not have to yield to it. God’s word has promised that He will “make a way to escape.”
Now I can’t help it -- this is just the way I think. When I read something like that, a football story comes to my mind! I was a running back when I was younger. I used to tell those stories, and teenagers would say, “Oh yeah? I’ll race you, Brother Oliver.” I used to race them, but I don’t anymore, so don’t even ask me! But one of the things I learned to do was to follow my blocker. If I got away from my blockers, oh, it was painful. You’ve got to learn to follow the block. I would just dream to have blocking like Brother Chad in front of me. Man, that would be nice! I would just put my hand on his back, and duck my head, and said, “C’mon, Brother Chad. Keep on going.”
Well, the Bible has taught us that the Holy Spirit of God is always going to open up a hole for us. He’s always going to bust us through the line. We never have to get knocked back behind the line of scrimmage. We never have to lose yardage as a Christian. The Holy Spirit has promised us, in the Bible, that He will make a way of escape. Isn’t that a great promise?
One of the most precious promises in the Bible, I think, is found in Philippians 4:19, where the Bible says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” I tell you what. God’s been good and every need that we have ever had, God has met it. He’s also met a lot of things that we wanted that really weren’t actually needs, but He blessed us anyway.
During my last year of Bible college, I got home from school, and said to my wife, “I am so hungry. I need you to cook me something before I go to work.”
She said, “Well, what do you want?”
I said, “Boy, I’d like to have a big ol’ cheese omelet.” I’m the kind of person, I can eat breakfast anytime of the day. Eggs and potatoes always taste good. I said, “Honey, cook me a big ol’ cheese omelet.”
She said, “We’ve got eggs, but we don’t have any cheese.”
So, I went back to my studying, and I really wasn’t too serious about it, but I just kind of said to the Lord, “Boy, it would be good to have some cheese.” Have you ever done anything like that before? “Lord, it would be good to have some cheese.” I didn’t get on my knees and say, “Oh, God! Would You please give me some cheese!” It was nothing like that. It was just real simple. “Lord, I’d like to have some cheese.”
Boy, it wasn’t five minutes after I’d breathed that little prayer, and there was a knock on my door. It was my landlady. My wife said, “Oliver, its Mrs. Cardon. Would you go answer the door?” I don’t know why, but my wife was always a little afraid of her.
So I answered the door, and there she stood with a big ol’ brown grocery bag. She says, “Oliver, our kids just got back from vacation up in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I think they must have visited every cheese factory in those two states! They brought us back so much cheese that we will never be able to eat it all. Would you like to have some cheese?”
I said, “Mrs. Cardon, we’d love that. Thank you very much.” She gave me that big ol’ bag and I put it on the table and said, “Now honey, now make me a cheese omelet with double cheese!” That was such a blessing to me because I knew that God had heard and answered.
God is so good to us, He really is. Simon Peter is saying, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these...” by these promises, “...that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Isn’t it wonderful that we have, through the blood of Jesus Christ and His promises, escaped the corruption that is in the world? I never feel so distant from the world as when I go to an amusement park. It just seems to me, when I’m at an amusement park, I see how different I am, and how different I think, and how different I live, from this old world. That’s just not the way we live. Boy, we have escaped a lot of corruption. That’s all the world has to offer, dear friends, is corruption.
Then he makes that very interesting statement n verse 5, “And beside this…” In all reality, the apostle here has already laid out a fine spiritual meal. We’re connected to Jesus Christ. We’re servants of the King of kings and Lord of lords. We’re connected to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. He has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Grace and peace can be multiplied through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us exceeding, great and precious promises. By these promises, we can escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. But he’s not finished. Now he said, “And beside this…” Oh, my! He is still spreading the table, spiritually.
It reminds me about a place I went to. I preached a meeting in Illinois, a little town out in the middle of corn fields. After the morning service, the pastor took our family out to this old mansion. It was decorated, fixed up, turned into a nice restaurant, just real pretty. The moment we walked in, you could tell it was going to be good!
The preacher kind of gave us some tips. You really didn’t order individual plates. They just had it all set out. He said, “Let me show you where the salad bar is.” We went around the corner into that room and, I’m telling you, that salad bar looked like it was a football field long! They had about everything you could ever imagine, even things you wouldn’t ever even think about putting on a salad; they had it all. It was absolutely amazing. At the end of that salad bar, they had a little soup bar. Oh, my, especially when it gets as cold as it was today, soup just tastes so good.
Right behind that soup, they had homemade bread, where you could slice it, and real butter. Not this margarine stuff. Oh-h-h. Then they had another little tub of butter with honey in it. Lord, have mercy. That would make a jack-rabbit slap a hound dog, brother.
You know, if that was all there was to the restaurant that would be fine, but after you went to the salad bar, there was the main entrée area. Good night! Prime rib, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, casseroles, roast beef, fish, turkey, dressing… I mean, everything! Seafood, shrimp, crab legs… It was all there!
But beside this, you’d go to the next room. Talk about desserts! I mean, cakes, pies, pudding, pastry… Oh-h-h. Then at the corner there you could get you a nice, hot cup of coffee. Amen? Everybody knows that’s where the hidden power of the Holy Spirit is found – in a cup of coffee in the morning with an Old King James Bible! Praise God.
Simon Peter has laid out to us such a spiritual buffet. He said, “We’re connected to Jesus. We’re servants of Him. We’re connected to those that have attained like precious faith of the believers.” He says, “Grace and peace can be multiplied.” He says, “He’s given us everything that pertains unto life and godliness.” He says, “He’s given us exceeding great and precious promises: and by these we’ve escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” I mean, he has already laid out a spread spiritually, but now he says, “And beside this, giving all diligence,” That means you’re to muster up as much intensity as you possibly can.
I’ve had the privilege for the last many summers to be a part of Midwest Christian Boys Football Camp in Dwight, Illinois. It’s for homeschool and Christian school boys who don’t have the opportunity to play football. There are a lot of lessons you can learn about football. I’ve been able to be a JV Coach for years, and I’ve enjoyed it. One of the things that I look for is boys who are intense. I don’t want those boys who are looking up in the clouds and saying, “Wow. Look at that jet.” I mean, I’m looking for boys that want to get into the game. They’re intense.
The apostle is saying here, “…giving all diligence,” That means to be intense and be aggressive about it! Have a get-with-it attitude! He says, “…giving all diligence, add to your faith…” He gives us the ingredients that we’re to add. He says, “Add to your faith…” This is talking about saving faith, the kind of faith that results in you being a partaker of the divine nature. This is the kind of faith that granted forgiveness, that redeemed you, that placed you in God’s family.
You see, there is a demonic faith in James 2:19. Then there is a dead faith in James 2:17. Then there is a redemptive faith in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” He says, “I already laid out a spread for you. Now I want you to be intense and diligent and add these ingredients to your faith.” When we add these things to our faith, it guarantees growth and maturity.
Look what the Scripture promises in verse eight: “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, if you are adding these things to your Christian experience, you’re going to be abounding, and be knowledgeable of how God is at work in your life. I’ll tell you the truth, the spiritual thermometer of a church is displayed when testimony time comes around. Too many times, Baptists are just a little too quiet when testimony time starts. You ought to always have a testimony. You shouldn’t have to go back 25 years to get a testimony. You should be able to go back to yesterday and today, and realize what God did in your life. You have a knowledge. He says, “If these things are in you, you’re going to abound, and you won’t be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
But look what happens if we don’t. Look at verse number nine: “But he that lacketh these things…” In other words, “He didn’t add these seven ingredients to his life.” “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” Now let me ask you a question. Can a person be truly saved and not know it for sure? Can a person be saved and not know 100% for certain that they’re saved? According to verse nine, yes, that can happen. Some people experience doubts even though they have truly trusted in Jesus to saved them.
I guarantee you, if you’ve been out knocking on doors it’s been said to you. You walk up to somebody on the street, or knock on somebody’s door and invite them out to revival meeting, then start witnessing to them. “Let me ask you a question, If you were to die today, do you know for sure that you’re going to go to Heaven when you die?”
They say, “Well, I don’t know.”
Then you say, “Well, if I could show you from the Bible how you could know, would you be willing to do what the Bible says?”
“Well, yes!” Then you start taking them through the plan of salvation. As you get to the end of it, you draw the net and encourage them to believe with their heart and call upon the Lord sincerely, in prayer. Then they respond, “Well, I remember doing that one time when I was a little child at Vacation Bible School, or as a teenager at a youth meeting.”
Now friend, I’m not going to try to force another experience. If I’ve asked the questions and I feel that they truly are born-again, then I’m going to encourage them to build on that faith. I don’t want to build on doubt.
How many times has it been said to me, “I got saved as a kid, but I didn’t even begin to grow until 25 years later when I came into contact with the right kind of a church.” All of a sudden they get in a strong, Bible-preaching church and wow! I mean, they got saved as a child, but they didn’t start growing until years later! The Bible says, “He that lacketh these things…” In other words, “He hasn’t added anything to his faith.” “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” Well, if he’d forgotten that he was purged, then he was purged. He’s just forgotten about it.
That’s why it’s so important to add to your faith. You want your life to count. You want to be a mature Christian. By the way, going through this process of praying for and calling a pastor, you need to be spiritually mature and in touch with God’s Holy Spirit. You don’t need to be a baby Christian. He says, “If you don’t add to your faith, you’ll have forgotten that you were purged of your old sins.”
VIRTUE
Now I want you to notice the order of the building. “Add to your faith, virtue. Add to your faith, knowledge. Add to your faith, temperance.” Is that what the Bible says? No, that’s not what it says. It says, “Add to your faith virtue: and then to virtue knowledge; And then to knowledge temperance…” Now don’t miss it. The Bible didn’t say, “Add to your faith virtue, and add to your faith knowledge, and add to your faith temperance.” The Bible says, “Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience;” You see, friend, each one builds upon the other.
What is God doing? Well, number one, you have a foundation, which is faith. If you haven’t been saved, then you can’t add a thing, because faith is the foundation that you build upon, knowing that you’ve been saved, having that knowledge that you’ve been born again. Now that you’ve been saved, he says, “…add to your faith.” Do something with it. My friend, faith is the foundation that we build upon. “…add to your faith virtue…” That is the first ingredient that we’re to add to our faith, to our testimony of salvation. Add to your faith, virtue.
You know, I’ve examined a lot of our new converts classes and things of that nature and sometimes we are doing it backwards from how the Bible teaches. A lot of times, we want to get people saved and automatically, boom, we put them in a class and start teaching them Bible doctrine, but isn’t it amazing how God lays it out in this passage? He says, “Now that you’ve been saved, virtue.” What is virtue? Virtue is moral strength. It’s moral excellence. It’s having the right kind of behavior, the proper conduct. It’s having courage to stand for truth and righteousness.
To live virtuous in our world is to be separated from the world and to be surrendered to the Lord’s Will. You see, adding virtue to faith is having an outward testimony that’s real of the inward testimony that you testify about. Adding virtue to faith is forsaking any worldly habit that God has revealed to you. Adding virtue to faith is standing for truth. It’s behaving righteously. It’s dealing with separation and holiness. Separating from the world unto God. We don’t separate from the world just to get away from the world. We separate from the world so that we can give our love and affection and attention and passion to Christ. That’s the whole purpose of separation. If all you do is separate from the world, then you become Pharisaical. You become a hypocrite. You’re so ‘spiritually’ minded, you’re no earthly good.
You see, the purpose of virtue is so that we can give our passion to Christ. The Bible says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (I John 2:15) The more that you’re in love with this world, the less you are able to love God. Do you understand that? That is the very first thing that we’re to add to our faith. You’re supposed to behave right, conduct yourself right. You’re supposed to be Christian. He says, “…add to your faith virtue…” Moral strength. Behaving right. Standing for Truth. That’s the first ingredient that we’re building upon.
God in His Word is building a strong, stable Christian that doesn’t live his life day by day, so up and down, and moody, and touchy, and edgy. God wants us to be stable, abounding, growing Christians.
KNOWLEDGE
He says, “…add to virtue knowledge…” Now what is knowledge? It’s really just understanding the Bible, but it’s more than just knowing what you believe. A lot of times we say, “Know what you believe! Know what you believe!” but it’s a little deeper than that. It’s not just knowing what you believe, but it’s believing what you know.
Because there are a lot of folks who say, “I believe in tithing.” You do? You believe in tithing? When do you tithe? “Oh, um, well…” By looking at your checkbook register, you’d think that you were a member of the Walmart Baptist Church. You sure give a lot of money to them. “Oh, preacher, I believe in soulwinning!” Well, when soulwinning day comes around, those who believe in it will be here.
It’s not just knowing what we believe, but believing what we know. Because if we believe what we know, it’s going to change our life. What’s he doing? He is building a stable, firm, abounding, growing Christian. Not a Pharisee or a hypocrite, not and up and down, moody, in and out Christian, but an abounding, growing Christian that knows how God is at work in his life.
TEMPERANCE
“Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance.” What is temperance? It’s self-control. For the Christian, it deals with being under the leadership and control of the Holy Spirit of God. Friend, it does mean just temperance. Holding back. Restraining. I know you have a hard time imagining this, but I’ve had people smart off to me every now and then when I’m out soulwinning. I know you can hardly believe it, but it’s happened.
Now I’m the kind of person that can think of a hundred smart aleck things to say right back to them. I mean, it comes to me quick. Boy, I’d just love to lash into them, but do you know what I’ve got to do? I’ve got to bite my tongue, because that’s really not the way you win them to Christ! They’re expecting you to lash back so they feel justified. “Yeah, do you see the way they are…?”
That’s where temperance comes in, no matter how much I want to smart off. You know, the Bible does say, “It’s more blessed to give than receive,” and sometimes I’d like to give it to them! I’ll tell you for sure. But seriously, that’s where temperance comes in. A lot of times, boy, we’ve got things on our mind that we want to say, and we just want to blurt it out! Friend, temperance. You’ve got to learn to control that tongue. Temperance. Don’t be a smart aleck. Don’t be giving any jabs.
Now what’s he building? He’s building a strong, stable Christian, that’s not up and down, and in and out, and driven by emotion. They’re sensible, level-headed, mature, growing, abounding. They’re knowledgeable about how God is at work in their life. Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance.
I saw a documentary years ago, about this Jewish doctor that formulated a plan of how to measure a person’s emotional quotient. We know what IQ is; that’s the intelligence quotient of a person. Well, this doctor discovered an emotional quotient. He did a study on children and their ability to harness emotions, just control of the situation, and to do right, and to keep your goals, things of that nature. So they got a bunch of kids and said, “Look, kids, we’ve got a big, delicious chocolate bar for you if you want it, but we’re going to put you in a room all by yourself for so many minutes and right in front of you, sitting on the table, will be a big, fresh, puffy, white marshmallow. Now if you want the candy bar, you can’t eat the marshmallow. If you don’t want the candy bar, you can have the marshmallow. Now we’re going to put you in a room by yourself, but you’ve got to tell us what you want. Do you want the marshmallow or the candy bar?
The kids were smart. They said, “We want the candy bar.” So, they put these kids, one by one, in a room with a hidden camera. It was amazing what these kids did to withstand this temptation, because here was this giant, fluffy marshmallow. The smell of it filled the room. It looked delicious. Some of those kids, they would look up at the ceiling, and thump with their fingers. “Oh, I don’t want that marshmallow. I’m not going to eat that. I’m going to wait for the candy bar.” They did all these funny things. I mean, one little boy was smelling it. That didn’t look like the way to fight temptation! Some of them would just grab it and gobble it down. After further study in these people’s lives they saw the trend that children who were not able to harness their emotions often became adults who went to prison. They couldn’t hold down jobs. They couldn’t stay married. They couldn’t keep bank accounts open. They were up and down all because they couldn’t harness their emotions. We have a great need for temperance.
PATIENCE
Isn’t it amazing, when the apostle is dealing with how to build a stable, firm Christian, he says, “And besides all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and then to virtue knowledge; and then to knowledge temperance…” then he says, “…and to temperance, patience…” Now what is patience? Let’s find out what it’s not first. Patience is not sitting in a traffic jam, knowing you’re going to be late for work, and not worrying about it. I don’t know what that is, but it’s not patience!
Patience is the ability to endure. That’s what patience is. It is an ability to endure when trials and tribulations come your way. It’s the ability to see the end when the end is not in view. It’s patience. It’s endurance. He says, “Now that you’ve been saved, add to your faith virtue; knowledge; temperance; and patience. Patience.”
Oh, this church has seen some high days. Naturally, now is a low time, but do you know who are going to be the valuable people? The people that endure. That stay firm. That are growing, abounding Christians. That are not up and down and driven by emotion, and pop off at the mouth, and say things they later regret. It’s going to be those people that grab ahold of the horn of the altar of God and say, “Lord, we want this church to honor You. We want to be faithful. We want our church to always preach the Word of God. Lead us, and guide us, and help us! We’re not going to move too suddenly. We’re not going to move too slowly. We’re just going to follow Your leadership and stay in Your Will. We’re going to pray and wait on You.” That’s endurance.
GODLINESS
He says, “Now that you’ve been saved, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness.” What is that?
Godliness is the quality of God’s nature. One of the most amazing things about God is that He’s longsuffering. He puts up with a lot from us, doesn’t He? He’s very longsuffering. Friend, you have to understand in ministry, just like when you raise children, it takes long-suffering and patience. My wife and I raised four children, and it’s amazing how different they all are. What motivates one, doesn’t even phase another one. What discipline works on one child, doesn’t work on another child. You have to give your children the room to grow and mature individually. There will also be converts, people who get saved in this church who will faithfully come to every service, listen to the preaching, study the Bible at home, and soon they look like they went to four years of Bible College. But there are going to be others who get saved and in five years, they’re just barely growing. You’ve got to be longsuffering. You’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to be kind and gracious and loving.
Do you see the kind of person he’s building? Add to your faith virtue. Moral strength. Excellence. And to virtue, knowledge. Not just knowing what I believe, but believing what I know. And to knowledge; temperance; and patience; and godliness, the qualities of God’s nature.
BROTHERLY KINDNESS
“And to godliness, brotherly kindness…” For many years now I’ve been in this Old Time Evangelism. I’m doing what I’ve been doing since I was 15 years old. I started traveling with Joe Boyd when I was 14. That’s a long time. A few times in those years I’ve seen Christians treat each other worse than the lost, heathen world would treat each other. I’m going to tell you, that is wicked as Hell itself.
“Brotherly kindness.” Is that hard to understand? Kind to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Kindness. Brotherly kindness. He is building a firm, stable, growing Christian. Brotherly kindness. I’ll tell you what. I’ve seen churches try to starve a preacher out. They’ll get some schism and ‘ism’ going.
I was preaching a meeting up in Pennsylvania years ago. Man, I was struggling on what to preach on that night. Oh, I was just stirred in my mind. I couldn’t get victory about it. Man, I was just praying, and flipping through sermons, saying, “Lord, what is it?” I just didn’t have any liberty. Finally, I felt that it was a strange sermon for a Wednesday night, but I said, “Well, I think this is what the Lord wants.” It was from Amos 5:19. The title of the message was, “Snakes in the Church.”
Boy, I’ll tell you what. It was a pretty rough sermon, but when I tried to preach that sermon, that night, Brother, I was like I didn’t even write the sermon. I was reading my points, trying to preach through it, stumbling and stammering. I couldn’t hardly read. I was thinking to myself, “What does this point mean?” I mean, I was having a rough time. I thought to myself, “Oh, my. I’ve embarrassed my wife. I’ve embarrassed my children. Why, if Brother Hyles heard me preach this sermon. He’d jerk my diploma back!” I mean, I was embarrassed about it, stuttering, stammering. It was just awful. I was just thinking at the back of my mind, “If I could ever get through to the end of this sermon and close my Bible. If there’s a back door somewhere, I’m hitting it and going back to my motorhome. I don’t want to talk to anybody. This is so odd.”
Well, I was so surprised after I finished the sermon, the pastor got up and said, “That was exactly the message we needed.” I didn’t know, but what had happened in that church was that a group of people had started boycotting the offerings, like about $1,500 a week, and nobody had left the church. Now did I have the right sermon? Boy, I did have the right sermon. No doubt, they all called themselves Christians, but guess what? They weren’t administering brotherly kindness.
CHARITY
“And to brotherly kindness, charity.” Charity is the highest form of love you can ever possibly have. I believe it deals with having a genuine love for God’s people and a genuine love for the lost. That’s the high road. What’s amazing is that the evangelicals and the charismatics, most of them, all they talk about is what? Love. “Love everybody! Take no stand on Truth! Just love everybody…!” But according to God’s word, there are a whole lot of steps… I don’t think that God wants us to be super Christians in each one. He just wants attention given to every area that He’s convicting us about.
God is dealing with us! He wants us surrendered! He says, “You cap it off with charity. It is the highest, highest attribute, the most powerful ingredient of all; charity. He says, “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 1:8) He’s building a firm, stable, solid, growing Christian, not one that’s driven by emotion.
Friend, it’s a secret. What’s amazing about it all is that I believe that Simon Peter lived them all out. Do you remember what kind of man he was when he got saved? A rough, fighting, cussing fisherman, but God saved him and you can see in his life how he grew. That’s what God wants for you and for me. Do you want your life to count? Here it is, right here in the Old King James Bible. There it is. Let’s just do something about it.
Friend, you can try to add all those ingredients you want and still die and go to Hell because you’ve first got to build it on the foundation of faith. If you’ve never been born again, if you’ve never been saved, then don’t even try to go any further. This is not talking about trying to reform anybody. This is talking about, once you get saved by turning to Jesus as your Savior and Substitute, confessing your sin and inviting Him into your heart, THEN making your life count as a child of God. If you’re not saved, get saved. Then after that, it’s time to start adding.
Notice what Simon Peter says here in verse 12, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” With verse 12 in mind, there’s not a single person here that this message doesn’t apply to. If you don’t know anything about what I’m talking about, then you need to know; but if you know everything I’m talking about and you’re living for the Lord to the enth degree, you still need to be reminded. I know this is bad English, but ain’t none of us here have got that far yet! Amen? We all have room to grow, and the Bible says here that, even though you know them, and you’re established in the present truth, you need to be reminded.
There are seven ingredients that Simon lays out in this passage to help us to become growing, abounding, maturing Christians. We need to be mature. We don’t need to be babies. We don’t need to fuss and gripe and throw temper tantrums because we don’t get our way. Say, “Amen,” right there. This will help you and show you how to be a mature, abounding, growing Christian, knowing and seeing how God is at work in your life. He said it over and over. What does He want you to know? That you’ll have the knowledge of Him. That’s a wonderful thing. While we look at this passage I want to talk to you about “How to Make Your Christian Life Count.” I believe the secret is found in these verses.
One of the most important truths that I believe is essential for spiritual maturity is having a proper understanding of Who Jesus is, and how He works in our life. In verses one, two, and three, he lays it out. In verse one – he states his name, Simon Peter, and calls himself a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Christian friend, don’t ever stray away from the fact that you are a servant to the Lord, Jesus Christ. I stress that because many folks may not think what they do for God is that important. You may simply gas the buses up or clean the church, but my friend, when you do that stuff with a motive of wanting to serve God and show Him your love, you are doing it as a servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
We’re not serving men. We’re serving the Lord. Simon Peter said, “I am a servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ.” He had a clear understanding of who Jesus was, and what the Lord was doing in his life. Here Simon Peter connects himself immediately with Jesus. I’m “...a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ…through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Then he says, “Also, I’m not just connected to God, but I am connected “...to those that have obtained like precious faith… through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:” (II Peter 1:1) So he connects himself to Jesus and he also connects himself to God’s people.
I’ve tried to teach my family this. I’ve told them over and over, “We are so blessed because we have hundreds and hundreds of people who love us that we can call, ‘friends.’” What makes that bond so dear, and so precious, and so binding? It’s Jesus. I preach in a different church almost every week of my life. Often I’ll go preach for a brand new church. Sometimes I preach a revival meeting or do something with the teenagers. It is absolutely amazing how close of a bond can be created between Christians and especially servants of the Lord in just a few short days. Why? Because of Jesus. Peter said, “I’m a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, but also I am connected to those that have obtained like precious faith.” He connects himself to Jesus and to God’s people.
Then he says, in verse two, “Grace and peace…” Those are two wonderful words. “…be multiplied unto you…” How? “…through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,” Do you know, the average Christian really doesn’t take a lot of time to think about how God is at work in their life. My friend, what a wonderful blessing it is to know that you’re saved. I’m sure, if we had a testimony time, a lot of folks could stand up, be real sincere, and say, “Thank the Lord for the day that I got saved.” But can I say something to you, dear friend? Do you realize that Jesus wanted to be just as intimate and close to you yesterday and today as the day you got saved? He’s doing a great work in us right now, but so many times, we’re unaware. We have no knowledge of what Jesus is doing in our life. Thank God we have a testimony of being saved, but my friend, Jesus wants to be involved in your life every day. That’s what he’s saying in this passage.
Verse three, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” God wants you to realize how He’s at work in your life.
Then in verse four, he’s getting down to the meat of it, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:” I love to read about the promises in the Word of God. Amen? But when I see these words that describe a little more, these adjectives describing the promises of God; “...exceeding great and precious promises,” that makes it even more exciting to me! Because you see, God is not like you and me. There have been times that we have made promises, and then were just absolutely unable to keep our promise, because we’re not aware of things in the future. Because the way things happen, we sometimes cannot keep a promise at that very moment. But that never happens to God. He always keeps His promises. He talks about these “exceeding great and precious promises.”
Do you know? I think one of the greatest promises in the Bible is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” The Bible promises that, when the temptation comes your way, you do not have to yield to it. God’s word has promised that He will “make a way to escape.”
Now I can’t help it -- this is just the way I think. When I read something like that, a football story comes to my mind! I was a running back when I was younger. I used to tell those stories, and teenagers would say, “Oh yeah? I’ll race you, Brother Oliver.” I used to race them, but I don’t anymore, so don’t even ask me! But one of the things I learned to do was to follow my blocker. If I got away from my blockers, oh, it was painful. You’ve got to learn to follow the block. I would just dream to have blocking like Brother Chad in front of me. Man, that would be nice! I would just put my hand on his back, and duck my head, and said, “C’mon, Brother Chad. Keep on going.”
Well, the Bible has taught us that the Holy Spirit of God is always going to open up a hole for us. He’s always going to bust us through the line. We never have to get knocked back behind the line of scrimmage. We never have to lose yardage as a Christian. The Holy Spirit has promised us, in the Bible, that He will make a way of escape. Isn’t that a great promise?
One of the most precious promises in the Bible, I think, is found in Philippians 4:19, where the Bible says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” I tell you what. God’s been good and every need that we have ever had, God has met it. He’s also met a lot of things that we wanted that really weren’t actually needs, but He blessed us anyway.
During my last year of Bible college, I got home from school, and said to my wife, “I am so hungry. I need you to cook me something before I go to work.”
She said, “Well, what do you want?”
I said, “Boy, I’d like to have a big ol’ cheese omelet.” I’m the kind of person, I can eat breakfast anytime of the day. Eggs and potatoes always taste good. I said, “Honey, cook me a big ol’ cheese omelet.”
She said, “We’ve got eggs, but we don’t have any cheese.”
So, I went back to my studying, and I really wasn’t too serious about it, but I just kind of said to the Lord, “Boy, it would be good to have some cheese.” Have you ever done anything like that before? “Lord, it would be good to have some cheese.” I didn’t get on my knees and say, “Oh, God! Would You please give me some cheese!” It was nothing like that. It was just real simple. “Lord, I’d like to have some cheese.”
Boy, it wasn’t five minutes after I’d breathed that little prayer, and there was a knock on my door. It was my landlady. My wife said, “Oliver, its Mrs. Cardon. Would you go answer the door?” I don’t know why, but my wife was always a little afraid of her.
So I answered the door, and there she stood with a big ol’ brown grocery bag. She says, “Oliver, our kids just got back from vacation up in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I think they must have visited every cheese factory in those two states! They brought us back so much cheese that we will never be able to eat it all. Would you like to have some cheese?”
I said, “Mrs. Cardon, we’d love that. Thank you very much.” She gave me that big ol’ bag and I put it on the table and said, “Now honey, now make me a cheese omelet with double cheese!” That was such a blessing to me because I knew that God had heard and answered.
God is so good to us, He really is. Simon Peter is saying, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these...” by these promises, “...that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Isn’t it wonderful that we have, through the blood of Jesus Christ and His promises, escaped the corruption that is in the world? I never feel so distant from the world as when I go to an amusement park. It just seems to me, when I’m at an amusement park, I see how different I am, and how different I think, and how different I live, from this old world. That’s just not the way we live. Boy, we have escaped a lot of corruption. That’s all the world has to offer, dear friends, is corruption.
Then he makes that very interesting statement n verse 5, “And beside this…” In all reality, the apostle here has already laid out a fine spiritual meal. We’re connected to Jesus Christ. We’re servants of the King of kings and Lord of lords. We’re connected to our brothers and sisters in the Lord. He has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Grace and peace can be multiplied through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us exceeding, great and precious promises. By these promises, we can escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. But he’s not finished. Now he said, “And beside this…” Oh, my! He is still spreading the table, spiritually.
It reminds me about a place I went to. I preached a meeting in Illinois, a little town out in the middle of corn fields. After the morning service, the pastor took our family out to this old mansion. It was decorated, fixed up, turned into a nice restaurant, just real pretty. The moment we walked in, you could tell it was going to be good!
The preacher kind of gave us some tips. You really didn’t order individual plates. They just had it all set out. He said, “Let me show you where the salad bar is.” We went around the corner into that room and, I’m telling you, that salad bar looked like it was a football field long! They had about everything you could ever imagine, even things you wouldn’t ever even think about putting on a salad; they had it all. It was absolutely amazing. At the end of that salad bar, they had a little soup bar. Oh, my, especially when it gets as cold as it was today, soup just tastes so good.
Right behind that soup, they had homemade bread, where you could slice it, and real butter. Not this margarine stuff. Oh-h-h. Then they had another little tub of butter with honey in it. Lord, have mercy. That would make a jack-rabbit slap a hound dog, brother.
You know, if that was all there was to the restaurant that would be fine, but after you went to the salad bar, there was the main entrée area. Good night! Prime rib, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, casseroles, roast beef, fish, turkey, dressing… I mean, everything! Seafood, shrimp, crab legs… It was all there!
But beside this, you’d go to the next room. Talk about desserts! I mean, cakes, pies, pudding, pastry… Oh-h-h. Then at the corner there you could get you a nice, hot cup of coffee. Amen? Everybody knows that’s where the hidden power of the Holy Spirit is found – in a cup of coffee in the morning with an Old King James Bible! Praise God.
Simon Peter has laid out to us such a spiritual buffet. He said, “We’re connected to Jesus. We’re servants of Him. We’re connected to those that have attained like precious faith of the believers.” He says, “Grace and peace can be multiplied.” He says, “He’s given us everything that pertains unto life and godliness.” He says, “He’s given us exceeding great and precious promises: and by these we’ve escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” I mean, he has already laid out a spread spiritually, but now he says, “And beside this, giving all diligence,” That means you’re to muster up as much intensity as you possibly can.
I’ve had the privilege for the last many summers to be a part of Midwest Christian Boys Football Camp in Dwight, Illinois. It’s for homeschool and Christian school boys who don’t have the opportunity to play football. There are a lot of lessons you can learn about football. I’ve been able to be a JV Coach for years, and I’ve enjoyed it. One of the things that I look for is boys who are intense. I don’t want those boys who are looking up in the clouds and saying, “Wow. Look at that jet.” I mean, I’m looking for boys that want to get into the game. They’re intense.
The apostle is saying here, “…giving all diligence,” That means to be intense and be aggressive about it! Have a get-with-it attitude! He says, “…giving all diligence, add to your faith…” He gives us the ingredients that we’re to add. He says, “Add to your faith…” This is talking about saving faith, the kind of faith that results in you being a partaker of the divine nature. This is the kind of faith that granted forgiveness, that redeemed you, that placed you in God’s family.
You see, there is a demonic faith in James 2:19. Then there is a dead faith in James 2:17. Then there is a redemptive faith in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” He says, “I already laid out a spread for you. Now I want you to be intense and diligent and add these ingredients to your faith.” When we add these things to our faith, it guarantees growth and maturity.
Look what the Scripture promises in verse eight: “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, if you are adding these things to your Christian experience, you’re going to be abounding, and be knowledgeable of how God is at work in your life. I’ll tell you the truth, the spiritual thermometer of a church is displayed when testimony time comes around. Too many times, Baptists are just a little too quiet when testimony time starts. You ought to always have a testimony. You shouldn’t have to go back 25 years to get a testimony. You should be able to go back to yesterday and today, and realize what God did in your life. You have a knowledge. He says, “If these things are in you, you’re going to abound, and you won’t be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
But look what happens if we don’t. Look at verse number nine: “But he that lacketh these things…” In other words, “He didn’t add these seven ingredients to his life.” “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” Now let me ask you a question. Can a person be truly saved and not know it for sure? Can a person be saved and not know 100% for certain that they’re saved? According to verse nine, yes, that can happen. Some people experience doubts even though they have truly trusted in Jesus to saved them.
I guarantee you, if you’ve been out knocking on doors it’s been said to you. You walk up to somebody on the street, or knock on somebody’s door and invite them out to revival meeting, then start witnessing to them. “Let me ask you a question, If you were to die today, do you know for sure that you’re going to go to Heaven when you die?”
They say, “Well, I don’t know.”
Then you say, “Well, if I could show you from the Bible how you could know, would you be willing to do what the Bible says?”
“Well, yes!” Then you start taking them through the plan of salvation. As you get to the end of it, you draw the net and encourage them to believe with their heart and call upon the Lord sincerely, in prayer. Then they respond, “Well, I remember doing that one time when I was a little child at Vacation Bible School, or as a teenager at a youth meeting.”
Now friend, I’m not going to try to force another experience. If I’ve asked the questions and I feel that they truly are born-again, then I’m going to encourage them to build on that faith. I don’t want to build on doubt.
How many times has it been said to me, “I got saved as a kid, but I didn’t even begin to grow until 25 years later when I came into contact with the right kind of a church.” All of a sudden they get in a strong, Bible-preaching church and wow! I mean, they got saved as a child, but they didn’t start growing until years later! The Bible says, “He that lacketh these things…” In other words, “He hasn’t added anything to his faith.” “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” Well, if he’d forgotten that he was purged, then he was purged. He’s just forgotten about it.
That’s why it’s so important to add to your faith. You want your life to count. You want to be a mature Christian. By the way, going through this process of praying for and calling a pastor, you need to be spiritually mature and in touch with God’s Holy Spirit. You don’t need to be a baby Christian. He says, “If you don’t add to your faith, you’ll have forgotten that you were purged of your old sins.”
VIRTUE
Now I want you to notice the order of the building. “Add to your faith, virtue. Add to your faith, knowledge. Add to your faith, temperance.” Is that what the Bible says? No, that’s not what it says. It says, “Add to your faith virtue: and then to virtue knowledge; And then to knowledge temperance…” Now don’t miss it. The Bible didn’t say, “Add to your faith virtue, and add to your faith knowledge, and add to your faith temperance.” The Bible says, “Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience;” You see, friend, each one builds upon the other.
What is God doing? Well, number one, you have a foundation, which is faith. If you haven’t been saved, then you can’t add a thing, because faith is the foundation that you build upon, knowing that you’ve been saved, having that knowledge that you’ve been born again. Now that you’ve been saved, he says, “…add to your faith.” Do something with it. My friend, faith is the foundation that we build upon. “…add to your faith virtue…” That is the first ingredient that we’re to add to our faith, to our testimony of salvation. Add to your faith, virtue.
You know, I’ve examined a lot of our new converts classes and things of that nature and sometimes we are doing it backwards from how the Bible teaches. A lot of times, we want to get people saved and automatically, boom, we put them in a class and start teaching them Bible doctrine, but isn’t it amazing how God lays it out in this passage? He says, “Now that you’ve been saved, virtue.” What is virtue? Virtue is moral strength. It’s moral excellence. It’s having the right kind of behavior, the proper conduct. It’s having courage to stand for truth and righteousness.
To live virtuous in our world is to be separated from the world and to be surrendered to the Lord’s Will. You see, adding virtue to faith is having an outward testimony that’s real of the inward testimony that you testify about. Adding virtue to faith is forsaking any worldly habit that God has revealed to you. Adding virtue to faith is standing for truth. It’s behaving righteously. It’s dealing with separation and holiness. Separating from the world unto God. We don’t separate from the world just to get away from the world. We separate from the world so that we can give our love and affection and attention and passion to Christ. That’s the whole purpose of separation. If all you do is separate from the world, then you become Pharisaical. You become a hypocrite. You’re so ‘spiritually’ minded, you’re no earthly good.
You see, the purpose of virtue is so that we can give our passion to Christ. The Bible says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (I John 2:15) The more that you’re in love with this world, the less you are able to love God. Do you understand that? That is the very first thing that we’re to add to our faith. You’re supposed to behave right, conduct yourself right. You’re supposed to be Christian. He says, “…add to your faith virtue…” Moral strength. Behaving right. Standing for Truth. That’s the first ingredient that we’re building upon.
God in His Word is building a strong, stable Christian that doesn’t live his life day by day, so up and down, and moody, and touchy, and edgy. God wants us to be stable, abounding, growing Christians.
KNOWLEDGE
He says, “…add to virtue knowledge…” Now what is knowledge? It’s really just understanding the Bible, but it’s more than just knowing what you believe. A lot of times we say, “Know what you believe! Know what you believe!” but it’s a little deeper than that. It’s not just knowing what you believe, but it’s believing what you know.
Because there are a lot of folks who say, “I believe in tithing.” You do? You believe in tithing? When do you tithe? “Oh, um, well…” By looking at your checkbook register, you’d think that you were a member of the Walmart Baptist Church. You sure give a lot of money to them. “Oh, preacher, I believe in soulwinning!” Well, when soulwinning day comes around, those who believe in it will be here.
It’s not just knowing what we believe, but believing what we know. Because if we believe what we know, it’s going to change our life. What’s he doing? He is building a stable, firm, abounding, growing Christian. Not a Pharisee or a hypocrite, not and up and down, moody, in and out Christian, but an abounding, growing Christian that knows how God is at work in his life.
TEMPERANCE
“Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance.” What is temperance? It’s self-control. For the Christian, it deals with being under the leadership and control of the Holy Spirit of God. Friend, it does mean just temperance. Holding back. Restraining. I know you have a hard time imagining this, but I’ve had people smart off to me every now and then when I’m out soulwinning. I know you can hardly believe it, but it’s happened.
Now I’m the kind of person that can think of a hundred smart aleck things to say right back to them. I mean, it comes to me quick. Boy, I’d just love to lash into them, but do you know what I’ve got to do? I’ve got to bite my tongue, because that’s really not the way you win them to Christ! They’re expecting you to lash back so they feel justified. “Yeah, do you see the way they are…?”
That’s where temperance comes in, no matter how much I want to smart off. You know, the Bible does say, “It’s more blessed to give than receive,” and sometimes I’d like to give it to them! I’ll tell you for sure. But seriously, that’s where temperance comes in. A lot of times, boy, we’ve got things on our mind that we want to say, and we just want to blurt it out! Friend, temperance. You’ve got to learn to control that tongue. Temperance. Don’t be a smart aleck. Don’t be giving any jabs.
Now what’s he building? He’s building a strong, stable Christian, that’s not up and down, and in and out, and driven by emotion. They’re sensible, level-headed, mature, growing, abounding. They’re knowledgeable about how God is at work in their life. Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance.
I saw a documentary years ago, about this Jewish doctor that formulated a plan of how to measure a person’s emotional quotient. We know what IQ is; that’s the intelligence quotient of a person. Well, this doctor discovered an emotional quotient. He did a study on children and their ability to harness emotions, just control of the situation, and to do right, and to keep your goals, things of that nature. So they got a bunch of kids and said, “Look, kids, we’ve got a big, delicious chocolate bar for you if you want it, but we’re going to put you in a room all by yourself for so many minutes and right in front of you, sitting on the table, will be a big, fresh, puffy, white marshmallow. Now if you want the candy bar, you can’t eat the marshmallow. If you don’t want the candy bar, you can have the marshmallow. Now we’re going to put you in a room by yourself, but you’ve got to tell us what you want. Do you want the marshmallow or the candy bar?
The kids were smart. They said, “We want the candy bar.” So, they put these kids, one by one, in a room with a hidden camera. It was amazing what these kids did to withstand this temptation, because here was this giant, fluffy marshmallow. The smell of it filled the room. It looked delicious. Some of those kids, they would look up at the ceiling, and thump with their fingers. “Oh, I don’t want that marshmallow. I’m not going to eat that. I’m going to wait for the candy bar.” They did all these funny things. I mean, one little boy was smelling it. That didn’t look like the way to fight temptation! Some of them would just grab it and gobble it down. After further study in these people’s lives they saw the trend that children who were not able to harness their emotions often became adults who went to prison. They couldn’t hold down jobs. They couldn’t stay married. They couldn’t keep bank accounts open. They were up and down all because they couldn’t harness their emotions. We have a great need for temperance.
PATIENCE
Isn’t it amazing, when the apostle is dealing with how to build a stable, firm Christian, he says, “And besides all this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and then to virtue knowledge; and then to knowledge temperance…” then he says, “…and to temperance, patience…” Now what is patience? Let’s find out what it’s not first. Patience is not sitting in a traffic jam, knowing you’re going to be late for work, and not worrying about it. I don’t know what that is, but it’s not patience!
Patience is the ability to endure. That’s what patience is. It is an ability to endure when trials and tribulations come your way. It’s the ability to see the end when the end is not in view. It’s patience. It’s endurance. He says, “Now that you’ve been saved, add to your faith virtue; knowledge; temperance; and patience. Patience.”
Oh, this church has seen some high days. Naturally, now is a low time, but do you know who are going to be the valuable people? The people that endure. That stay firm. That are growing, abounding Christians. That are not up and down and driven by emotion, and pop off at the mouth, and say things they later regret. It’s going to be those people that grab ahold of the horn of the altar of God and say, “Lord, we want this church to honor You. We want to be faithful. We want our church to always preach the Word of God. Lead us, and guide us, and help us! We’re not going to move too suddenly. We’re not going to move too slowly. We’re just going to follow Your leadership and stay in Your Will. We’re going to pray and wait on You.” That’s endurance.
GODLINESS
He says, “Now that you’ve been saved, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness.” What is that?
Godliness is the quality of God’s nature. One of the most amazing things about God is that He’s longsuffering. He puts up with a lot from us, doesn’t He? He’s very longsuffering. Friend, you have to understand in ministry, just like when you raise children, it takes long-suffering and patience. My wife and I raised four children, and it’s amazing how different they all are. What motivates one, doesn’t even phase another one. What discipline works on one child, doesn’t work on another child. You have to give your children the room to grow and mature individually. There will also be converts, people who get saved in this church who will faithfully come to every service, listen to the preaching, study the Bible at home, and soon they look like they went to four years of Bible College. But there are going to be others who get saved and in five years, they’re just barely growing. You’ve got to be longsuffering. You’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to be kind and gracious and loving.
Do you see the kind of person he’s building? Add to your faith virtue. Moral strength. Excellence. And to virtue, knowledge. Not just knowing what I believe, but believing what I know. And to knowledge; temperance; and patience; and godliness, the qualities of God’s nature.
BROTHERLY KINDNESS
“And to godliness, brotherly kindness…” For many years now I’ve been in this Old Time Evangelism. I’m doing what I’ve been doing since I was 15 years old. I started traveling with Joe Boyd when I was 14. That’s a long time. A few times in those years I’ve seen Christians treat each other worse than the lost, heathen world would treat each other. I’m going to tell you, that is wicked as Hell itself.
“Brotherly kindness.” Is that hard to understand? Kind to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Kindness. Brotherly kindness. He is building a firm, stable, growing Christian. Brotherly kindness. I’ll tell you what. I’ve seen churches try to starve a preacher out. They’ll get some schism and ‘ism’ going.
I was preaching a meeting up in Pennsylvania years ago. Man, I was struggling on what to preach on that night. Oh, I was just stirred in my mind. I couldn’t get victory about it. Man, I was just praying, and flipping through sermons, saying, “Lord, what is it?” I just didn’t have any liberty. Finally, I felt that it was a strange sermon for a Wednesday night, but I said, “Well, I think this is what the Lord wants.” It was from Amos 5:19. The title of the message was, “Snakes in the Church.”
Boy, I’ll tell you what. It was a pretty rough sermon, but when I tried to preach that sermon, that night, Brother, I was like I didn’t even write the sermon. I was reading my points, trying to preach through it, stumbling and stammering. I couldn’t hardly read. I was thinking to myself, “What does this point mean?” I mean, I was having a rough time. I thought to myself, “Oh, my. I’ve embarrassed my wife. I’ve embarrassed my children. Why, if Brother Hyles heard me preach this sermon. He’d jerk my diploma back!” I mean, I was embarrassed about it, stuttering, stammering. It was just awful. I was just thinking at the back of my mind, “If I could ever get through to the end of this sermon and close my Bible. If there’s a back door somewhere, I’m hitting it and going back to my motorhome. I don’t want to talk to anybody. This is so odd.”
Well, I was so surprised after I finished the sermon, the pastor got up and said, “That was exactly the message we needed.” I didn’t know, but what had happened in that church was that a group of people had started boycotting the offerings, like about $1,500 a week, and nobody had left the church. Now did I have the right sermon? Boy, I did have the right sermon. No doubt, they all called themselves Christians, but guess what? They weren’t administering brotherly kindness.
CHARITY
“And to brotherly kindness, charity.” Charity is the highest form of love you can ever possibly have. I believe it deals with having a genuine love for God’s people and a genuine love for the lost. That’s the high road. What’s amazing is that the evangelicals and the charismatics, most of them, all they talk about is what? Love. “Love everybody! Take no stand on Truth! Just love everybody…!” But according to God’s word, there are a whole lot of steps… I don’t think that God wants us to be super Christians in each one. He just wants attention given to every area that He’s convicting us about.
God is dealing with us! He wants us surrendered! He says, “You cap it off with charity. It is the highest, highest attribute, the most powerful ingredient of all; charity. He says, “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 1:8) He’s building a firm, stable, solid, growing Christian, not one that’s driven by emotion.
Friend, it’s a secret. What’s amazing about it all is that I believe that Simon Peter lived them all out. Do you remember what kind of man he was when he got saved? A rough, fighting, cussing fisherman, but God saved him and you can see in his life how he grew. That’s what God wants for you and for me. Do you want your life to count? Here it is, right here in the Old King James Bible. There it is. Let’s just do something about it.
Friend, you can try to add all those ingredients you want and still die and go to Hell because you’ve first got to build it on the foundation of faith. If you’ve never been born again, if you’ve never been saved, then don’t even try to go any further. This is not talking about trying to reform anybody. This is talking about, once you get saved by turning to Jesus as your Savior and Substitute, confessing your sin and inviting Him into your heart, THEN making your life count as a child of God. If you’re not saved, get saved. Then after that, it’s time to start adding.
