There Is No Holiness Without Effort

So I have a question.

Do you have a vision for your life?

Do you have a vision for God's kingdom building in your life?

Do you have a vision for gospel renewal in your life?

That's what we've been focusing on for the last few weeks.

That's what we just sang.

I don't think that hymn could have been written by anyone who didn't have such a vision.

This morning we continue our series on anticipation.

Going to be preaching from 2 Peter chapter 1.

2 Peter 1 · chapter mention

Hear God's word.

This is Peter's vision for his life.

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

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

For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall, for in this way there will be richly provided for you an inheritance, excuse me, and an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me, and I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

This is the reading of God's holy and infallible and inerrant word that we place ourselves under this morning.

Let's pray for God's work.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the life transformation in your servant Peter.

Oh, what a work you did in Peter.

Father, would you do a great work in every person in this room?

May we submit to your spirit even now.

Teach us from your word.

May we look more like Jesus as a result of being here this morning.

We pray this in his name.

Amen.

This theme for the new year, anticipation, a yearning, a deep longing for what?

Well, for the return of Christ, what the scriptures call our blessed hope.

For a deep spiritual work, ongoing work in our hearts.

We call that sanctification.

That's the theological term.

So we've had some key words along the way, under the umbrella of anticipation.

Week one, we thought about astonishment.

The apostle John could say, Behold, what manner of love is this that we should be called the children of God?

And that is what we are.

By the grace of God, we are the children of God.

And we ought never to get over that.

Anytime, every time you see a Christian who's getting older, who's losing their love and astonishment that they are sons of God, don't follow them.

Don't get used to it.

Don't tell yourself, oh, that's just the way it is.

It's not.

We should be growing in our astonishment that the God who created the heavens and the earth, who created you, put his love in your heart.

Don't ever get over that.

Astonishment.

And then we looked at the word hope.

We studied the relationship, the connection between hope and holiness.

And John himself said, for everyone who has this gospel hope that Jesus Christ is returning and you're going to see him, and the moment that you see him, you are going to become like him.

You're going to be glorified.

And it's not a work that you're going to do.

You couldn't do it.

I can't do it.

It's a work that he's going to do.

When you see him with your own eyes, you're going to become like him.

I know that just sounds incredulous.

How could that be?

Everyone who has this gospel hope purifies himself, purifies herself in this world.

They take this Christian living in this life seriously.

They don't coast.

Today we're going to look at another side of the coin.

If it's the work of God, and it's the grace of God that's made me what I am in Christ, that's making me what I'm becoming more like in Christ.

If it's the work of God, it's the grace of God, then I guess there's not much I can do except sit back and watch it take place, right?

Wrong.

Wrong.

We could not be more wrong if that's what we think.

This morning we're going to look at the fact that just as there is no holiness without hope, there is no holiness without effort.

God is calling you and me to participate in becoming like Jesus.

Are we settling for less?

Are we settling for spiritual cosmetic surgery?

Are you okay with the rest of your spiritual life?

You just kind of see him do a few tweaks and tucks.

If I could just say a few less bad words every once in a while, that'd be great.

Are you kidding?

If I could just buckle down and just get a little more serious in my Bible study, that'd be enough.

No.

If that's what you think, you're not looking at Jesus.

You're just not.

Where's your spiritual sealing?

I've had some great conversations with some of you in the last few weeks.

I was actually ready to move on to the next sermon series.

And the Lord clearly told me no.

The Spirit is working in this congregation in people's lives in a way that, Tom, you need to study on this subject one more week.

Okay.

Where's your spiritual ceiling?

Is it right here?

I think I've, and if it's right here, what I get from most of you that I've had conversations with is it's not because you think you're so spiritually great and spiritual giants that you've done such a masterful job of living the Christian life that there's really not much more to achieve.

It's not that.

What I hear and what I sense is that, you know, I've been a Christian for a long time, and I think I've just about seen all that God is going to do in my life.

And so I think my ceiling is about here.

You could not be more wrong.

Where's your spiritual ceiling?

Look up.

I'm serious.

Look up.

What if your spiritual ceiling was like that and not like this?

What if you really believe that God can do miracles in your life?

That God can make you the person that you never thought you could become by believing the promises of the gospel and inviting Jesus into your life in a new way?

No matter how long you've been a Christian.

Peter's words, I want you to believe these gospel promises to keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in your knowledge of God.

Well, who here wants to be ineffective?

Who here wants to be unfruitful in your knowledge of God?

I don't think I'm going to see a hand.

Listen to how John put it in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask me whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

This is to my Father's glory.

My Father is glorified.

How is the Father glorified?

That you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

The only will of God for you or for me is to be fruitful spiritually, to be effective.

So where is your spiritual sealing?

Are you living with the expectations in the Christian life that God has significant growth for you?

Let me put it like this.

I think this is so helpful for me.

I remember when I heard this from Jack Miller years ago, it just rattled me in a good way.

Are you living your Christian life by looking at your experiences?

What you've been able to see God do so far, or are you learning how to live your Christian life by looking at the promises of God?

Are you claiming the promises of God?

Are you looking at the Word of God and asking the Spirit of God to make the promises of God become so real?

That you're not just saying, well, this is what I've seen God do, this is what I think God can do, this is what I think God's capable of doing.

Do you see the difference?

It's a dramatic difference between those two.

It changed my life.

And it can change your life if you believe it.

The more we do, the closer we move toward God, the more spiritual revival takes place in us in this church.

And we grow in new ways.

I'm praying for spiritual revival in Alexandria Presbyterian Church.

I hope you are.

I'm praying for spiritual revival.

And you know what happens in every spiritual revival?

Two things at least happen every time.

Listen to this.

Christians start to see what they're missing, and they start to long for what they don't have in their experience in the Christian life.

They begin to see it in a new way.

They begin to desire it in a way they haven't.

They begin to pray it in, and they find spiritual reviving, revival begin taking place in their lives.

They start growing, they start looking less like their old selves, and they start looking like someone who's been with Jesus.

You know what the second thing happens in every revival?

Christians become Christians.

What do I mean by that?

People who think they're Christians realize, begin to discover that they're not Christians.

They thought they'd been Christians.

Christians become Christians.

You get that, right?

No, they weren't Christians.

But they went to church and they made a profession of faith.

And they can spend their whole life thinking, no, I'm a Christian.

I'm a Christian.

I'm a member of Alexandria Presbyterian Church.

But when the Spirit of God is doing a powerful work in the life of that person, and that person comes to see that they're not really saved by grace.

They're still looking at their own lives and hoping that some way their own effort, in some way their own spiritual life, will somehow be enough for God to accept.

They wake up and they experience the new birth that only the Holy Spirit can give.

And all of a sudden, they realize I never did know Christ personally.

He was a concept in my head.

He was a God that I prayed to for many things.

But all of a sudden, I realize I never had Him as my Savior and my Lord.

And now I do.

These two things always happen in spiritual revival.

I love the way that Peter put it in verse 2.

This is God's desire for you and for me.

May grace and peace be what?

Multiplied to you.

He wants the knowledge of who he is in your life to explode in new ways.

Multiply.

He's not done with me.

He's not done with you.

So there's two points this morning.

The goal is that we might live a productive or fruitful life for Jesus.

Verses 3 and 4, look at those verses.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.

His divine power has been given to me, to you.

Has been given.

This word means it's a permanent possession.

It means that this was a gift that God gave you when you became a Christian.

God gave you this, and it can't not, it can't go away.

Because it's God's work, it's God's gift.

But it has continuing, abiding results.

Salvation is a gift.

If your Bible is open, just turn back to 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18.

1 Peter 1:18

This is how Peter thinks of this promise.

Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for your sake.

Who through him are believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and your hope are in God.

Wow.

His promises.

Listen to this.

That's all you have.

That's all you have in this life are his promises.

If his promise is not trustworthy, if his promise is not rock solid, if his promise will not stand regardless of whatever comes your way in your life, if his promise cannot be trusted, sorry folks, we're wasting our time and we're wasting our lives.

But what if his promise is true?

What if it's true that Jesus did not buy you back from your life of sin by gold or silver, things that people in this world climb over each other to acquire?

But what if you were purchased by the very blood of Jesus and you believe that?

And you've asked him to be your savior and your Lord, and you're living your life for him, and you're trusting him, and you believe that.

And he's giving you hope.

You notice how many times Peter talks about that?

How John talks about that?

I just read that.

So that your faith and your hope are in God.

I've had a lot of other good conversations in the last month about hope.

People have been talking with me about, you know what?

Remember two weeks ago when we looked at how do you find your hope?

In suffering.

We rejoice in our sufferings.

Because in our sufferings we build endurance, and through endurance, we build character, and through character, we find what?

Hope.

You cannot short circuit that process.

If you're not willing to suffer, if you're not willing to find, ask Jesus to reveal himself in the midst of your suffering, you're gonna miss us.

You're gonna be a critical, grumpy Christian.

And there's plenty of those in this world.

Don't run from the suffering.

Ask him to show you how to find joy even in the midst of the suffering.

Ask him to build a spirit of endurance in your heart, your life, in your heart.

Ask him to build Christian character in you like you've not seen, and you'll find your hope.

So that when you lose it, whatever the it is in your life that's not Christ, when you lose it, you're not gonna lose him, and you're not gonna lose your joy, and you're not gonna lose your peace.

If your hope is not in Christ, you're going to lose your hope.

That's a given.

God's promises are all we have, but they're all we need.

Through the knowledge of Him, there are certain things that we must know.

We must learn how to live on the basis of God's promises, that we are partakers of the divine nature.

If the Holy Spirit gives you a new heart, if the Holy Spirit gave you a new nature, how would you not grow?

It would be impossible.

Right?

If you've experienced the new birth, if God's given you a new heart, it is impossible for you not to experience radical change in your life.

Remember the C.S.

Lewis quote a couple weeks ago?

Christianity is not like teaching a horse new exercises so that he can jump higher?

What do you say?

Christianity is a miracle, it's a work that God does so that the horse can fly.

Can horses fly?

You say, no.

I've never seen one.

Well, actually, you have.

You see it in the life of Peter.

Peter was not much to work with when he started, right?

Read the Gospels.

Peter was not much to work with until the power of God came into his life and it transformed him.

The world is full of testimonies of people who gave their life to Jesus, and Jesus gave them new life and new power, and they could fly.

Have you ever flown?

This is what he's inviting us into.

Real spiritual power is released when we look to Jesus in faith.

Real spiritual power is never released when you look to yourself.

Real spiritual power is never released when you try to think it through, when you try to fix it yourself, when you try to control your life, it's never released.

And that may be why some of us have never seen real spiritual power.

We get it only when we look to Jesus.

And the Holy Spirit is released.

In order to get that kind of control, in order to get that kind of power, we have to give up power.

John Stott quoted in the book Deep Mentoring.

Deep Mentoring is the book that the elders have been going through the last year.

I highly recommend it.

How do you mentor other people?

How do you spiritually disciple other people?

It's not just for elders, it's for you.

It's a great book.

John Stott is quoted in this book, and this is the title of his article, Growth Without Depth.

Well, there's an oxymoron.

Growth Without Depth.

The desperate need today is not a greater number of intelligent or gifted people, but for deep people.

It seems as though the time has come for the plow to sink deeper into the soil of discipleship.

No one drifts into holiness.

You know that's true.

No one drifts into holiness.

It requires effort, for sure.

What do deep people look like?

I'm glad you asked that.

Peter tells us, he gives us eight qualities.

Let's go through them.

Verse 5.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement, to add to your faith.

Let's break down this word, add.

It's a fascinating word in the Greek language.

It's a word that comes from the Greek world of drama, stage, theater.

The word korygos, korygos is the director of a play who coached the cast, underwriting the expenses for the play.

This is somebody that really wanted to see this play take place.

So he underwrites the expenses, he pulls together the caste, he coaches the caste, he directs the play.

Why would Peter use that word here?

When he says, add to your faith, what's he saying?

Add, furnish, supply abundantly.

This is what you and I are capable of doing under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit to the work of God that he does in our life.

Let me paraphrase.

Get involved.

Spend some money on this play.

Write the script.

Get into directing.

He's not saying leave God out.

He's saying, under the leading and the power of God, get involved.

Add, work to it.

And what does he say?

Add to your faith.

What's the first thing he says?

Virtue.

This word could be translated excellence.

It's a word that's used to denote the proper fulfillment of anything.

The excellence of a knife is to cut.

The excellence of a horse is to run.

What's the excellence of a Christian?

To look more like Jesus.

And by increasing in these qualities, you're going to look more like Jesus, but you're going to have to make effort.

You're going to have to get involved.

You're going to have to throw yourself into it.

You've got to get out of the stands.

Are you still in the stands?

Are you watching what's going on in the kingdom of God?

Get on the field.

Get your uniform on.

You got to be in it, to be of it.

Add to your faith virtue.

You can think of it as integrity.

Integrity means that you're part of it.

And it's genuine.

You're really in it.

You're really a part of it.

Jesus said to Luke chapter 6, verse 40.

Luke 6:40

A student is not above his master, but when he is fully trained, he will look like his teacher.

That's what we're talking about.

Add to your faith virtue, and add to virtue, what comes next?

Knowledge.

Very interesting point in terms of the order of these.

I wonder why he didn't say, add to your faith knowledge.

Because knowledge without virtue puffs up.

And don't most of us know about that firsthand?

And I know what that looks like.

I know what that's looked like in my life.

When I just try to fill my head with a lot of Bible knowledge, I've been exposed to more Bible knowledge than most of you ever will.

I'm not saying that arrogantly.

I just grew up in a very good Christian church.

And I was learning Bible verses from the time I could talk.

And I went to a really good Christian college.

And I went to a really good Christian seminary.

And I was a pastor for many years.

Before God began doing a deeper work in my heart.

And I realized that my knowledge was not enough.

It never is.

If God's not putting virtue in your life, and virtue, integrity, integrity means whatever God is showing you now, deal with it.

Whatever light God is giving you in your life right now, whatever God's showing you, whether it's in your marriage, whether it's in your parenting, whether it's in your career, whatever it is, wherever God is giving you light, follow the light.

Respond to the light.

Obey Him in that area.

Because if you don't, and when I don't, you don't get more light.

And that just leaves Christians who are ineffective and unproductive.

I can't tell you what the Spirit is saying to you this morning.

I don't know.

But you know.

Probably.

I know when he's touching my heart and he's saying, Tom, I want you to deal with this.

I want you to address this.

And I don't care how hard it is, I will give you the courage.

I will give you the boldness that you need.

I will give you the faith.

I will give you the humility.

Whatever it is that you need, that's what we're talking about.

And if you skip that step of virtue, the knowledge that you continue to accumulate in your head is going to be very unhelpful.

That's just the way it works.

Knowledge, putting our knowledge to work with spiritual insight and discernment, knowledge without virtue puffs up.

Knowledge is essential, but it's useful only when it's built on virtue.

A life that's surrendered to Him.

Does that make sense?

That's the way it works.

And add to your knowledge self-control.

The way we get control in our life is by giving up control.

Is there anything harder to do?

I don't think so.

Is there anything harder to do than to give up control of what you want to do?

Of how you see your life going, of how you see other people in your life, how you want to control them.

Is there anything harder?

I don't think so.

The way to get self-control in your life is to give up control and lay it before Jesus.

That's where you get the control.

And that leads to steadfastness, perseverance.

We've talked about that already this morning.

To remain under a difficult situation, upheld by Jesus, because Jesus endured for you.

As you look to Jesus, you're going to be able to be steadfast in difficult situations and not run because you want to run.

Billy Graham's dear wife, Ruth Graham, on her tombstone.

This is what it read.

This is what it reads.

If you've got to look at it today.

This godly woman.

End of construction.

Thank you for your patience.

I tell you what, that's a humble woman.

That was a humble woman.

She knew that God was not finished with her.

She knew that God had much more he wanted to do in her.

May we all have such humility as Ruth Graham.

To that add godliness, living in the presence of God.

It's the word Philadelphos, Phileodelphos, brotherly affection, the way we treat one another.

And then he talks about add to that love.

We remember Galatians 5, 6, the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.

God, would you please grow that in me?

Would you grow that in me?

May this horse fly when it comes to loving people, because the power of God, the Spirit of God is in me, and I need to learn how to get out of the way.

But that does take effort when you really want to be in the way.

Verse 8, if these qualities are yours, if they are increasing, if these qualities are yours and they are increasing, you will be a fruitful, productive Christian.

Verse 9, don't be a nearsighted, blind person.

Why does he use those words?

If you're nearsighted, you can only see what's right here.

Why does he say don't be nearsighted?

Don't be a nearsighted.

Because then you're not going to be able to see way back there.

He's referencing the return of Christ.

Don't live your life like today is kind of it.

Are you learning how to live your life today in light of the fact that Jesus Christ is returning?

Are you living today for eternity?

Don't be blind.

Don't be nearsighted.

You ever feel like that?

You ever feel like you're kind of wasting a lot of your life and your time?

You're next to this beautiful beach.

You're just maybe 50 yards away, but your back is to the ocean, or maybe to the glorious sunset or sunrise.

Your back is to kind of making mud pies.

How crazy is that?

Open your eyes to see the beauty of Jesus in new ways.

Verse 10, so that your calling and election are God's work.

Living out our faith is our work.

Make every effort.

As we said earlier, making every effort is not white knuckling your way to holiness.

When he says, make every effort, it's with hope in Christ.

It's with a growing astonishment of what Jesus has already done for you.

It's walking in the Spirit.

Commentators say that verse 10 might be the most important verse in Peter's epistle.

Make every effort to make your calling and election from God sure.

You know what he's saying.

How do you know that you're really a Christian?

That's something that we all ought to be vitally interested in, that answer.

How do you know you're a Christian?

Again, because you're a member of this church?

No.

The only way that you really know that you're a Christian is to believe the gospel.

Believe the gospel, believe that Jesus is your righteousness, and in looking to Jesus and believing in Jesus as your righteousness, these qualities will grow in you.

That's how it works.

And that's how you get assurance.

Wait a minute.

I okay, I see God at work.

I want to close with an illustration from one of my favorite preachers, Dr.

Martin Lloyd Jones.

By the way, Dr.

Lloyd Jones preached on 2 Peter in 1946 and 1947.

Many of you know where he preached and lived, London.

What was going on then?

Right after World War II.

So many of the buildings were bombed.

I go back and I read this man.

He was saying these things, and nothing really has changed.

Listen to this.

You know what he said was the most significant spiritual problem in his day, in his age, post-World War II, London.

You know what he said?

Discouragement.

Does that ring true?

Discouragement.

Christians get so easily discouraged, and it just stunts our growth, it stops our progress.

Listen to what he said.

There's no point in addressing this appeal by Peter to a dead person.

The only person to whom you can, with any logic, address an appeal is to somebody who's alive.

That is precisely what he's doing here in this gospel.

When a man becomes a Christian, he is born again.

Before he was dead, but now he's alive.

The Bible compares it to a birth.

Before there can be an activity, there must be life.

There must be muscles, there must be the faculties of the body.

And that is the position of the Christian.

He has been given all of this.

He has these spiritual muscles, all things pertaining to life and godliness.

Therefore, because of this, add to your faith or take the analogy of a farm.

All right, we're going to close on this.

It's really good.

Make sure you get this.

The farm.

The whole statement of the gospel is that the farm as such is a gift that God gives you.

He gives you the farm.

If by grace you're saved through faith, you're not saved by yourselves.

God gives you the gift of the farm.

We're given the farm, we're given the implements and all that are necessary.

We're given the very seed that we need to sow on our farm.

What we are called to do then is what?

To farm.

It's no use telling a man to farm if he doesn't have a farm.

He's without land.

He has no seed.

He has no implements.

Nothing can be done.

But all of these are given to us in Jesus Christ.

And therefore, having received them, we are asked to do what?

Farm.

We're farming.

But even when we're reminded of that, it doesn't guarantee that God's going to do everything that we want Him to do.

It's God who gives the increase.

The farmer may plow, he may roll the land and sow the seed, but in the absence of the rain and the sunshine, there will be no increase.

But God's given you everything you need.

To do what?

Farm.

He wants us to farm because he's given us the gift of everything we need.

He's given us the land.

He's given us the implements.

He's given us the seed.

He gives us the rain and the sunshine.

Make every effort.

Christian, depending and looking to Jesus, would you pray with me?

Oh Lord Jesus, we pray that you would give us the grace of humility this week.

Even now, would you give us the grace of humility?

Would you give us the grace of integrity and honesty to see where we really are?

Lord, don't let us be self-deceived.

Show us where we are in our Christian journey.

Take us where you want us to go in the Christian journey.

Lord, I pray that if there's anybody here this morning that doesn't have a farm, I pray that you'd give them the farm.

I pray that you'd give them your son Jesus.

And giving us Jesus, you give us everything we need.

You give us the seed, you give us the implements.

You give us the rain, you give us the sunshine.

But Lord, would you please grow each of us in the knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Would you grow us in integrity and virtue?

Lord, we would we lay our lives before you this morning.

Amen.