This is part 2 of our message on what to do now that I am saved. In part one we managed to do verse 1 up to 4 and we heard that God called us to himself and by his divine power, gave us all that we need to live a godly life through our knowledge of Jesus Christ, and gave us promises so that we can be like him and have eternal life in heaven. God gave us all things by his divine power and gave us promises of eternal life by his glory and moral excellence. Our part is to increase in our knowledge of him and through the faith that we obtained through our Lord Jesus Christ. This therefore means that once we are saved, the first step is to dedicate most of our time reading and understanding the word of God. In short, spend most of your time reading and understanding the bible so that you knowledge of God and of Jesus can increase.
We said that the message will be divided into six topics: the source of our faith, the call for growth in faith, the benefits of growth in faith, the encouragement, the reminder and lastly the duty to recall. Verse 1-4 dealt with the source of our faith who is none other than Jesus Christ. The next topic is the call for growth in faith.
THE CALL FOR GROWTH IN FAITH
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self- control, and self- control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
The question of now that I am saved now what, is answered here by Peter. From verses 1-4, Peter told us that our source of our faith is Jesus Christ and that through the increasing knowledge of him, we receive from God, all that we need to live a godly life. So the first thing that we need to do after we are saved is to read and understand the word of God, to increase our knowledge.
Now here in verse 5-7, Peter is telling us the next step that we need to do. Verse 5 starts with the words ” for this very reason”. Now this refers to the fact that by God’s divine power, we have been called by him, given all that we need to live godly lives through our knowledge of Jesus, by God’s glory and excellence, been given precious and very great promises so that through them we may share in the divine nature. Now for this reason refers to all this that we have received. Because we have received all this, we must make every effort to supplement our faith. The word supplement means to add to. Peter says we must make every effort, all effort to add to our faith.
What must we add, Peter says we must add virtue. The word virtue means moral excellence. So, the first thing that you add to your faith is excellent morals. Your behavior, your attitude and the way you handle yourself must be of very high moral standard. To these high moral standards, Peter says we must add knowledge, knowledge of God. To this knowledge, we must add self control and to this self control, we must add patience, to this patience, we must add godliness, godliness means we must strive to be as perfect as God, we won’t get there but we must strive to be. To godliness, Peter says we must add brotherly affection which means kindness, being kind to your brothers and sisters and to this kindness, Peter says we must add love, meaning we must love one another. In summary, Peter says we must add to of faith virtue, knowledge, self control,patience, godliness, kindness and love. This is how you grow as a Christian. What are the benefits then of adding all these qualities to my faith?
THE BENEFITS OF GROWING IN FAITH
8 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. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
The benefits of adding these qualities to your faith and not only adding them, but also increasing the amount of these qualities each time is that, they will keep you from being ineffective or unproductive in your knowledge of Jesus Christ. In other words, Peter told you that the first step is to increase your knowledge of Jesus Christ because through this knowledge you get all that you need to live a godly life. Now Peter is saying that you need to add these qualities to your faith so that as your knowledge increases, you become also more and more effective and productive.
So in summary, verses 1-9 tell us that once we are saved, we need to increase our knowledge of Jesus Christ through the word of God. Not only that we then need to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self control,patience, godliness, kindness and love. This will make us effective and productive as we increase in our knowledge of Jesus Christ.
We will continue next time with our message.
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.