How To Ensure Our Salvation 2Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; Our salvation is not a foregone conclusion! We have discussed many times before the false doctrine of once saved, always saved Since it is possible for us to lose our salvation after becoming a Christian then we need to try to learn how to keep that from happening. The Apostle Peter gives us a list of things to do in order to ensure our salvation. Let s read 1 Peter 1:1-11 1
2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 2Pe 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 2
2Pe 1:8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Certainly all of us want to be recipients of the exceedingly great and precious promises of God and to be able to be a part of His everlasting kingdom In other words, we want to go to Heaven! Peter tells us 7 things we can do in order to make sure we are able to obtain our goal of Heaven 3
Let s go back and look at verses 5-7 more closely. 2Pe 1:5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, Notice that Peter tells us to give all diligence to adding these things to our lives. Diligence is defined by Webster's as: careful and continued hard work But it also carries with it the idea of something to be done with a sense of urgency. Adding these items to our lives is a life long task that needs to begin now! Notice also that we are to add these things to our faith. This is the saving, working faith that is required in order to become a Christian. Without this faith it is impossible for us to please God. Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 4
It is to this faith we are to add these graces. First of all we are to add to our faith, virtue Virtue: comes from the Greek word Arete which means manliness or valor. So, virtue in this context would mean the courage to do what is morally right. That doesn t mean that we are fearless. It does mean we will go ahead and do what is right in spite of that fear. One of my favorite quotes is from John Wayne. Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. It is ok for us to be afraid of what might happen when we do what is right but it is not ok to let that fear stop us from obeying God. We have so many wonderful examples of moral courage in the scriptures. Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Esther, Stephen, Paul and Christ. 5
To our virtue we are to add knowledge. This is not talking about knowledge in general but rather knowledge of God s will. This is one of the things seriously lacking in our society and even in the Lord s Church. Many people simply have little or no knowledge of God s word. This is a very dangerous thing. It is a knowledge of the Truth that makes us free from sin. Joh 8:32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If we don t know the Truth then we are doomed to be destroyed. This is what happened to Israel Ho 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. 6
The writer of Proverbs tells us that wise people seek to obtain knowledge Pr 10:14 Wise people store up knowledge, But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction. Are we wise enough to study the Word of God? Or will we be destroyed eternally because of our lack of knowledge of God? We see in verse 6 Peter adds 3 more things we need to make a part of our life. 2Pe 1:6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, To our knowledge we are to add self-control. We must be able to exercise self-control in those things which in and of themselves are not sinful. For example: fishing is not a sin. But, if we allow our love of fishing to take control of our lives to the point we neglect other more important things then it has become a sin to us. 7
And we certainly must exercise self control when it comes to things that are sinful. These things the Christian should never participate in! The Hebrew writer tells us to lay the sins aside. Heb 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, We must control our body and its lusts Peter tells us to abstain from these lusts 1Pe 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, To our self-control we are to add perseverance. Perseverance is translated a few different ways in differing versions Patience Steadfastness Endurance 8
We all understand the general idea of perseverance In this context it means to hold onto God during difficult times. Continue to do what is right even when we are suffering because of it. But the word in the original Greek means a little more than that. It comes from the Greek word hupomone which means cheerful (or hopeful) endurance. When we have to endure persecution or suffering as a Christian we should do it cheerfully. The Apostles did. Ac 5:40 And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. 9
Without this endurance we will not be able to make it into Heaven Mr 13:13 "And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. Heb 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, To our perseverance we are to add Godliness Godliness is one of those words that is hard to define. Webster s defines it a pious believing in God and in the importance of living a moral life If we are Godly then we will show a complete devotion to God in all aspects of our life. Godly people don t just show up to worship on Sunday and then live like the world the rest of the week. Godly people strive to be obedient to Him all the time. We need this complete devotion to God because it can help us obtain the promise of eternal life. 10
1Ti 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. To our godliness we are to add brotherly kindness. 2Pe 1:7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. Not only should we have a deep love and devotion to God but we should also be devoted to and love the children of God. If we are going to be pleasing to God we must love our brothers and sisters in Christ. 1Jo 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. Those who don t obey God are the children of the Devil Those who don t love other Christians are the children of the Devil 11
We can t love God and not love our brothers and sisters. 1Jo 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. This love is not just something we say it is something we do. 1Jo 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. To our brotherly love we are to add love or charity God spells out what should be obvious to us about brotherly love. But we should have a love for those who are not Christians as well. God loved all of the world so much that He sent Jesus to die for the sins of all the world. 1Jo 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 12
If God loved men that much then we should too. This is not just those who are easy to love. Our friends. But even those we would consider enemies. We must love them also if we are going to be children of God. Mt 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Mt 5:46 "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 "And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. 13
It is impossible to be a Christian without love. We must love God, Christians and even our enemies. Adding all of these things to our life will ensure that we make it into Heaven Virtue Knowledge Self-Control Perseverance Godliness Brotherly kindness Love Conclusion Failure to add them means we truly are not looking at the big picture of eternity. 2Pe 1:9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted If we will add these things then our home in Heaven is assured. 2Pe 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 14