A Daily Walk

John Randall: What we need to know in order to grow. Next on A Daily Walk.

John Randall: I just want to know real quick. Anybody here perfect? Just real quick. Just want to get a lay of the audience. Man up here in the front said he is. His wife just shook her head and said, "No, he isn't."

John Randall: No, nobody is.

John Randall: You say there's room to grow, wouldn't you?

John Randall: Yes. I want to grow as a godly husband. I want to grow as a godly friend, as a pastor, as a grandfather. I want to continue to grow.

John Randall: I think we'd all agree it would be rather alarming to meet someone in a 40-year-old body that could have the maturity level of a four-year-old child. Take that into the spiritual realm now.

John Randall: If we've ceased to grow spiritually over the years, then it reveals there's something terribly wrong. We're to grow in Christ until we get to heaven.

John Randall: Pastor John Randall will encourage us in that direction today on A Daily Walk.

John Randall: We're going through Second Peter chapter 1, as part of our Through the Bible journey.

John Randall: Here's Pastor John with his message, Keep Growing.

John Randall: Second Peter chapter 1, picking up in verse 5. Second Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, with the message entitled Keep Growing.

John Randall: Keep growing.

John Randall: Here we are. And beginning in verse 5, Peter writes, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence to your faith, add virtue."

John Randall: "To virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love."

John Randall: "For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ."

John Randall: "He who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he has or was cleansed from his old sins."

John Randall: "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure."

John Randall: "For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

John Randall: Peter had opened this second Epistle by reminding the believers that everything that they needed in order to grow in their relationship with the Lord had been provided.

John Randall: They had been born again. They received salvation.

John Randall: They had been given powerful provision, as well as precious promises.

John Randall: And now, in light of all that they had been given, they were called to diligent participation.

John Randall: You could say it in this way, in verses 1 through 4, this is what you have been given.

John Randall: But in verses 5 through 11, this is what you are to do with what you have been given.

John Randall: When the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he said it in this way.

John Randall: In Philippians chapter 2, he said, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence."

John Randall: Listen to this, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

John Randall: "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure."

John Randall: Paul was not suggesting to the Philippians, or to us, that we are to work for our salvation.

John Randall: We could never earn our salvation. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. When he said it is finished, he meant it. Our salvation is secure in Christ. We don't work for our salvation, but on the other hand, we do work out our salvation.

John Randall: Let me give you an example. You could purchase a piece of workout equipment and you could place it in your garage.

John Randall: And maybe you have, and that is why you laugh. But in order to get the benefit of this piece of equipment that you've purchased, you actually have to use it.

John Randall: You could stare at it, look at it, but it's not going to do anything. And then if you wait long enough, it just becomes something in which to hang your clothes upon.

John Randall: This is not the purpose. You don't know the benefit of it until you actually use it.

John Randall: Folks, the Lord has worked in our lives. We are saved.

John Randall: But in order to mature and grow as Christians, we must apply what it is we have been so graciously given.

John Randall: We are saved by grace through faith, but the faith that saves alone is never alone.

John Randall: Good works always follow genuine saving faith.

John Randall: Peter gives us at least three insights this morning that will help us to keep growing.

John Randall: The first are the requirements for growing.

John Randall: The requirements.

John Randall: Verse 5, look at what it says, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue and knowledge, and self-control, and perseverance, godliness, brotherly love, brotherly kindness, and love."

John Randall: When the Apostle writes for this reason, that is in reference to the previous verses in the context.

John Randall: Because you've been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Because you've been given exceedingly great and precious promises. Because you have been given the power of the Holy Spirit to live out the Christian life. Because all of these things are yours, for this reason, now give all diligence to add to your faith.

John Randall: To grow.

John Randall: The word diligence means a zealous diligence which executes decisions with swiftness and priority.

John Randall: In other words, we are to give every effort to grow.

John Randall: I remember seeing bumper sticker, you know, in the past, "Just let go and let God."

John Randall: It sounds good, but listen, we don't just let go and just let God. Listen, God puts it in us, both to will and to do, but we also have to do something with what he has put into us.

John Randall: Let me ask you a question.

John Randall: Think about this. At what in your life do you work hardest?

John Randall: What are you most committed to in your life and why?

John Randall: What is your intended goal in all of your effort and commitment?

John Randall: Furthermore, when it comes to spiritual growth, are you committed to that? Because that involves God's resources as the foundation, but also our responsibility and effort in order to grow.

John Randall: You won't grow spiritually if you don't deliberately work at it.

John Randall: When it comes to salvation, we can do nothing to save ourselves.

John Randall: When it comes to growth, we are given resources, and as we abide in Jesus and apply those resources, that is when we grow spiritually.

John Randall: Peter gives a list here of spiritual supplies that will help us grow.

John Randall: In fact, someone likened these seven things that he mentions in the following verses to a golden chain which with each link built upon the strength of the previous one.

John Randall: Here are the requirements. You ready? First of all, what am I to add? In light of all these resources, what do I add? How about add virtue? That's the first thing, virtue.

John Randall: And the word virtue simply means moral excellence.

John Randall: It's a quality of life which made someone or something stand out as excellent.

John Randall: Living a virtuous life means living a life that is worthy of the gospel.

John Randall: In essence, virtue is closely linked to that which is honorable.

John Randall: In fact, it means doing the right thing, regardless of the outcome.

John Randall: When you get saved, things change your character and you begin to partake of this work of the Spirit in your life.

John Randall: And what happens is, as your character begins to change, the moral excellence or the virtue within you begins to change. There's something that changes about your life, and that's because you're not living after the flesh anymore. You're not living after the Spirit, and the Lord is transforming us on a daily basis in this process of sanctification, where I'm being made more like Jesus.

John Randall: Hopefully, I look more like Jesus today than I did a year ago at this time, because I'm growing.

John Randall: But in addition to this moral excellence or virtue, add to it, he says, knowledge.

John Randall: Knowledge. It's a word that Peter was very fond of in this Epistle.

John Randall: It refers to experiential knowledge, not merely to a passing acquaintance.

John Randall: It's understanding correct insight, truth, and properly comprehending and applying it.

John Randall: The word that Peter uses is a functional working knowledge gleaned from first-hand experience.

John Randall: As I am reading God's word, I'm meditating upon it, as I'm seeking the Lord daily, what's happening is I am growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord.

John Randall: The Lord said, "If you seek me, you will find me when you search for me with all your heart." I would say the opposite is true, if you don't seek me, how are you going to find me? And really know me.

John Randall: But if you seek him, that's when you find him. So, there's this moral excellence, there's this knowledge, and to knowledge, he adds in verse 6, to knowledge, self-control.

John Randall: Self-control.

John Randall: Used three times, this word, in the New Testament, and it literally means holding oneself in. Self-control means maintaining a balanced life, even when the world encourages indulgence.

John Randall: Many of the early Christian heresies that the apostles were contending with, believed and taught that the body was inconsequential. What you did with the body, it really didn't matter. What matters is what you think up here. But you can do whatever you want with your body. It doesn't really matter. And so the apostles wrote and said, "No, listen, your body belongs to the Lord. You're his. You don't just do whatever you want with this. This belongs to Jesus."

John Randall: And so I'm mindful of that.

John Randall: Self-control proceeds out from within oneself, not by oneself, but through the Spirit of God, because the fruit of the Spirit, according to Galatians, is, one of the fruits is self-control.

John Randall: Do you have self-control?

John Randall: Are you out of control?

John Randall: Proverbs 16 verse 32 said it this way, concerning self-control.

John Randall: "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who, here's self-control, rules his spirit than he who takes a city."

John Randall: Having self-control.

John Randall: He also said in Proverbs 25 verse 28, "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down without walls." You just have no self-control. You just let anything in, let whatever goes goes. It doesn't really matter.

John Randall: No, listen, as a Christian, I want to grow in the area of self-control, in every area of my life. What I participate in, what I eat, where I go, what I do, all of it needs to be under the self-control of the Spirit of God in my life.

John Randall: Paul actually used this word concerning athletes in First Corinthians in chapter 9, verse 27. When he said this, "I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection, self-control, lest, when I've preached to others, I myself would be disqualified."

John Randall: So Paul saw it really that it was really important to be self-controlled so that he wouldn't be disqualified.

John Randall: You ever seen an athlete who wins a medal, who competes, they run the fastest, they swim the fastest, and then they do the testing after the fact. And then they realize, "Oh, that's why you were a half a second or nanosecond faster than the other guy, because you juiced up before you got in the race." So suddenly, he's stripped, disqualified of opportunity because he wasn't self-controlled, in other words.

John Randall: It's important to understand that self-control, listen carefully to this, self-control is not legalistic abstinence.

John Randall: As Christians, Peter said, "We are partakers, verse 4, of the divine nature," and as we surrender and submit to the work of the Spirit, we see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, which is self-control. It's the Holy Spirit at work on the inside of me, which affects what comes out of me.

John Randall: Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, he said this, he said, "The man who disciplines himself stands out and has the mark of greatness upon him." I can think of many examples of self-control and discipline throughout the Bible.

John Randall: In the Old Testament, my mind immediately goes to, I think of Moses. The writer of Hebrews gives us a commentary on Moses and says that Moses was unwilling to participate in the passing pleasures of Egypt and thought it better to suffer with the people of God. Self-control. I don't want that. It was available, it was accessible. I'm not going to do it.

John Randall: Another example I think of is Joseph. Joseph was daily being hassled by Potiphar's wife, and as a young man, he said, "I'm not going to do this great sin against God." There was just this self-control, this self-discipline that was unwilling, made the decision, "I'm not going to do that. That's not a part of my life." Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, same thing, going to Babylon and were unwilling to partake of the King's delicacies, though they were readily available. Why? There was a self-control.

John Randall: Spirit of God, help me to control myself. Control my mouth, what I say, the thoughts I think, the decisions I make. All of it.

John Randall: It's important to add virtue, knowledge, self-control. And then in addition to that, the fourth thing, perseverance.

John Randall: Perseverance.

John Randall: It's a word usually translated patience. It means to be steadfast. The root idea of this word is to remain under some discipline, subjecting oneself to something which demands the submission of one's will to something against one would naturally rebel.

John Randall: I don't naturally want to persevere through this.

John Randall: But as the Spirit of God is working in my life, and I have all of the resources, the precious promises, the divine nature accessible to me, all of this, therefore, I can persevere. I can continue to stay under this and continue to go forward. It's this unflinching bearing up under this load that describes the quality of character which doesn't allow surrender to the circumstance or to cave in the midst of a trial. You just keep going.

John Randall: And sometimes that's all that you can do. You just have to keep going. I don't have answers. What are you going to do? I'm just going to keep going.

John Randall: I'm going to persevere through this.

John Randall: Perseverance fosters the ability to withstand two satanic agencies of opposition from the world outside and from the flesh within.

John Randall: I'm going to persevere by the grace of God.

John Randall: I want to keep growing.

John Randall: In addition to perseverance, he adds number five, godliness. Godliness.

John Randall: This godliness is a reverence towards the one and only God, and secondly, it's a word that reflects the right view of other people. So it's a reverence for God and a respect for people.

John Randall: A godliness. A life that is, if you think of godliness, it's a life that's seeking to look more like Jesus. That's what it means to be godly.

John Randall: How does one become godly? By spending time with Jesus. He rubs off on you in the best way.

John Randall: I want to be more like him. Godly. The godly person lives above the petty things of self, the passions, the pressures that control the lives of so many others.

John Randall: The godly man or woman seeks to do the will of God.

John Randall: When Paul wrote to Timothy in First Timothy chapter 6 and verse 6, he said this, "Godliness with contentment is great gain."

John Randall: Just live in a godly life and content in Christ, it's great gain.

John Randall: To this godliness, what follows? Brotherly kindness, or brotherly love.

John Randall: The Greek word is Philadelphia, and it's used to describe a love that believers are to have for one another.

John Randall: Folks, even though today we are from different families, naturally, we're part of one family as it relates to we have a heavenly Father. We are the children of God, and as such, we ought to, in this family of faith, in this community of Christians, love one another.

John Randall: There should be a brotherly kindness.

John Randall: In First John chapter 4, verses 7 and 8, John declared, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love."

John Randall: This should be something that should be out and growing in our lives, a love for one another, a brotherly, family kind of kindness that is shown.

John Randall: And then finally, he adds in the seventh requirement to keep growing is simply the word love.

John Randall: And this is the word agape.

John Randall: It's the kind of love that seeks the highest good of others, actually puts their needs above our own. It's the unconditional devotion, it's the kind of love demonstrated by God when he sent his son Jesus Christ.

John Randall: This is the kind of love.

John Randall: In John chapter 13, verse 35, Jesus said, "By this," that is this love, "all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." That's how people know.

John Randall: That's how people see.

John Randall: Virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. These are the things that we want to continue to cultivate in our lives as Christians so that we might continue to grow.

John Randall: I just want to know real quick. Anybody here perfect? Just real quick. Just want to get a lay of the audience. Man up here in the front said he is. His wife just shook her head and said, "No, he isn't."

John Randall: No, nobody is.

John Randall: You say there's room to grow, wouldn't you?

John Randall: Yes. I want to grow as a godly husband. I want to grow as a godly friend, as a pastor, as a grandfather. I want to continue to grow.

John Randall: Now that we know the requirements for growth in order to keep growing, let's consider, secondly, the reasons to keep growing.

John Randall: The reasons.

John Randall: And Peter gives them to us right here in verse 8, the reasons.

John Randall: Look at verse 8, "If these things are yours and abound."

John Randall: "You will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ."

John Randall: If these virtues that Peter listed belong to us, we are abounding in them, we're growing in them.

John Randall: Then we're not going to be barren or unfruitful.

John Randall: The word abound means you'll have more than is necessary to bring forth in abundance. It's a harvest, folks, of spiritual fruit that has been cultivated in the life of the person that loves, serves, and follows Jesus. That's the fruit of their life.

John Randall: You can see it. It's observable. You will know them, Jesus said, by their fruit.

John Randall: You can just see it in their life. And so the reason why we want to continue to cultivate and grow in these areas that are listed is so that we would not be barren, and the word barren means useless.

John Randall: When used in the New Testament, it always describes something that is inoperative, unserviceable. It describes that which isn't working, it's just ineffective, it's not yielding anything, it's the word is worthless.

John Randall: It's idle.

John Randall: It's not doing anything, it's just sitting there. But if you're growing, you're not going to be idle.

John Randall: In Matthew chapter 20, Jesus actually tells a parable about a vineyard owner who was hiring workers at different times throughout the day. And at the end, he found some men who were just standing there idle, and he asks this question in Matthew chapter 20 verse 6.

John Randall: It's a good question to ask, "Why stand you idle all day?"

John Randall: It's a good question.

John Randall: Why are you idle right now? Why are you just, why are you just there? What's happening? He asked them. And then after he asked them this, the landowner in the parable called them to action, urged them to utilize their time more productively and not waste it by being lazy and unengaged.

John Randall: Get engaged, get involved.

John Randall: And as you're reminded to actively participate to serve God and others, you will not be idle.

John Randall: I hope you know this today on the authority of Scripture, it is the Lord's desire that we would continue to grow. Not to become stagnant, not to be subject to arrested development, but continue to grow.

John Randall: Pastor John Randall with the reasons to keep growing and the requirements for growing. Here on A Daily Walk.

John Randall: This is part of our study in Second Peter.

John Randall: You can hear it again at adailywalk.org, onep.com, or wherever you get your podcasts.

John Randall: A case could be made that we've never been more divided as a nation than right now. When a nation is divided, to whom can we turn?

John Randall: Well, that's answered for us in a book we'd like to get into your hands from Jack Countryman. It's titled If My People, a prayer guide for our nation.

John Randall: You'll receive 40 days of prayer and reflections in the Spirit from Second Chronicles 7:14.

John Randall: And we're making it available to our A Daily Walk listeners for the cost of just $8.

John Randall: You can call us for the ordering details at 877-242-0828. That's 877-242-0828, or request it online at adailywalk.org.

John Randall: We are thankful for your support, especially during these summer months. If you've been encouraged and blessed by the teaching of the word and want to help us deliver the good news all across the nation and the world. Stop by adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828.

John Randall: Well, that's all the time we have for today, but come back next time when Pastor John Randall will continue through the Bible where you never have to walk alone.

John Randall: This program is made possible through your generosity and brought to you by Calvary South OC.