In his sermon 'Fruitfulness in the Lord,' Jason Dohm explores 2 Peter 1:1-9, emphasizing the importance of growing in key Christian virtues as a pathway to spiritual fruitfulness. Dohm underscores that grace and peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God, which acts as a fountain for these blessings. He distinguishes between justification, which is solely the work of God, and sanctification, which involves the believer's active participation in spiritual growth. The sermon outlines eight qualities—faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love—that believers should cultivate diligently. Dohm stresses that these qualities, when abundant and growing, lead to fruitfulness in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He warns against spiritual blindness and amnesia that result from neglecting these virtues. The sermon encourages believers to embrace these virtues not out of obligation but out of joy and gratitude for God's mercy, emphasizing that true faith always manifests in action and growth.

I'm gonna read 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 9. If you read along with me. Simon Peter, a bond servant 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. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 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 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 but also for this very reason giving all diligence add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge self-control to self-control perseverance to perseverance godliness to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love for if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins." Fruitfulness in the Lord is the point of the passage.

Bearing fruit. Knowing Jesus and having the knowledge of Jesus be a living root that grows up and produces fruit for the glory of God. This is where Peter brings us today. Two weeks ago, Peter gave us the fountain of grace and peace. The grace of God and the peace of God come from something.

They have a fountain and that fountain is the knowledge of God. So if you want the grace of God to be multiplied in your life, you want the peace of God to be multiplied in your life, there's one way to get it. That's by knowing God. It's by knowing God. Last week, Peter told us how this works out on Monday.

In other words, when you come to a weekday, what does it mean to have the grace of God and the peace of God multiplying in your life? What does that look like in an actual day of the week. And so we have these wonderful concepts, the grace of God, the peace of God, but it's hard to know exactly what that looks like, how they would manifest themselves. So Peter tells us, Peter says that God's divine power gives us all things that pertain to life and godliness. In other words, from the starting line, receiving life from God all the way to the finish line, the last hour, minute, second of your death.

God has given us all the things we need. Start line to finish line, everything you need is given to you and that is guaranteed by the divine power of God. So you never have to worry about being without it, because it's not dependent on your strength or perseverance, it's dependent upon the divine power of God which never flickers. So you're going to have what you need, all the things that pertain to life and godliness. Peter says that this is after God calls us by glory and virtue.

In other words, life and knowledge of God are initiated by God, not by you. He calls you by His glory and His virtue. In other words, He puts Himself on display. He lets you see Himself in all His beauty and in all His perfection. Peter says that God gives exceedingly great and precious promises.

And because He is God, His promises are always sure. And that through these exceedingly great and precious promises, we become partakers of the divine nature. What does that mean? We're joined with Christ. We're unified with Christ and we're indwelt with the Holy Spirit.

And in those ways we become partakers of the divine nature and because of this we escape the corruption that's in the world through lust. The world is passing away it's decaying so it's full of corruption and your lust just take you headlong into the decay of the world, into the corruption of the world. Well, these great, these exceedingly great and precious promises allow you to escape that corruption. This week, Peter gives us a list of eight things that ought to be found growing in the life of a believer. So these eight things, this list, should be found in your life, and they should be growing.

This can be said, is said here, of any believer. Any believer should have these eight things. Any believer should have these eight things growing in their lives. Now, a key point of clarification. We are talking about sanctification in this verse range, not justification.

Justification does not depend one ounce on you. It depends completely on God and completely on the work of Jesus Christ. And you add nothing to your justification. Your pardon doesn't come from one work you can do. You don't have to strain forward for justification.

You just have to repent, believe the gospel, and even that is a gift. You don't even get credit for that. So that boasting in the pardon of sinners is completely eliminated. So we're going to have a list. Peter is going to say, give yourself diligently to this list.

That's not justification. We don't give ourselves diligently to the list so that God will accept us. We are not earning the acceptance of God by diligently giving ourselves to the list. We are diligently giving ourselves to the list because God has accepted us. Has past tense accepted past tense us, if you are in the faith.

So if anyone comes out of here saying, wow, I've got to get after this list so that I can be acceptable to God, then your pastor is going to strangle you. We're talking about sanctification, progress in the faith, after God has shown you mercy and given you faith. In this text, in 2 Peter 1, 5-9, our text for today, Peter does two things. One, he says some critical things about this bundle. I'm calling the list of eight things a bundle now.

So Peter says a number of important things about the bundle of qualities and virtues. And then he actually lists them out, the eight things. So I'm going to do likewise. I'm going to talk about the important things that Peter says about the list, not even talking about the list, but just the important things that Peter says about the list, not even talking about the list, but just the important things that Peter says about the list, and then we'll get into the list. Next week, our text for next week, Peter is going to explain how this relates to assurance of salvation.

How this impacts your confidence in the faith, how this impacts your joy in the faith. So that's where we're headed this next week. Next week, Peter is going to tell us one of the reasons that all of this matters. Okay, Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this text.

This is a beautiful text. It's been such a joy to be in it and considering it, meditating on it, praying over it all week. I pray that you would cause all those moments to be fruitful. Now give me a clear mind. Help me to preach faithfully, accurately.

I pray that you would help everyone who is listening to acquire wisdom from your Word and to love the things that you love. In Jesus' name, Amen. First, the critical things that Peter says about the list, about these bundle of eight things. Not that Peter is being critical of anything on the list. I mean the important things, or the vital things, the essential things that Peter has to say about this core of things that we ought to give diligent attention to.

I believe there are six vital, essential things that Peter says about this bundle of things. Number one. Number one of six. We should add to our faith. Period.

Amen. Christians must be, need to be, have to be adding to their faith. Says it right there in verse 5, add to your faith. In James chapter 2, James says what we've studied a hundred times, that faith without works is dead. It's not saving faith.

James describes a profession only faith, someone who says they have faith but they have no works. That's profession only faith. Then he asks the question, can such a faith save a man? And then he answers with a resounding, No! Faith without works is not a lively faith.

It's not a life-giving faith. It's not a saving faith. It's a dead faith, a useless faith. James says that that's the faith that demons have. They believe in God.

James says you believe in God, good for you. So do the demons. Never want to save the demon and it won't save you. Listen to what Martin Luther says. Martin Luther says, We are saved by faith alone, and all God's people said, Amen.

We are saved by faith alone, and then he says, But the faith that saves is never alone, and all God's people said, Amen. We can heartily affirm both of those things. We are saved by faith alone. There's not one work in the world that will save you, or no combination of works in the world that will save you, or no combination of works in the world that will save you. So we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.

In other words, it always, always, always, always, always bears fruit. If it doesn't bear fruit, it means it's fraudulent. Real faith always manifests itself in progress. That's what James says and Luther picks up on that in his quote. So number one is we should add to our faith.

We can't have a faith that's alone because that's not a saving faith. Number two, there is a great reason we should add to our faith. There is a great reason we should add to our faith. Look how verse 5 starts. But also for this very reason.

What very reason? Verses 3 and 4. God's divine power has given us everything that we need for life and godliness. For that reason, we've been given exceedingly great and precious promises. For that reason we have become partakers of the divine nature by being unified with Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

For that reason We have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust for that reason. We have a great reason to give ourselves diligently to this bundle of things. To add to our faith these other things. And that reason is the goodness and the grace of God. If you need more reasons than what are supplied in verses 3 and 4, help you.

God help you if you need more reasons that are in 3 and 4. It is the abundant, lavish grace of God that are poured out on his people that form the sum total of motivation to give yourselves with all diligence to this bundle of things. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 12.1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Paul says exactly the same thing in Romans 12 verse 1, that because of the abundant mercies of God laying your life out as a living sacrifice is a reasonable service.

This is exactly what Peter is teaching. Listen to what John Calvin used as his seal. John Calvin would seal his letters, his work, when John Calvin was sealing something. What he would stamp it with was a Latin phrase that translates as this, My heart I offer to you Lord, promptly and sincerely. This is what Peter is teaching us to do, to Offer our hearts to the Lord, lock, stock and barrel, start to finish, offering all of our hearts to the Lord sincerely and promptly.

Number three, The third essential thing that Peter says about this bundle of qualities that ought to be in the Christian's life, and be growing in the Christian's life, is this. There is a way we should add to our faith. Number one was we should add to our faith. Number two was there is a great reason we should add to our faith. Number three is there is a way we should add to our faith.

Number one was we should add to our faith. Number two was there is a great reason we should add to our faith. Number three is there is a way we should add to our faith. Giving all diligence. Right there in verse 5.

Giving all diligence. The ESV and the NIV render it, make every effort, nothing withheld, All diligence, all effort to acquire these things and grow in them. When I survey the wondrous cross, it's one of my favorite hymns, The last line of the last verse, at least the last verse that I'm aware of, is this, Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. The love of God expressed in Christ, expressed in the substitutionary death of Christ, is so amazing, that love is so divine, that it demands my soul, my life, my all. And even so, even if I could give my soul, my life, my all, the exchange would be entirely to my benefit.

I have nothing to add to God. It is His mercy. This means that the great mercy of God, expressed through Christ, means that we should give all diligence. That we should make every effort. That we should leave no stone unturned.

That we should exert ourselves. Modern evangelicalism is awash in the thinking that we Let go and let God. That is not a biblical teaching. If by that you mean that we can add nothing in our justification, I say amen to that. But that's not what most people mean.

What most people mean is you just let yourself go and somehow this is going to result in your sanctification. Hogwash, that's not true. We're called to exert ourselves. We're called to give all diligence to make every effort to acquire these things. You will not grow in your sanctification without labor.

Number four. We should have everything in the bundle, all eight of these qualities, and they should be increasing. Verse eight says, if these things are yours and abound. So these things must be ours and they must abound. NASB, ESB, NIV renders it are increasing.

When you look at the Greek word, you see why there is a difference in translation. Both things are wrapped into the Greek word. An abundance is in the Greek word, and Increasing is in the Greek word. Both of those things. So they're both good translations.

And the combination is better still because it reflects the Greek. We should have an abundance of these things and it should be growing. When you're first saved, when God first shows His mercy to you, these things are so sparse in your life. But they are there, and they start to grow. As you grow in your knowledge of the Lord, you grow in these eight qualities.

The life of the believer, you should be able to identify these eight things. These things should be ours and they should be on the increase. We should be growing in them. Number five. These things make us fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These things, this bundle of eight, make us fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 8, I'll read it. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Peter gives us a double negative. He says you won't be unfruitful.

A double negative is a positive. So you won't be unfruitful means you will be fruitful. You have these eight things you will be fruitful in the Lord. Now, when you look at barren in verse eight, It actually means literally lazy shunning the labor which one ought to perform. So Peter says if you give yourself with all diligence to these eight things, you won't be lazy.

You won't be shunning the labor that you ought to perform. It's an interesting Greek word. Turn in your Bibles to John 15. John 15 is the fruitfulness text. If you can only have one text to help you understand how to be fruitful in the Christian life, I think you go to John 15, abiding in the vine.

John Calvin in commenting on our text in 2 Peter says, knowing Christ is a living root which brings forth fruit. We know this. Knowing Christ is the start of life, it's the living root, and it brings forth fruit. That's what we see, well explained in John chapter 15. I'm going to read verses 1 through 11.

John 15, beginning in verse 1. Jesus says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered.

And they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me and My words in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples. As the Father loved me, I also have loved you.

Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." You can see that what John is teaching in John 15 is exactly what Peter is teaching in 2 Peter. That the knowledge of God is the beginning.

It's where you connect to the vine. And in the knowledge of God, abiding in the vine there's fruitfulness. And God doesn't want to stop with the little fruitfulness. He keeps pruning us. Why?

So we'll have more fruitfulness, and more fruitfulness, and more fruitfulness. He keeps pruning. Are you feeling his pruning? From time to time? Why is he doing that?

He's doing that so we'll bear fruit, because he's glorified when his people bear fruit. And John 15 ends by saying, the result of all this is our joy. This is not a pull yourself up by the bootstrap sermon. This is a go for the joy sermon. We've got a list of eight things.

We're going to talk about the list of eight things. We're supposed to give ourselves, with all diligence to these eight things. We're supposed to make every effort towards those eight things. This is not pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. This is actually going for the joy.

Fruitfulness in the Kingdom of Heaven, fruitfulness for God is where the joy is, brothers and sisters. If you want to be happy, be fruitful. If you want to have joy in the Lord, make progress in the faith. Number six. Number six.

A lack leads to spiritual blindness and spiritual amnesia. So we've got the list. If you give yourselves to them, you're fruitful. If you don't give yourselves to them, if you're lacking, this leads to spiritual blindness and spiritual amnesia. Amnesia.

When I don't give all diligence to these eight things, I can't see ahead. I'm nearsighted. I'm shortsighted. Even to blindness. Listen to Colossians 3.

1 through 3. Just listen. Paul writes, If then you were raised with Christ, Seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

This is our calling. Not to set our eyes on the things that are right in front of our face, on worldly things. Not to walk by sight. This is to be nearsighted even to blindness. This is to be blinded by short-sightedness.

To just look at the things that are around you, that are right in front of your face. When our calling is to fix our gaze towards heaven, where Christ is. Set our mind not on earthly things, which are right in front of our noses, but on the things of God. Not giving all diligence to these eight things means you cannot see ahead. Not giving all diligence to these things means You can't see behind.

It means you get spiritual amnesia. And you've forgotten that you were cleansed from your old sins. How can Peter say that? Because you're acting like it. Because you're acting like God has never done anything for you.

Brothers and sisters, we were under a death penalty. It was our own doing. He stood in our place. He bore our penalty. And now, if we don't give all diligence to these things, we are acting like nothing ever happened.

He never did anything for us. We don't need to live out of gratitude. We don't need to live a life of thankfulness. It's spiritual amnesia. It's forgetting that He has cleansed you from your former sins, your old sins.

And you lose your assurance. And you lose your assurance. You can no longer discern your spiritual condition because you can't even see fruit in your own life. Okay, the list. Now the list.

The eight things. Does the order of the eight things matter? Yes and no. Yes. Everything in scripture matters.

Nothing in scripture is random. So God chose the order, so in that sense there is a significance. I think there is a particular significance to the bookends, to the first and the last. The first is faith. The last is love.

Faith is where it all begins for the Christian. You can't even enter into life without faith in Christ. So it ought to be first on the list. And love is the ultimate objective of our faith. Love of God and love of neighbor.

These are the great commandments. These are the things that all the law and the prophets hang on. So it ought to be the crown on the list. So I think particularly with respect to faith and love, the first and the last on the list, the order matters. But in one sense the order doesn't matter.

Here's what I mean. Outside of faith, none is a non-negotiable prerequisite for another. Outside of faith, which is a non-negotiable prerequisite for everything else. But outside of that, no one of these things is a prerequisite of another. In other words, they can grow together.

You don't have to perfect number three before you can start on number four. You don't have to perfect number three before you can start on number four. You don't have to perfect number six before you move on to number seven. In fact, you shouldn't. They should be growing together, increasing together, all visible in the believer's life, and all growing in the believers life.

So one is not a dependency on another. The new King James as you can see says, add to your faith virtue. That rendering leaves them sounding very separate. The ESV renders it, supplement your faith with virtue. I like it a lot better and as I look at the Greek I think it is a better rendering.

Because you get the connection. Supplement your faith with virtue. Now they're not separate. Now they're growing side by side. These qualities, these eight qualities, are to infuse one another.

Okay, so number one is to be infused with number two. Not separate things, growing separately, but number one is infused with number two. Number two is to be infused with number one, and number three, and number seven, and number eight. I'm saying this totally random. You get the point.

They're all to infuse one another. They're interdependent. So, if we just look at the first two, we want a faith that is full of virtue. Not a faith that is alone, but a faith that is infused with virtue. It is just full of virtue.

And we want virtue that is filled with faith. Not virtue for virtue's sake, but virtue that comes from a trust and belief in God. And you can do that with any two on the list. I want this to be filled with that. And the converse is true.

I want that to be filled with this as well. You can do it with any two on the list. These qualities are to infuse one another. They are interdependent. These eight qualities undergird Actual visible actions.

In other words, faith isn't an actual visible action. There's action there, but I can't see your faith. I see things that you do because of your faith. I can't see self-control. But I see things that you do because of self-control.

So these are the qualities that undergird the things that we do that people can see. For instance, I can't see self-control, but when somebody lashes out with you and you bite your tongue instead of responding in kind, that I can see. So I see you bite your tongue, but you bit your tongue because self-control is under there. You've got it, and it's growing in your life, and it allows you to not lash back when somebody lashes out at you. Finally, before we get right into the list, all of these things find their perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you want to know what it looks like in a life, you go to the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Jesus is the perfection of all of these qualities. If you went down the list, number one, think about the Gospels. How do we see faith?

Oh yeah. Number two, virtue. Think of the gospels. Where do we see virtue in the life of Jesus? That would be a fruitful exercise that we don't have time for.

So, that's your homework. Number one on the list is faith. It ought to be number one on the list. Because life for the Christian starts here at faith. Until you repent and believe the gospel, there is no life.

It is the gift of God. It comes by hearing the Word of God. That's Romans 10. It is the gift of God. It comes by hearing the Word of God.

That's Romans 10. It is the gift of God. That's Ephesians 2. And it's not just belief. It's bet your life on it belief.

There's a difference. There are things that we give intellectual assent to. Our minds say, yes, that's true enough. And then there are things you'll bet your life on. Saving faith is the thing that you bet your life on.

You're betting your life that Jesus has stood in your place and that God will accept that. You're betting your life on that if you are a Christian. This is saving faith. Listen to the author of Hebrews 11 verse 6. But Without faith it is impossible to please God.

This is why it is first on the list. There is no pleasing God. There is no beginning to please God without faith. But without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. No one will ever Diligently seek God without faith.

So it heads the list. Because there's not going to be a diligent giving of oneself to these things unless you believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. It all begins with faith. Number two, virtue. It's the same Greek word, which was the last word of verse 3, who called you by glory and virtue.

In verse 3, it's about God. Here in the list of 8, it's about us. In verse 3, it meant excellence across the board, The sum of all excellent qualities. Total beauty and perfection. That is how God calls us.

He displays his total beauty and perfection. Once you've been given eyes to see it, you have to have it. For joy over it, you'll sell all that you have to possess it. This is what it is with God. We are to pursue that.

All of His perfections, all of His beauties, we are to pursue that. We are to have a vision in front of us of all of God's perfections, and then we are to chase that for the rest of your life. You try to be like that. Brothers and sisters, this is an alive faith. When you add to your faith virtue, It's not the dead faith that James is warning us about in James 2.

It is an alive faith where you are putting off the things of the old man. This is a key part of virtue. Putting off the things of the old man. And you're putting on the things of the new man. So there are two sides of virtue.

Putting off all those old things that were so dishonoring to God, that were so against the law of God, a violation of the law of God in every sense. You are putting those things off, and you are putting on the things of the new man. Things consistent with love of God and love of neighbor. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 5.1. Ephesians 5.1, Paul says, Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.

That is the pursuit of virtue. Putting off all the old things, putting on all the new things, it's being imitators of God as dear children. As children who look to their heavenly Father and say, I want to be like that. I want to imitate Him. The beauties and perfections that I see in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit need to be in my own life.

Number three, knowledge. This is the third time we have hit knowledge. In the short time we have been in 2 Peter, but it is not the same Greek word. The Greek word for knowledge in verse 2 and verse 3, knowledge of God, that was our first two times we encountered, has to do with the precision, the accuracy, the confidence you have in that knowledge. This knowledge is a different word that has more to do with the actual understanding itself.

So this is understanding, and especially the things of God. It begins with the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1-7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Otherwise it just puffs up.

That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8.1. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. This is not a loveless knowledge. This is a knowledge that is built on the fear of the Lord. Christians are to be growing in truth.

They are to know truth, but you don't know all truth on the first day you are saved. In fact, when you look back in time to those first days you say, did I know anything at all? We're growing. We're growing in the knowledge of the things of God. We're growing in the knowledge of God.

And so it ought to be. In John 17, 17, Jesus says, he's praying to his father, this is the high priestly prayer, John 17, 17, Jesus says, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. This is how we're sanctified. This is how we make progress in the faith.

We grow in truth. We are to be sanctified by the truth of God. And then Jesus says, your word, O God, is truth. Christians ought to be just soaking in the word of God. Day and night, meditating on the word of God, day and night.

You can be like the tree planted by the rivers of water, yielding your fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither. Number four, self control. Mastering whatever desires, passions, appetites raise themselves up against God. Even after you are a Christian and you have been spiritually resurrected, you have been born again, your bodily resurrection hasn't happened yet. You are still living in a corrupt old body.

One day it will die and one day there will be a bodily resurrection, but not yet. Your resurrected spirit is still married to an unresurrected corrupt body. So there are going to be desires and passions and appetites that raise themselves up against God and against His will. A believer who has self-control and is growing in it doesn't have to serve those desires, those passions, those appetites. They are free from slavery to those desires, those passions, those appetites.

Wow, brothers and sisters, do we need more of this? Do we need a growing self-control So that we are less and less and less and less and less liable to serving those desires and passions and appetites that raise themselves up against our God. Self control, this is the exact same Greek word as the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 523. So the fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, same word. Now this is vitally important.

So Peter is saying you should give all diligence to growing self-control in your life. Paul says this is a work of the Spirit of God. We can't ever forget that. Both absolutely true. We should give ourselves with all diligence.

We should make every effort to have self-control be increasing in our lives. But at the end of the day, it is a work of the Spirit of God. If the Spirit doesn't come and do a work in you, you're toast. And so it is with everything in Peter's List. We are called to give ourselves to it, and yet at the same time they are works of the Spirit of God.

And the Spirit is willing. We have nothing to do with our justification, but we are to cooperate in our sanctification. And we are reliant on the Spirit of God in our sanctification. Self-control is a work of the Spirit of God. It is a fruit of the Spirit, so says Paul in Galatians 5.23.

And at the same time we are supposed to give ourselves, with all diligence, making every effort to see it be on the increase in our lives. Number five, perseverance. Number five on the list of eight is perseverance. John MacArthur defines it this way, perseverance is that spiritual staying power that will die before it gives in. Hooray for John MacArthur, that's a great definition.

Perseverance is that spiritual staying power that will die before it gives in. White knuckles clinging on to God. It will die before it gives in. Listen to Paul in Romans 5 verses 3 and 4. In Romans 5 verses 3 and 4 Paul says, and not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance character, and character hope.

In Romans 5 verse 3, Paul is glorying in his tribulations. He is praising God for the hardships. Because he knows that those tribulations produce something. They produce perseverance. They produce the white knuckles that have you grabbing onto God with all your worth and it will die before it gives in.

God will see to it that we have the opportunity to develop perseverance. How? Through tribulations, through hardships. He will bring them into our lives to help us develop this very, very useful quality. And when God brings the hardships, will we grumble and complain, Or will we say, this is what I needed?

God, you're making me grow up. Thank you. Perseverance. Number six, godliness. Number six on the list of eight is godliness.

It means reverence for God. Devotion to God. It means Godwardness. Godwardness. Godwardness.

Peter has just said, his divine power has given us all that we need for life and godliness. This is on the list. And God's own divine power has given you everything you need to have it in your life and to have it increasing in your life. Peter has already said that. Listen to 1 Timothy 4 verses 7 through 8.

In 1 Timothy 4 verses 7 through 8, Paul writes, But reject profane and old wives tales and exercise yourself toward godliness. Exercise yourself toward godliness for bodily exercise profits a little but godliness is profitable for all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Paul says there is hardly anything more profitable for you than godliness. So Exercise yourself toward godliness. Whatever you exercise your body in, the profit is little compared to exercising yourself toward godliness.

Because godliness pays off big in this life, and godliness pays off big in the life to come. Go for reverence for God. Go for devotion to God. Go for God-wardness in your life. Number seven, brotherly kindness.

Number seven of eight on the list is brotherly kindness. Philadelphia is the Greek word. The city of brotherly love. Which is why everyone in Philadelphia is so loving. What?

It's family love. Brotherly love. Not just love, but brotherly love. Family love. The closest, most tender kind of love.

Listen to what Paul writes in Galatians 6 verse 10. Galatians 6 verse 10, Paul writes, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. In Galatians 6-10, Paul exhorts us to do good to everybody, inside the faith, outside the faith, but he says especially to those in the household of faith. We owe a debt of love to all people. The most unsaved person You know or will meet, you owe a debt of love to.

But there is a special tenderness, there is a special affection that is reserved for your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's family love. It's brotherly love. Finally, number eight, love. Finally, number eight, love.

Not just brotherly kindness, which is sweet and wonderful. A broader term still, love. Agape love. Sacrificing love. Jesus on the cross, love.

1 Corinthians love, 1 Corinthians 13 love. Turn to 1 Corinthians 13. We're going to read it, the whole thing. And you'll be glad because it's beautiful. The Greek word is agape.

1 Corinthians 13 is agape. 1 Corinthians 13 is agape. It's the love that is most fully displayed by Jesus Christ, and especially His death. 1 Corinthians 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, by the way that's the knowledge, that's the same word from our list. You have all knowledge, gnosis is the Greek word that's right out of 2 Peter our text. And though I have all faith, same word from our list in 2 Peter, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, And though I give my body to be burned but have not love, It profits me nothing." Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy.

Love does not parade itself. Is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely. Does not seek its own. Is not provoked.

Thinks no evil. Does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease.

Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three things, but the greatest of these is love. Is love. Number eight, love. The last thing on the list is the ultimate thing that we need to have in our Christian lives.

And that needs to be increasing, that needs to be abounding. We need to be a people increasing in love. Agape love. Sacrificing love. Jesus on the cross love.

We need to be abounding in agape love. Grow brothers and sisters. Grow in it. 1 Timothy 1.5, now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, from a sincere faith. The purpose of the commandment is love, that's why the commandments.

There you have it. Paul says it in 1 Timothy 1 verse 5. 1 John 4 verse 8. John writes, He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love. This goes back to Paul writing in Ephesians 5.1, imitate God as dear children.

Because he who does not love does not know God because God is love. A few concluding remarks. What God has done for sinners is mind-blowing. You can get used to the Gospel. And the Gospel can even become ho-hum to you.

And every Once in a while, we need to just step back and look at the Gospel again, like it was the first time we ever saw it, like it was the first time we ever heard it, and be in awe of what God has done for sinners. He's given us exceedingly great and precious promises through which we become partakers of the divine nature. We are brought into union with Jesus Christ so that we can be accepted in the Beloved. You can never be accepted out of Christ. But He loves His Son.

And if you are in His Son, He loves you. And the Holy Spirit indwells you, and you escape the corruption, the rot that is in the world because of lust. In 1 Corinthians 6 verse 20, Paul writes, For you were bought at a price. What a price! You were bought at a price, not silver or gold, but his son, that he loved the blood of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's He bought you. So you ought to glorify Him in your body and in your spirit. A contemplation of the Gospel and what God has done for sinners will help us be fruitful in the Lord. And this is for our joy. It's not a pull yourself up from the bootstrap sermon.

It's a go for the joy sermon. Go for the joy. The joy is in God. The joy is in obedience. The joy is in growing.

It is not a burden to give yourself with all diligence to these things. It's a joy. Our Father, I thank you for the truth of your Word and the beauty of it. Oh God, may we be filled with joy as we give ourselves with all diligence, as we make every effort to see these eight things established in our lives, not out of duty, but because of your great mercy which you have lavished on a people who never deserved it. We thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Men, over to you.