Well, here we are again with another program. We're looking at how to survive in an age of apostasy. Stay tuned, it's very important. Well, Peter said in 2 Peter 2 in verse number 10, if we would do these things, we would never fall. And, of course, he's talking about falling for the apostasy of the day, which he explains in detail in chapter 2. Now, he says what we need to do is some addition here. He said, add to your faith virtue and to your virtue knowledge, and he goes on to list a bunch of things. that we need to add. Now to add is to join something to something, so as to increase something. So as you go through this portion of scripture, we can see what we need to join and what we need to join it to, so we can increase in that department. The first one he mentions is faith, and what he's saying is, now there's your faith and the faith, make sure that your faith is the same as the faith. The faith is found, that phrase, 42 times in the Bible. Your faith is found 24 times. He said, make sure your faith is the same as the faith. And that's what Paul meant when he says, examine yourselves to see whether you be in the faith. The next thing he said to add is virtue. That's basically standards. And so according to your faith, Jesus said, be it unto you. So whatever your faith is, which of course is what you believe, then what you believe is going to dictate your behavior and that's what we're talking about when we talk about virtue or for standards. The next thing he said to add is knowledge and knowledge is simply accumulation of information And if you're going to accumulate information on any subject, it's going to take time, and that is why the Bible says to study to show yourselves approved workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now, you can see why there is so little discernment among what we call even fundamental independent Baptist Christianity these days. Because in order to do these things, it's going to take a whole lot more than sitting in church three times a week, 45 minutes, hoping that he doesn't go over the hour, because if he does, you're going to have roast preacher for lunch. No, no, it's got to be a whole lot more than that. If you're going to do these things, it's going to take time. The next thing he says that we need to add to all of these other things is temperance, and that has to do with self-control. And as we said on our previous broadcast, we are made up of a body, soul, and spirit, and the Holy Spirit wants control of our soul, which is basically the mind, the will, and the emotions, If he has control of that, he will also have control of our bodies. Now, the Bible says the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. He's not going to talk to us in the mind. There's not enough there to have the Holy Spirit have an intelligent discussion with. What he's going to do is talk to us in the area of the spirit. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. As I said, we are three-part being. We're body, we're soul, and we're spirit. So as the Holy Spirit communes with our spirit, then what we will determine to do, if we're going to listen, is to let the Holy Spirit have control of our self-life. Now, the broadcast today, we want to look at the next thing it says to add. It says to add patience. Now, patience simply is the ability to accept or tolerate delay or trouble or suffering. Now, as we look at these different things that Peter said we need to add, what you have here, if you look at it carefully, is simply the spiritual development of what the Bible would call a normal Christian. There's not too many normal Christians these days because there's very little spiritual development in the lives of what we call Christians today. The first thing he says is faith. Now, according to the scriptures, there's saving faith, and then there's faith as a Christian. So we need to have that saving faith before any of this makes any sense. You must be born again, or you cannot understand the things of the Bible because they are spiritually discerned. Well, he says that in 2 Corinthians 7, in verse number 10, it says, Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation. We read in Acts 17, verse number 30, that God commandeth all men everywhere. to repent jesus said in luke chapter 13 verse number three except you repent you shall all likewise perish and then we read in luke chapter 24 verse number 47 that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations so there you have faith in the sense of saving faith, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. However, once we have received Christ as our personal Savior, we become a child of God, and it was to the Christian that Paul said, examine yourself whether you be in the faith. So again, You've got to make sure that what we believe and what the Bible teaches is one and the same. Well, the second step we see in spiritual development here is to add virtue. And as we said, that has to do with our standards or our behavior. The third thing he says is to add knowledge. It says in Romans chapter 12, verse number one, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove or discern what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We can know that. The Bible says that God would have us to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, as we said, in order to do that, we're going to have to spend some time studying to show ourselves approved. The next area, as we mentioned, is temperance. As the spiritual development continues, Proverbs 25, 28 says, He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. It says in Galatians 5, 16, This I say, then walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And so this is how we can attain what the Bible is talking about here the area of temperance or self-control. It's a case of the Holy Spirit having control of our spirit. Now we come to this one called patience and it says in 1st Peter chapter 4 and verse number 12 in the Bible it says, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. Well, when you get to this aspect of Christian development, you're going to expect some persecution. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.12, "...yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." You're going to get persecution from unsafe people, and you're going to get persecution from them who call themselves Christians who don't want to live like the Bible says to live. You're going to get persecution on every side. Well, the Bible says that these people who can't make it at this point, Mark 4, verse 17, they can't make it because they have no root in themselves and so endure, but for a time afterward, when affliction, persecution arises, for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. So, in our first thing, we have salvation. To that, he said, add standards. To that, he said, add studying. To that, he said, add self-control. And then he says, add suffering. And this is where most Christians fall apart. If they even make it this far, they said, no, this is too much persecution. Well, the Bible says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's interesting that the word Christian only appears two times in the Bible, and the word Christians plural only is found one time in the Bible. And the word Christian, it says we were first called Christians at Antioch, and the truth of the matter is it was a word that was a word of scorning. The Bible says in Psalm 79, verse 4, a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are around about us. To be a scorn is for someone to believe that someone or something is worthless or even despicable. And if you're going to be the kind of Christian the Bible says to be, he said very plainly, Think it not strange if you have some fiery trial. He said, yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You will be a reproach, you will be a scorn, and you will be a derision. That is someone who is ridiculed and mocked for what he believes. Well, as we approach this new year, one thing you can rest assured, the apostasy is not going to ease up. It's going to get worse, and it's going to get worse as we come to the end of the age, and it's going to take some stability as a Christian to stand in this age of apostasy. So, what you need to do is add the things that are here. I want to read it from the Bible again. It says in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse number 5, first it says that we need to give all diligence to add to your faith, add to your faith, so that your faith and the faith are one and the same, add to your faith virtue, and to your virtue, knowledge, and to your knowledge, temperance, and to your temperance, patience, and to your patience, godliness, and to your godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity. He said, if these things, if you do these things, you shall never fall. Well, I don't think any sincere Christian wants to fall for the apostasy that's around us. But if you don't do these things, you're going to fall. Let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall. The challenge is this. Get your alarm clock. Set it back an hour or two. Get up early. Get into the word of God. Let the word of God get in you. Develop this portion of scripture. And according to the word of God, if you do these things, you shall never fall.