I want to give you a two-minute overview of the book of 2 Peter before we dig into the message for tonight, which is resolved to be the very best Christian. That really is going to be our theme, and I've got three major points on that one, resolved to be the very best Christian. But I just want to give us a bird's-eye view of this book of 2 Peter. To put it in a nutshell, grow or go, multiply or be miserable. And here is Peter addressing these Christians, and he's saying to them in verse 2, grace and peace, be multiplied. And that simply means to abound. Let it multiply in your heart. Now, when you flip over to the end of the book, chapter 3, verse 18, you will find that there is the final command on the same theme, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Also in chapter 1, you have the seven things that you are to super add to your faith. And we're going to take a very brief look at those in our message here tonight. Now, there's a big reason why you need to grow. Because if you don't grow, you'll fall. Look at the end of verse 10. If ye do these things, ye shall never fall. And in this book, there is danger in the church. Danger inside the church. Verse 4 of chapter 1 shows that it's the danger of corruption. Chapter 2 will show us that the danger is from corruptors, false teachers. We met them last week as scoffers who mock at the promises, the Word of God. In chapter 2.1, the most fearful thing that we find is that these false prophets also are among you. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you. So it's not just some far-off attack upon the church. It's somewhere inside the church. Those who creep in with their erroneous message and seek to destroy the faith if in God's people. Now, sadly, there are those people who fall away from the faith. There are some very outstanding characters in the Christian church who seem to run the race of faith very well, and then suddenly turn either to atheism or to very subtle attacks against God. Charles Templeton would be one. He was right up there with Dr. Billy Graham. And yet, at some point, he turned away from the faith and became an enemy of the gospel, and has stood against the very truths of God. And, of course, in every evangelical church, in every gospel church, there are those who grow up in at least the knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel, and perhaps they seem to drink it in for a while, and then they turn away from it. And what a bitter, bitter disappointment it is. Now, in the early first century, when Peter was writing this—and the date of this epistle, by the way, the date of this epistle is somewhere near 70 A.D. It was prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, because it's never mentioned. In the nature of the writing of this book and the contents of this book, the fearful things that were happening and coming upon the church and Judaism, it would have been a given to record that. But there's not a hint of it. So we would date it prior to A.D. 70 and the destruction of the temple. But it would be later in Peter's ministry. Obviously, it's the second epistle, and he's writing to the same people, because he says at the very beginning here that he is writing to those who have obtained like precious faith, And it would seem to be targeted to the same people as his first letter, because he makes mention of this second letter. But it's later, and it may be very near the time of Peter's death. And it was most challenging to be a Christian in those days. It was not easy. We sort of like to think, you know, the days of Pentecost and the aftermath of that, that it brought easy terms on which to be a Christian. No. Within ten years, there was blood flowing in the streets of Jerusalem, Christians being carried out and destroyed, as Paul the apostle himself did. Paul saw of Tarsus as he was before God saved him. Persecution and trouble upon the church. Now, not only was there the outward persecution, but there was this these inward errors and heresies. We certainly know about Gnosticism that was very pernicious and seeking to lead people away from the faith. The Gnostics, by the way, they were the new alls. They said, we are the people who have the knowledge. And isn't it very interesting, in this book, the word knowledge comes up again and again and again. Grow in grace and in the knowledge, but it's the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, not just random knowledge. It is to know God and to know the Lord Jesus, and that will become very important in this book. Now, Mr. Spurgeon said, and I just, actually I had these quotes written in, I'm not sure when I wrote them in, just at the end of my Bible, there's a little bit of space, and these are just a few quotes I had written in. Mr. Spurgeon said, he refuses to grow in the knowledge of Jesus, refuses to be blessed. And we need to be growing to be enjoying the Lord. Also, he who does not long for more of Christ, knows nothing of him yet. In other words, we would put a question mark on someone's testimony who says, well, I don't want to grow. I know enough. That's not the sign of a genuine convert. Also, Mr. Spurgeon said, an increase of love to Jesus and a more perfect apprehension of his love to us is one of the best tests of growth in grace. So let me ask you tonight, do you love the Lord Jesus? Do you love Him with all your heart? Are you in love with Him that you might be totally consumed with His grace and His blessing in your own soul? Now, what a great theme for us at the beginning of this year is to grow and to be abounding in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And why? There's the danger of falling. If we don't grow, if we don't grow in knowledge and in the grace of the Savior, we become prey for the enemy. And all kinds of the notions of this world will sweep us away. Now, let me give you one before I get into the preaching here tonight. We are Canadians, and Canadians are known as peaceable people. We're tolerant. We don't like to ruffle feathers. We like to go with the flow. That's just the psyche of Canadians. Now, our friends to the south of us are not quite like that. You know, this whole gun control thing. Try and take a gun off an American, and you'll have a fight. But we Canadians, we don't have guns. We don't have guns. And by and large, we don't pick fights. But that tolerant spirit in an age of diabolical corruption, when we have the attitude, well, let's just go with the flow, if that is imbibed in the church, And by young Christians, they will be swept away. Now, I'm thinking about homosexuality. I'm thinking about the vices that are corrupt to the core, things that are from hell. And when the church and the people of God become tolerant of those things that are an abomination in the sight of God, we are ready to fall. And our sons and our daughters and the rising generation will be swept away by the tide of damnable iniquity that is upon this land today. No, I raise these things because Peter raises them. Sodom is mentioned in chapter 2. The days of Noah are mentioned in chapter 2. I pointed out the word corruption in verse… Oh, let me find it here now. I've looked at this so many times. Verse 4, middle of verse 4, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now, lust there is sinful desires, those things that are outside of God's permission. They are commanded against by God, condemned by God. And those who push the boundaries and say, I'm going to do it anyway, Well, they are going to fall, and they're going to be swept away by these iniquities. Now, you must do this growing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus and the adding to your faith. And that leads to another theme. If you start at verse 1, it talks about having obtained like precious faith. That's the whole gospel. That's everything from A to Z of salvation. And notice it's like precious, it's equal. It's the same gospel, the same faith as the apostles. It's no different. Christians, you and I, build on the foundation that is led by Christ and the apostles. And it's one faith, one system of truth, one gospel, one method of redemption, one way to eternal life. And it's called like, it's the same, it's equal to others in the first century. And it's precious. It is absolutely valuable. Now look in verse one and notice what the foundation is. Notice how Peter starts with the word righteousness, having obtained, like precious faith, with us, through. Now, these are prepositions. This is the manner by which this gospel comes to us. It doesn't come to us any which way. It comes through the righteousness of God. In other words, the right ways of God. And God does this the right way, because He Himself is righteous. The gospel does not bypass God's holy standard of righteousness, but rather it addresses it. That's why Christ went to the cross. That's why He suffered the wrath of God in our place. because he took the wrath of God to pay and satisfy God's righteousness that we would be saved righteously. Not under the wire, not some sweep in it under the carpet, but heading the issue face on that God would save us by righteousness. Now, any religion that is not based on righteousness is a delusion. Now, this righteousness will mean not only what you believe, but how you live. And this book of 2 Peter is very much about these pernicious, false teachers who are consumed with their lusts. And in chapter 2, you have a very powerful illustration of the sow that returns to wallowing in the mire, right at the end of chapter 2, verse 22. But it has happened unto them. that is, these apostates, these pernicious false teachers. According to the true proverb, the dog is turned to its vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. There are two tests for the Christian. Right knowledge of God. That's number one. That's our orthodoxy. The second test is right practice. That's orthopraxy. There's orthodoxy. and orthopraxy, and the two must go together. If there's just one, it fails. Do not fall for the lie, it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live it. That's a lie. And do not fall for the other lie, it doesn't matter how you live, only believe. And that's the one we're facing in our generation. The one that's being taught in the mega churches of today is, don't worry about your lifestyle, just believe. And of course they say, as long as you have Jesus, it doesn't matter how you live. That is a lie that will cause a generation to fall. The Lord Jesus Himself said, By their fruits ye shall know them. And God is looking for good fruit in every soul that professes faith in Him. If you look at verse 8, you'll see it says here, If these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, what are these seven things? Well, they're all listed for us in these verses 5 and 6. Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. There are the seven things that you've got to super add to your faith. It's not enough to say, I believe. You must add these seven things. It's not enough to stand against the age of error by just simply saying, I believe. You need these in your life. Now tonight, we're gonna look at the first one. And I'm not promising we're gonna look at all seven of them in the weeks to come. That would take us to Easter time. I'm not sure if I'm gonna preach at that route. I know Alan would like me to. We were talking and praying about this last night at our men's prayer meeting, and he said he thinks I should. and just take each of these seven and end up with seven Sunday evening sermons. I'm not sure if I could do that. I'm not sure if it would help us to get the gist of the warnings that there are in this book. But tonight I do want to preach on the first one, and that is this word virtue. In the Greek world, the word virtue meant to be manly. It meant to play the man. It meant to be courageous. We would say today, don't be an old woman. Play the man. Be bold. Add to your faith virtue. Stand up in courageous manliness for the Lord Jesus. And so this leads us to courageous living, and it leads us to my sermon title today, Resolved to be the Very Best Christian, a Christian of quality, a Christian who is virtuous, manly for God. I think there are too many wimpy professing Christians in the Christian church today, too many that just go with the flow, too many that bow down to the pressures of sin and error and all kinds of falsehoods. We need Christians that will stand up for Jesus and be counted even when it means to pay a cost. And so we're to add to our faith. Virtue. Now, how do we do this? Three things. By obeying the call to virtue. Look at the end of verse 3. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Now, remember, that in the gospel God's call is not a mere whisper. It is his effectual call of resurrection power. And here it is God calling. It is God by his Spirit drawing us. to be effective Christians for God. And it's the Lord's power. I think of Lazarus in the grave and how the Lord called him out of the grave. And although he was dead and stinking, yet by his power he raised him to life and called him forth. That's this call to us tonight. Peter states at the end of verse 3 that we are called through, by means of glory and virtue. Now, I'm going to do something here, and I'm going to admit that our authorized version is not a perfect translation. Because when I looked up the language behind this, that little word, to, at the end of verse 3, to glory and virtue, it is a Greek preposition called dia, which means through. through, through the knowledge of him that hath called us through glory and virtue." That means it's God's glory and it's God's virtue. It's God's energy. It's God's moral excellence that has called us. Now, you're saying, well, what is that all about? Well, there's a great example in our Bible and it's in the life of Abraham. If you go back to Acts chapter 7 and verse 2, and you're going to notice here, in Acts 7 verse 2, that Abram, he was called out of Ur of the Chaldees. And here in Acts 7, there's a rehearsal of that history of Abram being called out. And he said, "'Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken! The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham.'" You see the motivating power of that? Do you see how Abraham got the strength and the conviction to leave the sin and the idolatry of Ur of the Chaldees? It was a vast city, a sophisticated city, a city of a large population. He was born into it. He was steeped in its culture and its ways. What was it that motivated Ibram to leave that city, get out to a promised land? The God of glory, a revelation of God to the mind and heart of Ibram stirred his heart. Now, come back to 2 Peter 1 and to verse 3 at the end. Through the knowledge of him, that's the same God, the God of Abram, that hath called us through glory. If you're a Christian tonight, you know something of the revelation of God to your heart. You know something of who God is. You know something of his claim upon your life. and what a majestic, glorious God He is. Our God is not a wimp. He's a God of glory and virtue, and it is by His power that we are called. Now think of how Abram became virtuous, manly. Abram played the man. He was no coward. He was bold. He turned his back on his culture. He turned his back on the lifestyle of Ur of Chaldees and all its idolatry. He stepped out in faith. He went not knowing whither he went—by faith. Abram, because he had this knowledge of God, God revealed His glory to him, and he stepped out to serve Him. That's your calling tonight. If you're a Christian, you know who God is, and you have a knowledge And it's that knowledge of God that will never let you enjoy the sin, the corruption of this world, because God's glory has been revealed to you. You know that God is holy. You know that God is righteous. That's how Peter starts this whole book, through the righteousness of God. You know that God hates sin. You know that God will judge sin. You know that men who will not repent will be damned for their sin. And you choose not to live that way because you've had the knowledge of God revealed unto you. And just as Abram believed God, that means he took God at his word and at his promise of a designated land, he went out. So we are called. There's a call on the life of every Christian. I want to bring you back to it here at the end of verse 3. According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us, there's the call. In our shorter catechism, what is effectual calling? And regeneration, the new birth experience, is called the effective call of God. It is the irresistible call! And the person whom God chooses to call will not say no! They will have a new heart, a new desire, and they will desire to follow the call of God and step out for Him. And so we need to be done with weak and spineless Christianity. Weak and spineless professions. People say that they're Christians, but they're really wimps. And they never seem to pray, and they never seem to progress in the Word. They never seem to stand up for Jesus. They never seem to say no to sin. They always seem to be living in the lower level of the muck and mire of this world. And instead of being real Christians, We wonder, has God ever revealed himself to them? Have they had that effectual call to leave the world and to serve the Lord? And so we need to be resolved to be the very best Christian by obeying this call to virtue. And that is a matter of resolution tonight. Then secondly, resolve to be the very best Christian by fleeing corruption for virtue. Back to verse 4, and to this word corruption that appears here. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. That's you and me tonight. That's you and me. We have escaped the corruption of this world through sinful desires. Once we were happy, zealous sinners. We loved sin. We loved this world. We loved pride. We loved anything that pumped us up. We gave no glory to God. We wanted the glory to ourselves. That was you and me. But now that we're saved, we can say with Peter here, writing to these Christians, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now, I want you to notice in that verse 4, that salvation is more than just legal pardon. It's more than just the judge saying, not guilty. It's more than just canceling the debt of sin. But salvation is the power of God to conquer sin. Peter wrote to Christians living in an age of corruption, and he's saying, your testimony is that you have departed from, escaped that corruption. You've conquered it. How did they do it? Let's look at that verse 4, whereby are given unto us exceeding precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of his divine nature. There is a moral change in the heart of the regenerated person. The love of sin is taken away. The grip of sin is broken. The slavery to sin is ended because of divine power, and we become now partakers of the divine nature. Now, if you're concerned about Me going the route where man becomes God, I don't believe that for a moment. Go back to my sermon I preached prior to Christmas on the incarnation, that we are never, the creature never becomes like the Creator. We'll always remain creatures. But the Spirit of God, the life of God, the holiness of God, the integrity of God, the power of God, is communicated into the life of the person who is born again and living the Christian life. Now, we are saved unto the righteousness of God. Let's go back to verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith. Notice it's not attained, it's obtained. It's given, it's a gift. God bestows like precious faith upon his people with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now that righteousness is planted in our hearts. We're no more observers of God's righteousness. We're born with the same principle. We are now given the likeness and the desire, and that's what got into Abram. That's why when God called Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees, he didn't complain and say, oh God, you wouldn't ask me to give us up, would you? You wouldn't ask me to leave my home and my family and my friends and all that I know and all that I love and familiar with and go out as a stranger, Lord? this to me." No. Abram was glad to get out. He would have been vexed by the sin that abounded around him. Once he got a glimpse of the glory of God, Abram was not the same man anymore. He couldn't enjoy Ur of the Chaldees anymore. If he had been a preacher, he would have preached righteousness like Noah and condemned the practices of idolatry and uncleanness in the city. And God called him to go out, and he was glad to go. And that's what gave him the power. And so every Christian is given power to go out. In verse 3, you'll see that we're saved by the power of God to do godly things. It's not a vacuum, it's not an emptiness that we're called into, whereby are given unto us exceeding precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, and by beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. And so, here now is the power to do godly things. Godly things. Come to church to hear the gospel. Pray. Fall in love with the Bible. Live a testimony for Christ in your community. Power to do godly things. Now, we would call this the experiential power of God in our souls. And every equipment is given to the born-again Christian to put out the fire of lust, and that is a mighty work. Lust is sinful passions burning in the very inner nature of depraved man And if we understand the depravity of man, we know something of the power of sinful passions. Now, when we go to 2 Peter 3, you will see here scoffers walking after their own lusts. 2 Peter 3, verse 3. Knowing this, first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts. These are burning passions within their inner being. And you'll see from verse 14 that they can't help but sin, having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin. You see how the burning lust of passion in their hearts, they can't stop sinning. And all the human power in the world will not change their lust and passion for sin. They are consumed by it. They're slaves to it. And only grace, only the gospel can break that power in their lives. Now, in the real world in which we live, what kind of people are we talking about who fit this category? Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and heart they've exercised with covetous practices, cursed children. What would these people look like if you met one in the street? I think we would put into that category drug users. They can't stop their sin. They're hooked. And when you think of what goes through their mind and what sinful notions they carry in their mind on those times when they're high on drugs, those people are victims of burning passions, and they cannot cease it. Alcoholics, They crawl the bars. They go to the liquor store and they spend every dollar and they take it home. And they cannot stop. Their lives are ruined. And in that drunken state, think of the sins that are imagined in the mind and the wicked things that they do, the depravity that is expressed. the fights, the murders, the violence that comes from those things. This is the rottenness of society. Then I think of prostitutes on the streets or in those homes of infamy, and it's a horrible lifestyle. It's horrible, but they can't stop. Once they go down to the gutter of degradation, they so hate themselves, hate their own practices, but they can't cease from them. They go back to them again and again. Sin, at first, it titillates, and then it captivates, and then it destroys. You would say these people are crazy with sin. Now, Peter wouldn't have to change much if he was living in our day. These things that he's writing off here in this book are right before our eyes. What is the answer? Christ is the answer. Because the testimony of the Christian is that we have escaped the corruption of lusts. We've escaped while we were once there. We now are free from the grip and the control of lust, passions that rule the heart. And we now are renewing our minds. We are born of the Spirit. We are delivered from the captivity of sin, and we are set free to live new lives. We need Christ. And this is what the gospel does. Paul could write to the Corinthians and say, Such were some of you, but ye are washed, You're sanctified. Isn't this a wonderful, wonderful gospel that is so needed in these days of great immorality, of evil and wickedness? I'm going to move on now to resolve to be the very best Christian experiencing the power of God's virtue. In verse 3, it says here again, I'm back in this verse 3, "...according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him." And we're back here to this word knowledge, and to what we know of God. Now, I looked up this word, and it is in the Greek language a word called epigonosko. The word further down for knowledge is just nosko. But this is a compound word, epigonosko. Some versions translate it not knowledge, but to acknowledge. And I believe that it carries more than just facts of God. It carries with it the experience of God. It carries with it laying hold on the knowledge of God. It's not just something you observe, but it is something that is impacted upon your life. And I believe it's something like that that happened to Abram, when the God of glory called him out of the Ur of the Chaldees. And when God reveals Himself to His people, they live differently, and that knowledge transformed them. What do you know about God? You know, boys love to talk about their father. I remember walking home from school as a group of boys, and they'd all be bragging about, well, my dad, he drives this car, and my dad drives that car, and that car can go to a certain speed. And, you know, boys just brag about their dads. And everyone just wants to tell that something special, something better. We have a heavenly Father whom we do brag about. We glory in. but do we know him?" Some will talk of their parents, how strict they are. And they give the impression of how difficult it is to live in that home. Others will say they have gentle dads. And what a different picture that conveys of that man. Others will talk, well, my dad, he's good, but he's very forgetful. And he promises me things and he either totally forgets or he doesn't do it. So he's somewhere between a liar and a deceiver, and someone who really just hasn't got his act together. Very dysfunctional. What a bad reflection they make on their dad. A. W. Tozer said, "'What comes to your mind when you hear the name God?' dictates the type of Christian you are. Now you think about that. If you are in some wishy-washy evangelical church, the notion of God is the God who loves everybody no matter how they do or how they live. There's no wrath, there's no judgment, just God wants to be there for everybody. Do you notice how Peter sets up the knowledge of God? He starts in verse 1 with the righteousness of God. He's holy. He's majestic. He hates sin, and he loves righteousness. And Peter carries this through into chapter 2, because twice over he says, God spared not the angels. And he spared not Sodom and Gomorrah, that's chapter 2. This is the God whom Peter projects and sets forward. And in his first epistle, he said, God calls us, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And when we have this knowledge of God, and we lay hold upon that knowledge, and that becomes our experience of God, Then we live differently, and we live in a reflection of the knowledge we have of Him. Now, to simplify it in closing tonight, God has revealed Himself on two mountains. Mount Sinai, where He gave the law, and the mountain trembled with fire and smoke, and the people feared. The other mountain is Mount Calvary, where God poured his wrath upon his Son. The God whom we serve tonight is righteous and will judge sin. He will either judge it in the person of his Son, or he will judge it in the sinner that commits it. We take refuge in the death, the righteous sacrifice of Christ, because it satisfies the righteous holiness of God. We do not take refuge that God loves everybody, no matter how they live. Such a God to the world is a God who never judges sin, a God who never created hell, a God who will never send a soul to hell for all eternity. a God who is just a plaything of their own imagination, or as Dr. McClelland used to illustrate it, a God that they have in their pocket and they take Him out when they need Him in the time of convenience. And when they have no need or they want to enjoy the world, they just put God back in their pocket again. This is the God whom we serve tonight. He hates sin, but He loves mercy. And through His Son, He has opened up a way for you and me to escape corruption, to escape hell, and to live godly. We are therefore not to lower the standard of God's worship, and we won't do it when we get a glimpse of the glory and the majesty of our God. And so think of that statement of A. W. Tozer. What you think about when you hear the name God will determine the type of Christian you are. whether it makes you to fear in reverence or to just dismiss him as an old fogey that has no power. Tonight we are called to virtue. We're called to manly Christianity. We are resolved to be the very best Christian because our God is a God of knowledge and virtue. I pray that God will continue to help us as we go through this book. and that we will see God's grace as we also see the trouble that this world is in. This world needs much prayer. It needs the light of the gospel in a desperate way. And for that, I would have called you to come to our prayer meetings this week. Let us give ourselves to prayer. We think of family, friends, and the many that are lost in sin, and they need to be awakened and may we have a little part in that. So may the Lord bless His Word. Let's close in prayer tonight, and we'll end our service this evening. Father, we thank Thee this hour for the light of Your Word. And oh God, I pray that You'll make me bold, courageous, that I might stand up for Christ. Lord, this is a world of many pressures to just drift along. I pray that we will not be drifters, but that we will stand up for Jesus. Bless your people tonight. Give us victory over this sinful world. Give us power in our souls to put out the fire of passion and lust that we may live godly in Christ Jesus. We pray that you'll bless and help us to be a living witness for thee. Meet with us this week, we pray, and let your blessing be upon us. Now dismiss us with your blessing. May the grace of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with your blood-washed people now and ever. Amen.