Series: 2 Peter
Title: Giving All Diligence
Text: 2 Peter 1: 5-15
Date: December 11, 2011
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
2 Peter 1: 5: And beside this, (Review)
2 Peter 1: 1-4 is one sentence. Under the power of the Spirit of God the apostle Peter wrote a world of infinite blessings in that one sentence. We have seen that:
By the Divine Power of God
· Through the righteousness of God our Savior Christ Jesus,
· Through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord
· The believer has been born again and given all things that pertain to life and godliness
· Like precious faith,
· Grace and Peace,
· Exceeding great and precious promises (gospel)
The defect of a false promise is uncertainty. This is what makes God’s promises certain to the believer (gospel)
1. They are of the grace of God
2. By two immutable things—the decree of God and the oath of God, God who cannot lie, God who changes not.
3. They are promises accomplished by God the Son, Christ Jesus
4. They are promises effectually wrought in the heart of his elect by God the Holy Spirit through the gospel in truth.
God has promised us that we have:
1. Forgiveness of sin, no more offering for sin (Heb 10: 15-17),
2. Made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5: 21.)
3. Reconciled to God in the body of Christ’s flesh through death (Col 1:21-22; Eph 2: 19.)
3. God’s providence (Romans 8: 28; Isaiah 33: 16), where he has begun this work he will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ.
4. Promise of eternal life (Jn 6: 54.)
5. Promise of joint-inheritance with Christ as sons of God (Romans 8: 17-18; 1 Jn 3: 2.)
6. Promise of resurrection (1 Corinthians 15: 52-57.)
7. Promise of reigning with Christ in his throne (Rev 3: 21.)
There would be uncertainty in these promises if God entrusted you and I with any part to fulfill. But the triune God himself fulfills all his promises according the praise of the glory of his grace. Therefore the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ, as exceeding great and precious as God (2 Corinthians 1: 20.)
By this, we have been made partakers of the divine nature—
· Christ has been formed in us by the Holy Spirit
· The same Life from the Vine flows into the branches, the Life of Christ our Head flows in each member of his body
· Making us one with Christ, giving us fellowship with God, making us possessors of the consolation of Christ—Christ in you is our hope of eternal glory.
By this, we have escaped (been delivered) from the corruption that is in the world through lusts.
· God the Father has translated us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. Not that we are already perfect in our flesh, but in Christ we are, and when he appears we shall be like him.
What a salutation! And we begin our letters, “Dear John.”
2 Peter 1: 5: And beside this [upon this]…Knowing the great grace of our God who has worked all this for us and in us—making us a new creation, giving us faith to believe him—give all diligence.
Diligence carries two meanings: Haste and Earnestness.
Giving all diligence is to give continuous effort to every moment, with earnestness, with your mind fixed in one direction. Whatever the Lord commands his child, the Lord produces in his child. Example:
Luke 19: 5: And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.
Can’t you see Zacchaeus making every step count with earnestness as he came down. The Master spoke in his heart. When the Lord Jesus was formed in Mary she made “haste” to run tell Elizabeth the good news. She gave all diligence. Give all diligence.
2 Peter 1: 5: And beside this giving all diligence ADD to YOUR faith
Remember: all addition is the fruit of the Spirit Paul said even “Diligence” is a fruit God gives of his grace. Remember: this is cultivation of your own garden—add to your faith
2 Peter 1: 5: And beside this giving all diligence add to your faith VIRTUE
Virtue is that whatever gives all glory and praise to the God of all grace.
Isaiah 43: 21: This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
Natural man’s mere moral virtue is of man and it changes: generation to generation, place to place. This is virtue which is the fruit of the Spirit according to God’s word and grace.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas 1:17.)
Any so-called growth, any so-called virtue promoted by men, worked up by men, to attract attention to you rather than Christ, you can be sure:
“This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.” (Jas 3:15.)
God-given, God grown virtue is that which “adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” (Tit 2:10.) It is not to draw attention to you, but to give all the focus and attention to Christ
Philippians 4: 8: Finally, brethren,whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
2 Peter 1: 5:…and to virtue knowledge;
Knowledge of what God says is good and right, the wisdom we need to discern how to sojourn in this world with one another and the characters we encounter, is found one place:
Colossians 2: 3: In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
1. If you are risen with Christ then set your affection on Christ—things above, not on things of this earth—“Diligence” gets its strength from a word meaning “feet or footstool.” Mary sat as the Lord’s “feet.”
Colossians 3: 3: For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4: When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
2. Give all diligence to continually come to his throne of grace—ask Christ Jesus for grace, for understanding, for wisdom—he is the fountain of all grace—“of his fullness have we all received grace for grace”—more grace is one of the rewards God gives to those who believe him and diligently seek all grace from Him (Jn 1: 16; Heb 11: 6.)
3. Give all diligence to seek him in his word in the gospel. (v19) Give diligence to know the will of God revealed in the Scriptures, and know that knowledge will come by his grace growing you in all wisdom.
Micah 6: 8: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
2 Peter 1: 6: And to knowledge temperance;
Avoid excess. Our fleshly lusts do not have free reign anymore. The believer has been tempered by the Spirit of God.
Romans 6: 14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
But there is still in every born again child of God the old flesh, the natural “me”, which desires sin and wars against the new “Me.” Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man. Sow to the Spirit, not to the flesh. Give all diligence to grow in temperance to live in moderation in all things.
Galatians 5: 16: This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
We may have liberty in things that will cause our brother to stumble. Be temperate. Seek the other’s welfare over our own belly.
2 Peter 1: 6:…and to temperance patience;
Patience which is the fruit of the Spirit is not only the ability to stay calm in a traffic jam. Patience is waiting on God. It is enduring hardness rather than take the path of least resistance, continuing faithful to God, while waiting on God to do what God will.
The stony ground hearer “receives the word with gladness, but has no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended” (Mt 13: 21.)
Only God can give the increase—in you and in those around you. God promises, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground”
James 5: 7: Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8: Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh
Romans 8: 25: But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
2 Peter 1: 6:…and to patience godliness;
Godliness is the fear of the Lord. The reverence, the delight, the singleness of heart toward the Lord and his Power.
The more the Lord grows us to realize how that by making himself the least in the kingdom of God God has exalted Christ and given him all power in heaven and earth the more we will grow in reverence for him in all worship and in all areas of life.
The more we realize Christ Jesus is ever present in the midst of his people powerfully working in each of his children, “both to will and to do his good pleasure”, turning the enemies heart, working all things in providence, speaking in power and making every knee bow at his will then the more we will grow to be the least among our brethren, to be content, to be thankful, to submit, to praise him, to cast all care into his hands. The more we will work out all our most mundane daily business right here amongst our brethren and in this world with fear and trembling. That is exactly what Paul said to the Philippians—“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Php 2:13.) When a sinner experiences that Power, our worship stops being form, and trusts in his Power!
2 Peter 1: 7: And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
The love of God which is in the believer is after the same nature as the love of God. How did God love his children?
1 John 4: 10: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11: Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Growing in brotherly love is growing to love without looking for a cause in our brother. It is growing to overlook my brother’s weaknesses and flaws—not knit-pick and complain about him to everybody that will listen--“Love covereth the multitude of sins.”
· 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8
And the more we grow in the truth that God loved us when we were enemies, the more charitable we will be to those who are yet lost and without Christ.
2 Peter 1: 8: For 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. 9: But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
The fruitful man is born of God. He has these thing in him because God puts them in his child so that he is a hearer and a doer. He gives all diligence. And God shall continue to grow him more and more.
The other is blind and can’t see past the end of his nose backwards or forwards. He hears the gospel and straightway forgets what manner of man he pretends to be: out of the abundance of his heart his tongue breaks loose like a wild asses colt and burns up everything and everybody except his own self-righteous stubble!
2 Peter 1: 10: Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
· Brethren, it is from Christ our Head, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that all grace is ministered unto us.
· He ministered grace to us when he became our Surety from eternity
· He ministered grace to us when he came and fulfilled the law and redeemed us from all iniquity by his own blood
· He ministered grace to us when he sent the gospel to us in truth
· He ministered grace to us when he sent forth the Spirit into our hearts
· He will minister to us abundantly so that we increase with the increase of God. So that our foot is sure and we never all from his grace
Perseverance—all growth in grace—is all owing to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore, give all diligence…to
Colossians 2: 19:…[Hold fast to Christ our Head] [from whom] all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, increaseth with the increase of God.
2 Peter 1: 12: Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 13: Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14: Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. 15: Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
Amen!