Oftentimes, people don't like to be told to pursue
holiness and godliness in their lives. Now, there's
various reasons for this. People don't necessarily
enjoy being exhorted unto holiness of life. People
don't always enjoy being exhorted to godliness
and the pursuit of godliness and godly traits
and godly characteristics in their life. And
there are several reasons for this. I believe
that some of the reasons are people think genuinely
that for someone to tell them to pursue and seek
out holiness and godliness, that is legalistic.
And moralistic. Don't tell me that I should seek
holiness in my life. God's going to do that in
my life. God's going to bring that about in my
life. Some people, I think, genuinely believe
that it's dogmatic and arrogant for one sinner
to tell another sinner that they should be holy.
That they should be godly in their life. I think
that there's other reasons that people don't
like this. I think people have personal insecurities
with their own struggles, their own difficulties,
their own hardships, and their own soul. And
because of those, they don't like being told
that. Because of that expectation. Or because
of that standard of Christian living that they're
being urged onto. Maybe besetting sins. Or struggles
that people cannot or are unwilling to give up
or to let go of. And if I can't let go of this,
if I can't overcome this in my own life, then
how in the world could anybody else overcome
this and have freedom from sin in such a way?
Can anybody really truly walk in holiness and
godliness in their life? Oftentimes I think that
messy grace in antinomian theology really has
crept into the church more than we like to admit.
We're all sinners. You're a sinner. I'm a sinner.
And it's okay to be sinners. I'm imperfect, you're
imperfect, and this is the perfect place for
us to come together. And it's okay to be imperfect.
It's okay to not be okay. There's no standard.
There's no expectation. For godliness and holiness,
God is not a God that is given a holy and a righteous
law that reflects His own character and His own
goodness and that which He loves and that which
He... A lot of times, I believe people don't
like being told to pursue holiness and godliness
because of emotionally driven hermeneutics. Emotionally
driven ideas about what is right and what is
wrong in their life, in the church, and what
is expected of them in their life. For instance,
I believe people rationalize away godliness and
holiness because they say, well, when Paul tells,
when Peter tells his readers, now for this very
reason also, applying all diligence in your faith,
supply, moral excellence, and so on and so on
and so on. And then he even says, for if these
qualities are yours and are increasing, meaning
they have to be yours if you're a believer. And
they have to be increasing if you're a believer.
When Paul says that, he's talking to those first
century Christians. He's talking to those really
spiritual people. When Peter says that, he's
not talking about me. He doesn't understand my
life. He doesn't understand what's expected of
me in my life. He doesn't understand the commitments
in my life, what's required of me in my life.
He doesn't understand what I'm going through
and what I have to do in my life to just survive.
But brothers and sisters, this applies to every
single Christian, every single where, and every
single time. We are the same. As Peter's readers,
brothers and sisters, We are people saved by
grace. We are sinners saved by grace. And that
means that this exhortation and this admonition,
this command on the life of the believer, is
applicable to every single believer that's present
in this room. There's going to be difficulties
and hardships along the way, along the path of
godliness. But brothers and sisters, because
of all these reasons, I think that's all the
more cause to teach and instruct on these things.
Because of all these reasons, that's all the
more cause to teach on the pursuit of godliness
and holiness. Because we need it all that much
more. Because we don't like it. Because we don't
want to hear it. But we need to hear it. I need
to hear and I need to be encouraged. I need to
be exhorted to pursue Christlikeness in my life.
And you, brothers and sisters, need to be exhorted
unto Christlikeness in your life as those who
are recipients of the blessed grace of God. So
Peter encourages us to pursue a godly life in
verses 5 through 11. Consider first with me the
basis for pursuing a godly life. This is important
that we get this right, isn't it? On what basis
can a person say, pursue holiness? Pursue Christ.
What is the basis? The text says now, for this
very reason also. Peter's referring to what's
come before. He's referring to what he's been
speaking of. He's referring to what we've been
examining the last several weeks. He's referring
to the provisions of God for life and godliness.
Do you remember in verse 3, he says, seeing that
his divine power has granted to us everything
pertaining to life and godliness. Brothers and
sisters, God has given us graciously everything
for life and godliness. That's the basis. God's
work, God's provision, God's grace in the life
of the believer. What he provides and what he
gives and what he supplies and how he sustains
for the Christian, for those with faith. It's
the provisions of God. But it's not just the
provisions of God that are the basis of the pursuit
of a godly life. It's the promises of God. What
do we see? We read in verse 4, For by these he
has granted to us his precious and magnificent
promises, so that by them you may become partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world by lusts. It's not just
the provision of God for life and godliness,
and that he's granted and he's given everything
that we need. But it's the fact of the promises
of the gospel and their application in the life
of God's people. It's the reality, brothers and
sisters, that God truly, genuinely intervenes
in the life of a sinner, and then He gives them
eyes to see, and He gives them ears to hear.
He calls them by the gospel and by His Spirit.
And that when He does that, brothers and sisters,
He gives us a new heart, a new nature. He drastically
changes us and He drastically transforms us so
that our minds and our hearts and our longings
are all renewed. They're all changed. They're
all adjusted. They're reoriented towards God.
And we have this desire, this longing for holiness
and godliness in our life. We see... That in
these promises, God provides us with certain
realities so that we can pursue holiness. So
that we can pursue godliness. He gives us ability
to pursue it. By giving us a new nature and a
new heart. Now, that does not mean... That it's
just us? Because as God's grace calls us, brothers
and sisters, we must never forget that God's
grace sustains us and preserves us even in our
pursuit of godliness and holiness. It's still
of grace. The very reason that we are new creatures
in Christ, the very reason that when God calls
us and we believe on Christ God -given faith,
that's a whole -souled movement. That's something
we do. God doesn't believe for us. We believe.
But why can we believe? And how do we believe?
Because He has given us a new heart, and His
strength by His Spirit causes us to believe.
It's His energy. It's His power. It's His influence
by the divine Spirit of God. My flesh... Has
no power. And no ability. And no desire. To seek
after a holy God. Do you know why? Because my
flesh is antithetical to holiness. When I'm referring
to it with reference to sin. A remnant of sin
will not ever. Or indwelling sin. In a person
will never seek out a holy God. Will never seek
out to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. But when
the work of God, the grace of God intervenes
in a person's life and changes them and transforms
them like we saw in Ephesians chapter 4. Like
we see in Romans chapter 6 where we're dead to
sin. The old man is crucified, the old man is
dead, and we're alive unto God. And we can now
reckon sin as dead to us? That's all because
of God's grace, God's work in our life. So very
clearly, we see that it's grace that is the foundation
for any pursuit of godliness. in our lives. It's
God's work in us that is the basis for any work
in our lives. We have to remember that Peter's
talking to, he's writing to who, brothers and
sisters? Those who have received a faith of the
same kind. Peter's not speaking to unbelievers
and saying, be godly. He's not writing to unbelievers
and saying, seek out holiness in Christ's likeness.
No, he's writing to those with faith. He's writing
to those who are believers, those who are indwelt
by the Spirit of God, and those who have experienced
the grace of God at work in their life. He's
writing to them. There's nothing dogmatic. There's
nothing legalistic. There's nothing moralistic.
about a Christian, a believer, indwelt by the
Holy Spirit being told to pursue holiness and
godliness. In reality, brothers and sisters,
we have to pursue those things. We must pursue
those things. So, if one is to pursue godliness,
what must precede it? Grace. Grace must precede
godliness, right? But brothers and sisters, listen.
What must follow grace? The pursuit of godliness.
If grace comes in, godliness must be sought.
If grace comes in, then brothers and sisters,
godliness will be pursued. It's not as though
God saves us and his work in us is ineffective,
right? It's not as though God transforms us and
then deserts us and leaves us to ourselves and
all of a sudden it's all about the flesh and
finishing with the flesh. No, brothers and sisters,
the gospel is effective and powerful not just
to convert us and regenerate us, but the gospel
is effective. to transform us throughout the
entirety of our lives in sanctification. To continue
to renew us and transform us from glory to glory.
This is an indiscriminate command and exhortation
that Peter's giving to believers, isn't it? He's
not saying if you're really, really spiritual,
apply all diligence. and add these to your faith.
He's not saying, if you're in the first century,
then apply these to your faith. He's saying,
believer, you with faith, you who have the Spirit
of God, you who know Christ, you who love the
Lord Jesus Christ, you who have been born again,
you who have faith and repentance, pursue and
seek out these things. Grace is the basis for
pursuing a godly life, brothers and sisters.
But we also have to consider what believers are
called to pursue. When we say pursue a godly
life, what exactly are we speaking of? What does
the text tell us that we ought to be pursuing,
that we ought to be supplying, and we ought to
be diligently seeking to bring about and make
a close and intimate part of our life? Well,
we see in verses 5 through 7, this list, we could
say, of Christian virtues and characteristics.
He says, now for this very reason also, applying
all diligence. In your faith, supply moral excellence.
In your moral excellence, knowledge. And in your
knowledge, self -control. And in your self -control,
perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness.
And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. And
in brotherly kindness, love. That is what Peter
is exhorting his readers to seek out. To pursue.
These traits that he lists. Now, when we consider
these traits, Peter gives seven of them. He says
in your faith, personal trust of Christ. He says
moral excellence. Most likely he's speaking about
moral virtue, moral goodness, integrity, and
consistency, honesty, and purity in one's life
in a well -rounded capacity across the board
in how we see things and how we act and how we
talk and how we speak. Knowledge. He's speaking
of the will of God and discerning the will of
God. Not so much just the accumulation of knowledge.
Self -control. The ability to restrain ourselves.
The ability to restrain ourselves when the flesh
rears its head and seeks to lash out. Self -control
or temperance. Perseverance. This trait. where
we press on, we continue on, we continue moving
forward in spite of difficulties, we don't give
up, we don't throw our hands to the side and
say, I'm done. We press on. He says godliness,
connecting it to what he said previously, a devout
religious piety that's inwardly driven by the
heart that seeks to honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
brotherly kindness, talking about a familial
Christian love. Now there's one that's relevant
for us, isn't it, brothers and sisters? We're
sitting next to brothers and sisters. We're sitting
next to family. And Peter's exhorting us to love
one another like brothers and sisters. Do you
brothers and sisters know why I say brothers
and sisters fairly often? In our conversation
or from the pulpit? Because it's a term of endearment.
It means I don't talk to everybody like this.
It means I see you differently than I see the
world. It means I know that Christ has died for
you and he's died for me because you've made
a profession of faith. Therefore, I recognize
you as a brother or a sister. in Christ. That
changes how we relate to one another. That changes
how we look at one another. Peter's saying, pursue
that out. He's saying that that is what we ought
to be seeking in our lives. And then he culminates
the list with love. Unselfish, self -denying,
sacrificial love. That love which puts others
first. Now this is the last one, but we also
know this is often one of the most difficult
of them. It's the determination to do good to
our fellow man. Regardless of what it costs us.
Regardless of how difficult it is. We will do
good to our fellow man. Now, I think there's
a few things it's important we recognize about
this list that Peter has given us. I think we
need to recognize that there's no significant
order or progression in them. Other than the
fact that it starts with faith and ends with
love. Other than that, I think they're just connected
and linked together. But it is significant. that
every single quality listed is in accompaniment
to faith. That means that these other qualities
are the product, are the fruit, the result of
faith. That means that when I seek out moral
excellence, it has to be in That means that when
I persevere, it needs to be in faith. That's
what distinguishes it and separates it from carnality,
from carnal effort and carnal exertion. The fact
and the reality that these, in a sense, are all
an accompaniment and the fruit of faith, and
they all work toward love. All of these things
serve the purpose of loving our fellow man and
the church of the living God in particular. These
are universal and necessary qualities according
to 2 Peter verse 8. For if these qualities are
yours and are increasing, they render you neither
useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians will...
have these qualities. Those with faith will enjoy
these blessed graces in their life. And these
things must spring from grace. The reason being,
these are not things that we work up, we create,
or we bring about on our own. These are part
of all those things pertaining to life and godliness
that God has given to the believer. He's already
given us the seed, we could say, in faith of
brotherly love. Of moral excellence. So it's
not like we're producing this. We're exerting
these things. We're working with the grace of
God that's inside of us to bring them out and
to manifest them and make them more evident in
our lives. They're from God. They're not from
the flesh. This is part of being made partakers
of the divine nature. These are distinctly Christian
virtues. He's not talking about worldly morality.
Peter's talking about godliness and holiness
in the life of a believer. This means, and this
shows us, brothers and sisters, what God wants
his people to seek after. This shows us what
God wants us to pursue in our lives, doesn't
it? And what do they have to do with? Who we
are? And how we live. Why? Because of the grace
of God. God is telling us, Peter is telling us,
that there is a particular manner of life that
believers in Jesus Christ are to be looking to
be like. That they are to be seeking out and
pursuing in their lives. It's this life characterized
by these realities. These traits and these characteristics.
It shows us what God values in the life of his
people. God values and God wants his people to
seek out moral excellence, perseverance, knowledge,
brotherly love, and that self -sacrificial, self
-denying love, that agape love. He wants us to
be people who are characterized by self -control
and all these traits. It's important for us to
understand, brothers and sisters, God's primary
concern for your life and for my life, as those
who have been recipients of the grace of God,
is not what you do in life. Meaning, you're a
bus driver. You're a pastor, a preacher. You're
a school teacher. You're a real estate agent.
You're a dentist. You're a tech worker, a farmer.
It doesn't matter. Listen, that's not God's primary
concern in your life. His primary concern is
not your wealth, your finance, your place, your
affluence, or your position in life. Do you know
what God is preeminently concerned about in your
life? Do you know what God is preeminently concerned
about with your soul? With your life that He
has given you? Godliness. Holiness in your life.
Who you are and how you live unto His glory.
That's His concern. For his people who have been
given his grace. He wants them to live in such
a way that they adorn their faith with these
blessed realities. In a sense, he wants his people
to beautify the gospel of Jesus Christ with their
very lives. To show off. What the gospel has
done to them to show off what the gospel is doing
to them. That means, brothers and sisters, we
say something about the gospel in our self -control
or our absence of self -control. That means that
you say something in your life about God and
the gospel and your love or your absence of love.
And your brotherly love or the absence and neglect
of brotherly love. And your perseverance or your
despair. You say something about the gospel of
Jesus Christ and its power and its effect in
your very souls. What is your life saying about
the gospel? What is your pursuit of godliness
and holiness in your life? How does your treatment
of your brothers and sisters, how does that talk
about the gospel? What does it say about what
Christ has done on the cross? And the power of
the Spirit of God at work in you. We're always
saying something. Everybody's always saying something.
And the way they talk, and the way they dress,
and the way they look, and how they act, and
how they treat others, and what they do. Everybody's
always saying something. They're either beautifying
the gospel of Jesus Christ, or they're saying
something else about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our lives should be living reflections of the
efficacious power of the gospel at work in our
very souls. Our lives should be living testimonies
to the work of Christ and his grace and his mercy
and the transforming power of that grace and
that mercy in our lives. That's what Peter wants
us to do. He wants us to pursue a life that glorifies
God by reflecting the blessed gospel in our lives.
That's what we need to seek out, brothers and
sisters. For morality's sake. But because we
want to honor our Lord. If you're a believer,
I know you want to honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
I know you have the desire and the longing to
please your Heavenly Father. This is how we do
it. We seek out and we pursue these realities.
And brothers and sisters, this is a life of joy.
This is the life of contentment. This is the
life of satisfaction and fulfillment. This is
the life of peace. You know, a lot of times,
the Puritans get really, really bad reps. Now,
there was a small minority of Puritans that should
get a bad rep. Very small. The mass of the Puritans.
Yes, they pursued godliness. And they pursued
holiness. But listen, brothers and sisters, they
were very, very happy people. They were very,
very joyful people. They loved the Lord Jesus
Christ. They desired to please Him and honor
Him. They experienced a deep joy in their souls
that we may know nothing about at times. Why?
Because they were so consecrated to the very
purpose of being godly and holy. If we want to
experience true joy in our lives, if you want
contentment and peace in your life, if you want
to know what it means to be happy in your soul
and not miserable all the time, then you need
to seek out the Lord Jesus Christ and to imitate
Him and to be like Him. and to find satisfaction
and peace and hope and confidence in him by faith.
This is very different from what the world tells
us to go after, isn't it? What does the world
tell us to do? What does the world tell us to
seek out? This is especially relevant for young
people. What does the world and the culture say
to go after in your life? What you value. What's
important to you. What makes you feel good? What
guarantees your success in life? What gives you
the most affluence and influence in life? Where
are you going to have the most impact on society
and culture? What's going to give you the best
position and best place? What's going to satisfy
your... wants the most. That's not what Peter
tells us to go after. Peter says to go after
that which God values. Peter says seek out and
pursue that which is dear to the very heart of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Holiness and godliness.
Those are the things that Christians ought to
pursue and seek out with all their very being.
Those things that God tells us to go after. Now
consider how we are to pursue godliness. This
one is fairly simple from the text. How do we
go after these things? The text says in verse
5, now for this very reason also, applying all
diligence and your faith supply. I'm sorry. In
your faith, supply moral excellence. Believers
must apply all diligence in their pursuit of
a godly life. We know what we are to seek. We
know what God wants us to go after, don't we,
brothers and sisters? Knowing that, understanding
who God wants us to be, how ought we to then
live? How ought we to prioritize our life, our
energy, our time, our days? We have to live in
such a way that we're wise and not unwise. Peter
is very clear. He says that we have to make every
effort. What does he mean by this? Every single
one of us clearly understands what this means.
Every single one of us knows what it means to
apply all diligence. And do you know how I know
every single person already understands this?
Because the people I know in this room are very
hard workers. And if they say to their child,
or to an employee, or to a staff member, Or to
somebody they're supervising or overseeing, somebody
they're in charge of, and they say, now, apply
all diligence in this task. Apply all diligence
in this function, in this capacity, in this duty,
in this role. What do you mean by that? Do you
mean it's okay? Let it fall to the wayside. Neglect
it. And then take up the opportunity when you
get a chance and whenever you feel like it. No.
I certainly don't mean that whenever I tell my
child that. Does it mean, brothers and sisters,
give it a half -hearted effort and then stop?
No. Brothers and sisters, it means make every
effort and take every opportunity to reach that
goal which is included in the command. Do everything
within your power to see that this comes about.
Give it everything you've got. Because that's
what I want. Because that's what's good for you.
Because that's what I long for your life. Brothers
and sisters, we have a Heavenly Father who loves
us and cares more for us than we can ever fathom.
And He longs for us to know what it's like to
be holy and godly in our life. And He says, apply
all diligence in this matter. Take every opportunity.
Make every effort. That means give all the time
that you have and all the time that you can.
Empty yourself. Give yourself to this purpose
in your life. I want you to do this. That's what
we ought to hear in this calling and this exhortation.
It's a command, a call, an exhortation, an admonition
of love, brothers and sisters. Our Father in
heaven loves us dearly, and He knows that we
need to be holy and godly in our life so that
we enjoy contentment and peace and love, and
we know Him more than we do now. We have to give
it everything we've got. This includes activity
and the will. We can't apply all diligence. without
exercising some resolve in our minds, in our
wills. I think Peter's telling us, when it comes
to matters of your faith, be strong -willed.
I think he's telling us, be a go -getter when
it comes to growing in grace. Give yourself to
this purpose. Do everything that you possibly
can. To achieve this goal. To seek it out. And
to go after it. But he also says. That the way
that we pursue this. Is that believers must supply.
Or they must add. These qualities to their faith.
This is why he says in verse 5. Supplying all
diligence. Now this word. assumes the presence
of these qualities already. And he's calling
us to exercise and practice these things. It
was used in Greek literature for various different
purposes, but the primary use was for a patron
or a benefactor that loved music and orchestra.
That they would come alongside that orchestra
and that team and they would provide funding
or donations or they would furnish instruments
so that the orchestra could be well -rounded
and make the most beautiful music that it could
potentially make. Peter's saying supply diligence
and effort. Supply these qualities in such a
way that you show off the gospel in your life.
And the beauty of the gospel in your life. That
we show off the work of the Lord. Now, the reality
is, brothers and sisters, that we go after, we
seek after, we pursue, and we give diligence
to those things which matter most in our lives.
We apply all diligence to those things which
matter most to us. We apply all diligence to
those things our heart's affections are set on
the most. We make time for those things which
matter most. We open up our schedule. We control.
We persevere in those things. We do everything
necessary to accomplish those goals in our lives
because they matter to us, because they're meaningful
to us. Brothers and sisters, we are called to
give all diligence and all activity and all exertion,
everything in our power and our control, to lay
hold. of Christ more in our lives. Everything.
That is to be our priority and our values. We
are to go after that which God loves the most.
We are to go after those things which He's telling
us to go after. And that means that we may have
to neglect or lay aside some of the things we
like so much. If we want to lay hold of Christ
more and more in our lives and to be closer and
closer to Him in union by faith and have the
Spirit of God working more in us than brothers
and sisters, let other things that are of lesser
value fall to the wayside that you might lay
hold of Christ more and more in your life. Let
go of those things in the pursuit. of holiness
and godliness in your lives to honor the Lord
Jesus Christ. There are certain things in our
lives that are going to have no eternal impact
on our very souls. There are certain things in
our lives that we will never take with us when
we die. Listen, brothers and sisters. There are
eternal things which have eternal impacts on
our souls and on those around us. Give yourselves
to those realities. Those things which will perpetually
remain because they are of God. What other things
fall to the wayside? What matters most to you?
What's most important to your soul? Now, in our
pursuits of those things that mean so much to
us in our lives, we use every method and every
means to obtain them, don't we? Lawful methods
and lawful means. God forbid no one in here would
use unlawful methods to obtain that which they
want in life. But if we want... To pursue godliness
in our life. If we want to grow in grace and
knowledge, and to know the Lord Jesus Christ,
you know how we do that, brothers and sisters?
We take advantage of the means that God has given
to us to bring those things about. The Word of
God. We have to be people that live in the Word.
We have to be people that love the Word, that
read the Word and study the Word and look to
the Word for leadership and guidance in our lives.
We have to make our decisions and make our determinations
in life based on the Word. But brothers and sisters,
God has also given us prayer. We must lay hold
of prayer and go to the Lord in prayer and seek
Him out in prayer and use the means. But brothers
and sisters, He's also given us the local church.
The people of God where we've covenanted together
to walk together as one people in unity and love.
He's given us the ordinances. These are the means
by which we grow in godliness and holiness in
our lives. I want to end. by reading something.
This is the Canons of Dort. It's such a good
section on what we're speaking of. It says this,
For grace is conferred by means of admonition,
such as the one we're reading about in 2 Peter
1, verses 5 -11, an admonition. For grace is
conferred by means of admonitions, and the more
readily we perform our duty. the more clearly
this favor of God working in us usually manifests
itself. And the more directly His work is advanced.
To Him alone all the glory, both for the means
and for the saving fruit in efficacy, is forever
due. Amen. Do you know what it's saying there,
brothers and sisters? It's saying that the more
we give ourselves to pursuing godliness and holiness,
the more the grace of God powerfully works in
our souls. The more we seek to be like Christ,
the more His grace works in our very hearts.
Be a people that don't feel as though we have
to dogmatically pursue holiness and godliness.
Brothers and sisters, be a people that recognize
God wants us to be holy and godly and to know
Christ more because he loves us dearly. He cares
for us dearly. And he knows what is best for
our souls.