All right, so those are going to Sister Priscilla this morning. You are ready to go. Whomever, whomever you are. All right. All right. If you have your Bibles this morning, I'd like you to turn back to 2 Peter chapter 1. We have been preaching out of this chapter for about 3 or 4 weeks now. We'd like to close this out here this morning. And on the message that I want to bring this morning out of this chapter from verses 5 through 11, We want to preach on seeing you're saved. A lot of times we preach on knowing you're saved, but I want to preach on seeing you're saved. And so let's stand to our feet this morning, and as we look at the Word of God, we begin there in verse 5. We've already preached verses 1 through 4. And we want to finish out this morning this chapter. It's about eternal security. It's about knowing that you're saved, knowing that Christ Jesus is the Lord and Savior of your heart. It says, And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from our old sins. Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, For if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, we come to you in Jesus' name. Lord, we thank you this morning, giving us privilege to come back to the house of God. I pray, Lord, that you'd anoint us Pray, Father, that you'd guide us and, Lord, you'd give us wisdom. Father, help us to know the truth of God's Word today. God, it's just not that we get saved and nobody knows it. God, it's we get saved and everybody knows it. I pray, Father, that you'd help us to see who we are. God, help us to know today without a shadow of a doubt, dear God, that we have Christ Jesus as our Lord and salvation, dear God, we have for eternity. Father, thank you for all those you've gathered here this morning. Bless them. God, I pray that you'd give them help, dear God, in the days of this life. Pray, Father, that you'd give them, dear God, the desires of their heart. Answer their prayers, and God, meet the needs of their home. Meet the needs, dear God, of their heart. God, we love you now. We thank you, Lord, that you loved us. You called us. You saved us. In Christ's precious name, we pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. So I feel this morning that as my voice went out on Wednesday, that I still have that little, just don't seem to be as strong as it has been. I guess Brother George gave me something. But anyway, I want to say this morning, first of all, about the passage we're about to read. We didn't read the verses. They're in verse 13, 14, and 15. But I want to read them to you right now with the emphasis put on that Peter is saying to us, remember. remember. He says in verse 12, it says, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them and be established in the present truth. So he's telling us to remember these things. And then in verse 13, it says, yea, I thank it meet as long as I'm in the tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance the second time. And then we find in verse 15, moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my departure to have these things always in remembrance. So we find in three verses, or four verses, we find three times he says remembrance. Remembrance of these things. Now it brings to me a very thought this morning that Peter is saying to us, these things be mindful of. Not only these things be mindful, but he says to recollect of these things. To not allow these things to be removed from your memory. To have memory of these things. He says it three times. It tells me, according to the scripture, two or three establishes a matter. And so I find that Peter is saying to us something that's important. Something that you and I need to consider. Now, what is the Holy Ghost of God wanting us to remember? That's something that we need to get this morning, is what is the Holy Ghost telling Peter, writing down on the scripture, that we can read and look at. He says He's wanting us to remember these things. Well, we find in verse 8 it says, For if these things be in you, that's the first time that these things are mentioned. Verse 9 says, But of he that lacketh these things, that's the second time. And then I notice in verse 10, Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, there's the third time. And then we find in verse 12, he says, to remembrance of these things, that's number four. And verse 15, it says, these things always in remembrance, that's the fifth time. We find in these scriptures, which are not very long, he tells us three times to remember these things. He mentions these things five times. And so the Holy Ghost of God is trying to bring to our attention that we need to remember these things. And so we need to figure out this morning what are these things. Where we find, number one, these things are things that are experienced. For he says there in verse 12, he says, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. And then he says this, Though you know them. Though you know them. I want you to remember them, but I'm not telling you these things because you don't know them. And I'm not telling you these things because they're something you just learned. I'm not telling you these things because something that you learned a long time ago and they might be forgetful, but I'm telling you these things because you know those things. Now that word know means experienced. And so what Peter is saying to the people that he's talking to, that the Holy Ghost of God says, I want you to remember these things. But these things are things that you have already experienced. You already know these things. These are not going to be new things. These are not going to be things that you don't know. These are things that you already know that you need to remember. That means experience, it means discovered, or it means examined. And so He's saying to you and I this morning that I want you to know, I want you to remember these things that you know, that you have already discovered, that you already have examined, and that you already have experienced. Number two, he says, these things are also not only experienced, but these things are established. He said in verse 12, he said, and be established in the present truth. The word established means stable, firm, and also fixed. And so Paul or Peter is saying to us by the way of the Holy Ghost that these things are things that are established in you. They are firm in you. They are stable in you. They are fixed in you. These things are not going to come on you and come off of you. These things ain't going to be here on Sunday, then on Monday you don't have it any longer. These things are fixed and firm, established in you. They're things that you have experienced, things that you have discovered, things that you have now come to the place where you examined. And so these things have got to be remembered. Number three, these things are essential, for he says in verse 12, they are established in present truth. In other words, he's saying, I'm not talking about something that's, we're gonna, these things are something in the future, these things are something that's gonna take place in eternity, but these things are present truth. right now where you are, right now on this day, the day in which you and I are living in. These things are present truth. These things are right now. These things are in you. These things are to be remembered. These things have been experienced. These things are firm. They're satisfying. They're fixed. They're set. And what's true right now, these are vital. For us to be Christians, for us to have eternal life, for us to know that we are saved without a shadow of a doubt, these things. has to be experienced, established, and essential in our lives. Peter makes a determination with all that he has within him of telling us about these things. Now, these things this morning, Peter is using words that are kind of like different words. For example, in verse 12, he uses the word Negligent. He says in verse 12, So what does negligent mean? Well, it means failing to take proper care in doing something. And so Peter is saying to you and I, I will not be negligent. and taking something that God's given to me and not giving it to you. I will not be that. Now we don't use that term very much, do we? We don't use that term, negligent, very much. We kind of use other terms like lazy. We use other terms like irresponsible. We use other terms like, you know what, you just dropped the ball. And so Peter's saying to you and I this morning concerning these things for us to remember it, but then he takes it a personal responsibility upon himself to say, I will not be irresponsible and to tell you about these things. So we find that He's very determined that you and I as a hearer and the listener of God's Word, that we would remember these things. And He's not going to be responsible to God for not giving us this information. And then secondly, He uses another word in verse 13. He says, Yea, I thank it meet. Now the word meet means this, I will not be guilty in this matter. I won't be irresponsible, but I won't be guilty. The word meet means approved of God or accepted by God. And what Peter's saying is this, is I will be meet, I will be approved of God and accepted of God because I'm telling you to remember these things. So he said, I won't be irresponsible, I won't be guilty. And number three, verse 13 and 14, he says, I will not quit in this matter either. He says this in verse 13, yea, I thank it meet, as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up. He uses those words, stir you up. And what is He saying there? He says, I'm not going to quit. That word stir up means to arouse or to awake. And what He's talking to? He's talking to the hearers who are Christians. He's talking to those who have obtained the faith. He says to them, the Holy Ghost of God has told me to pen down, to write, and what I'm writing to you is this. I'm telling you three times, do not forget. Always remember these things. And these things, I will not be guilty before God, not telling you. I will not be lazy. I will not take what my responsibility is and be irresponsible. I will be approved of God and accepted of God. And then verse 15, he uses this word. He says, moreover, I will endeavor. Endeavor. And man, Peter is saying, I will not stop in this matter. I will not stop. That word endeavor means prompt or labor or haste. He said, I will endeavor for the last breath in my body. I will tell you, remember these things. I will endeavor with all my energy, with all my strength, with all that I've got within myself. I will hastily do it. I will properly do it. There is in my soul the Holy Ghost of God placed in Peter to remind us today that these things, amen, are to be remembered. And Peter is saying, I endeavor to make sure that that is. He made sure there in verse 12 before his death. He made sure in verses 13 and 14 at his death. And in verse 15, he says, moreover, I endeavor that ye may be able after my departure, after my death. And so Peter is saying to the hearers, hearers, before I die, remember these things. While I'm dying, remember these things. And after I die, remember these things. Now we have to know this morning that it seemed like Peter has went way out of his way to bring us to a place of saying, listen Christian, remember these things. So I think it ought to be to our interest this morning that we might know what these things are. Number one, I want you to notice that the producing of these things. Look at verse 8. The Bible says, for if these things be in you and abound, they make you. They make you. So these things, the producing of these things are going to make you. Number one, this morning they're gonna, it made you, made in you. The Bible says, but for if these things be in you. And so whatever these things are, it's gonna be something that's in you. It's gonna be within you. It's not something on the outside. It's not something that you can touch, not something that you can grab. It's something, these things are gonna be something that's within you. This is divine faith. Back in verse 1, the Bible says, obtain like precious faith. It's like there in verse 3, talking about verse 4, divine nature. And so you have divine faith. You have divine nature. Those two things that are within you. And these things are within you. Amen? And so we're talking about these things that are in you. We're talking about those things that are made for you. He says, to abound, verse 8. If these things be in you and abound. The word abound means to be active or to increase. And so He's saying that these things that are going to be in us are going to be things that are going to be for our divine faith and divine nature, but it's going to be things that you're going to abound in. They're going to increase. They're going to be active. They're going to be about doing the business of God within you. We find these things, number two, it's going to be not barren. As it says in verse eight, you shall neither be barren. The word barren this morning means to be useful and employed. Neither be barren. So when these things are in you, you will be useful. You will be to a place, Fred, of being productive. You'll not be to the place of being barren, where you'll find yourself not being employed, not being engaged. So we find that these things that are in you are in your divine faith and divine nature that makes you active, but not only makes you active, but it brings a usefulness about you and brings an employment about you. Amen? These things. These things, number three, will make you productive. It says there in verse eight, neither unfruitful. Meaning that you'll not be unproductive, but you'll be productive. Meaning that you'll be yielding. Meaning that this morning, that you'll be fruitful. Amen? That there will be a production about you. That you, within you, that you won't live the Christian life or you don't have the divine faith or divine nature that's in neutral. or divine faith that you can't see, or divine faith that you don't know nothing of. My message today is seeing your salvation or seeing your saved. Well, these things that are in you will find that you'll make you an active, it'll make you useful, it'll make you engaging, it'll make you to the place, friend, where you are producing. Amen. These things. These things will make you to the place of in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, meaning it will be made to you. So all these things will give you to a place of the knowledge of the Lord, the knowledge of God today. You'll have a complete recognition of who Jesus is. You'll have a full discernment of who Christ is. You'll have an entire perception of who Christ is. You'll have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And in that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will be active. You will be productive. You will be engaging, and you will be fruitful and not barren. You say, well, you might be. No, you will be. Amen? We're not talking about might here. We're talking about being saved. We're talking about eternal life. We're talking about seeing you're saved. Seeing is who you are by the way that you're living. But the way that you're living is because there's some things in you that has caused you and created you to be who you are. Amen. And so if I'm this morning, it's not a might, it's not a probably, it's not maybe okay. No, this is what's going to happen with you. I'm not telling you this might happen to you. I'm telling you if you have eternal life, this will be you. Amen! Now I know that we don't usually talk in those terms, but that's the truth. So we find the producing of these things. Number two, we find the power of these things. The power of these things. Verse nine, these things are so powerful, the Bible says that he that lacketh these things. Now we're talking about not having these things. So if I don't have these things, what does that make me? Well, that makes me blind. Blind, amen. Every lost man is blind. You're spiritually blind if you don't have these things. Having these things, amen, will bring forth fruitfulness and without bearing. It'll give you the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without these things, you're lost. You're spiritually blind. You can't know Jesus. You don't know Jesus. You're spiritually lost. You're headed for a devil's hell. You have no eternal life. You have no hope on this side. And, friend, you're gonna be judged, friend, someday before God, and you have absolutely no peace with God, no joy in the Lord because you are spiritually lost, spiritually blind. The Bible teaches here in the way of the understanding of it. He says, "...and cannot see, of far off. You are lost and blind but you're dead. The Bible also says in verse 9, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Now they asked through a lot of people about what that means. So you're telling me, Brother Larry, that verse 9, you're lost without God and you do not have eternal life. I'm telling you, yes. Then you say, well, it says that he forgot of his sins. That means he must have lost his salvation. No, it doesn't mean that at all. You don't lose your salvation. We find what happened. We'll turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 with me and let me explain this for you so that we can get past this to understand what really is being said here in the way of Scripture. So we find the power of these things is if without those you're lost. You're without God, you have no eternity. But with these things, you are of salvation. Chapter 1 of Corinthians 15, we know this chapter as being the faith chapter or the gospel chapter. It says, Moreover, brethren... So he's talking to Christians. I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand. Now what does it mean to wear in you stand? That means you're standing today, you're standing tomorrow, you're standing the next day. That means that you're overcoming, you've got victory. That means you're staying in the gospel. That means you're staying in the faith. That means you're living, you're loving, you're going, you're moving, you're serving God, you're in the will of God, you're doing what God has you to do. You're about the business of the Father. You're standing. Verse 2. by which also you are saved. So how are we saved? We're saved by the gospel. As the gospel is preached, amen, through that gospel we get faith. And when we get faith, we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the preaching of the gospel, there'd be no faith. There's repentance involved that you have to turn from your old sin or turn from your old life or turn from your old way and turn to Jesus, amen, in the way of faith. The word repentance means to change heart and to change mind. So you've got your human nature, you've got your human power, you've got your human faith, and someday, one day at the point of salvation, you will change your mind towards your human faith, towards your human nature, and towards your human power, and you'll turn your back to that, and you'll look to your divine faith, divine power, divine nature, and you'll believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance from that, and reception of this, amen? And we find salvation in that very thing. We see here in this chapter 15, verse 2, by which you are saved. No questions, right? Saved, delivered, healed, preserved. But then it says this, If ye keep in memory what I have preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, Well, that same word memory and the same word forgot is in the same vein. What is He saying to us? He's saying this. He's saying that once you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, there'll be no forgetting of that. There'll be no going back. There'll be no loss of memory. There'll be no way of going any other place but with God. You won't quit the ministry. You won't quit God. You won't lay down your Bible. You won't reject Jesus Christ. You'll never ever be an apostate. You'll never turn from the church. You'll never turn from God. You'll never go anyway but with God because the Bible teaches that to be so. You see, I know some people who went to church for a little while. Some people went to church for a long time and they got bitter, they got mad, they quit going to church. Now they don't go to church. They say they don't believe in God. They don't believe in the Bible no more. What happened? Did they lose their salvation? No, they never had their salvation. Because if they had their salvation, they would not have lost memory of it. They would have not lost forgotting of their old sins. In 1 John 2, verse 19, the Bible gives us another indication of what this might mean. Turn there with me. 1 John 2, 19. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. You know what happened to those people? They lost their memory. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 2. They forgot. In 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 9. See, they never were of us. They were never part of us. They never were child of God. They never had the eternal life. Now, what made the difference between those that left us and those in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 2, if you remember it, and those in 2 Peter 1 verse 9 that forgot their old sins? What's the difference? These things. These things. See, without these things, you're not saved. Without these things, you can't live a godly Christ-like life. Without these things, you're just lost. I know you might have prayed a prayer. I know you come to church. I know you might have some good feelings, and I know that maybe you like the Bible. And I know maybe you even like me, or maybe that you are really into some of the things of the Bible, like stories and things of that nature. But really, what we need to concern ourselves with is what the Bible is concerning ourselves with. And that is these things. Because if these things be in you, You shall never be barren or unfruitful. But if you lack these things, you're blind and cannot see afar off, and you have forgotten, your old sins were purged. So it all boils down to these things. These things are powerful. Without them, you're not saved. These things are producing in you. Number three. The proving of these things. Now what will these things do for you? Well, if you have them, number one, look in verse 10, back into our text of 2 Peter. Proving of these things, you'll be sure. Look what it says in verse 10. Wherefore, the riser, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. So if these things, all they will prove if they're in you is that you're calling and your election is sure. There'll be no doubt about your election. There'll be no doubt about your calling. See, number one, I want you to notice about this sure, which sure just means stable and firm. What it means is he says, you brethren. Look what he says there in verse 10. Wherefore, the rather brethren, So what is it that He's proven, these things? It proves that we're brethren. Right? It proves that we're the church. It proves we're the family of God. It proves that I'm a brother, you're a sister. We're all in the family who has a father. It proves that this morning. So these things prove that you're a brethren. Look how Peter says it. He says in verse 9 about the lacking of these things. But then he says in verse 10, wherefore the rather. In other words, the one before that in verse 8 is you, brethren, not verse 9, the rather. You see that? So he says, wherefore the rather, brethren, Meaning that he's talking about those that are lost in verse 9, those that are saved in verse 8. That's who I'm speaking to, the rather one. As we look in the way of the writing of the scripture, it's very clear. He says the rather one. Verse 10, not only are you brethren, but you're sure to be brethren with these things, but you're sure to be called with these things. He says in verse 10, to make your calling. What does the word calling mean? It means invitation. It means a drawing. So have you ever been invited to be saved? Have you ever been drawn to be saved? Well, how can you make sure these things? These things will make sure that you're calling, that you've been called. That you just didn't come make a, you didn't come make a faith, you didn't come over and make a profession of faith because you were scared of hell. Or you didn't come make a profession of faith because your friends did that. Or make a profession of faith because you really was in a bad time of your life and things were going haywire. Or maybe you want something from God like your wife to come home, your children to stop being so disruptive. Or maybe you want some economics. Maybe you're trying to make a deal with God. And maybe that's why you made a profession of faith. But God said none of those things work. Unless I call you, you can't come to me. Unless Jesus be lifted up, he said, I draw all men unto myself. Unless the Holy Ghost blows upon you and draws you unto himself today, you can't get saved. So make sure your calling is sure. Search it out. Well, how do you know, brother? I can't remember everything back that time. I don't know. Well, these things. These things will make it sure. These things make you sure you're a brethren or you're a sister. These things will make sure that you've been called, that you just didn't say some little prayer, or you've been baptized, or you joined some little church, or maybe you think you're saved and you're not saved. You're calling. Number three, he says your election is sure. The word election means chosen and selected. You say, what in the world does all that mean? Well, let me say it like this. Verse 1 talks about to them that have obtained like precious faith. Everybody in this room that has obtained like precious faith has been elected. All right? Everybody outside this room who has obtained the like precious faith, divine faith, has been elected, has been chosen. Amen? Has been selected. That's all you got to know. Anything unconditional, conditional, the election of grace, the unconditional election of grace, the conditional election of grace, don't get all bent out off in the weeds, okay? Let's just get straight with the scripture. And here's the scripture. In verse 1, we have a faith that's been obtained. That means it's been given to us by God through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hey, Fred, when you receive the gospel, you've been selected and you have been chosen. You're called the elect. All right? Now, to make that sure, why are we going to make that sure that I'm the elect, that I've been chosen, that I've been selected? These things. These things. These things this morning, and I know probably what you're thinking is this, would you please get to these things? But we got to build a case for these things. These things are proving to be sure, but look at verse 10. These things prove that you shall never fall. Look at verse 10. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. You shall never fall. John chapter 10, verse 28 says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. The Bible says in John 11, 26, and whosoever liveth and abideth in me shall never die. Boy, I think about our sister Madge out there in Calvary Baptist Church. I said this the other night while she was in that Methodist hospital. She blinked her eyes and woke up and she's in heaven. She was just a blink away. Amen. She was laying there. She was looking at me. She had tubes down her mouth. She was all swollen up. All her organs were shutting down. Everything about her was messed up and destroyed. They couldn't do anything in surgery. It was such a mess. Her bones, her body was all in a wreck. And boy, she did this on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, she went like that and went like that. And boy, she's in heaven. She didn't die. Bible says you shall never fall. if you do these things. So these things prove, amen, that you shall never fall, you shall never perish, you shall never die, you shall never fall. Number three, these things bring a proving that you'll enter in. Look there in verse 11. For so entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's where everybody wants to go, don't they? Isn't that your goal? Isn't that your mind? Isn't that your heart? That in verse 11, man, I would enter in, amen? I would enter in where? The everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Can I tell you today, you won't enter in without these things. These things bring a proving that you'll enter in. Well, three things about the entering. Number one, you'll enter in a furnished entrance. The Bible says, for so an entrance shall be ministered. That word ministered is the same word as add. Where's that word at? Well, there in verse 5. Add. That word add means to furnish or to fully supply. And what God's saying to you and I, with these things, He will fully supply and furnish the entrance. Woo! I mean, I'm not supplying it. I'm not furnishing it. How am I going to enter into heaven? How am I going to go and enter into the pearly gates? How am I going to enter into the streets of gold? How can I enter into the presence of God? He said, don't worry about that. I'll furnish it. He says, secondly, not only will I furnish that entrance, but I'll make it a rich entrance. Look what he says. He says, unto you abundantly. That word abundantly means wealthy and rich. Finally, I get rich. Finally, I become wealthy. And so, here's what my thought is this morning, as the scriptures say, listen, I will fully furnish and supply your entrance into the kingdom. He said, but man, when you get there, it's going to be a rich and a wealthy time. You're not going to come in there as no beggar. You ain't going to come in there no poor man. You're not going to come in there, friend, with just having little or barely doing. No, you're going to come in there abundantly. Amen. I'm going to come there with all that I ever had and more. I'm going to come there, friend, as an heir of God and join heirs of Christ. I'm going to have more than anybody else can ever have. Where's my mansion at, amen? Where's that place at? Well, Jesus said in John 14, He goes to prepare a place for me. I'm just saying, friend, when you get into heaven, friend, it's going to be a rich and a wealthy time. Let's not think we're going to get an old shack. We're going to be up there, but we really got something just hanging in we got to lean to. We got streets that are gold. Man, we go out here, we got pavement, we got concrete, we got shale, we got caliche. I mean, we got all kinds of stuff out there. You think that you can walk on the streets of gold and live in a shack? I'm talking about some wealth here. I'm talking about some rich. Number three, it's going to be an everlasting entrance. You'll never enter here again because you'll never leave here. The Bible says an everlasting kingdom. That kingdom is a place where Jesus will rule, that place where Jesus will reign, and a place where Jesus will reign. That Jesus will be the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and you and I will be there with him for all of eternity. Everlasting kingdom. but never ever to be the same as we were. We'll find there in heaven just giving glory and giving honor, being perfect in every way, laying down the flesh when we leave out of here, and then picking up our new body. Amen! Glorified unto God! having all of the rest of eternity, everlasting life for Him, being with Jesus and worshiping Him and just calling out His name and praising His holy name and serving Him. And He was the one today that we can look to and look for and be with for all the rest of our eternity. What makes this so sure, these things? What will never make me fall? These things. What will put me into the kingdom? These things. What has made my election sure in my calling? These things. Well, we ought to talk about these things, shouldn't we? If it's such a big deal that Peter would say three times, remember, that Peter said, I'll do my diligence. I'll be not neglect. How will endeavor, how stir you up? It is meat. Boy, it must be serious, do you think? Number four, verses five through seven. I want you to know who will provide these things. Verse one, God provided the divine faith. Verse 3, God provided the divine power that hath given us unto all things that pertain unto life and godliness. God, in verse 4, provided us the divine nature so that we can escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Man, God has provided everything up to this point. Well, He's going to provide seven more things. And these seven things that He's going to provide, God will be the one who will do it. Now He won't do it because He's wore out. He won't do it because He has to. He won't do it because there's really nothing else to do in heaven but these things. But the Bible says in verse 5, besides this, giving all diligence. God will with all diligence, that is with all his earnestness, all his carefulness, and all of his eagerness, He'll begin to add to our faith. My question to you this morning, if you think that you're the one who's supposed to add virtue to your faith, I wonder if you really thought about that for just a moment, and where do you get the ability to add anything to divine faith? Nobody in this room can reach that area. If God gave me divine faith, And that divine faith is settled and set with the divine power and divine nature. There's absolutely nothing that human nature can do. We can't add to divine faith. We can't take away from divine faith. We can't add to divine power. We can't add to divine nature. What makes you think this morning that you are going to begin to add to your faith these seven characteristics of Christ? You can't do it. I don't believe at all in my heart and my mind that God would give us the responsibility of making our election sure and our calling sure and then never falling or entering into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ and we would be responsible. Right? Don't we believe that we're not saved by works? So, if that's the case, and these things, if they're in you, will not make you barren or unfruitful. If they're not in you, you're blind and can't see afar off and have forgotten that your old sins are purged away. But then he goes on and says this, if you do these things, you shall never fall and go into the entrance, amen, that's furnished by God, ministered unto God abundantly and to the kingdom of the dear Son. This is not us. This is God. It is God that saves you. It is God that brings you to eternal security. It's God that will bring you to the entrance of heaven. These seven things must be part of who you are today or you're not saved. Can I say it that simple? Number one, the Bible says in that verse Verse one, that God supplied faith. Bible says in verse five, add to your faith. Where did that faith come from? Well, verse one, it says that we obtained that faith, meaning that it was God that has allotted us the faith. Let me go back over real quickly before we close. Wow, I didn't even get to it. I hate time. It's like a commercial. You got to go all evening now and come back at six in order to hear about these things that's so important that Peter said, remember them and said mention five times in seven verses and that it will give you assurance that you're going to go to heaven. It's going to cause you to never fall and that you make your election sure. And it's these things and you got to go home this morning without even knowing them. That's not fair. Faith, it's not your faith, it's Christ's faith. It's divine faith. God has given you that faith because you've heard the gospel. There's power in the gospel. The power of the gospel is unto salvation. It was the gospel that brought you to persuasion to believe in it. It was the gospel that brought you to the place of repentance, of changing your mind and heart. It's the gospel that brought forth the faith that God has given to you. We find in that faith, he says, to add virtue. Now, it's God who will add that virtue to your faith. Now, this virtue, I say a couple of them, so maybe you come back tonight to the rest of them. But God supplied not only the faith, but God supplied the virtue in verse 5. He says, add to your faith virtue. Fully supply, fully furnish. Hey man, we're not talking about just a little bit of virtue, not talking about just some virtue, we're talking about all of virtue. And also know this, that these things that he's fixing to give to us, these seven characteristics of Christ, we'll find that you got it all. And it all came to the faith, came to the nature. This virtue, it means excellence. excellence. You could say what means moral excellence or it means goodness excellence. What it meaning is this, is that when you got saved and God came in your life then you have become excellent. In other words, in your faith everything you will do for God from that day on will be with excellence. I'll come to church in excellence. I'll read my Bible with excellence. I will serve the Lord with excellence. It means a morality that whenever I got saved that God added to my faith a morality. That I will live moral. That I will be obedient. I will do what's right. I will live accordingly to the word and to the will of God. Now this ain't suggestions. This isn't something that God puts on your faith and says you do it if you want to or you don't do it. No. This determines whether you're saved or not. Now I'm talking about works. I'm talking about virtue that God has put in your faith. And that virtue is excellence. But it's morality. It's modesty. It's modesty. You don't have to tell no woman who got saved by the glorious grace of God to not wear clothing that reveals their body. You won't have to tell them that. You won't have to tell a man, listen, throw down your cigarettes, put away your dip, let that filthy mouth go, stay out of the bars, stop watching pornography. You don't have to tell anybody who has virtue those things. You don't have to straighten them up in the way of being modest in what they listen to. Modest in what they are doing. You don't have to tell a rock and roller who gets saved not to listen to rock and roll anymore. You don't have to tell somebody who listens to country and western before they were saved. And when they got saved, they got virtue. You ain't got to tell them no more, listen now. When you got saved, your radio got saved too. You ain't got to do that. Within them. There's virtue. And God placed it there. And Fred, you don't learn this. You don't study this. This is in you. Nobody has to tell you to come to church on Sunday night. Nobody's got to tell you to come to church on Wednesday night. Nobody's got to tell you to read your Bible. Nobody's got to tell you to win the loss. Nobody's got to tell you to give tithes and offerings. Nobody tells you anything. You got the virtue. All of this is built in for excellence. for morality and for modesty. Isn't that good? Isn't that good that the Holy Ghost of God, isn't that good that faith, isn't that good that God would place that virtue on that individual? And friend, it will prove that they're saved. They're not being that way because they're trying to get saved. They got virtue because they are saved. Amen! They're not trying to win God by their clothing. They're not trying to win God by their music or their movies. They're not trying to win God because of their substances and their filthy mouth. They're just doing what God told them to do within their heart. I'm just living the natural life of divine nature and going forth and God placed that in me and I am what I am by the grace of God. If you've got problems with sin, if you've got problems with morality, if you've got problems with modesty, And you ain't got a husband that's got enough guts to tell you, woman, put some clothes on before you go outside. That's right. You better start praying for your husband. Amen. Amen. That's right. If you ain't got a daddy to tell your daughters, daughters, you're not going to wear them old short shorts. You ain't going to wear them old tight jeans. You ain't going to wear that out there. You let some old boys lust after you for that and get wrong with God. That ain't going to happen, not in my house. I love you too much. I got a husband that says, you're not going to go out there with them jeans on showing everything you got. I won't have no husband. Tell me what to do. Well, then you need to learn to get virtue. You probably need to get saved. Because with virtue, you got excellence. You say, I want to do anything and everything that God wants me to do, and I want to do it excellent. I don't want to be common. I don't want to be ordinary. I want to be above and beyond. God saved my soul. At least I can do is do everything for Him with excellence. Isn't that true? If I'm going to serve God, serve 110%! Whatever I'm going to do, I'm going to do it with morality and modesty. Where'd you learn that, God? Just God. Whenever I got saved, He put virtue in me. Amen? Let's stand to our feet, our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. Without this, you're lost. Without this, you have no guarantee you're not going to fall. Without this, you'll not enter into the kingdom of God. Oh, thank you, dear Lord. Blessed be your holy name. Oh, thank you, Lord, that when you save us, you just don't let us go and do and be who we all think we ought to be and do. I wonder this morning, how's virtue working out for you? Maybe we need to come to the altar this morning and do a little business with God. Oh, I know, Lord, I've been allowing my human nature to wear the clothing, to listen to the music, to watch the movies, to drink the beer, smoke the cigarettes, dip the snuff, talk to Phyllis. wants the dirt. My divine nature that's righteous and holy and perfect is great. Holy Spirit of God is great. I know within me I got that virtue, that morality and modesty and excellence. Where you at this morning? Where you at? Let's get honest. Let's get clear with God. You sing, Brother George. Where you at? Where you at? These things. These things. Is there virtue in you? Is there virtue in you? See, you can't do what you don't have in. God can place the virtue so that you can do virtue. Is it in you? Is that virtue in you? Is that modesty and morality in you? Is that excellence? Is it? Is it? Seeing you saved. Brother, what should I see if I look at my life? What should I see? Well, number one, you should see virtue, morality, modesty, excellence. If you don't see that, then you see someone who's lost. Brother Charlie, will you dismiss this this morning, my brother? That's right. Let us remember these so that it becomes easy for us to discern where those are around us. Yes. Amen. Thank you, Father.