to say in terms of terms of manner. We'll read together from verse 1 down to verse 5. From verse 1 down to verse 5. Now, verse 5 is in the middle of the sentence, but I still hope you will appreciate why we are stopping there. 2 Peter chapter 1 and the first five verses. Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours. by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. May the grace and peace, rather may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires. And then there's five which we are considering this morning. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. Now, I have been saying that one reason why I have felt it important that we spend some time looking at 2 Peter chapter 1, and more specifically concerning the theme of Christian grow up, is that too many of us have the kind of attitude towards Christian living that is one that has the impression that it's a kind of health insurance policy. In other words, I'm now saved, I'm going to heaven instead of hell, and that's it. So as long as I'm living, I'm keeping away from particular sins, that's it. And that's not the biblical picture. The biblical picture is that the Christian life is an actual life. In other words, it's something you grow up in, you mature with time, you make progress. And as you make progress, the Lord is able then to use you as an individual to be a means of blessing to his church and to his world. As Peter says later on, it is as you do these things that is the growth process that you are prevented from being ineffective and unfruitful. And I'm very concerned about this because really many of us sitting in this auditorium ought to be effective and fruitful rather than simply being content to come to church and then go home and basically that's that in terms of the real effective Christian life and living in this world. And it will be sad to arrive in heaven and to have little to show for a life that was lived on earth, except perhaps that you did not make a fool of yourself here on earth. It will be very sad, because really, God has saved you that he may use you here on earth. and he will use you as you mature, as you grow in your Christian life. Well thus far we have observed from 2 Peter chapter 1 a number of indicatives, the kind of things that ought to be true or rather are true about us if we are truly Christians. And to begin with, we noticed halfway through verse 1 that we have a faith of equal standing with others. Peter says, to those, that is the ones he was writing to, who have obtained or received a faith of equal standing with others. The second aspect that we saw was that God has given to us, through his own power, all things that we need for life and holiness. We saw that in verse three. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. And then the third indicative was that of the promises, the great and glorious promises that God has granted to us as well. We say that in verse 4, by which he granted to us his precious and very great promises. And it is through this that we have become partakers of the divine nature, and it is through this that we have escaped the corruption that is in the world. So all those ought to be true of each one of us if we are truly believers. And what we will notice as I'll proceed is that we'll come back to this a few times because it is on the basis of this that Peter goes on to say, In verse 5, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. What I want us to see this morning is the logical consequence of the indicatives that have just been given to us, the logical consequences. In other words, that they are full. What is it that makes sense in the light of what we have just heard? And you will notice that the logical consequence for Peter is this. We must make every effort to grow up. we must make every effort to grow up. The first principle that we are there for learning from this text is that the indicatives of the Christian life, in other words, those aspects that are already true about us, that they necessitate a response from us. And the response is to inevitable In other words, the Bible is saying, in the light of this, do this. And we ought to respond that way. We ought to respond by doing what the Bible is saying we ought to do. And that's what we see here at the beginning of verse 5. For this very reason. What reason? Well, we have a faith. of equal value to everybody else. We have all things that we need for life and godliness given to each one of us. We have God's great and glorious promises that enable us to be dislodged from a world of corruption and sin, and to be able to be in fellowship with the living God, to participate or be partakers of the divine nature. We have all these things. Invariably, therefore, it only makes sense that we should do something about it. You can't just sit there as though you don't have these glorious realities. Now what we're learning there is the general principle, and it is this, that Christianity is reasonable. Christianity is logical. It uses the brain because the brain is God's gift to you. In the Christian faith, you are expected to think. To think in terms of one plus one is equal to two. That you should extrapolate, you should say to yourself, if this is true and this is true, therefore this ought to be true as well. That's the Christian faith. It demands that we should be a thinking people. intelligent enough to appreciate the consequences of what the Lord has done for us. If he has died for us, how should we live for him? A simple logic that you should process on your own Let me use a few obvious examples. Here you are, you've been a bachelor for so many years, and then you now marry, you are now a husband. Is your life going to change? Are you going to continue simply saying, well, no, let me go and hang out with the guys? I'm going to hang out. Well, obviously, your wife is going to say to you, hey, you are now married. Something ought to change. A woman has now come into your life. She's left her home. She's left her friends. She's left her relatives to now be a companion with you in your house. You don't just continue your bachelor life. coming home at 21 hours, 22 hours, 23 hours, midnight to just, okay, not all bachelors go through this, but, you know, sort of a quick egg fried in the pan, make a sandwich, cup of tea and sleep. No, you are now a married man. You now have children. God has blessed you with children. Again, life changes. Your life now, your budget, and everything else begins to revolve around the children. You feed them, you clothe them, you educate them, you pour your time, not just in school education, but in domestic education as well. You know that that's your responsibility. Why? You've been blessed with children. You are now parents. Life ought to change. We can say the same the other way around. You are now an adult child. Your parents have poured into you so much over the years. Now you've got your job. Well, you don't just pretend that those parents don't exist when they are in need. What do you do? You support them. You help them in their old age. Why? Well, you were blessed through them. You did not fall from the sky like Mr. Bean. You were born. Someone, some people poured their lives into you. Consequently, it is expected that you will act differently. for this very reason the Apostle Paul is saying here. It's simple logic that those blessings, those realities that are true about you demand something from you, a change of life. The Apostle Paul argues this way as well. If we just quickly turn back to Romans chapter 12, Romans 12, the way in which that verse begins, Romans 12 verse 1. In fact, it does the same in Ephesians chapter 4. We just don't have time to go there. But Romans chapter 12, he says there, Verse one, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. He's saying there that by the mercies of God, which really simply means in view of God's mercies. In other words, beginning with chapter 5 all the way to chapter 11, the Apostle Paul has been opening up the blessings of salvation, the blessings of salvation, one after the other. And by the time he is reaching the end of chapter 11, there is an inevitable doxology there, a praise to God in the light of what he has done for us. Listen to that praise in verse 33. Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His words. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. And he's saying, in the light of all these blessings of God that have caused us to break out in praise and adoration to him, in the light of this, offer your bodies as living sacrifices. In other words, sacrifice your life, your everything to God in the light of this. It only makes sense. It only makes sense. And that's what Peter is doing here as well. He is saying, God has given us a faith that is not inferior to the faith of others. God has given to us his own power to enable us to live a spiritual life, to live in true godliness. God has given to us his great and glorious promises. There must be a, therefore, what should be my response to all this. You can't just continue living life as if nothing has happened. You can't. This is the most important aspect of who we are. It's the most important aspect. And it's what ought to produce the change. Now, instead of going straight to the change that ought to be produced, he begins by talking about the effort we must make in cooperating with God in producing that change. The effort we must make. In other words, our response to the indicative, that which God has already made true of us, must not be a mere initial spasm that causes us to do something at the beginning, and then after that, we end up with a chronic inertia, just moving along. but it must be hearty diligence, hearty diligence that must remain consistent, consistent, consistent to the very end of our lives. And hence Peter puts it this way, for this very reason, Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue. Make every effort. Now, just a quick word, by the way, and then we need to proceed. In the English version, there's a word that is missing, which is difficult to put in because it would not be proper English. Okay? And some of the older versions put it there, but I will quickly give you the way it's supposed to read. So the actual sentence reads, bring along or add, at the very beginning of that sentence, add every effort to supply to your faith. And that's what the problem is, because you will notice that there is that supplying there, which again suggests adding. So the sentence is a little awkward. For this very reason, Add every effort to add your faith with virtue. Add every effort to add, what on earth is he talking about? Well, the first word that is not appearing in our vision there, as I said, suggest bringing alongside every effort, bringing alongside. It is a phrase that suggests that, you see, God is doing something. Then you, you also bring alongside what God is doing, you also bring alongside this extra. God has given you this faith. God is working in you through his power. God has given you his great and glorious promises. God, God, God will bring alongside your part, bring alongside your effort, bring alongside your every effort by adding to faith, virtue, to virtue knowledge, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. which is really the way the Christian life operates. It's true God acts. It's true God saves. It's true God sanctifies. It's true He is active in our lives. He convicts us when we do wrong and so forth. He inspires us. He leads us. He guides us. There's so much that God does. But the way you grow is when you supplement that with your active cooperation. Your active cooperation. You are doing something. In other words, sanctification is a joint effort. It's a joint effort. It's God working and you working together in order for you to grow. So that's a little word that is not too apparent here. In fact, when I was doing my work in preparing and I was looking for the little word, I found that the word make in the ESV is the word that has been put there as replacing it and obviously it's not. So the word was skipped. But it's all important. And then, what are you adding? It is this every effort. First of all, you are adding effort. The word effort there has to do with being in a hurry, being in earnest, being zealous, being eager. That's the little word that is used there as effort. It has to do with the being in a hurry. You know, sometimes you wake up late for work, and anybody in the house can tell you are late. because you are zooming past everybody. You are in a hurry. You know, you're going to the kitchen, still brushing your teeth and so on. Everything is in a hurry. Anybody can tell that there's a problem here. The guy woke up late. So it's in haste. Well, we also know what happens when you wake up too early. You keep turning in your bed like a door on a hinge, isn't it? Turn this way. After a few minutes, turn this way. But you're going nowhere. Still in your blankets. Turning this way. Now, that's the phrase that is there. It's about that hurry, that haste that shows that you want to catch up with something. That's what Peter is saying here. Our spiritual lives ought to be characterized. They ought to be characterized with this sense that I need to grow up yesterday, not tomorrow. I need to grow up yesterday. And consequently, I'm putting in all my energies in order for me to be what I ought to be. Now that word in itself is enough, but Peter adds another word before it. And it is the word all or every. Make every effort. Make all effort. In other words, he is saying spare nothing. do not be half-hearted in this task. So that little word, all, is actually in the Greek. For this reason, make every effort, every effort. It's the way in which an individual who's preparing for a major competition, the way in which they do everything right when they're preparing for a major competition. For instance, they will know that they need to bring down their weight by five kg in order to be just the right weight for the competition. Well, you can be sure that whatever needs to be done to bring down that weight, they will do it. They won't spare any effort whatsoever to achieve that. They also know that they need to arrive at a particular speed in order for them to have any hope of winning this particular competition. So what are they going to do? They will set aside time on a daily basis when they must, with a clock, a stopwatch, run with all their energy. And at the end of it, they will check. They are still not quite there. The following day, again they will try. They know they have to do actual exercises, resistance exercises as well. So they'll be in the gym, they'll be lifting the weights, they'll be doing anything in order to strengthen those muscles. So they're not just doing exercises, they're not just trying out every so often, they're also not just doing their diet, they're doing everything together, everything together. Because they've got a crown to win. They've got a crown to win. So they don't spare any effort. And if it means also taking supplements, they add supplements as well, every day. Those things that look like pills, every day, a bunch. whatever else you may have to tell them. If you tell them they have to sleep eight hours a day, you can be sure they will add it to their daily schedule to be sleeping eight hours a day. Anything for me to get to the starting line, get on my knees and when the whistle blows, it's not like a chance. I put in every I spared nothing at all. Is that your Christian life? Is that your growth? I mean, God has given you that like precious faith, he's given you his power, he's given you his great and glorious promises. What's happening on your end? What's happening on your end? Sadly for most of us, it's lethargy. Chronic lethargy. It's, to use a more common name or word, it's laziness. It's laziness. There's no sense of haste or being in a hurry, zero. Somehow we think that we'll just grow somehow. There's no thinking through, using the intellect, processing. There's nothing like that. It's just somehow or rather, I'll just find myself a mature Christian. That's not biblical. Definitely not in the Bible. In the Bible, we put in our everything. We put in our effort. We go full throttle in order to be mature in Christ. But what is it that we're supposed to be doing? What is it? And that's where we'll end for today. the aspect of seeking to increase in various Christian graces. Seeking to increase in various Christian graces. I'll read them, but today we won't go into them. This is the way he puts it, verse 5 down to verse 7. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. The phrase we have in the ESV is the phrase supplement, which, as I said, some versions have the word add. and there's a hidden ad before this, but it's to supplement. In other words, it's a phrase that is used for a donor who gives you something that you need in order to achieve what it is you need to achieve. Let me give you another example with what I'm doing right now. In order for us to build the African Christian University, we've been given three possible bills. If we're going to put up what is just cheap four walls and a roof, and people meeting in there, we need approximately $16 to $18 million, not quarter, million dollars. If we're going to put up a state-of-the-art university, we need approximately $60 million. There's going to be something in between. You can calculate anything around $40 million. Now, we'll be very grateful if someone gives us $60. Very grateful. because we desperately need it. But what this phrase means is somebody then giving you 80 to 90 million dollars. Build your compass. That's what this phrase means. It means there's a need that is there in your soul But you are providing more than enough. It's a generous portion that you are giving in order for this to happen. So the word supplement there is a bit of an understatement. Because when we think about supplementing, it's petty cash, it's change that we think about. But the actual phrase here has to do with a very generous donor. who then provides for you in such a way that your dream is realized and more than your dream is realized. So Peter here is basically saying, this is what you should do for yourself. Add generous portions of virtue and knowledge and steadfastness and self-control and brotherly affection and love and so on, in generous portions to yourself. That's the way the Christian life is supposed to be. That's what Christian maturity is. It is going that extra, extra, extra mile. I don't know how many of you, as Christian couples, have watched this Christian movie called Fireproof. I've watched it a few times, actually. And every time I watch it, I cry at a certain point. It's difficult to convince myself that it's just a movie. But the example I have is a time where this young man's father, the marriage is falling apart. The father has said to the young man, before you divorce your wife, here's a book. For 40 days, do what this book tells you. Each day for 40 days. So one day he reads, and he says, buy your wife a bouquet of flowers. So he picks up his phone, he rings the place where they supply flowers, and then he asks, how much will those flowers cost? And when he's told, he goes, ah, I don't know. Don't you have a cheaper version? Something cheaper? So finally, whoever it is on the other side must tell him, and he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, that one, that one, please send it. And yeah, yeah, when the flowers arrive, the wife walks in, she sees the flowers, just brushes it aside and walks away. I don't blame her. I don't blame her. When a man is buying for his wife, eh? You men in here. And you start saying, ah, that's too expensive. Isn't there a cheaper one? then we already have a problem in the marriage. You need marriage counseling. Right there. We don't even need to wait for fists to fly in the room. Because you should want to go the extra mile If we can use the word generous, let's throw it in. But certainly, a bountiful supply. And any woman will know when you are now surviving just by, you know, on the four walls and the roof of SEU, if you understand what I mean. You know, the cheaper end. Anybody will be able, any wife rather, will be able to know that that's what's going on here. But friends, having laughed at this guy who's saying the bouquet of flowers is too expensive, isn't that what we do for ourselves? With respect to the future of our own souls, can you honestly say that you have supplied generously for your soul's growth, can you? The sad reality is that for most of us, the answer is no, no. We're always looking for the least amount of time. So to read your Bible, it must be the least amount of time. To go to church, it's the least amount of time. To read a Christian book, we're not even talking about buying now, because you sort of look at the book, you look at the price, yeah, wah, you know, and so on. Despite the fact that it's really been reduced and reduced and reduced, it's almost zero. But it's still, yeah, wah. That's what we do for our souls, for our souls. We want it at the cheapest, cheapest, cheapest level. And in the end, we famish ourselves. We don't grow, we remain stunted. Pygmies, spiritual pygmies for that matter. God has given you everything. You must come alongside that with your effort. You see, the foundation that God has put into your life, the foundation is made of the purest gold. Remember what we've talked about, a precious faith. all things by his power, great and glorious promises. That's what God has put into that foundation you refer to as your salvation. What are you now using to erect the rest? your grandfather's grass thatched mud village hut is what is on top of it. Because you've gone for the cheapest, the cheapest is what you are putting there. It just needs a truck to pass nearby. It's not even a major hurricane. Just a truck to pass nearby. The Christian life is already on the ground. Come on! We are paying a price for it. because we are not abundantly supplying our souls with every effort where our souls need to grow. So, brethren, I hurry on to close. Two Christians get saved at the same time. Let's assume that year. is the year 2000, 2010, any day. We reach 2019. One is still merely a pure warmer, always late for church, can't remember the last time they ever won anyone for Christ, Their marriage is a complete disaster. And I can continue adding, the other individual, same here, is a ministry leader, has got a strong marriage, is making headway in every aspect spiritually, Souls that are being baptized in here are mentioning that person somewhere along the line, that it was this person's life that impacted me this way. So we ask, why this difference between these two individuals? Why? God? No. Don't even try to bring God into the picture. Don't. It's you. It's your laziness, your spiritual inertia that makes the difference. And my brother, my sister, come the judgment day. When God is now speaking in terms of words of laziness, you lazy servant, you lazy servant, you can be sure he's got data. He's got the evidence right in front of him. It's not just an insult he's using. You've been lazy. You've been lazy. So I need to plead, brethren, that each one of us in here today should easily be eldership material, easily. Easily. If we can only do what this verse is telling us to do, make every effort to grow up. Make every effort to grow up. or to borrow the words of the hymn that we sang last Sunday which we'll be repeating today, I'm pressing on the upward way. That's the way we should be speaking. That I'm as it were summoning all the energies within me to reach the highest heights. The fruit will show. The effectiveness of the life will show. But we must pay the price. Jesus has died. He's given his entire life, completely dead, to lay the foundation of our lives. He's given us His great and glorious promises. He's seated in heaven, providing abundantly the grace that we need. What about us? What about us? What are we bringing alongside? What are we bringing alongside? God help us. Because we need to grow. We need to grow. But we must pay the price for it. Amen.