Thank you. Please be seated. And as you do so, turn with me to 2 Peter and chapter 1. 2 Peter and chapter 1. While you're turning there, greetings from our sister churches that make up the Solar Five Association of Churches that we are a party to. We participated in the annual conference that took place in Manzini, and as you know they've changed their name now, it is no longer Swaziland, but the kingdom of, not Eswatini, they corrected us, they said it is the kingdom of Eswatini. Okay, so Eswatini is the name of the place. There were about 47 churches represented there and it was good to see some of you and also representatives of sister churches finding their way there. And then also, while Pastor Sivale was preaching at the Manzini Fellowship Church last Sunday, I was preaching in Cape Town at the Reformed Church of Hort Bay. And again, the brethren from both churches were sending greetings to us. Back to 2 Peter. chapter 2, or rather chapter 1. We will read verse 3 down to verse 5. We might go a little further, but really we are looking at verse 5 today. So if you are there, it's basically verse 3 downwards. 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 desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge, but let us finish off the whole list, and knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. Well brethren, we're looking at this series of messages as you can see on the screen entitled Christian, in fact it's singular there, Christian Grow Up. I've been very careful to make it singular because with issues of being rebuked, we often hide in crowds. So once the Christians grow up, you immediately say, yes, I think she needs to grow up. But if it is in the singular, you know that you are the one being addressed because each one of us actually is meant to be on a trajectory that goes upwards, a trajectory of growth. We have seen the way in which Peter deals with this matter. He began with giving us the areas in which God has done his work. It's complete. These are facts. Or as we said, they are indicatives. They simply point to what is already there. And we saw that all the way from verse 1 down to verse 4. The apostle Peter kept saying that there are certain things God has already given us Each one of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not a single one that has been omitted in that sense. It's ground we have already covered. I don't need to get back to it. And then beginning in verse 5, he then goes into the imperatives, into areas where we must prove ourselves, we must be responsible, we must be faithful, we must be zealous and energetic in order for us to build on top of this superstructure, rather on top of this structure at the bottom, so that we might build as it were towards heaven. a skyscraper of a spiritual life. It says, for this very reason, because there's this foundation that is laid for all of us, make every effort to supplement or to add to your faith virtue, which is what we looked at last time And now we are looking at virtue with knowledge. Virtue with knowledge. In other words, as we saw last time, faith is foundational. It's what God has breathed in all of us through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We go beyond that by adding virtue. And we saw that virtue was essentially excellence. that we are deliberate about it, that we want to be the best of the best of the best as far as the Christian faith is concerned. Another word would be nobility, but excellence is a good word and it has to do with spiritual things, of course, ultimately, that as our spiritual lives are progressing, individuals can look at us as genuine examples of what a Christian really ought to be. We use the example of Proverbs, chapter 31, that speaks about the excellent woman or excellent wife, the noble woman or noble wife, and it's the kind where, at the end of that description, the man says, many women, do noble things, but you excel them. You leave them way behind. And it is that which we are being challenged here should be our goal spiritually. We must not be indolent. We must not simply be content a part of this crowd of Christianity somehow. We must put in all our energies, to borrow the phrase here, making every effort in order to ensure that all areas of our lives speak of excellence. Well, as we've already said, today we are coming to the second of these imperatives, and it is that we are to add knowledge to our virtue. Add knowledge to our virtue. The first thing I'd like to say is that that flies in the face of today's popular phrase, and it is this, that ignorance is the mother of devotion. Ignorance is the mother of devotion. In other words, the popular understanding is that if you know too much, somehow it deprives you of commitment to God. that the individuals who are, as it were, really overflowing with zeal are individuals who don't want to think too much. It's just their hearts that seem to be in love with God, that's all. And consequently, you see that kind of commitment that ought to be there. Now brethren, that's not biblical. That's not the understanding of scripture. That's not the way God intended Christianity to be. Rather, Christians are meant to have a faith and a virtue that are both intelligent and knowledgeable. Our faith must be informed. And our virtue needs to be an intelligent excellence and a knowledgeable excellence. And that's what Peter is talking about here. So let's just spend our time this morning just looking at this aspect of knowledge being added to virtue. Our very first task is to ask ourselves the question, what is this knowledge being spoken about here? Now first of all, there is a knowledge that as a non-believer, you definitely don't have, and as a result of the ignorance that characterizes your life as a non-believer, you end up living your life primarily as a creature of instinct, primarily out of this is what you feel, therefore this is what you ought to do. The Apostle Peter speaks about this in his first epistle. 1 Peter 1 and verse 14. I'll begin reading from verse 13. 1 Peter 1, beginning to read from verse 13. Listen to this. Therefore, prepare in your minds for action. Notice, your minds for action. And being sober-minded, again there it is, the mind, sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed, here it is, to the passions of your former ignorance. To the passions of your former ignorance. In other words, there was a time Before your conversion, when you did not know God, you did not know the things of God. Yes, you may have known them somehow, vaguely, intellectually, but they were not really the foundation on which you built your life. And as a result of that, you lived, to borrow the words here, conformed to your passions. your fallen instincts, whatever they led you to do, that's what you did. There was no, but this is not true, but I should not, there was nothing like that. You were driven along by whatever it was your fallen nature caused you to do. However, upon becoming a Christian, You came to be a Christian through knowledge. You came to hear about Jesus as Savior, about the fact that God demands from you a holiness that you could not produce because you were a victim or a slave, better still, of your own fallen instincts. You got to receive this knowledge through the gospel concerning, for instance, the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. And the more you go to hear and understand all this, the more you came to this solid conviction that you should repent of your sins and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. So you're becoming a Christian involved knowledge, receiving knowledge, the knowledge in the gospel. However, when the Apostle Peter, therefore, says we should add knowledge to this virtue, part of that knowledge is simply a growing and deeper knowledge of the gospel. In other words, we must never remain at the same level of understanding of the gospel that we had when we got converted. And let's face it, when we get saved, we have, as it were, the barest minimum, enough for us to say, Jesus, save me. But friends, that's really just ankle deep, or at the most, knee deep, in the glorious truths of this, what the Apostle Paul calls, the unsearchable riches of Christ. And it's important for you as a Christian to keep growing in the knowledge of the saving work of Christ, the saving work of the Spirit, and all that is to come out of that in terms of your final hope as a Christian. That's one area. The second is a growing and deeper knowledge. Notice I keep using the word growing and deeper. In other words, it's not simply an ABC which you have put in your pocket. It is one that you continue to grow in. And as I hope to say at the end of this point, we never arrive. Absolutely never. So the second is a growing and deeper knowledge of God himself and just the truths that surround the person and work of God. So for instance, this book that you read from, which we call the Bible, for you to learn what scripture itself is. Why is this book different from all other books on the planet? Not just religious books, but all the textbooks that have ever been written. What is so special about it? You grow in your knowledge of it. So it is not simply that when people challenge you and they say, you say that this book is the word of God, you say yes. What makes you think it's the word of God? Well, it's just the Word of God. No, you should be able, intelligently, to give a number of content arguments why this book is special, it's unique, it's divine. You are growing in that knowledge. and all other aspects of doctrine around God, his person, and his work. Let me quickly add another one. Time is not with us. You need to have a growing and deeper knowledge of the Christian life at a practical level. What does it mean to live a Christian life? Now that I'm a Christian, What does it mean? According to the Bible, how shall we then live? Again, you are developing a growing and deeper understanding of all this. Let me mention at least one more. A growing and deeper understanding or knowledge of the world in which we live. Remember, this is our father's world, and you ought to grow in your knowledge of this world. Another example, those of us who are married men, you need to know what a woman is. You did not marry another man. You married a woman. Well, what kind of creature is this that is with you? You need to understand. It's in 1 Peter, again, chapter 3 and verse 7, where the apostle Peter says, 1 Peter 3 and verse 7, likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way. In other words, with knowledge. What is this knowledge that I've not married another man? It's a woman. Women are not quite like us. And then I've not just married a woman, I've married this woman with her own peculiarities. But we can go beyond the family and go into other areas. But I hope you get the point. It's a deliberate effort at giving my mind to understand this. A joke is told of a man whose wife was standing in front of a mirror. And she turned around to him and says, honey, look at me, she said. Do you think I'm fat? The man looked at his wife and said, honey, look at me. Do you think I'm a fool? Now married people understand that. If you're not married, wait until you marry. You fully understand that conversation. The man was intelligent. He understood that that was a double-edged sword, and he was not going to fall for it. The point that is being made is that we need to be deliberate in adding knowledge and understanding if we are going to grow. There's no bypassing the brain and somehow growing spiritually. That ain't gonna happen. You must, as an individual, give yourself to the acquisition of knowledge. And then as I already said, we will never arrive. This aspect of acquiring knowledge, you can't arrive. Because first of all, God is an infinite being. As one human writer says, he is a sea without a shore, a sun without a sphere. In other words, he's an infinite being and consequently we can study and study and study this great being and only be starting in our study. And his world, if we can add the sense of the universe, is also so vast that to us it appears infinite, both in terms of its width and also in terms of its depth. The more you study, the more you realize how little you know. Let me say it again. The more you study, the more you realize how little you know of God's world. So if you are a Christian and you're going to grow, one of the ways in which you're going to do so is by a deliberate commitment to the acquisition of knowledge. Now, what is the effect that this is going to have on us? First of all, in terms of our own salvation, it adds a stability. to our assurance of salvation, a stability to our assurance of salvation. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians puts it this way. Let's quickly peep there. Ephesians chapter four, speaking about why he has given us the various teaching gifts in the leadership of the church. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 downwards. And he, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. Again, that's talking about growth there. That might be both quantitative but definitely also qualitative growth. until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." And the phrase, the faith there, is not referring to the subjective element in us that enables us to apprehend or comprehend something of God. It's referring to the truths that make up the Christian religion. and the knowledge of the Son of God. Okay? Then it speaks about to mature manhood. That's talking about your growth. You've reached maturity to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, it's verse 14 I'm interested in. It says, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. In other words, you become so grounded in Christian doctrine that as winds and waves are blowing and tossing in the real world, and they always will, You remain stable. Why? Because your anchor is deep, very deep in the ways of God and especially in the realm of salvation. But another way in which this knowledge manifests itself in a growing way is from a balanced Christian life, a balanced Christian life. You see, we're talking about adding knowledge to virtue. It is possible for virtue to go off the rails and in the process to make you a very unbalanced Christian. Another example I can give is that a person can become such a prayer warrior, such a prayer warrior, that everybody simply says, if only I can pray like that person. What a prayer warrior he is. But in the process, those prayer sessions are at the expense of your family life. So your family life breaks down because you are not there for them. Where are you? Up the mountain. So your wife, or sometimes it's women. Your husband doesn't have you present to minister to their needs. Your children don't have you to minister to their needs. And in the process, your entire family life collapses. So you are excellent in one area, a complete disaster in another. But you see, when you are growing in your knowledge concerning all these areas we're talking about, it leaves you as a balanced believer. You don't go off a tangent, because as you are reading widely and reading deeply, you are seeing other areas where you need to work, you need to build, you need to concentrate in order to come out as a balanced believer. So add knowledge to your faith. It will give you a balanced life. Here's a third way in which we see that somebody is adding knowledge to virtue. And it is the ability to interpret trials and also temptations that no doubt come to all of us in all our areas of life. I have a few examples, I don't have time to take you through all of them in terms of passages, but the first one is to do with Job. We had Job earlier on in our Bible reading. You remember when the evil one coming from God's presence with God's permission ended up literally destroying everything that was around Job except his wife and his health. You remember how he fell down on his knees and said, naked, I came from my mother's womb. Naked, I will depart. The Lord gave. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now here's my point. You don't get that knowledge that day trials come. You don't. It's either something that is already under your belt or it isn't there. In other words, you collect hair while the sun shines. When all is well, that's when you are engaging your mind in the knowledge of God, the knowledge of God's ways. You sink your anchor deeply. When trials come, it's very difficult for those roots to be uprooted. You are able to speak as Job spoke. And then came the situation where His health was also taken away. to a level where when his friends came, for seven days they could not speak, at the horror of the state in which they found him, as he sat in ashes and using broken pottery to scrape the boils that were all over his body, this once rich man that was envied by the entire community. Again, you will remember Job's wife. She came and stuck at that point. She said, why don't you just curse God and die? There's no point going on living like this. Just curse God and die. Look at what he's done to you. Job's answer was, shall we accept good from God and not trouble? In fact, the word that is used there is actually evil. In other words, these terrible circumstances that have come our way, it's God who has allowed it. So should we have a God who only walks in silver slippers? And then when he denies us something, we punch him in the face. Is that the kind of God we should have? Now that's the kind of God the wife wanted because she was deprived of this depth of knowledge, this depth of knowledge. How often does it happen, isn't it, that somebody claims to be a solid Christian until health becomes a problem. And they've gone to the hospital, they've prayed, gone to the hospital and prayed, and finally they are being told that there is a witch doctor halfway between here and Mungu. You branch off somewhere in the Kafiwe game park, and keep going into nowhere. And you just find they disappear from church for a few weeks. They won't want to tell you that they actually went into the bushes and that this man told them to kill a few chickens and put some blood on their heads and then sit in the stream when the moon is at half-mast. But there they are, educated individuals with degrees. We end up there. Or at the hands of some extreme charismatic preacher, who's even saying, well, you know, for this disease to leave you, I have to sleep with you. And they agree. What has happened? It is primarily this issue that when the sun is shining, we are not collecting hair. Therefore, when trouble comes, when trials come, we come unstuck like anybody else. We call God all kinds of names in our hearts. We won't say it outwardly. Or think of Joseph as another example. I mean, look at how his brothers made him suffer. They wanted to kill him. They threw him in a well. They sold him as a slave. And even when he went as a slave, The boss's wife accused him of attempted sexual molestation. As a result of that, he was thrown into a prison. And while in prison, he helped a few people who he even said, look, remember me to your boss. They never remembered him to his boss. And so he spent years, I mean, years of his life were lost. Finally. He comes out of prison and becomes the second most powerful person on the planet. And guess who shows up in front of him? His brothers. Now, you know that if you were Joseph, you would say, I know that vengeance is the Lord's. But I think the Lord needs a little help today. You know, Joseph was overtaken by emotions. This was not in the script as far as he was concerned. He did not expect to see his brothers in front of him, especially his youngest brother, Benjamin. But on the occasion when they came over to him after his father died and they concocted some story that, you know, before your father died, he said, you know, you should forgive us, you know, forget what happened and so on. Joseph's answer was this. Am I in the place of God that I should start doing God's job? Just no. You see, you meant this for evil. You wanted to destroy me. I know that. But you see, God was also involved in this. But he had a different purpose in mind, the saving of many lives. And on that, I'm content. Not some fictitious story that dad said this, dad said, no, no, no. Is this, I know God. I know the kind of being he is. I know how he governs providence. That even in my worst situations, the fact that he has allowed it means he has a grand, positive, God-glorifying purpose. I know that. And on that score, I'm willing to leave everything else and worship Him. Brethren, let me put it this way. That it is when you are adding knowledge, adding knowledge, deliberately being studious, that when the times of trial come, they will find your roots sunk deep. very deep. But if all you are doing is just playing around with friends, just playing around with friends, that's all you're doing, playing around with friends. After all, you are safe, playing around with friends. You wait until trials come, until tough temptations come, and you will see how close to the surface your roots were. But let's carry on, because there are two other areas I want to deal with, and it is the ability to make right decisions for yourself, for your family, for your work, and for your church. Life is about a lot of decisions, a lot of decisions, daily decisions that we have to make. And those decisions are like a computer. When you punch in a question and the computer gives you the answer, trust me, a lot of computation has taken place in the background. A lot of it. It depends on what has been put behind that screen by the programmers. That's what finally produces the answers. I mean, in today's world, for instance, we've got Siri, Alexia, and so on, where you just ask any question. What will the temperature be tomorrow? The temperature in Lusaka will be 23 degrees centigrade. And all right, this thing is intelligent. Well, look. People programmed. They put in a lot. And those are the answers that you are now getting. And what's happening while we are seated, week by week, is that there are a lot of individuals who are being paid to continue sealing that app, as we call it today, that application. with all the extra information. And consequently, it's getting better with every passing day, week, month, and year. We use them also these days, not so much in Zambia, but in a lot of other places, for GPS, moving us around, knowing where to go. You just put in the address where you're going. And that's one reason why we don't use them so much in Zambia. We don't have actual addresses. You have to say, you know, that big tree there, and then there's a cotyledon by the side, turn right. You know, these gadgets don't have that kind of information. But, you know, elsewhere, they put in the addresses, and from point A to point B, it takes them there with no problem whatsoever. It's able to make the decisions because of the information that is in there. And friends, one of the reasons why our lives are in utter chaos, our families are in utter chaos, our careers are in utter chaos, our churches are in utter chaos, is because we don't read, we don't study, we're not adding knowledge as individuals who are in a position to lead. We are not doing so. And so, we are unable to make decisions that are wise. Wise. Decisions for the good of ourselves, the good of the people that we are over, and for the good of our workplaces, our churches, and so on. Lastly, it gives you the ability to teach. Those of us who are husbands, to teach our wives. Those of us who are parents, to teach our children. And indeed, we often have the role of teaching new believers as Christians. And the reason why we are not able to do it is because we lack this deeper and growing knowledge. But if we are doing this, as Peter goes on to say, it will keep you from being unfruitful. It will enable you to have something to teach. It's in 1 Corinthians, isn't it? And chapter 14 towards the end that the Apostle Paul says, 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and halfway through verse 33, He says, as in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the law also says. Verse 35, if there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Now let's admit it, there are a lot of wives in here who if they were to ask their husbands at home on any issue that's becoming funny or difficult, their husbands will say, ah, I think ask Pastor Mel. Ask one of the elders. Now that's not right. It's not right. You should be distinguished with a faith that is informed, a faith that is intelligent, because you are giving yourself, deliberately giving yourself to the acquisition of knowledge, to a growing and deeper knowledge as an individual. Now, I need to hurry on. in the next few minutes, I'd like to wrap up in less than five minutes, the acquisition of this knowledge, the acquisition of this knowledge. I think the very first is regular attendance for church meetings, regular attendance. You see, church, the assembly, the gathered church, is primarily meant to be an educational institution. That's what it's supposed to be, an educational institution. The Lord Jesus Christ says, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. Notice this, teaching them to observe. And therefore, one of the ways in which you grow in your Christian life in terms of acquiring truth is simply a commitment to the stated teaching meetings of the church. And one way in which you are to do it is to set the Lord's day aside completely. for this purpose, completely for this purpose. And thankfully, in a church like ours, we have two services, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. Again, it's meant to give you the opportunity for you to make use of these opportunities. Now, it could be distance, forbids, you're coming out twice. It could be, um, health that forbids you coming on twice. It could be little children that you have that forbid you're coming out to us. That's, that's understandable. But sadly, too many of us, that's not the issue is that we've just ended up with a bad habit of spiritual laziness. That's all spiritual slothfulness. That even when there is early morning Bible study 9 to 10, that's when we are yawning back home. Literally yawning, trying to throw off the blankets. And then, of course, I need to tick the box that I went to church, so at least I attend a service. And another that, it's home because Manchester is playing Chelsea. Now friends, we ain't gonna produce spiritual giants that way. Forget it. We will remain spiritual infants sucking our thumbs even to the day when God judges us. We need to learn to take the market day of the soul, as the Puritans used to call it, to take it seriously. The market day of the soul, the day when you go as if you were to the market in order to get sufficient for the soul, not the body, for the soul. And then, unless you've got a photographic memory, Take some notes. Now I know some of you are brilliant. You can be like this, counting the number of fluorescent tubes in the air and the number of fans and so on. And if we get home and somebody asks you, you can literally reproduce the entire same one. I know that. But I also know that that's one out of a hundred in here. that most of us, as soon as we get into our cars or minibuses and head out for home, the only thing we remember was the one joke that was cracked. You know, that guy was wise. You know, to answer your wife at your fart. Again, I'm not suggesting that your notes should be really in detail, but at least provide yourself with some anchors so that in the evening when you're home or during the week when you have opportunity, you are able to revise, to review. Because these are lessons that are meant to make you grow and to grow, first of all, through your acquisition of what it is that you are being taught. So whatever method you might have, all I'm saying is work out a means by which you can sustain, you can keep what is being taught. I mean, you go to a Bible study. I mean, the very name is study. Bible study. And you're like this. Try that for your lectures. When you go for your next lecture, just be like this. And then come crying afterwards when you fail your exam. The moment I see it, I'll tell you that what were you thinking? That you were a genius? This is proof, you're not. So that's what I'm saying here. But let me put it in a hurry, I've overshot my time. Regularly read and deeply meditate upon and intelligently study the scriptures on your own. On your own. Now, guys, we are all busy. We all are. Life is hectic for all of us! But please remember, you've got a soul. You've got a soul. And that soul needs daily manna. It needs daily manna. Don't let it depend on the manna you collected six, seven days ago. No. Gather it regularly and learn, therefore, to take time to read and study and deeply meditate upon the Holy Scriptures. And then lastly, I have a few other points, but I must head out to close. It's by Christian books, Bible commentaries, Christian classics, biographies, historical books, books on Christian life and living, and read them. You are treading where the saints have trod. Planning to get married? Well, read books on male-female relationships. Have you gotten married? Well, read books on having a godly marriage. Are you raising children? Well, buy books on how to raise a godly home. Whatever else it might be. Buy the books and read them. Others have already passed where you are. And there's nothing like now, you know, when I was young, I used to buy books now that I'm old, I don't need them anymore. You still do. We all need to be stretched and stretched and stretched in our knowledge. We all need to. So I repeat, buy books. The data bundle that you're spending time on, cut it into half and spend the money on books. You can be sure you'll be a better Christian from your reading than all the Facebooking and Twittering and Instagramming and I don't know what other apps are coming up now in the social network that you might be involved in. I repeat, buy books and read them. And with respect to that, it is this. Develop the discipline to read. put aside time and guard it jealously. This time is for me to read a Christian book. And these are the books I've lined up for the rest of this year or for the next six months or whatever. And this is the time I put aside to read. And those of you who are married, please You married to a Christian? A Christian doesn't read? Well, put an elbow into their side when they are busy with that remote control, looking, flipping through various channels. Read. Read. We need you to be an intelligent Christian. Read. Well, brethren, I could go on. Let me quickly end by saying the statement that ignorance is the mother of devotion must not apply to true Christians. Let it go to counts. Yes, because in cults, they open their skulls, take out the brain, throw it in the dustbin and close. And then they just blindly follow whoever their leader or teacher is. It must not be so with you. If we are going to have spiritual giants who are going to impact Lusaka, impact Zambia, impact the continent, impact this generation, we will need intelligent believers, knowledgeable believers, and you must be the one to do it. It must come from a cry that goes with the hymn we'll be singing in closing. more about Jesus. Let me learn and let me know that hunger. I've got a savior. I want to know him. May that be true of you. Amen.