to 2 Peter chapter one. Today we're looking at verses 10 and 11, page 1018 in the Church Bible. 2 Peter one, 10 and 11. Peter has just been listing out the various traits or qualities of Christians, and he has reached a point in this list where he said, we need to remember that we're cleansed from our former sins. And picking up after that now in verse 10, this is God's word. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling in election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you in an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In our reading from God's word, there is more to the gospel than pardon. Our sins are cleansed by the death and resurrection of Christ, as Peter just wrote at the end of verse nine, but there's more. That's why we continue past verse nine. The paragraph continues. There's a therefore after what he wrote. What we remember from early on in our study of this book, just a few verses earlier, at the beginning of 2 Peter 1, the value and the amazement that we know Christ. We know God. Adam knew God in the perfect Garden of Eden. But the ongoing walk with God was lost in Adam's fall into sin. And in the gospel, our knowing God is restored to us in the second Adam, the last Adam, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing Christ is power for living a good life. That's what Peter's been writing in verses five through nine. The gift of the gospel gives us pardon, yes, and knowing Christ also. And the gift also contains the ability to win, as it were, the ability to triumph, as we looked at last week. Romans 1.16 says the gospel is the power of God. A power of God so powerful that God's power causes us sinners to triumph. We losers now win, if you want to put it that way. We have the gift of triumph, but it doesn't come by laying back and putting up our feet. We talked about that. We work hard at our triumph. That's the form that the gift takes to give us that ambition, to give us that strength. The gift of God makes us zealous. Thus the title today, Be More Zealous. It's the main thrust of what Peter's bringing before us here. Because we know Christ, and a rich welcome awaits us, we will keep becoming more zealous. Let me give you a zeal test. How zealous are you? If you're filled with zeal, sometimes you'll dislocate something. In the 1980s, an orchestra director named Eugene Ormandy dislocated a shoulder while directing the Philadelphia Orchestra. While directing the orchestra. You might say football, you might say rugby, you might even say basketball. While directing the orchestra, he dislocated his shoulder. He was giving all of himself to it, that much we can understand. And we could ask ourselves, did we ever give ourselves so much to something that we dislocated something? Maybe even a necktie, maybe even a necklace. And when our kids are zealous, they dislocate the pillows off the couch. You know, the classic picture of West Point? When I say West Point, what do you think of? When the graduates dislocate their hats and throw them up into the air together. Dislocating something is an indicator of our zeal. We dislocate sins in our lives. We dislocate even our level of energy so that we can be zeal. We'll uncover this in three ways. What it means for elect people to be more zealous, how it feels to be more zealous, assurance and certainty, and number three, Who is that example of being more zealous even after failure? So, number one, what it means for elect people to be more zealous. Because of what Peter wrote in verse nine, we must not forget that we were cleansed from former sins. Peter now writes here in verse 10, We're on the topic of election all of a sudden. Election is the Bible's teaching that God is so big that God knows how many people are saved in heaven, but there's more to election than just how many. Election means that God is so big that God even chose exactly which persons by name who would be saved by Jesus' death and resurrection. That's the Bible's teaching of election, that Christians, we believe that God has elected or chosen the recipients of his grace of salvation. that God decided who will be saved, that God decided to forgive certain people called his people. All people were spiritually dead and God took some of us and made us alive in Christ Jesus, made us his people, made us his sheep. Okay, so that's a quick review of election, but that's not Peter's main point to bring it up. Here, Peter wrote that we are to confirm our election. In fact, because of God's gifts to us, that we are to be all the more diligent to confirm our election. How? How can we be diligent to confirm our election? You can see the hesitation in us, right? We hesitate because we just said that election and calling remain God's actions. God elects. God calls. God saves. God gives faith. God's gifts and call are irrevocable, which means we cannot lose them. So the only task left for us, it seems, would be to appropriate, to absorb the truth of our standing with God in such a complete way that we become sure of it. The fact is that we're already known by Christ, and we already know Christ. So the only thing left for us is to know that we know. The only thing left is to grow in certainty, to grow in assurance of that, to know that we know. The only thing left for us is to become so aware of our knowledge of Christ that we can live our lives in the certainty that we are God's children. Let me read a supporting passage from Paul, then we'll come back. 2 Timothy 1, nine to 12, listen. God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, listen, For I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. That's 2 Timothy 1, nine to 12. Paul, supporting what Peter said. Paul was convinced, he wrote. Now let's come back to our passage here, our point number one with Peter. Verse 10, therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. Peter wants for us what Paul described that he had. I'm convinced. Are you? Peter urges us to go in that direction. We need to reach the point of assured certainty. God's calling to us to know Christ is not merely an invitation. You know, this isn't some booster package. I mean, Peter is saying more here than to say, hey, if you want to, you could do yourself a favor and become fully assured if you want to. No, God's calling to us to know Christ is a command. It's a royal command from our king, and we are his subjects, that we must obey this command. Because election is evidence of God's love and grace to us, we're commanded to confirm it, to know that we know, to be assured. Confirming our election means we must take possession of the gift of knowing Christ by exercising the virtues that Peter listed here in verses five through nine. Let's quickly think through the list and how this would work for confirming. The first in the list is faith. It means we confirm that we believe we know Christ and we trust in him for our conversion. We must desire virtue next, which is goodness, just like Christ does. We must deepen our knowledge of him. We must live self-controlled lives and keep at it with steadfastness and perseverance. Godliness, next in the list, simply means we become like Christ and we become kind or affectionate. and loving towards others, especially Christians. So confirming our election means to live it out daily by obeying the commands placed upon us in our calling and living out the virtues that were given to us as gifts. God still calls us. The one word here is election. The other word is calling. God calls us. And still we have a responsibility built within God's call of us. that conversion is all done by God, and so is sanctification, but we don't just sit back. He gives us the grace for sanctification, and it requires us to do something. But Christian life is not a ride in the back of a bus. In our conversion, we exercise faith. In our sanctification, we put forth effort. We exert ourselves as if the Christian life were a countryside tour by bicycle with Christ as our tour guide leader. We have to keep pedaling in order to enjoy our calling and election as he rides across the countryside and tells us of all the many gifts that he gives us. In fact, in these verses we study today, Peter is emphasizing our responsibility in regard to our growth, in regard to our sanctification. Again, Paul's glad to echo Peter. This time, Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only is in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation. for with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And again, Paul supports Peter in the point here in 2 Timothy 1.14, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within you, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. So what Paul just wrote there is he's describing our huge responsibility to guard what's been entrusted to us. is only done by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. So you see how it's by grace, and yet our effort is required. So that was point one, what it means for elect people to be more zealous. We're moving on to number two, how it feels to be more zealous. It feels like assurance and certainty. It feels sure. It feels like a rock-solid thing. As he says in verse 10, therefore, my brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. It feels firm, it feels confirmed, it feels certain, shored up. Are we absolutely sure we're going to heaven? Yes, we are. Zealous people are sure, and sure people are zealous. They belong together. We both have both. We all have both certainty and zeal. There's a tale told of a great English actor, MacReady. A preacher once spoke with MacReady on the side. They were talking about their professions, and the preacher says to MacReady, I wish you'd explain something to me. MacReady, what is the reason for the difference between you and I? I am a preacher and you an actor. You're appearing before crowds night after night with fiction. Big crowds come wherever you perform. I'm preaching the essential, unchangeable truth, and I'm not getting any crowding at all. MacReady's answer to the preacher is this, it's quite simple, I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth. You present your truth as though it were fiction. And if that's the case, that's certainly a zinger for preachers to hear, yes. But the illustration also speaks to the listener, doesn't it? the listener needs to hear, what about your listening? And it asks us both what it is that we believe. Are these the most important truths? And since this is truth, we live out that fact in certainty of it. And Peter's strengthening us in this area. Peter's teaching us that the more we serve the Lord, the more Jesus confirms us in our personal knowledge of him, the more assured that we are that we're heading to his heaven and heaven is for real, the more assured we are that we're going there to see our precious Savior face to face. The more we work for him and serve him, the more certain we are that we have the best thing going. for all of human beings to know this Lord and to be in his kingdom and have a place of service for him. How it feels to be more zealous is assured and certain. That was number two. We're moving on to number three. Who is an example of being more zealous even after failure? I'll give you a hint. We're studying the book of 2 Peter. Our author is always before us, isn't he? You don't even have to search for illustrations because Peter is the one behind the pen. Peter is the one writing the letter to the original audience and then, of course, to us. Our author is Peter, who we could call a big failure. But that's not how his life ended. So it's really not fair to characterize him as a big failure, is it? He's an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, the author of two books in the New Testament. Maybe we should be a bit more mindful of that if we're going to characterize him. Is there a backdoor to heaven where they slip in people like Peter? How do we expect our lives to go compared to the apostle Peter? Is there any hope for us? Have you messed up and you're sidelined? Verse 11 says, for in this way, in what way, Peter? From verse 10, he says, if you practice these qualities, if you practice these qualities, if you do it, live it out in this way, he says, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. By our actions, by our practices, we keep on personally affirming, confirming our calling and our election. We as believers are moving every day, one day closer towards our entrance into Christ's presence forever, even though we've messed up. Listen for the promise of how this all ends. Listen to what Peter is writing here at the end of verse nine. If you practice these qualities, you will never fall. If you practice these qualities, you will never fall. Now that's not losing grace, that's not works-based religion. We've covered that, and again covered that, and again covered that. Peter is writing to us that it's all by grace, but also what he's saying to us is that he is an example of someone who, after failure, was brought into such grace that he can not only be forgiven, but he can be set on a pathway where he can never fall. And he's declaring to us that's the gospel, it's how it works. A fall for us cannot happen when we're busy practicing these qualities. We will not fall when we are becoming more zealous to confirm our calling and election. We become established, we become unmovable. We become sure that we cannot lose our salvation and we live for the Lord and we're never shaken. We don't want to walk away from our Lord and shipwreck our faith. So he emphasizes the word never. You will never fall. If you're walking with God, you can't fall at the same moment. To be established like this doesn't mean you're perfect. That's not what he's saying. Don't misunderstand me or Peter. It's a nuance, and we're bringing this forward, or we're working at it together to understand what God is saying to us in his word. We still stumble, but we will never fall. See the distinction? We'll stumble but not fall. Did Peter actually fall? He stumbled, didn't he? And then he was rescued, he was forgiven, he was not only set back into the kingdom, allowed in the door and stand in the corner, he was made an apostle in the kingdom. He was given an important place of service. We don't give up on people, we don't give up on ourselves, that the gospel gives us hope that we can serve the Lord, not just make it. but be in his kingdom effectively serving him, being those who are effective and fruitful as we studied previously in the same paragraph. Peter, remember who we're reading from, Peter. Imagine that, Peter who denied Jesus so badly as I've reviewed a few times these weeks, then gaining entrance into the eternal home of Jesus. Same for us, imagine that we who have failed the Lord so miserably, now being invited to live in his place. Why don't you come home with me, says Jesus. How does that happen? It's by grace. We have a grace-based religion. It happens by the gospel. It happens by the cross and the resurrection. But because we have grace and the cross and the resurrection, it also happens by him granting us ambition to be diligent. It happens by him causing us to be diligent in our walk, repenting constantly, being cleansed, then walking in the way that the Lord himself and the apostle Peter have shown us to walk, to actually do it. What's at stake here is our level of zeal. What sort of output do you have? You coasting along or are you really going after it? Based on what we believe about how restoration works in God's family, we're going to be more and more zealous. Satan would have us believe in some form of perfectionism, and because we already messed up somewhere, perfectionism not attainable for us, therefore, we might as well just kind of punch out, coast, and talk a lot about justification, and just don't talk a whole lot about sanctification. Just talk a lot about justification, because we love that, but if I'm coasting, I don't want to hear about sanctification, that the grace of God won't let me coast. Do we need to be perfect to be in God's family? No, never said that. Remember, it's Peter we're reading from? And once we mess up, there's no way back to God, says perfectionism. That's not the gospel at all. That's Satan's lie. See, Satan would even like us to believe that we might be given permission to get into heaven. But once in heaven, we're always looking down. I mean, we're not allowed to look other people in the eye. We're not allowed to look Jesus in the eye, for sure. That's not the gospel, that's Satan's lies again. Always remember, as we study, the illustration is built into the writing of 2 Peter, because Peter is the one writing, as Peter's saying, I stumbled. I'm gonna finish as a winner. I stumbled, but I hold my head up high. I stumbled, but I am a servant and apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, chapter one, verse one. Jesus has no disdain for me, says Peter. There's no shaming in heaven. We're not gonna constantly go over the failures of Peter, Peter says. I will look Jesus in the eye and feel his love and approval for me, the one who disowned him. We will too. Remember what Peter wrote? Chapter one, verses three to six. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed. in the last time. In this you rejoice. 1 Peter 1, three to six. See, because we're born again, we continue to possess a living hope because Jesus is alive. It's a living hope because he lives. Because our inheritance is being kept in heaven for us, we have a faith that's genuine. And since we live in a world that's difficult, our faith will be tested. We must love Christ, though we don't see him now. And so on. The apostles agreed about the good news. We're going to make it to heaven. Instead of Paul, let me go to Jude. Listen to how Jude wrote praise to God for keeping us from falling. Jude, verse 24. That's Jude 24 and 25. about what sort of reception we'll receive as we get to heaven. Let's go to our passage, verse 11. For in this way there'll be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. No one enters heaven through a side door of embarrassment. I mean, this says an entrance. This doesn't say sneak in somewhere because you got a favor. This says an entrance. You get an entrance. The royal people of God get an entrance. No one enters heaven a loser with a A on their chest or with an F on their grade report. Everyone who enters heaven enters heaven a victor, a winner, a child of God. Please remember that we're considered children of the Father. Higher place than the angels. Our Heavenly Father pours out gifts upon us to make us rich in spiritual provisions. We don't come up to heaven's gate like some ragged person who just escaped a shipwreck and spent months on a deserted island. We don't barely make it into heaven as a person who escaped through some big fire and our hair is singed, our clothing burned, smelling like smoke, scarcely making it in, and the angels are turning their head and closing their nose. We're in the triumphal procession of the eternal King of Kings having been cleaned up from all of that. That's what Peter just wrote at the end of verse nine, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. We don't forget, we never forget. We're cleansed from our former sins. We are in the triumphal procession entrance with the King of Kings as we enter the eternal kingdom. We come through heaven's entrance dressed in glorious clothing, all rested up and strong and decked out. We're slowly striding our way in, confidently making that entrance because we belong in heaven by his grace. We come into the place of God's own abode like we know the owner because we do. We come into the place not getting stopped by security at the gate and questioned with generous suspicion. We are recognized from afar and warmly waved in with excited anticipation. We receive a heavenly welcome to the eternal kingdom. That's the logical end and outcome for Peter's writing. That's where he goes with the list of virtues. It's the road of virtues. Remember from verse five, make every effort to supplement to your faith virtue. We receive faith as a gift and that links us to Christ. And we place our faith in him and we get Christ as the best gift of all. We already have Christ. But besides that, we get all the other virtues in the list. Virtue, knowledge, self-control, and so on, until we reach the end of that road, which is the entrance into his presence. The eternal kingdom, Peter writes, and there we have a warm welcome. Who extends that warm welcome? It's God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole list of eight virtues is lived out in our lifetimes on earth. And then, when we die, what is added as another gift, in addition to the gift of each of the virtues, and Christ himself, with a lifetime of receiving them, we receive the gift of the abundant blessing of the entrance into the eternal kingdom, and in such a blessed way as to be so full that language fails to describe it. Just what kind of kingdom is this that we'll be entering? In Psalm 145, 13, the kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. In 2 Timothy 4, 18, the kingdom is a heavenly kingdom. But the only place that we read that this is an eternal kingdom is in our verse, 2 Peter 1, verse 11. That's the only place the word eternal is used to describe the kingdom. The kingdom is eternal. The kingdom is eternal because the king is eternal. Our hope is living because he is living. And what does it mean that the kingdom is eternal? It means that the kingdom is not subject to the limitations of time. It exists forever. It's in this eternal kingdom that Christ is always king. God always rules through his son, Jesus Christ. Peter is fond of calling Jesus our Lord and Savior. He does it so often in his writing. Here Peter does it again to describe whose kingdom it is that is an eternal kingdom. The eternal kingdom of God. our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And here's the point. Because the recipients of the letter knew the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior, Peter was not teaching here that they will enter the church. He wasn't even teaching that they'll enter the kingdom of Christ by faith while they live here on earth. Notice the future tense of the verb being used here when Peter writes, there will be. richly provided for you something in the future, see? And that causes us to look expectantly ahead to the coming of this king because we know him. We know the king of the eternal kingdom. And Peter goes on in three chapters here in this beautiful letter to write in chapter three of this letter, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. with God's promise. We have a home of righteousness with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are waiting, and as chapter three, verse 13 says, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. You could sum up the whole Christian life in saying we're just waiting for Jesus to come. With everything else that we do, whole lives being filled, one thing we're really doing is waiting for Jesus to come. What have we seen? Because we know Christ, a rich welcome awaits us. We'll keep becoming more zealous. Number one, what it means for elect people to be more zealous. Number two, how it feels as assurance and certainty. Number three, Peter's our example of though failed, can still be zealous because we're so welcome. I got four concluding lessons really quickly. Number one, know you're a child of God. Application number one, know you're a child of God. I know and you know that you failed Jesus. You failed God. We have a holy God, he saw it, he knows. You know and I know that I failed God. I stand before you as sinner. You know and I know that Peter failed God. the one who's writing to us authoritatively. He personally has a bad resume in that way. Guilt and shame for Peter. Guilt and shame for me. Guilt and shame for you are gone because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Replace guilt and shame with hope and grace. Believe you're a child of God. Know that you know that you know that you're a child of God. Know it in your bones. Make it part of your identity, part of your wake up in the morning, who am I, knee-jerk reaction. Make it part of your DNA. How do we know? It's not a feeling. I'm not causing you to base your Christian life on feelings. It's not after giving so much penance. You know, if you did something really bad, then you give yourself a certain distance in time, and after that distance in time of punishing yourself, then you'll feel a little bit more like this. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's immediate. As soon as you get the gift of faith and trusting in Jesus, at that moment, you know you're a child of the Father in heaven. It doesn't come from visions, it doesn't come from dreams, it doesn't come from personal betterment. This knowledge comes from God's word. If God says it in his word about us, then it's true. I know that I'm a child of God because the Bible tells me so. God has revealed himself to us in this book, in Jesus Christ, his son. God works in our hearts through the Spirit to make us certain that we know that we know I'm a child of God. Number one, I know I'm a child of God. Number two, isn't it obvious? Be comforted. Number one, know you're a child of God. Number two, be comforted. beyond anything that humans can give you. Now I think it's great, boys and girls, you go to mom and dad for comfort. I think it's great, adults, you go to your parents for comfort. They're still alive, that's great. You can go to pastors, you can go to elders, please do. But my friends, there's a limit to what humans can say to you. And some of the best humans you go to for comfort, if you really need comfort, they're turning you back here. because this is the real source of comfort. Be comforted by God. Let that settle you. Let this experience of the nearness of God to your very soul cause you to understand what is being written by David in Psalm 42, to understand what Psalm 63 is talking about. I thirst for God, because I get so dry here. You know? It's the solution. It's the way that Christians live. It's my only true source of comfort. Be comforted. How do we explain to other people the comfort we have? Come on in, drink of Christ. Be comforted is number two. Number one is know you're a child of God. Number two, be comforted. Number three, be like Christ. The title of this sermon is Be More Zealous. Be more zealous to be like Jesus Christ in your behavior, in your speech, and so on. It's a characteristic of Christ to want to be like him. It's a characteristic of Christians to have godliness. Godliness is Christ-likeness. Want to be like Christ? Must be more like Christ? Take a measurement. A year ago to today, are you more like Christ? Make sure that a year from now, you're more like Christ. Christlikeness is part of the Christian, and being zealous to be so is part of the application of this message. Know you're a child of God, number one. Number two, be comforted. Number three, be like Christ. Last one, number four, make an appointment to be fitted for your crown and royal robe. I love weddings. And the thing about weddings is, you go in to be fitted for the special attire for the wedding. And you have to measure the dress, and measure the tuxedo, and measure the special clothes that are there, because we're getting ready for an entrance. And if you're getting ready for an entrance that Peter has been describing for us, let that waft over you spiritually and tying it into your emotions as well. Keep your crown in your imagination. Keep your royal robe in your imagination. Fit it out for yourself. I'm not saying literally, but you get the idea that you keep ready at all times the concept that where a character is going, where the grace-based religion and the good life that we live based out of that grace is going, is I'm going to be in an entrance. to beat all other entrances. I'm part of that. And weddings don't even begin to compare. All black tie events, all proms, all things that you could imagine, they don't seem important. When you really stop and think about what Peter's inviting us to, remember that we're already a part of. We are going to have a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because we know him. Just wait until you see him. And one little bit of being reminded of that, one little bit of forward focus really orients, doesn't it? It puts all the other things in perspective. So we don't have to just wait for a sermon on this verse. You could read this verse every day, put it on your mirror. You could, whatever it takes to fit yourself for the crown and royal robe, keep it in front of you. And he will be. No disappointment, he doesn't disappoint. He will be what in your best dreams you know him to be. That's where we're going. Fit yourself, get yourself ready in all sorts of ways for that royal entrance. Know you're a child of God, be comforted, be like Christ, and make an appointment to be fitted for a crown and a royal robe. Let's pray. Lord, keep us from falling. We are just like Peter. We're just like Adam and David and Moses. All of your servants who failed you, we're just like them. We can't keep ourselves in your kingdom and we can't make ourselves grow. And because you give us grace to be in your kingdom, because you give us grace to grow and be more like Jesus, because you give us grace to know that we know we have an entrance coming, would you comfort us, make us more like him in our daily living, in our hearts, our minds, as well as our speech and behavior? Oh Lord, would you keep us from falling by your mercy and goodness beyond what we deserve? In the strong name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Will you turn and sing with me? Number 705, I know whom I have believed. Let's celebrate what we have in the gospel.