Good morning.
If you return with me to 2 Peter, the first chapter, I will begin in verse 3.
As His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue;
whereby He hath granted unto us His precious and exceeding great promises;
that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Verse 5:
Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence,
in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge;
and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience;
and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness;
and in your brotherly kindness love.
For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.
Verse 10:
Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:
for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
And then in verse 12:
Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things,
though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you.
And I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me.
Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance.
Let us pray.
Father, we commit Your Word to You once again. We know that apart from the Holy Spirit’s enabling, there is no chance that we can understand the Word of God. Our one single desire is that we would see Jesus; that the Holy Spirit would take what is written upon these pages and unveil to us our wonderful Christ.
And having seen Him, we will say, with all those that love the Lord, “That is enough.” We worship You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
I will remind you, first of all, of some of the way we have been sharing about the epistles of Peter in the past, if you will allow me a brief introduction.
You know that I began some time ago, and the focus was really on one single word. Now, how many—this is a test—how many here in this room remember the single word?
Okay. Well, we have made progress.
That word occurs seven times in Peter’s two epistles. In the short space of these two letters, seven times. And I think, with some understanding of that single word, we have an appreciation of what Peter wrote about.
Now, in short, without going into much detail, he unveils to us through that single word all of the grace that has been made available to us through and in the Lord Jesus. He unveils to us the riches, the surpassing riches, of His marvelous grace that has been made available to us in the Lord Jesus.
He shows us what the precious work and purpose of God is through and in this little word.
Now, if you remember, the first occasion of this word is in 1 Peter 1:7: the proving of our faith is more precious than silver or gold, though tried with fire.
Brothers and sisters, what an encouragement to us. All of our circumstances are for a purpose. Everything the Lord does is to an end. He is refining. He is working. He is doing a precious work, and in the end the purpose—the sole purpose—of that work is to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second time this word occurs, “precious,” is in 1 Peter 1:19. It talks about how we have been redeemed, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but we have been redeemed with the precious blood of the Lamb.
Brothers and sisters, what grace has been made available to us. Can you imagine? Sufficient grace through the blood of Jesus—that He would take away every sin, every sin; that He would make us righteous before a holy God; that He would grant us, through that precious blood, unlimited access into the holy of holies.
What grace. What provision.
And then, in the second chapter of 1 Peter, the word “precious” is used several times. It reveals to us the precious purpose of God. He tells us that He is building His church. It is a spiritual house. It is not made with hands.
It is a house made up not of dead stones, not of earthly material, but of heavenly material. It is made up of living stones who are joined together to be a testimony to God in the Spirit.
He goes on to say that there is the precious living Cornerstone, who is none other than our Lord Jesus. He is the One who is precious. He says, “Unto you therefore which believe is the preciousness.”
It is not precious to everybody.
So He reveals to us His great purpose. And finally, when you turn to 2 Peter, where we have just read, he reveals to us that this letter is written to those that have obtained like precious faith, in verse 1.
And he goes further to say that, to this end, He has given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these exceeding great and precious promises we might become partakers of the divine nature. That is the use of these words.
Now, for me, I will tell you a little story of how this happened. For me, that was it. That was the burden the Lord seemed to exercise me with.
But right after I finished that last message on exceeding great and precious promises, a sister said to me, “Brother, you should share on this second part. You should share all these verses 5 through 11.”
And quite frankly, I tried to be courteous, but said, “No, I do not think so. We will leave that to another.” But you know something, brothers and sisters? As I went home, and for these months, that thought has haunted me. I could not get away from it.
As a matter of fact, I even started preparing something else as a burden from the Lord. But over and over it seemed to me that there was something to this. And I believe it is the other side of the same coin.
And that burden that the Lord, I believe our sister was right, has laid on my heart comes from this single phrase: use diligence.
Peter, in the second epistle, uses that phrase four times. We are not just to see all that God has provided for us in Christ. We are not just to hold it up as something to admire. We are to enter into the fullness of it.
And we can never enter into the fullness of all the grace and provision of the Lord Jesus unless we use diligence. We cannot.
And I hope you do not think that is heresy. It is not to say Christ is not enough. You know we believe Christ is enough. Christ is everything.
But what He is after in His people is a response. What He is after in His people is a reaction. What He is after in His people is a resolve in their spirit, that they might take the grace of God so abundantly prepared for them and enter into the fullness of it.
And therefore the apostle says, just after sharing about the exceeding great and precious promises, “For this very reason, use all diligence.”
I like the way one brother put it. He said, in his practical and devotional commentary on the two letters of Peter, “We have beheld the bounty, the unbelievable bounty, of the Lord Jesus. And now we are called to respond to that.”
Brothers and sisters, we are called to react to that. We are called to resolve—not in human flesh, because you know about how far that will get you; maybe out the door. We are to resolve in spirit to agree with all that God has done. That is what He is after.
Use diligence. He says that in 2 Peter 1:5: “But for this very reason also, using therewith all diligence.”
And if you thought that was enough, in verse 10 he repeats it. The Holy Spirit repeats the thought through the apostle: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, use diligence to make your calling and election sure.”
Use diligence to make your calling and election sure.
As a matter of fact, in verse 12 that we read, the apostle Peter himself says, “Wherefore I will be careful.” That word careful literally means, “I will use diligence to remind you of these things.”
He himself, knowing the importance of what had been unveiled in Christ as to His glory, His grace, and His purpose, gives them this thought: now you should respond; now you should react; now you should resolve. Use diligence. That is what that means.
And he said again—he said he was about to leave this earth. He said God told him so. It is a strange thing, is it not? But I suppose from any of us it might happen.
He said, “Before I go, there is one thing—just one thing—I want to do. I am going to use all diligence to remind you of these things that I have spoken to you.” Before I go, and when I am absent, the one thing: I will use diligence to remind you of these things.
So this is the burden that the Lord seems to have laid on my heart. I think there are three things we will look at in our short time—just three things.
First of all, diligence is a response to grace. That is very important. I want to distinguish between the fact that diligence is not a reaction to law. In the New Testament, diligence is a response to grace—absolutely.
Secondly, the thing I would like us to look at today is that diligence is a reaction of the heart. Brothers and sisters, unless our heart is in this, where are we? God is after the heart. That is all He is after. In the end, we can make this less complicated: He is after the heart.
And thirdly, diligence is a resolve in our spirit. Some folks might think, “Well, brother, that is just flesh.” That is not flesh. We need to determine, if we have seen the fullness of the grace of our Lord Jesus, that we agree with that in our spirit. That is resolve.
So that is where we will head. Let us see how much time we have to get to these three points, and pray the Lord will help us.
Diligence is, first of all, a response to the grace of God. We have seen in this letter the surpassing riches of His grace. You know that verse in Ephesians 2:7: “the surpassing riches of His grace.” That is what we behold in Peter’s letter.
All that He has provided for—it is unbelievable. We have seen the surpassing riches of His grace. Now what He is after is this: if we have seen the surpassing riches of His grace, then we will respond to that grace. It will make a difference.
One brother put it this way: “This is fellowship with the forces of grace.” I like that thought.
This is fellowship with the forces of grace. This grace is so tremendous. This grace is so unlimited. This grace is so beyond anything we could ever imagine or think. We actually are fellowshipping with the forces of grace.
And when we are in fellowship with the forces of grace, they begin to change us from the inside out. That is different than the law, which comes in an outward way and imposes itself. We call that change from the outside in. That is not the spiritual way.
So, first of all, this phrase, “using all diligence,” is a response to the grace of God. Grace is discovered. Grace is uncovered. Grace is entered into.
Now, turn to 2 Peter 1:5 again, and we will see that after Peter makes this statement about using all diligence, he uses seven different thoughts.
He says, first of all, “In your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in self-control endurance; and in endurance godliness; and in godliness brotherly love; and in brotherly love, love.”
These seven things. Now, I wonder how you think about these things. Because it says, “In your faith, add to.” Are these things that come from within ourselves? Does virtue come from within ourselves? Does knowledge come from within ourselves? Does holiness come from within me? Does endurance come from you?
These are graces discovered. So often we start saying, “Now that you have heard this, you must do this.” I think that is a wrong approach.
I believe once we see what He has done, and if we respond to it in a full way, we discover more of what He is like. I do not know how to put it any differently. I believe it is grace from the beginning to the end.
I do not think somehow the Lord throws us a bone and then changes it and says, “Okay, now keep the law—every bit of it.” He never changes His mind. It is grace from the beginning to the end.
And these seven features are none other than discovered grace of the Lord Jesus. That is all it is. They become deeper, and they become deeper, and they become layer upon layer. The more of the Lord Jesus you discover, and the more of His grace you discover, the more like Him you become. That is the whole story.
Now I was saying, “How do you illustrate that?” I do not know. This is a crude illustration, but if I borrow it, it does not make sense. You would reject it.
I was thinking about new cars, since I do not have too many new cars. I was thinking about new cars since Justin called me yesterday and said my old car was wrecked—to inform me. Thinking about new cars: amazing.
I picked up this brochure, and the thing that amazed me—you may think this is silly—the thing that amazed me was the paint jobs that these new vehicles have: layer upon layer upon layer.
I just thought they sprayed on some primer and painted the thing. I had no idea there was so much technology involved. But layer upon layer upon layer. And then finally, after all that is done, this clear coat causes a depth and a beauty.
When you look into these things, they are like a mirror. You look into them, and there is depth to them. Not only is there depth to them, but they stand up under some pretty severe stuff.
I do not know about your cars, but my car battles acorns—little acorn bombs—and sun, and rain, and snow, and hail, and ice. But these layers upon layers protect in the most difficult circumstances.
Have you discovered Christ as your virtue? Have you discovered Christ as your endurance? Pretty soon your endurance will run out. You can bet on that. Have you discovered Christ as your holiness?
Layer upon layer. And when we discover Him in that way, the end of it is beauty. It is depth. And it will hold us through the most difficult of any circumstance.
To me, that is what grace is: discovered. “In your faith supply also virtue.”
Now, be careful, because some versions say, “In your faith add virtue.” Maybe some of your versions read that way. The word literally means, “Supply also virtue.”
Now, the good news about that word supply is that supply speaks of a source. Do you see the difference? If it were mine, I would just have to add virtue to something. If it were mine, I would just have to add knowledge to something. If it were me, I would just have to add holiness to something.
But it says, “In your faith, supply also virtue.” We should be looking to the source of all graces. And in this fellowship with the forces of grace, we should respond to all that He has done.
That is the burden that seems to me to come clearly out of these pages. It is the supply of His grace.
Brothers and sisters, there is a word Christians are afraid of, and that word is responsibility. By the way, the world is even more afraid of that word, responsibility.
But that word does not frighten me so much anymore, because if you take the word and break it apart, it simply means your only ability is to respond. That is your only ability.
Do you think somehow within you is resident holiness? All you have to do is stoke it up and work it up? Endurance—it comes from your inner bowels? I do not believe that is what the apostle is talking about.
Supply virtue. And on top of that, supply this. And on top of that, supply this. And on top of that, supply this. This is a response to the grace of God.
Now, I do believe once we respond to the grace of God, there ought to be a difference in your life.
The most embarrassing moment for any Christian—you may have had such opportunities; I have actually seen it happen—is when they are talking in conversation with another person, and they say, “Well, I am a Christian.”
And the person says, “Well, I did not know you were a Christian.”
And the funny thing is, they think, “Well, I did not know you were a Christian either.” World’s most embarrassing moment for a Christian.
Brothers and sisters, has anything happened in our lives where the world can look in and see that we have so responded to the grace of God that there is, in fact, a change?
Well, the first time you get the courage to announce to someone, “I am a Christian,” their first response is, “I had no idea you were a Christian.” I have actually heard that happen.
If there is a response to the grace of God, there will be evidence in our lives. I do not think once we have seen the grace of God, we can live any way we want. I do not think we can say anything we want. I do not think we can do anything we want.
I believe that grace alone arrests us. Do you understand the difference? It is the difference between law and grace. The law condemns you for not doing what you should do, because it is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.
But there should be a difference if we have seen the grace of God. May we respond to the grace of God.
There are some verses—I will turn to them, but I will have you not turn to them. It will take too much time. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, it talks about making manifest the savor of His knowledge through us in every place.
Think about that. A Christian—this is a Christian’s testimony—there is to be the sweet savor of Christ, of His knowledge, through us in every place. That is testimony. That is individual testimony.
It goes on to say it is a savor of death to some, and it is a savor of life unto life to others. I wonder, if you have responded to the grace of God, there ought to be a sweet aroma. There ought to be an aroma somewhere.
Now, I am not talking about a stench. I mean an aroma of Christ.
I used to buy these cheap colognes. I did not know the difference, and my nose sure could not tell the difference—the kind of $4.98 stuff that you buy that you get to watch with. It was the cheap stuff.
And then one day I saw these counters. I do not know if you have ever seen them. Most of these had women’s counters, but guys, this was just the nineties and two-thousands; they had men’s counters now.
So I went up to this lady and asked what was the difference between the cheap stuff I bought at the drugstore and the stuff she was selling.
What they did was take out these strips of cardboard, and they just sprayed it on cardboard. They said, “You smell it.” So I figured that was the difference: you just spray the good stuff on cardboard.
But she said, “No, this is the difference. The aroma lasts longer.” That is the difference.
You may like the smell of the $4.98 stuff, but the difference is the fragrance endures.
The fragrance that comes from the life of the Lord Jesus, from responding to the grace of God, is a sweet savor of Christ. And it has its effect.
Let me tell you—understand this, I do not mean to be comical—if you do not have an odor about you, something is wrong. If you are a Christian and there is nothing effusing, something is wrong.
I worry about our young people. If there is not some difference, if there is not some observation that people can look at you and say, “I do not know what it is about that person. I am not sure what it is, but there is a difference.”
There is an aroma. There is a sweet smell.
This is what the Lord is after: that we would so respond to the grace of God that there would be a difference in our lives.
I sometimes, brothers and sisters, think we use grace as an excuse to lead an unchanged life. I do not mean that to be so cruel, and if it convicts you, I hope it does.
But I sometimes think we Christians use grace as an excuse to live unchanged lives. And the apostle is saying, “For this very reason, because of these exceeding great and precious promises, use all diligence.”
There ought to be a difference.
I will tell a story. I am treading on thin ice here, but I will tell a story just to illustrate. I will not use names, and you will not know, but I remember I was told this recently. It blew me away.
One fellow said a guy told him one time that because we were under grace, we were free to drink. Now, do not take this where I am not taking it. But this brother that heard that certainly did.
He started. He said, “Well, I am free to drink, then I will just keep drinking.” First it was one or two, and then it became four or five, and then six or seven. Sooner or later, this guy thought, “We are under grace,” and he started hanging out in bars.
And then after that, he thought, “Well, we are under grace.” He began to get drunk. And the story that was told to me is that he even showed up at the meetings with a hangover to take the Lord’s table.
Is that grace? Is that grace?
Should not grace make a difference? Should not grace affect the way I speak? Should not grace affect the things I see? Should not grace affect the way I walk?
I believe if we respond to the grace of God, there will be a sweet aroma of Christ, and it will affect your life. No one will have to tell you, “Do not say that.” You will know.
I hope you take this as a warning. The Lord really convicted me of it—how we use grace as an excuse.
Our lives ought to reflect the grace of God. There ought to be virtue. There ought to be knowledge. There ought to be holiness. There ought to be endurance. There ought to be these things if we have, in fact, seen the grace of our Lord Jesus.
So that, to me, is the first thing. The second point, turning back to our text, is diligence. This matter of using diligence is a reaction of the heart.
Above everything else, God is after our heart. First of all, this is a heart issue. Not only is diligence a response to the grace of God, but diligence is a reaction of the heart. He is after our heart.
What He wants above everything else is this one thing: that He conquers our hearts.
As a matter of fact, turn with me to Proverbs. The first occasion, in the English version, of the use of the word diligence is in Proverbs 4:23.
Proverbs 4:23. You have heard this before. From the King James Version, it reads like this:
Keep thy heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.
What an important verse. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life.
The reaction of our heart, brothers and sisters, is a very important thing. It seems to me that when you look at this, this says a phenomenal thing: keep your heart.
Darby puts it this way: “Guard your heart above all that should be guarded, for out of it flow the issues of life.”
Set a sentry on your heart. Set a guard, a full-time guard, on your heart. Guard it above everything else, for out of it flow the issues of life.
Linda and I put in one of these twenty-four-hour sentry alarm systems. You know, one of these days, it is an obnoxious thing. It is voice-operated, so every time somebody comes in a door, it says, “Front door. Utility room door.”
We set a twenty-four-hour sentry upon our home. Sleeping or waking, it protects us.
Now, you may say, “Brother, you must be pretty little faith.” I may agree with you, but nevertheless, I did that. And that is not the point.
The point is: do you have a twenty-four-hour sentry upon your heart? Do you guard your heart above all that can be guarded, realizing that out of that one single vessel flow all the issues of life?
Do we guard our heart that way? Use diligence.
I am afraid, as Christians, we do not care so much about the heart. We do not guard the heart in this way. We are not always seeing that our heart is right, when it is the one thing God is after—our heart being right.
Jim said, I think last week, he liked to avoid scientific illustrations. Maybe I should avoid historic ones. He says he is the history teacher, and you can.
But you have all heard of Sir Walter Raleigh. Every good Virginian has certainly heard of Sir Walter Raleigh. He was this English nobleman, and he was a Christian.
He tried to set up the first English colony in North America, and he failed. Then he was later beheaded by James I—yes, the one who authorized the King James Version.
He was beheaded. And the executioner looked at him and said, “Which way do you want to turn your head?”
And he said, “If the heart be right, it matters not the way the head is turned.”
And with that, history declares that he motioned himself for the fall of the axe.
Is our heart right? Do we care?
Has this age that we live in promoted such dualism and relativism that we can do anything as believers? Is there any hesitation? Is there any conviction?
Use diligence. Guard your heart above everything that should be guarded, for out of it flow the issues of life.
This is what I believe the Lord is after.
You know, the world knows this secret better than we do: marketing. Marketing knows this secret. It gets me all the time.
I do not know about you, but they bring out some new whiz-bang thing. They put it out there, they turn it, they show it, they tell you what it will do, and they put all kinds of beautiful things around it. All of a sudden it grabs your heart, and you say, “I have got to have it.”
That is marketing. That is good marketing. I am not against marketing. Do not get me wrong, Dan, I am not against marketing. I believe in marketing.
But that is the world. The world understands this principle of capturing the heart. You come to the point where you have to say, “I cannot live without it.”
The Lord is after the heart. I think particularly of our young people. As I prayed and prepared, I was so burdened.
Wednesday night, a sister in our little group prayed this when we got to the young people. I believe it was a prayer of the Lord. She said, “Lord, capture their heart.”
Lord, capture their heart.
And she went on to pray, “It is a good thing when we are caught.”
For my own children, I have prayed often, “Lord, I have not prayed, ‘Lord, I have done what I can do.’ More often I have prayed, ‘Lord, I have not done what I could do.’”
But now, You who sit in the heavens, You who—what a wonderful phrase in the book of Daniel—are the heart-knowing God; You who search the heart and try the reins, it says in Jeremiah 17; You, You capture their heart.
That has been my enduring prayer. And the moment I have been led to pray that way, I have had to say, “Lord, You capture my heart.”
Is my heart really caught for the Lord?
I believe that was Peter’s experience in John 6. You remember the story. When He talked about eating the body and the blood of the Lord in John 6, it says a number of His disciples were offended, and they went back.
Then the Lord Jesus turned to the twelve, and He said, “Will ye also go away?”
And Peter’s response—we condemn Peter too quickly—Peter’s response is, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”
That is being caught. That is the difference. Your options are eliminated. You no longer can live this way or that way. You no longer can choose to do this or that. God has done such a work in your heart that your only response can be, “Lord, where can we go?”
So my prayer has been that the Lord would capture our heart. Proverbs says, “Use diligence to guard your heart above everything that should be guarded, for out of it flow the issues of life.”
Brothers and sisters, there should be a reaction in our heart if we do really see what the Lord has done.
Thirdly, there should also be, I believe, a resolve in our spirit. Now, make a distinction here: this is not a determination in our flesh to do what God calls us to do. You can never do that.
You may try. You will over and over replay Romans 7. Every time you will over and over replay Romans 7. What you will to do, you will not be able to do, because you will find something in your members warring against that which you purpose in yourself.
I believe the key is a resolve in the spirit. But I do also believe that unless there is a resolve in our spirit, that is what “use diligence” means.
Unless we agree and say, “Lord, You have done this. I agree,” then we will not go on to know Him in a full way. We need a resolve in our spirit.
I do not know about you, brothers and sisters, but I am the worst resolver in the world. Every year—and I am fifty-one years old—I think I have made New Year’s resolutions every year. And without fail, I think my best effort was two months.
Very best effort, with all of my energy and all of my strength, determined. It was not with lack of determination. It was determined.
We need a resolve that is in the spirit. We need to agree with the Lord. That will make a difference. That will hold.
I like the way Brother Nee puts this when he talks about things. It is like driving a stake. Do you understand what I mean?
There is one day when you determine in your spirit that, “Yes, Lord.” There is one day when you come to the Rubicon and say, “I will follow the Lord with a whole heart.” And there is one day when you take that stake and say, “Yes, Lord.”
You may fail. You may fall. You may wander. But you can always look back to that resolve and say, “Lord, Lord, do You remember? Yes, Lord.”
A resolve. Using diligence. We need to resolve. That will make a difference.
It can make such a difference. It says here in 2 Peter 1:10 that it can make our calling and election sure.
What do you mean, brother? I will walk on the feathery edge here. Do you mean our calling and election were not sure? You can make it so. You can make it so. Use diligence.
They say there is nothing sure in this life but death and taxes. But the Word of God says you can make your calling and election sure if you use diligence.
Another place—seeing this matter of spirit and diligence—I will just share this one thing. In Ephesians 4:3, I think you are all familiar with this, it says, “Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.”
Brothers and sisters, when it comes to our individual life, we need diligence. But when it comes to our corporate life, we need diligence.
You will discover, the more you live with saints, the more you need diligence. You will discover that.
You know, this section of these seven characteristics ends with brotherly love, and then love. You might say, “I do not even like my brother.”
You might be like Socrates, the great philosopher: “The more I get to know people, the more I like my dog.” You may be like that.
But when it comes to corporate life, there needs to be a diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It has been given to us, but we must come against everything that will break that unity.
Let me tell you, brothers and sisters, you need to use diligence here. There are things that are said among brethren that should not be said. People get hurt. I am not justifying that.
We need to keep, with all diligence, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There are words that people say that they should not say. They cause division.
Now remember, I think it is in Proverbs where the Lord says, “Six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven.” And what is the last one?
He that soweth discord among brethren.
God hates that. We need to be careful, brothers and sisters. Do we keep the unity of the Spirit with all diligence?
This is a resolve in our spirit. No matter how different you are than I am—and believe me, some of you are glad you are different—no matter how different we are, we are one in the Lord Jesus, and I will not let anything break that oneness.
We stand upon that oneness. It is our testimony. All that are the Lord’s are mine, and all that are the Lord’s, I am also theirs. No matter what the difference, if they really are the Lord’s, this is our single testimony: that we keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Now, this is even more precise than that. It talks about those with whom you are gathering together. And that is where it is challenged more often than not.
But there needs to be a resolve in our spirit. Oh, brothers and sisters, whatever comes against that, we need to withstand. We need to resolve. We need to determine.
I believe this matter of resolve is not a small thing, saints. I read a story about David Livingstone. I think most of you know David Livingstone—Africa and his work.
A really interesting thing—I did not know this—David Livingstone’s first sermon was a complete failure. He got up, and he totally forgot what he was to say. He said, “Folks, I am sorry. I need to sit down. I forgot exactly what I was going to say.”
But yet, he did something: he did not stop. I believe I would be so embarrassed, I would never show up again.
He determined in his spirit to live differently. And it says words were found early on in his diary. He said this: “I, this day, have resolved. I, this day, have resolved that I would be an uncommon Christian.”
Oh, we like that. Brothers and sisters, are we like that? Is there a resolve in our spirit to be an uncommon Christian? That is where it made the difference with David Livingstone.
Turn back. Let me close with this: what is the result, then, of this kind of diligence? If you look back in 2 Peter 1:8, I believe this should be an encouragement to me.
For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the first result. If this is in you, if there is a response to the grace of God, if the diligence has worked to such a degree that there is a reaction in your heart, if the diligence has worked to such a degree that there is a resolve in your spirit, if these characteristics mentioned are in you, then you are neither idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the result of this diligence.
And it goes on further to say in 2 Peter 1:10:
Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:
for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Listen to that. It is remarkable. You will never fall. For thus shall your entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ be richly furnished to you.
Brothers, not only if this diligence, if this grace, is manifested; if this change of heart is manifested; if this resolve in spirit is manifested—we will have an everlasting entrance into the everlasting kingdom.
What a promise. This is indeed a great promise.
I thought of the word in Proverbs. There is a verse in Proverbs—I will just mention it; you can turn to it later—Proverbs 22:29:
Seest thou a man diligent in his business?
He shall stand before kings.
I wonder if you cannot see through the natural in that verse and, for a moment, speculate about what it really means.
If we respond, if we react, if we resolve, if we make diligence our business, one day we will stand before the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Lord, we just commit to You these thoughts. Lord, our heart is that You would really open to us what You are saying. You can only do that.
We want today to be those that respond to the grace of God. We want to be those that use all diligence. We want our life to be marked by these characteristics of Christ.
We want You to capture our hearts fully. If our heart be not right, we want to determine today that we have been called with a heavenly calling so great and so vast, it almost exceeds what we can imagine.
And now we ask You, and we agree in the name of Jesus, and we resolve together that You will get what You are after.
Oh, Lord, that we will one day stand before the King. For this, make diligence Your business. Amen.