Trust the Process - Part 1
Trust the Process • Sermon • Submitted
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Let’s go back to our Progressive Sanctification chart (this is in your notes and is from Biblical Counseling Center)
This chart takes the text of 2 Peter, which contains eight qualities of spiritual maturity, and divides up the process into three main sections: “Foundation”, “Hard Work”, and finally “The Payoff!”
These qualities are organized in a progression, a staircase, that leads to a goal of being spiritually mature.
2 Peter 1:10 (NKJV)
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
Our goal is a successful Christian life, understanding that we won’t be sinless, but one in which we do “sin less”....i.e. HOLINESS
Today, we will study the first section titled “Foundation”, which is compromised of three subsections: Faith, Virtue, and Knowledge
1. Faith
1. Faith
2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith...
Faith: Committing to Obey God, Trusting Him
Faith: Committing to Obey God, Trusting Him
Faith is choosing to believe without seeing - to take action based on what we believe to be true.
Our faith at the justification level is a passive choice to believe in Jesus for salvation - for eternal life…but faith doesn’t stop there!
It also takes faith to experience sanctification - it means choosing to take actionable steps because we take God at His word
We need faith in order to have an obedient walk!
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The writer of Hebrews is about to give us the “Hall of Faith” - many examples of men and women that chose to take action based on their faith…based on what they believed to be true even though they could not see it.
The words substance and evidence are the actions we see the OT saints taking
“By Faith” = Faith In Action = Faithfulness!
“By Faith” = Faith In Action = Faithfulness!
Over and over again this phrase confirms that the actions we read about in the Old Testament were actions based on faith.
Let’s look at some examples of Faith in Action:
Hebrews 11:7 (NKJV)
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Noah built a massive ship for the sole reason that God told him to.
If you haven’t been down to the life-sized Ark Encounter in northern Kentucky, I strongly encourage you to get that trip planned and head down there.
It’s a fitting reminder of what it might have been like for Noah…a massive wooden ship structure out in the middle of farmland, nowhere near a lake or ocean!
Hebrews 11:8 (NKJV)
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
It’s one thing to go somewhere new, but we know the destination.
It’s a totally other thing to just “GO” without knowing the destination!
Faith is the primary foundation stone on which our sanctification is built…we can go no further in our progress without choosing to live by faith!
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Often times we wonder why our spiritual growth seems stunted…it could be because of our lack of faith....not our FEELINGS of faith…but a lack of our ACTIONS of faith
What is God asking you to do, that next step of faith?
So be bold - take that step of faith - and then ask, “What’s next?”
Before we go any further into the progressive sanctification process, I want us to park on this little word, “add”
2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
It is used twice in this passage - the first place is here in verse 5
NOTE: It COULD have been used in between each step…it is IMPLIED!
This word means “to supply, provide, or give”
Like we pointed out last week, we as born again Christians have a role to play in our Progressive Sanctification journey…and this word ADD tells us our part!
This “adding” happens in the moment by moment decisions…the daily choices that we make…We either add these godly characteristics or we add ungodly ones…but our choices ALWAYS have consequences!
God also has a responsibility in this process…look at what Coach Peter writes a few verses later:
2 Peter 1:11 (NKJV)
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That word, “supplied” here in verse eleven is the same Greek word used in verse five, translated “add”!
Yes, we are required to “add” these qualities into our daily lives…but God will also “abundantly supply” a reward if we do - an “abundant entrance” into the kingdom! (as opposed to just an entrance because you believed…this is about eternal rewards, not eternal life!)
Let’s look at one more word in verse 5 before we move on to virtue:
2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
This word “diligence” means:
The root word that it’s based on means “speed”, and so this derivative infers “eagerness” or “earnestness”!
This tells us HOW we are to go about ADDING these godly characteristics into our lives…with EAGER EARNESTNESS!
So, Coach Peter is letting us know that the successful Christian life is not for the faint of heart…not for the lazy or slothful…this Progressive Sanctification is going to take HARD WORK!
2. Virtue
2. Virtue
2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue...
Virtue means “moral excellence” or “valor”
Virtue: Moral Excellence, Valor
Virtue: Moral Excellence, Valor
So as we consider our “diligent adding” process, we need to live by faith - faithfulness to the Lord - and as we are doing that, we are to make sure that our life choices are “morally excellent”.
This is the second time in 2 Peter chapter 1 that we have seen this word:
2 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
This verse tells us that God called us “by”…or “because of “ virtue…God called us to be virtuous because He is virtuous.
2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue...
To the Greeks, this word “excellence” meant “the fulfillment of a thing”
So when anything fulfills its purpose, it is said to have “virtue or moral excellence”
For example, land that produces crops fulfills its purpose, therefore it is in a state of “excellence”
Another example would be a tool that works as it is designed to work…that tool would be described as “excellent”
So, when a Christian fulfills his or her purpose in life - to glorify God - they are considered “excellent”!
Moral excellence is a divine quality - not a human quality…it is one way we reflect the glory of Christ - the highest standard of moral excellence.
Virtue is also one of the qualifications for our thought life given in
Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
God’s virtue should be governing both our actions and our thoughts.
2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue...
As we return back to our verse, we need to see that it is our Faith that will promote our virtue…faith helps us to develop moral excellence.
The more we choose to live by faith, remaining faithful in the things God has called us to, the more we will achieve excellent morality - the more virtuous we will become!
3. Knowledge
3. Knowledge
2 Peter 1:5 (NKJV)
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
As we are walking by FAITH, and diligently adding VIRTUE to our faith, we are in need of KNOWLEDGE in order to keep moving forward in our journey to grow as believers.
We need knowledge to know how to walk by faith and live with virtue!
We need knowledge to know how to walk by faith and live with virtue!
We have some understanding of faith and how to live it out…and we do have a conscience that helps us know right from wrong…but we can only go so far before we run out of our own resources…we need knowledge in order to know how to live by faith and what virtues that God expects of us.
But not just ANY knowledge will do…we are in need of knowledge about God…who God is, what He has commanded, how we are to live, what the boundaries are and how we need to relate to God…all of this is KNOWLEDGE...
And we only find this kind if knowledge in one place: the Bible!
In order to diligently add to our virtue knowledge, we need to diligently search for it in the Scriptures!
This is where the hard work we spoke of earlier often presents itself
It’s hard to stay consistent in our study of the Scriptures…especially at first, before we have developed the habits…the spiritual muscles that make Bible study more and more rewarding.
Let’s see what the Bible has to say about the knowledge it holds.
Coach Peter believed that knowledge was very important (no less than 13 mentions of the word in this short epistle!):
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,
17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Peter is driving home his point: Knowledge is vitally important to progressive sanctification!!
Knowledge begins with God.
God is the source of all life and therefore all knowledge.
God is the Supreme Knower! - He is OMNISCIENT!
5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
Jesus condemned those that would hold back such knowledge from others:
52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
Knowledge helps us know how to help one another:
14 Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
Paul also wrote that knowledge of Christ is a key to progressive sanctification:
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
The knowledge of Christ was Paul’s supreme ambition in life:
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
…and it should be our supreme ambition in life as well…to know Jesus Christ…more and more each day, each month, each year…always diligently adding knowledge to our virtue…and adding virtue to our faith.
And that is our Foundation of Sanctification!