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2 Peter 1 the Bible reads in verse 1, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. So he starts out right away in the book of 2 Peter talking about the fact that our faith is not based upon our own righteousness but it's based upon the righteousness of God. In verse 1 he says we've obtained like precious faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us, for example, in Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. As it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3, be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. So we are declared righteous in the sight of God. We are justified by faith, not by works, not by deeds, not by our own goodness or righteousness because the Bible tells us that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So we cannot be saved by our own merits but by putting our faith and trust in Christ. Now this book is talking to people that are already saved. He's writing to them in verse 1, he says, I'm writing to those of you who have already obtained like precious faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, you're saved, I'm saved, he's writing to the saved. And that's important to understand as we get into chapter 1 here. Now the book of John is a book in the Bible that claims to be written to tell you how to get saved. So that's why at the end of the book of John it says these things are written that you might believe on the Son of God and that believing you might have life through his name. So he's telling you the purpose of the book there in John is so that you would believe on Jesus Christ. And that's why John has the best salvation verses in it. I mean just chapter after chapter of just wonderful salvation verses telling you that you'll have eternal life by believing on Jesus Christ and that no man can ever pluck you out of his hand and on and on, I'm not going to go through the litany of wonderful salvation verses in the book of John. But here in 2 Peter chapter 1 he's telling people that are already saved, they've already got the faith, they've already got eternal life, now he's telling them to do more, to take the next step, to add to that faith, to build on that faith. You see, salvation is a one-time thing, but we don't just spend the whole rest of our lives just looking back and saying, well, isn't it great that we're saved and then we just get together every Sunday morning and say, I'm saved, saved, saved, you know, and just talk about we're just saved and I'm saved, you're saved, isn't it great to be saved. Isn't there more to the Christian life than that? Salvation is the beginning, salvation is the beginning. Now this is why when you come to Faithful Word Baptist Church, Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night, you don't hear salvation sermons over and over again, you hear preaching about all kinds of other topics because 99% of the people here are already saved or at least already know the gospel and claim to be saved, you know, there's always the Judas among us. But anyway, we know the gospel, most of us are saved and so we need to learn other things about the Christian life. And there are some churches, they only preach on salvation, every sermon is a gospel sermon and what happens is the people don't grow, they don't learn all the other things. We need to add to our faith virtue, right? So let's go through this passage and understand that. He starts out in verse 3 by saying, according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. So God is calling us as saved Christians, we've got the faith, we're born again, we're on our way to heaven, but he is calling us to a life of glory and virtue, okay? He wants us to do good things, he wants us to be good people, right? God has given us people, good people, godly people and he's given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. What this is saying is that he has given us the tools to live a godly life. We have the ability to get sin out of our life, we have the ability to serve God, to learn the Bible, to pray, to preach, to win souls, everything that God commands us to do as Christians, he has given us the tools and the ability to do that. He's been given by God's divine power all things that pertain unto life and godliness. And then he says in verse 4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So as born-again Christians, as children of God, we now have the privilege and the ability to become partakers of the divine nature. You know what that means? We don't have to live a life that is just controlled by our own fleshly lust of our carnal mind. We now have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We also have our spirit that's been quickened, that's been regenerated. We're a new creature in Christ and now we have the ability to escape the corruption that's in the world through lust. We don't have to go down that road. Now we have the tools, we have the ability, we have the power to live a godly life, right? And what does it mean to live a godly life? Well it means to be a partaker of that divine nature. The divine nature is a right nature that's the opposite of the sinful nature that we have when we're not saved or that our carnal mind still has, the flesh still has that fallen nature, that wrong nature. The divine nature is to be like Christ, his nature. So the Bible is saying that we can be a partaker of that. We can actually walk in the spirit. We can be like Jesus. We can walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We have the tools to do that but it's not going to come automatically. It must be worked at. And the word that comes up here in chapter 1 a couple times in regard to this is diligence. Now diligence is a word that has to do with working hard. When you go back to the book of Proverbs and see verses that talk about diligence, they're talking about someone who's lazy on one hand and then the diligent worker on the other hand, right? So the guy who works hard at his job is a diligent worker. That's what diligence means. You have to work hard at it, okay? So the Bible tells us in verse 5, beside this, beside what? Beside the fact that you have the faith, beside the fact that you're saved, beside the fact that God has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness, beside the fact that you have all these promises, you have all these wonderful things that he's given you, beside that, now it's your turn. You need to give all diligence, the Bible says, to add to your faith virtue, okay? So you need to now work, right? So you got saved free, getting saved easy, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved, the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But now that you have that, now you need to be a diligent worker for Christ. That's the calling here. God is calling you not to just be saved, not to just be saved and do nothing with your life but God is calling you to be a great Christian, not to just be a Christian but to be a great Christian, to be a fruitful Christian, to be a productive Christian, to be a virtuous and godly Christian. And so he's saying you need to work at that. God's given you the tools. God's given you of his Holy Spirit. God's given you the power. God's allowing you to be a partaker of his divine nature but you can't just sit back and say well God's going to do it all. No, you need to give all diligence now. Now it's time for you to step up to the plate and get some work done. So give all diligence to add to your faith virtue and he says add to virtue knowledge. So these are the things we need to work at. Now virtue which has to do with being a good person, being a righteous Christian, doing the right things, living a good life. You think of the virtuous woman and she's doing the right things as a wife. Well the Bible is saying here that we need to give all diligence to add to our faith virtue but it's not enough for us to just live a virtuous life where we do good things and are nice to people and help people. But the Bible also says that we need to add to that virtue knowledge. We don't want to remain ignorant of the teachings of the Bible. We need to study the Bible. We need to learn the Bible so that we can grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And then we're to add to knowledge temperance. Temperance is often described as self-control, being able to control yourself. When you talk about someone who has a bad temper, they lack temperance because they get out of control very easily. They fly off the handle at the drop of a hat and so we need to have virtue. We need to have knowledge. We need to have temperance and then it says and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity. So as we grow in our faith, we're adding things. We're adding these virtues. We're adding temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and then ultimately charity. This is the goal to add these things. This is the calling. Now look what he says in verse 8. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you can know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You've got the faith. You've got eternal life. You're on your way to heaven. You've got the promises. But then it's possible for you to become barren or unfruitful. Why? Because you didn't give diligence to add these things. So if you want to be a fruitful, productive Christian, if you want to win people to Christ and accomplish great things for God, you have to work at it. You have to add these things diligently. That means you have to make a point to say, hey, I'm going to work on gaining some knowledge. I'm going to work on being a better person. I'm going to work on being godly or patient. I'm going to work on having brotherly kindness. I'm going to work on my love or my charity. I'm going to work on these things so that I can become a fruitful Christian. Because if these things are in us, but it's not enough if they're in us, they need to abound. Right? So not just a little bit of patience, not just a little bit of goodness, not just a little bit of virtue, but we need to have a lot of these things. Right? We need to work hard, get a lot of knowledge, a lot of temperance. If these things are in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This tells me that it's impossible to have these things and be unfruitful. So if someone's unfruitful, if someone never wins anyone to Christ, is unproductive for the Lord, then that just tells me that they're lacking one or more of these attributes. Because if you have these things, they make you be fruitful. They make you to where you're not barren, to where you're not going to be without fruit. Just like Jesus Christ said, if you follow me, I will make you to become fishers of men. Not I might make you fishers of men, but I will make you fishers of men. And so if these things are abounding in you, you will not be barren, you will not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, meaning that you have the knowledge, but you're not bringing forth any fruit. Okay? You're sort of like the Dead Sea, right? Where there's a lot coming in, a lot of water coming in, but nothing goes out. So it's dead. Okay? We don't want to be a dead Christian where we're taking in all the preaching, we're reading our Bible, we're learning, we're learning, we've got the knowledge, we've got the knowledge, but we're not producing anything. We're like a tree that's being watered and fed, but there's never any fruit on it. We don't want to be that guy. We want to get these things in us, and it's going to take work. Now the opposite of this in verse 9 is that he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. So notice this blindness is bi-directional, right? Because he's blind in the sense that he can't see afar off. That's the future. The one who lacks these things is blind, they can't see afar off. They're not thinking about the future, they're thinking about right now. But then it also says that they can't see the past either, because they've also forgotten, which has to do with not seeing the past, right? They have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins. If you lack these things, you're not seeing the future, and you're not understanding the past, right? You're just living in the present right now. That's to be carnal, just what gratifies me now? What brings me pleasure now? What do I enjoy right now? Instead of looking afar off and seeking for the heavenly country, seeking for the rewards in heaven, thinking about eternity with Jesus Christ, thinking about things that matter for eternity. The things that are not seen are eternal, the things that are seen are temporal. This person is blind because they can't see with the eyes of faith those things that are afar off. They can only see the here and now with their physical eyes. This is obviously talking about a spiritual eyesight, it's not talking about the fact that they have to squint to read signs on the highway. Obviously this is saying they can't see afar off spiritually by the eyes of faith into the future and they can't look back or they don't look back or they've forgotten to look back and think about the fact that they were purged from their old sins. Now this goes back to the fact that God has called us to glory and virtue and that God has given us the tools to live a godly Christian life. He's given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness and that he's given us the power to be partakers of the divine nature. We might be partakers of the divine nature because of salvation. So understanding salvation to be a ticket to heaven, we need to understand that it is also the fact that God also wants to save us from a stupid worthless life as well. So not only does he want to save our soul and get us to heaven, and obviously that's pretty important, amen. I mean that's the most important thing is just making sure that you have eternal life because no matter what you do or achieve in life, if you go to hell when you die, it's all in vain at that point. So as the guy said to Jesus, you know, bless is he that eateth and drinketh in the kingdom of God. You know, despite the rewards or lack of rewards, man, just getting there is the most important thing. But we're already going. So we need to think past that and we need to understand that when we got saved, someone showed us from the Bible the gospel and we saw that we get eternal life and we saw that we are going to go to heaven, we're going to escape hell, but there's more to it when you got saved, other things happen when you got saved that you kind of learn about later because the more you read the Bible, you learn more about salvation. You learn more about the things that you got when you got saved. Like for example, someone could get saved and understand, okay, now I'm going to heaven and I'm not going to hell, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they understand everything about salvation in the sense that maybe they don't also realize that their sins are forgiven and forgotten. You know, there are some people who are saved, they believe on Jesus as their savior, but they think that when they get to heaven, God's going to pull out their sins and, and rub their nose in it. You know, that's a doctrine that's out there and even a lot of saved people believe that they just, they just don't understand how the rewards and punishments work for Christians. You know, some people might learn that later and understand the fact, Hey, good news. When you get to heaven, God's not going to take you aside or pull you out in front of everybody and run through all your sins with you. Okay. He's going to actually chase in us for our sins. Now on this earth, in this life, he scourges every son and we receive it whom the Lord loveth. He chased it. Right. And there are other things about salvation that they may not have understood the fact that they're indwelled by the Holy Spirit now, and they might not fully understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit is there to guide us into all truth, that he's there to comfort us, that he is there also to, uh, uh, reprove us. And he's there also to allow us to be a partaker of the divine nature, you know, and to allow us to have the victory over sin and to live a life of glory and virtue and so forth. So we need to understand that salvation saves us from the penalty of sin going to hell and also saves us from the power of sin over us, that sin does not have to reign in our mortal body. That's why Paul said, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. Now this is not automatic and this is where the false doctrine comes from. Oh, if you're saved, I mean, it's just, it's just all automatic. No, God tells us we need to give diligence, give diligence to add virtue to our faith, and that we need to make a point to think about the future, looking toward Jesus and the joy that's set before us, heaven, the rewards. And then also we need to always remember the past that God has saved us. And when he saved us, he wanted us to not only just go to heaven, but he also wanted to redeem unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. So when he saved us, he also bought us and redeemed us and we're not our own, we're bought with a price, therefore we should glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's. So the Bible says here, he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence. Notice that exact same term, give diligence from back in verse five, where he said, beside this, giving all diligence, add to faith virtue. He says, wherefore the rather, rather than forgetting that you were purged from your old sins, rather than forgetting that God has allowed us to be a partaker of the divine nature and given us his Holy Spirit, rather than forgetting that God has not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness, rather than not being able to see afar off and just getting caught up in the cares of this world and the cares of this life, he says, rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, ye shall never fall, and here's the key verse in verse 11, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you, and this is the key word, abundantly, abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. See here's the thing, there's getting into heaven and then there's getting in abundantly, you know, and John, in the book of John, it tells us, you know, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly, okay. So he gives us eternal life but I don't want to just enter the kingdom of God, I want to have the executive platinum package, you know, I don't want to just get in, I don't want a coach ticket to heaven, I want to go to heaven business class, I want to go to heaven first class, I want the extra leg room, okay, I want the priority boarding, okay, I want the double mileage rewards, you know, I want the full package, okay, and here's the thing, there is a stripped down package, there are some people that go to heaven like Spirit Airlines, who knows what I'm talking about, Spirit, whatever, where's Jenny Akinosh, yeah, you know Spirit Airlines, yeah. So basically, you know, there are some people, they get to heaven like Spirit Airlines where you can barely even bring a backpack, no carry on luggage, no checked bag, they squeeze you in there like a sardine, it's the cheapest possible flight ticket, so if you just need to get there, and I mean, you know, you can get there on Spirit, and I know a lot of people have used Spirit, they love Spirit, but here's the thing about that, though, you know, I don't want to go to heaven Spirit Airlines style, okay, I want to go to heaven and I want an abundant entrance, okay, I want, and here's the thing, the word abundance in the Bible, if you study this word throughout the Bible, abundantly or abundance, it has to do with being rich, when you think of abundance, abounding, and let me just prove that, I mean, we could go through so many verses to prove that, but let me just give you a little sample, what about when Paul said, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound, everywhere and in all things, I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me, but I have all and abound, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God, so the Philippians sent by the hand of Epaphroditus with some physical things to meet Paul's needs, they took care of him, they contributed to him, they took care of his needs like food and clothing and just, so he said, I have abundance, I'm full, I'm abounding, he literally said, I abound because Epaphroditus brought me this gift from you guys, so I have all this stuff, so abundance has to do with our supply, right, an abundant supply or an abundant storehouse of goods, an abundance is talking about riches, okay, now of course, we're not talking about physical riches here because flesh and blood is not going to inherit the kingdom of God, you can't take physical riches with you to heaven, so when he talks here about entering into the kingdom of God abundantly or richly or with abundance or riches, what he's talking about is laying up treasure in heaven, okay, that's the riches in heaven waiting for you lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where Bank of America doth freeze thy bank accounts and steal, but lay up for yourselves, oh sorry, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves, yeah, that's what I said right now, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also, so isn't it possible for us to have treasure in heaven and isn't it interesting how the same guy who's got treasure in heaven, his heart's in heaven, that sounds like the guy who can see afar off, now the one who cannot see afar off is the opposite of this guy who's getting the abundant entrance into heaven, the abundant entrance into the kingdom of God, the one who can't see afar off, he doesn't have the abundant entrance either, he doesn't have the treasure in heaven because here's the thing, if you don't have treasure in heaven, your heart's not there either because where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, right, so if you are doing a bunch of great work for the Lord and laying up a bunch of treasures in heaven, you know, you're thinking about heaven, you're looking forward to that, how beautiful heaven must be, you know, but the people who aren't doing any work for the Lord, they're not just thinking about heaven all the time, their mind is on the right now, they're not really thinking about that, they're not reflecting back on their salvation saying hey, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was buried and rose again and he went through all that for me and now he's telling me to take up my cross and follow him and he's calling me unto glory and virtue and his goal was not to just get me saved spiritually and get me to heaven but he wanted to purify unto himself a peculiar person, zealous of good works and so, you know, I need to remember that I was purged from my old sins, that Christ came to save me from my sins and I need to take up the cross and deny self and follow Christ, you see how that person, they're thinking about heaven, they've got the treasures in heaven and if you do that, man, you're going to be given an abundant entrance. It doesn't say for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you into the everlasting kingdom, it says so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so we are not talking about getting into heaven, we're talking about being rich in heaven, we're talking about entering abundantly into heaven, we're talking about getting the full package, not just the stripped down version of just getting into heaven yet so is by fire where all your good works, 1 Corinthians 3, our wood hands stubble, they're all burned up and you get no reward, you lose the reward and yet he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire so you're still saved but you've lost the rewards, you know, well, we want the abundant entrance, amen? And so that's what the Bible is saying. Now people will twist this scripture to try to say that this is just talking about getting into heaven. So here's the way they'll read this, okay? They'll read verse 10 as wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you shall never fall for so an entrance shall be, they're basically, what they're saying is, boy, you need to make sure and be diligent and do all the work we just talked about, work hard, have all this virtue, patience, you know, temperance, all those things and if you work hard and do all that then you'll be sure that you're saved, then you'll be sure that you're saved. Folks, that's garbage, that's work salvation, that's not what the Bible teaches. See, this is not talking to an unsaved person, tell them, hey, here's how you're gonna make sure you're gonna get saved, you gotta do all this work, folks, that would deny the message of Christ all throughout the book of John telling us how to be saved that it's by believing, it's by faith, not of works lest any man should boast, it's by faith alone that we're saved, it's not by works of righteousness which we have done. You see, they're looking at the calling and the election and they're saying, oh, that's talking about getting saved, but wait a minute, that's not the calling we're talking about, get the context, folks, the calling is that he called us to glory and virtue in this life. What did he say the calling was in this chapter? The calling is unto glory and virtue, okay? And when Christ calls us and the Bible says many are called but few are chosen and if you look up the word chosen throughout the Bible, elect throughout the Bible, what you will find is that when God chooses people, he's choosing them for a purpose. He chose his 12 disciples to work for him, right? Now was that equivalent to salvation? No, because he said, if not, I chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil. So one of them wasn't even saved, but they were chosen. Look if you would at a few verses on this, go over to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one, what does it mean to be chosen by God? What does it mean to be chosen? Well, if you think about it, this word comes up a lot in the Old Testament in regard to warriors. You know when you're going through all the troops that David had and David's mighty man and the warriors from this tribe and the warriors from that tribe, have you noticed how many times this comes up, chosen men? Now what does it mean in the Old Testament when it says these guys were chosen men? It means that they were the best ones is what it means. It means that they were the best warriors. They were the chosen ones. Now we have a very similar word in our modern vernacular in 2019. We don't say chosen, we say choice. So for example, we would say choice cuts of beef, USDA choice, right? Or we would say that he is a choice employee. So we would use the word choice. I'm not talking about the noun choice. I'm talking about the adjective choice, okay? Choice as an adjective means it's the cream of the crop, it's the elite, it's the best ones. And so if you think about maybe an elite military unit, that would be the chosen warriors that the Bible describes. And if you just do a study on the word chosen, you'll see that over and over again, that usage of this, okay? Now with that in mind, think about what the Bible says in John 15, 16. You don't have to turn, you state Ephesians. John 15, 16 says, you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it to you. So what he's saying here is I've chosen you that you would bring forth fruit. So what's the choosing? He's choosing them to do work. He's choosing them as soldiers in the Lord's army. He's chosen them to bring forth fruit. Now look down at your Bible there in Ephesians chapter 1, and I'm going to reinforce this with another great example of this in Ephesians 1. Give me a second to get there. Verse 4 says, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blame before him in love. So what did he choose us for? He chose us to be holy, right? He chose us to be holy and without blame before him in love. He chose us to bring forth fruit. He chose us that whatsoever we would ask the father in his name, he would do it for us. He has chosen us to serve him, to be godly, to be holy. He's chosen us to bring forth fruit, etc. Now think about this. Why did he choose the nation of Israel in the Old Testament? Did he just say, you know, I just really like playing favorites. I just kind of want to pick a team to root for. Like as if God were some kind of a sports fan that basically just picks a side and, you know, Israel versus Philistines, you know, who have you got this weekend, Israel or Philistines? Right? Is that what God is like? No. God didn't choose Israel just so he could be a respecter of persons because God's not a respecter of persons. He didn't choose them to just be his little special favorite. He chose them to be a light to the Gentiles. So the choice is made that Israel would be his chosen people, his chosen vessel to do what? To evangelize the rest of the world with the word of God. That's what they were supposed to be doing. Now certain men amongst them achieved that at various times throughout Israel's history. You have great prophets and preachers, but as a whole, obviously Israel failed miserably at that because Israel was made up of human beings and human beings are sinners. We're all sinners. Just as Christians have often failed in the New Testament, the nation of Israel often failed in the Old Testament because we are human, okay? But that was the point of them existing as a chosen nation and the point of us existing in the New Testament as a chosen nation is to be holy, to bring forth fruit, to shine the glorious light of the gospel in a crooked and perverse nation. That's what we are called to do. So calling an election isn't just about being saved or getting into heaven. It's not like, all right, I've called you and you're elect so that you can just get into heaven and do nothing. No, the calling is what Paul said, I press toward the mark for the high calling. So if there's a high calling, what does that imply? You know, there are people who aren't going to hit that mark. I press toward the mark, this is something that he's striving to achieve. He's not saying I'm there. He says, brethren, I count on myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So he's saying, look, I'm not perfect. I have not apprehended, but I'm pressing toward that high calling. The calling is what? The Bible says God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. So that's 1 Thessalonians 4.7. So God has called us, and we are the chosen to serve him and do right things. So the Bible's not saying, hey, make sure you're saved by doing all this work. And if you do a whole bunch of work, then you'll know you're saved. But folks, this is what the Calvinists teach. Do a bunch of work, and then you'll be certain about your calling and election. And when they see calling and election in that scripture, they're taking it out of the context of what the passage is about. What calling and election are we talking about? We're talking about how God chose the Gentiles in the New Testament to be his vessels to evangelize the world. He chose us to bring forth fruit. That's what 1 Peter hammered over and over again in the first epistle. And then what's he calling us to? He called us to glory and virtue. These are the things that are actually in the context of 1 Peter and 2 Peter. The calling to glory and virtue and us being his chosen New Testament vessels. The nation of Israel's not chosen. Their day is over. They had their chance. They blew it. That ship has already sailed for them. Now in the New Testament, we are his chosen vessels. Remember when Christ told Paul, or actually he said about Paul to Ananias, he's a chosen vessel. What did that mean? I'm just going to shower blessings on this guy no matter what he does. No. When he said he's a chosen vessel, he said this guy's going to work for me. And we're going to work for God in the New Testament. That's what it means to be the chosen people. You know, you got the t-shirt, we're the chosen people. Alright. Then I guess you'll be out soul winning this week. Because you know, that's what you're chosen to do. You're chosen to be his worker. You're chosen to bring forth fruit. Oh, oh, oh, you got the we are the chosen people t-shirt. I'm glad to see you wearing that because I guess that means you want to live a holy life. Because that's what the calling is. That's what we're chosen to do. Okay. That's what we need to work on. That's what we need to give diligence to. I'm not giving all diligence, oh please let me get to heaven, please, please let me get to heaven. You know, hail Mary, full of grace, swing those beads all over the place. You know, and trying to earn my way to heaven. I'm already going to heaven. I'm already sure. I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I don't have any doubt about the fact that when Christ said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I don't have any doubt about that because I can take that to the bank and not Bank of America. Okay? A different bank. But I can take that to the bank because of the fact that Christ who cannot lie, God who cannot lie, gave me these precious promises before the world began. Look, I've already obtained like precious faith, not because I gave diligence, but because it's his righteousness. Verse one. Verse one of this chapter. Okay. So you've got to read the chapter. So don't let the Calvinists try to use this verse to try to say, Hey, you don't know if you're going to heaven unless you do a bunch of work. Keep giving diligence. Keep working on it. Boy, that's not the gospel. That's bad news. The good news is that Jesus paid it all. That's bad news because this is a rough list. I mean, look, I want, look, I want to do all this. I'm, in fact, I've spent the last, you know, 30 some years working on this, you know, trying to add virtue, trying to add knowledge, adding patience, adding brotherly kindness. But you know, this is a tall order folks. Heaven's going to be pretty empty. She's called just a few Calvinists are going to be there. Okay. It's going to be a very small group, you know, only the ones who endured unto the end by their definition, which means that they have to do all this diligent work and work hard and do, you know, wow. I mean, I know it's a narrow way, but it's not just a few Presbyterians and Calvinists that are going to get in. In fact, you know, a lot of them aren't going because a lot of them are trusting in their works, you know, and I'm not going to paint with a broad brush here and say that all of them are unsaved, but you know what? A lot of them, they get so into this looking for the works to make sure that they're safe to where, you know, pretty much are they trusting works or faith anymore? And you know, you talk to a lot of them, it sure sounds a lot like they're trusting works, doesn't it? And I believe that's where a lot of them are at because you have to trust what Christ did for you on the cross and not this little semantic game where it's like, oh, well, sure, I'm not trusting in myself because all these good works I'm doing, God gave me the power to do all these good works. Of course, I'm saved by grace because grace is what allows me to do these wonderful works that are getting me into heaven. I mean, look, I can't take credit for my radically changed life that's getting me into heaven. I can't take credit for repenting of all my sins, which is getting me to heaven because God's the one who gave me the repentance. I can't, you know, I can't take credit for this wonderful Christian life I'm living that's going to get me into heaven. You know? No, folks, it's faith that gets us into heaven. Don't try to, you know, play games with it. Just get on your knees, better yet, get on your face before God and confess to God, I am a sinner. I have nothing. I have nothing. Be merciful to me, a sinner. That's salvation. Put all your faith in Christ. He does everything. And you know what? When you get up off your face, when you've pounded your breast and looked up to heaven and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, let me tell you something. You go home justified. You go to your house justified. That's what the Bible says. You don't have to be like, all right, now the diligence begins so I can make sure. I got to make sure I'm saved now by working for the rest of my life to make sure that I'm actually elect to make sure that I'm actually called wrong. It's tempting to want to spend the whole night on this cause there's so much good stuff here, but I do want to touch on some things in the rest of the chapter, but you know what? There are other callings besides just salvation and there are other callings besides the calling to glory and virtue, which that's the primary context of the passage that we're called to glory and virtue. We're called to not just stop at faith, stop at salvation. No, we need to add to our salvation. We need to build on that foundation of Christ and don't build it with wood, hay and stubble. Build it with gold, silver and precious stones, but you know, there are other callings. People are called to pastor, right? People will say like, oh, I'm called to preach or I'm called, you know, even any occupation will often call it a calling, don't we? The word of vocation. If I said, what's your vocation and you said, I'm an electrician, I'm a plumber. You know, vocation means calling. So I'm basically saying, what's your calling? So people could have a calling of being literally a carpenter or, you know, a calling of being a swimming pool cleaner. You know, you can, that's your calling, that's your vocation, that's your job. That's the language that we use, okay? Paul talks about being called to be an apostle, right? Where's the, you got, you got pastors that are saying, well, I'm called to be a pastor. Well, are you sure? Are you sure? Because have you added knowledge? Are you sure? Have you added virtue? Have you added the brotherly kindness, the charity? Have you added these things? Because if not, then how can you be sure about your calling to that work for God when you have not made that calling and election sure because you are not giving diligence to add to your faith in order to be qualified to do that job for the Lord. Now we all have a job to do for the Lord. You know, pastoring is just one tiny example amongst all the different callings and jobs. Everybody has their place in the body of Christ, right? There is the nose and the mouth and the hand and the foot and the Bible tells us that we all have different roles to play in the body of Christ. The calling is to be godly and righteous in whatever area, but especially for a pastor, there are specific qualifications and let me explain some of you. If you don't meet the qualifications, you're not called. I'm sure I'm called. Well, you better make that calling sure by actually going down this list and when you do go down this list and you get to patients, then maybe you'll realize that you shouldn't be trying to jump the gun and become a pastor when you haven't met the qualifications because that's called impatience. Because if the qualification says having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly and you just, you know, you got married last week and you're like, all right, I'm ready to pastor this week. Well, is that being patient? Shouldn't you wait till you achieve the qualifications or all right, I've read my Bible cover to cover one time. I'm ready to pastor. You're impatient. Show me your patience by sitting down and reading the Bible 10 times. Then we'll talk, right? You don't have the patience to read the Bible 10 times. In fact, I was just talking to a guy last night. He said that a buddy of his in Bible college said, well, I just finished reading first and second Chronicles for the rest of my life. Okay. This is a guy who's training for the ministry in Bible college and he said, well, I'm done with that book for the rest of my life. He said, man, that first and second Chronicles, that was a bear. I'm done with that book for the rest of my life. Folks, this guy is not cold. Okay. Right. You say, well, you don't understand the, you know, the, the, the, the still small voice that he heard. He's not cold. Why? He doesn't have the patience. I mean, he doesn't, he's not putting in the effort. He doesn't love the word of God enough. He's not apt to teach. He doesn't have the knowledge. I'm done. You know? Oh, you're done with Chronicles for the rest of your life. Well, I'm done listening to you preach for the rest of your life because I don't want to listen to some preacher that's as shallow as a Frisbee because he can't even get through Chronicles a second time, a second reading. I want to listen to a guy who's read through Chronicles at least 10 times. You know, that's who I want to get my doctrine from, not somebody who, uh, just could barely get through it the first time. And you better sound out those names. My friend, when you read through Chronicles, I want you sounding out every letter hooked on phonics needs to work for you. Amen. All right. I got to hurry up because there's more to this chapter. I want to just crank through, but I really wanted to focus on those first 11 verses because I feel like it's such a key scripture. It's such an important scripture and, um, it, it really sets the tone for the rest of the book of second Peter. You know, what's the book about? Why is he writing? If he's going to sit down and write a letter, I mean, he took a piece of paper and I understand that it was God's plan before the world began, that there exists a book called second Peter and it was authored by the Holy ghost. I get that, but God used human beings to write the Bible. And so he used the circumstances of life where he put it on Peter's heart to where Peter would sit down and pick up the pen and pick up the paper. Why is he writing this letter? What is the purpose? Why did God ordain this portion of scripture for us? Why did God deliver to us the book of second Peter? And the purpose is to tell Christians who have obtained like precious faith, who have the exceeding great and precious promises, he wants them to add to their faith and take it to the next level and work and become a better Christian. So he says in verse 12, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, although you know them and be established in the present truth. You see, I don't think there's anybody out there who doesn't know that Christians are supposed to learn the Bible. Hey, did you know that you're supposed to learn the Bible? Did you know that you're supposed to grow in knowledge and not just go through life knowing nothing except the gospel? I mean, everybody would say, well, of course I'm supposed to gain knowledge. Hey, did you know that God wants you to have virtue? He wants you to be a virtuous person. He wants you to be a good person. Did you know that? Yeah, I knew that. Hey, did you know that we're supposed to be patient? Did you know that we're supposed to be temperate? Hey, did you know that we're supposed to have brotherly kindness? Did you know that we're supposed to be charitable? I mean, aren't these things kind of obvious? All of them are, they're all obvious, but he says, I'm still negligent if I don't always remind you to do these things. I mean, look, folks, I think everybody here pretty much knows that fornication is wrong. Does that mean, well, there's something I don't have to ever preach on again. Everybody already knows. No, because you need the reminder to get up and preach about fornication. Look, everybody knows that drunkenness is wrong, but don't you still need the reminder to hit on those things? I mean, look, everybody knows that lying is a sin, but a sermon against lying is a good sermon. It's a helpful sermon because we need to be reminded of these things, and a preacher who won't preach these things is being negligent. Well, how am I being negligent? Everybody knows they're not supposed to party and drink and do drugs and fornicate. You're being negligent because you're supposed to be reminding us of these things. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, the Bible says, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou is attained. And he says here, I will not be negligent, verse 12, to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, you already know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. See, we need to be stirred up about these things. And look at verse 1 of chapter 3. Flip over to chapter 3, verse 1. He says, this second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. You see, we don't always need to preach something new. It's not like you have to show up on Sunday morning, it's just a brand new truth, a brand new doctrine that we've never heard of. You know, you can have a great sermon that has nothing new in it, where you're just stirring up the pure minds by way of remembrance. And so, some preachers are unfortunately on a quest to always preach something new, and so they start getting crazy, get into weird stuff, because they want to come out with something new and shocking or exotic or something, when really we need to be reminded of the basics, the fundamentals, right? Now, it's great to teach some new things, and I believe that our sermons should be a mix of new and old. You know, we learn something new every week, but we also get stirred up about some old things. See, you already know everything. I don't need preaching, I don't need to go to church, well, you know nothing. The fact that you're saying that shows that you're a fool and that you know nothing, but even if that were true, even if you did theoretically know everything, you'd still need to come to church, because you still need somebody to stir you up about it, remind you about it, fire you up about it. That's what the Bible says. So, in chapter 1, he says, knowing, verse 14, that shortly I must put off this, my tabernacle, his tabernacle is his physical body, his flesh, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me, remember he showed him that in John chapter 21, Jesus predicted how Peter would end his life in John chapter 21. So he showed him how he was going to shortly put off his tabernacle, he was going to die physically. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able, after my decease, decease means, of course, death, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance, right? And here we are, after his decease, and we remember all this because it's all written down for us, right? So he's saying, look, I'm writing this down so that after my decease, you'll be able to remember these things. For we've not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mouth. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now here's what we need to understand. Verse 15 and verse 19 are connected. In verse 15, he says, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. Obviously by saying that, he's referring to the fact that he's writing this down and sending it to them. I mean, that's pretty obvious, right? Hey, after I'm gone, I want you guys to be able to remember this. Obviously he's writing that down so that they can remember it after he's gone, right? But notice what he does right after this is roll into a discussion about how the prophecy of the scripture is written by men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And what he's saying here is that that written record, the scripture, is a more sure word of prophecy than what? Because more sure is comparing it to something, right? More sure than when we were in the mount and we heard a voice that said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. So Peter says, look, I didn't follow cunningly devised fables. I was with him in the mount of transfiguration. Matthew chapter 17, Peter, James, and John, they went up the mount and they heard a voice from heaven. They saw Jesus in all his glory, transfigured before, and they heard a voice saying, this is my beloved son, hear ye him. So they heard a voice. I mean, can you imagine you're following Jesus. You believe he's the son of God, but then he takes you over to a mount and he's actually transfigured before you see him in all of his glory. And then there's a voice from heaven. Now you say, well, man, if I saw that I'd know for sure at that point, I mean, I would know for sure. But you know what? You know what Peter said? I trust the Bible more. He said, we have a more sure word of prophecy and you do well if you take heed to that more sure word, which is the scripture, script sure. This is the written word of God. The scripture is a more sure word of prophecy. He's saying I'm more sure about what the scripture says than about an experience I had. You say, well, how can you be more sure than what you saw and heard with your own eyes and ears? People have seen and heard things that weren't real. Isn't that right? People have seen and heard things and then later doubted if they really saw and heard those things. You know, I think about things that have happened to me or things that I've seen and heard. When something really wild happens, when something really unbelievable happens, you'll doubt that it happened later. And I found myself sometimes asking myself, man, that was so weird. Did that just happen? Did that really happen? I mean, things that I know happened. I was there. I mean, I heard it. I saw it. And it's just like, did that just happen? Is that what really just happened? Who's ever had something just really weird happen and then later you doubted it weeks later, months later. You know, did I dream that? I mean, that was so weird. Did that happen? Was that real? The more sure word of prophecy is this book because you know what? Your mind can play tricks on you. Your eyes can play tricks on you. Your ears can play tricks on you. I mean, even the devil has lying signs and wonders, the Bible says. How do we know that Jesus was the real deal? How do we know that when I saw him in the mount, basically Peter could say, you know, how do I know that that was real what I saw when I saw Jesus transfigured and I heard a voice from heaven? How do we know? We know because it jives with the scripture and the scripture is more certain. It's more sure because of the fact that it's going to say the same thing tomorrow that it said yesterday and a year from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, it's going to say the same thing and it will still have the same power. And I would anchor my soul to this over a personal experience that I had. You know, I wouldn't just trust that experience. Now obviously Peter, he saw a lot more than just the transfiguration, even though that was kind of the climax. Okay. He saw other things too that were amazing. Obviously he saw the, the five loaves and two fishes multiplied. You know, he saw the water into wine. He saw the, the, the sick healed, but, but look, Peter said at the end of the day, my faith is based on the word of God. My faith is based on the word of God. That's what we can trust. You know what? That should let you know how trustworthy the Bible is and how much faith we're supposed to put in the Bible. If Peter says that's the more sure word and I believe here that he is also referring to his own epistle here because he rolls right into, Hey, I want you to always have these things in remembrance after I'm gone here. Let me talk about the fact that I saw an amazing site that really only three other people saw. And he says, but the more sure word is the written scripture. So what's he saying? Look, I want you guys to have this in writing. I want this epistle, second Peter to be something that you can anchor your soul on. This will be a sure word for you. And then also in chapter three, he refers to Paul's epistles as scripture. Look if you would it for second Peter three 15 and account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, also, what does also mean in addition to me? So Peter saying, I'm writing to you, okay, but also our brother Paul has written unto you as well, according to the wisdom given unto him as opposed to what the wisdom given unto me, right? Peter's writing it and saying, look, I'm writing you this epistle. This second epistle beloved, I now write unto you. It says in verse one of chapter three, and then he's saying, Paul also has written to you and in the epistles of Paul, there are some things hard to be understood. It says in verse 16, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures under their own destruction. So he's explaining that Paul's epistle is scripture, which is implying also that his epistle is scripture. So the promises about the word of God and the talk about the word of God being inspired by God and that it's God breathed and that it is not of any private interpretation, but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy ghost. Folks, that's not Old Testament only. That's the New Testament. I remember one time I talked to this kind of non-denom Christian guy that was at my high school and I was, I was, you know, trying to pin him down. I was trying to give him the gospel and preach to him and try to figure out where he was at, what he believed because he had some weird beliefs. And I remember saying to him, you know, well, I mean, do you believe that the Bible is God's word though? Do you, I mean, do you believe that every word of the Bible is perfect? You know, it's God's word that's inspired. I mean, is this the ultimate source of truth or not? And here's what he said. He said, you know, he said, I can say that about the Old Testament, but you know, I'm just not sure if I would give that same degree of certainty to the New Testament. Folks, that's crazy because, ah, because the New Testament is not inferior to the Old Testament. The New Testament is the better Testament. Amen. And I'm not the one who said that. That's what the Bible says in Hebrews. Now, I'm not trying to downgrade the quality of the Old Testament. It's a better covenant because it's established on better promises. Amen. Folks, the New Testament is the power of God unto salvation. Right? And I mean, folks, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is the heart and soul of the Bible. Right? I mean, that's the Bible belt right there of the Bible. You know, that's, that's the heart and soul. I mean, if you really want to get to the core of the Bible, it's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Folks, how can you read the book of John where your heart's just burning with every chapter and sit there and say, like, oh, well, I wonder if this is as inspired or as perfect or as God breathed as Genesis or as Chronicles, you know, sorry, that Bible cause guy. But you know, how could you doubt that John is right there with Deuteronomy? Folks, if you can't see the power in God's word, if you can't see the power of the New Testament, if you can't see that never man spake like this man, Jesus Christ, then there's nothing I can do for you. I have, I can't do anything for, I can't, I can't help you because this is where the faith is. And this is what atheists don't understand, agnostic, you know, well, why, why do you believe the Bible? Because the Bible, that's why I believe the Bible because the Bible, well, you know what? If we put this right here in a, in a scale with all the junk you believe in, it'd be like, and I don't, you could stack up every textbook and every book out of ASU's library and put it on one side of the scale. You do very big scale. And then you just, and then you could just take my little New Testament here, forget the Old Testament. I can just take the New Testament alone. I can take the book of John alone. I'll just set it on the scale and it'll just be like, all your books will go flying, right? Because anything in this book, anything in this little thin book that I hold in my hand is way more powerful than anything that the world has ever produced. And you know what? The Bible's written by man. Oh, the Bible's written by man. The Bible's written by man. Oh, the Bible. You know, these Irish people, right? If you haven't listened to that interview, don't do yourself a favor and skip it. Okay. But anyway, but anyway, you know, oh, the Bible, you know, folks, let me tell you something. If the Bible is written by man, how come nobody else has ever been able to write another one and people have tried, their names are Mohammed and Lao Tzu and Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and you know what they wrote is junk folks. Nobody even, nobody, nobody thinks that the Quran is great literature. When was the last time you saw some secular, you know, historian or literary critic say, man, the Quran is just an amazing, you know, I mean, you know, just from a secular standpoint, you know, just forgetting the religious aspect, boy, it's just an amazing piece of literature. It's just such a beautiful folks. Nobody thinks that cause it's junk. No. When was the last time a literary critic said, oh man, the book of Mormon just is, is such a powerful piece of literature. Did they, did they do that? No. What? Yeah. Musicians, Hollywood movies, novels. I mean, people are constantly borrowing from the Bible, referring to the Bible, referencing the Bible. Even atheists and agnostics, they reference the Bible, they don't even know they're referencing the Bible because the Bible is just so ubiquitous in our culture and, and the Bible is respected as being an amazing, but look, did you know that there are classes at Harvard and Yale and Stanford about the Bible taught by people who don't believe the Bible to students who don't believe the Bible at all. A classroom filled with students, a hundred percent of which don't believe the Bible is God's word. The teacher doesn't believe God that it's God's word and they're all paying thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to sit there and talk about the Bible. But do they go to Yale and Stanford and Harvard and say, all right, let's, let's dig into the book of Mormon folks. It's not to sit there and say, oh, whatever religion has their religious books. Hey, nobody has a book like this. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Those, those other religions have a book that's so great. They try to keep it in another language so they don't have to listen to it. You know, it sounds cool. It's like, it's like when you listen to a song in another language and you're like, man, this, this is a cool song. And then you translate the lyrics and you're like, this is stupid, right? Everything sounds cool in another language. Folks, if I start singing any song in another language, it's going to sound cool. Why? Because other languages sound cool, but you could be singing about stupid stuff like the Quran is singing about stupid stuff because that's, you know, they sing, I don't know any Arabic, but you know, they sing it in another language because they, because if you actually read it in your own language, boring. I, you know, I've been trying to read the Quran for years. I'm like two thirds of the way through and it took me, it took me literally, and I'm a big reader folks and it's a short book. It's not even that long. You could read it in one day if you are a masochist. Okay. But like I've been reading it, I've been reading it like, Oh, I'll try to pick it up and read it. It's taken me like eight years to get through part of it. So I, because I was preaching sermons on Islam and light of the Bible, part one, two, and I was getting the quotes to expose it in my sermons of couldn't even get through it. Now I got through the Hindu scriptures. No problem. Those, those were real interesting. Okay. You know, with all the, the, you know, Hey, put a thousand arrows on his bow and fired and they all fired at once and he went and fought a God in the Himalayas and then he ended up, you know, getting a special quiver that just never runs out of arrows. So like a video game or something where he's just unlimited arrows and he put five arrows on the string and boom, they hit five enemies all at once and you know, and then he went into the Himalayas and stood on his one leg for 10 years, you know, or no, this one. Yeah. Oh yeah. Arjuna stands on his one leg for a year and so does his wife. Even his wife did it. Him and his wife both just stand there on one leg for a whole year and then they come back with weapons upgrades and they come back, you know, they, they, they're literally folks in the Hindu scriptures. I'm telling the truth. Have you read it? Am I telling the truth? Yeah. Arjuna, man, he goes up into the Himalayas. He's fighting all these bosses and every time he defeats a boss, he gets a weapons upgrade. He gets a boon. He calls it. I mean, it'd be, it would be a, it would be a heck of a role playing video game, you know, the mob art. Okay. Let me tell you something. It ain't the Bible. It's kind of a, you kind of read it once. You laugh at it, you, you fantasize about the video game you'd make out of it and then you kind of just, you put it on the shelf, but you know, you can't take it seriously even though it's entertaining. The Quran is not even entertaining. The book of Mormon is not even entertaining. They're just pain. Okay. Man, this book rules. This book is the greatest book and in fact, I don't even like to say it's the greatest book because you can't even compare anything to it because there's nothing in the league with it. It's not even a comparison, folks. This is the sure word of prophecy and look, it's the new, it's the Old Testament and the New Testament. All of it rules, including Chronicles. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for our certainty and that we can be sure of it and Lord God, I just pray that you would help us to add to our faith on a daily basis to work hard, give diligence to become a better Christian and to learn more and to become a better servant of yours and it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.