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Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name shall, above all names, shall stand exalted more and more. And by the Father's own right hand, where angel hosts adore. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Redeemer, Savior, friend of man, who is truly my God. Thou hast defied salvation's plan, for thou hast died for all. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name shall be the Counselor, the mighty Prince of Peace. Of all Earth's kingdoms conquer, His name shall never cease. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen, wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear God, Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, O Lord, dear God, for just allowing us to be in your house this morning. Thank you so much for bringing everybody here safely, Lord God. And Lord, I do pray that you please just bless every aspect of our service. Please bless the singing unto you, O Lord, dear God. And I pray that you'd also just please bless the preaching of your word, most importantly. I pray that you please just fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit, guide him through the scriptures, Lord God. And I pray that you would please also just be with us in the congregation, Lord God. Help us to have open ears and open hearts to receive your word with gladness, Lord God, this morning. We pray in all these things in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Song number 296. Song number 296. Song number 296. Follow on. Song number 296. Singing on that first verse. Down in the valley with my Savior I would go. When the sweet waters flow, everywhere He leads me I would follow, follow on. Walking in His footsteps till the ground be won. Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus. Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on. Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus. Where He leads me I would follow on. Down in the valley with my Savior I would go. Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow. With His hand to lead me I will never, never fear. Danger cannot frighten me if my Lord is near. Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus. Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on. Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus. Everywhere He leads me I would follow on. Down in the valley or upon the mountain steep. Closed inside my Savior would my soul never keep. He will lead me safely in the path that He has taught. Up to where they gather on the hills of God. Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus. Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on. Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus. Everywhere He leads me I would follow on. Alright, great singing. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements here. Before we sing our next song, which will be song number 173, Love Lifted Me, if you want to get that ready in your songbooks, 173. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Some important information on there. I want to welcome you to come back tonight for our Sunday evening service at 5 p.m. Tonight I'm actually going to be preaching on the doctrine of the rapture. If that interests you, I want to welcome you to come back to that tonight at 5 p.m. We do also welcome you to come to our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. We are currently going through the book of Isaiah. We will be in Chapter 51 this coming Thursday. Hope to see you then. We are a family integrated church. Infants and children stay with their parents for your convenience. We do have a mother baby room located in the back of the building so that your child needs some diversion. Keep that in mind there. If your child gets a little fussy, you can escort them out to the mother baby room. Use the changing tables, speakers, and screens there as well. That's there for your convenience. You see the sowing times and teams, the list of expecting mothers if you can keep them in prayer. Then you see the stats there for salvations and baptisms for the month of February. We had a great month there. On the right-hand side is the upcoming church events. We have the Homeschool Park Day on Friday, March 14th. They will be meeting at the park there at 10 a.m. You have the address there. If you have any questions about that, you can talk to my wife Sarah for more details. The TJ missions trip is coming up on Saturday, March 29th. Meeting at the building at 915 a.m. If you would like to participate in that, even if you don't speak Spanish, just make sure you get with brother Ulysses Hernandez. Make sure you bring your passport to that. Be in prayer that we would see a lot of salvations on that Saturday. Ladies Prayer Breakfast is also coming up on Saturday, April 5th. They'll be meeting at the building at 10 a.m. You can talk to Ms. Janelle Gonzalez for more details about that. She heads that up. Lastly, a big thing coming up here is our Easter service, which will be on Sunday, April 20th. I want to encourage everyone to start inviting people to that Easter service now. You can tell people, hey, come to my church on Easter. A lot of times people do have in mind, I need to be in church on Easter. Even if they're not in church every other time of the year, Easter seems to be a time where they feel like they need to make time to go to the house of God. We want to take advantage of that and bring them here. In the foyer, we have these invites there. The only problem is that it doesn't have when Easter is, but I'm sure everyone knows. If you don't, it's right there, April 20th. If you're passing out your invites, out zoning, take a stack with you, hand them out to your friends, family, and try to get some people to come for our Easter service. We like to break record attendance once again. For friend day, we had 218 people in attendance. I think we could smash that. I think we could get 225, 230, 235 or so, maybe 240. Any more than that, I don't know where we're going to put them, but maybe we can have the single cent outside or something. I don't know. We'll figure something out. Please make sure you hand these out. Of course, I would say they're time sensitive, but they're actually not. We still want to hand them out. That's pretty much it. Be in prayer over our Easter service that we would have a great turnout there, a lot of salvations, a lot of baptisms. Lastly, please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. That is it for our announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song, 173, Love Lifted Me. Singing on that first verse, I was sinking deep in sin. On that verse, I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more, but the master of the sea heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me, now say, am I? Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me, love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me. On that second, all my heart to Him I give, ever to Him I'll cling, in His blessed presence, lift ever His praises sing. Love so mighty and so true, merits my soul's best song, faithful loving service to Him belongs. Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me, love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me. Souls in danger look above, He will lift you by His love, out of the angry waves. He's the master of the sea, by those His will obey. He your Savior wants to be, we sing today. Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me. Amen. Wonderful singing at this time. In the meantime, our ushers will be receiving the offering, and please turn your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 1. Amen. Amen. Amen. Good morning. We're in 2 Peter chapter number 1. 2 Peter chapter 1, the Bible reads, Simon Peter, our servant and 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, according as His divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue, and thereby 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. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But 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 to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you, abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it need as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have 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 glory from the Father, 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 am well pleased. In this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more assured word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts. Knowing this verse, 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. Let's pray to the Lord God, thank you for this church, thank you for our pastor, I just ask that you would be with them now and please fill in with your Holy Spirit, and bless the message he has prepared, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in 2 Peter chapter 1, and look down at verse number 10, it says, Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, I want you to notice this, ye shall never fall. And the title of my sermon this morning is Never Fall, Never Fall. Now, this is actually one of my favorite chapters to preach from, and I preach on it maybe once to twice a year. I think it has a lot of great principles found in this particular chapter that will help us as Christians succeed, and as we see here in verse number 10, that we will never fall. Now, this doesn't mean that we'll never sin, it doesn't mean that we're never going to be flawless, or excuse me, we'll never have flaws, we'll never disappoint the Lord, maybe we fall short in a particular area in our Christian life. I believe this is simply referring to never falling from our own steadfastness, serving God, being in the will of God, and that should be the goal for every single Christian, that we never fall out of church, right? That we never fall out of the will of God, we never fall out of the Bible, we never fall out of serving the Lord Jesus Christ, and here it specifically gives us some directives that we can do in order to never fall. Now, this may seem contradictory because the Bible also says elsewhere in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 12, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall, right? And we often quote that to say, hey, don't be proud, don't be an arrogant person, don't think that you are just the exception to the rules of the Bible because of the fact that ultimately that pride can lead you to destruction, it can cause you to fall, so you better give heed lest you fall. And that's definitely a good application to that particular passage, but I want you to notice that it actually says, take heed lest he fall. Well, heed to what we're going to look at this morning. In other words, in order to avoid falling away from your own steadfastness, falling away from serving God, you better make sure that you don't just flippantly live the Christian life. Don't just, well, if I just go to church and maybe read my Bible every once in a while, pray every once in a while, obey the Lord at my whim, somehow that means that I'm just never going to fall away from the service of Christ. But that's wrong. We need to be intentional about serving God. We need to be intentional about reading our Bibles, intentional about church. You better make sure, listen to me, that you never fall. And so, obviously, as we see here in 2 Peter 1, I'm speaking to a crowd who, like those Peter is writing to, have obtained like precious faith, meaning that we here at First Works Baptist Church believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ only. We are alone in Christ, we can never lose our salvation. That is the like precious faith that we all possess, that we all share, meaning that we're saved. But here's the thing, one of the things that 2 Peter 1 is trying to explain to us is that in order for us not to fall, we need to make sure that we're adding to our faith. That's being intentional about our faith, right? That we are constantly seeking to grow in our faith, that we are exercising our faith, that we're adding works to our faith. Now, thankfully, if we don't do those things, we're still saved. Because the Bible tells us, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. But don't make that your life verse as a reason why you don't serve God, though. Well, I don't work, because to him that worketh not, yeah, I know, you're saved, but you know what, we're still supposed to work for the Lord, though. Why? Because we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them, the Bible says. And so it's good to use those verses when refuting false doctrines about salvation, but at the end of the day, let us go on to perfection, amen, and serve God. Look at verse number two. It says here, And by the way, the Bible has all things that pertain to life and godliness. You don't need to go to a podcast, you don't need to go to a book written by Joel Osteen, you don't need to go to a TED Talk. You literally find the answers needed for all matters of life in the word of God. It has everything. Now, by the way, you know, the world can scour the Bible all they want for the answers, they'll never find it if they're not saved. Because it says that we get it through the knowledge of him that hath called us into glory and virtue. You know, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them for the spiritually discerned. In fact, the Bible says that there is foolishness unto him. And people out there can esteem the word of God and believe the word of God or claim to believe it, but if they not come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, they're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. So in order for us to obtain these promises, the things that pertain to life and godliness, we need to be saved. It says in verse four, Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature. So according to the Bible, the more we read the Bible, we become like unto the Lord, right? The Bible tells us that he wants us to be conformed to the image of Christ. We become more Christ-like the more we read the Bible through these exceeding great and precious promises. And it says here, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now what I want to talk about this morning is these seven directives that we find in 2 Peter chapter 1. And they come with specific promises, right? Look at verse number eight, if you would. It says, for if these things be in you and abound. So in other words, you're following these directives, but you're also abounding in these directives. You know, in order to abound in something, you have to just continuously do it, right? Grow in that particular area. He says, 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 look, if you want to be a fruitful Christian, you don't want to be a barren Christian in the knowledge of the Bible and in just being fruitful in the service of God. We need to make sure that we have these particular directives and that we abound therein. But, hold on a second, there's also a warning that if we don't follow these directives, consequences will ensue. Look at verse number eight, no, verse number nine, excuse me. It says, but he that lacketh these things is what? Blind. Now look, unsaved people are blind, right? Meaning that they can't see anything spiritually speaking. They can memorize the entire Bible all they want. You know, I know Catholics, believe it or not, that can quote the Bible, but the verses they're quoting, they don't even understand themselves. Why? Because they're blind. Mormons can quote the Bible, I think, but they're blind. Jehovah's Witnesses can quote the Bible, but they're blind. They don't understand it. They're spiritually blind, and it's not until they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ that they can see, right? Spiritually speaking. But it says here that the believer, if he lacks these particular directives, he can be blind. Now, I don't believe this is referring to just a permanent blind where they just don't see anything at all, because I want you to notice what it says, and cannot see a far off. You know, there's people in this world who are legally blind, but they're not like 100% blind, but they're like legally blind. Some of you are legally blind, right? If you forgot your glasses, you just see a blurry face yelling at you this entire time, right? You cannot see a far off. You are essentially nearsighted. So in other words, you know, you can see what's in front of you, but you cannot see a far off. You cannot see what is ahead of you. And you know what? A Christian who does not add to their faith and actually adopt these directives, yeah, you know, they can see a little bit. They can see what's in front of them, but they don't have the discernment to discern and decide what's going to happen in the future. They don't know what's ahead of them. They don't have spiritual discernment is what it's referring to. So you know, we want to avoid being a person who lacks discernment. We want to be able to see the future, not through palm readers, not through the stars, not through whatever. We want to be able to discern the future by using the Word of God, because our senses are exercised to discern both good and evil. But hold on a second. If you lack these things though, you're going to be blind. If you lack these things, you cannot see a far off. And it says, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. And I do believe what this is referring to is the fact that people who do not grow in their faith, they don't add to their faith, will eventually begin to regress spiritually speaking. They don't lose their salvation. It doesn't say that their sins will no longer be forgiven. It says that they'll forget that they were purged from their old sins. You know, and I know people that I've met at the door that, you know, I'll knock on the door, I'll preach the gospel unto them, and come to find out that they're saved. But you know, because they've been in the world for so long, they've been involved in sin for so long, they can often forget that they were purged from those old sins. Why is that? Well, because that person never got into church. That person never started reading the Bible. Or that person once read the Bible, once was going to church, but then stopped. What happens? They regressed, they became blind, they cannot see how far off, and they have now forgotten that they were purged from their old sins. Okay? What happens when you don't grow, when you don't add to your faith? I'll tell you what happens is that you'll become blind, and you will begin to regress. In order to remain grounded in spiritual success, we need to make sure that we follow these particular commands. And look at verse number 10 again. It says, Wherefore, the wrathful brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. What's that referring to, the calling and election? Well, obviously, we can relate this to the calling and election of God in regards to salvation, right? Meaning that when we get saved, we become the elect of God. We are called of God through Jesus Christ, correct? And you could relate this to the service of God as well, but either interpretation is correct, because at the end of the day, it says make your calling and election sure, meaning steadfast. So if you want to make sure that you remain in the service of God, you know, you need to make sure you give diligence to growing in your faith in order to make that happen. And then he goes on to say, of course, for if you do these things, ye shall never fall. So let's go over these directives, and I love preaching through this particular list here, because in my opinion, it's a very powerful list. I believe it's helped me throughout my Christian life, and I believe it can help you too. So let's talk about it. Look at verse number 5. He says here in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse number 5. And beside this, the first thing we're going to look at here, it says giving all diligence. So what's the first thing that you need to make sure you do? Well, before we even get into the seven directives, he says you need to make sure you give all diligence. Now, what is diligence? Diligence is persistence and consistent effort, okay? What the Bible is telling us here is that in order for us to be successful in the Christian life, you need consistency. You need diligence. Or what the Bible also refers to as what? Faithfulness, okay? Persistence, consistent effort, constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken. Being faithful in the things of God. The Bible says a faithful man, listen to this, shall abound with blessing. Someone who's consistent in the things of God, you're going to be blessed by God. Hey, if you're consistent in your Bible reading, you're going to be blessed of God. If you've been consistent since January 1st in reading the Word of God, you've been reading the Bible, you've been consistent with it, I promise you today, what's today's date? March 9th, you can say to yourself, I'm blessed. Because you're understanding the Word of God more and more. If you've been in church for any length of time consistently, you can attest to the fact that you are blessed of God. Why? Because of diligence, consistency, faithfulness. Faithfulness, listen to me, is a necessary factor for success in the Christian life. Fact. People who complain about church, they complain about the service of God, they just complain about, oh man, I just don't know why this is happening to me. I promise you, that person is inconsistent in the Christian life. They're not in it long enough to reap the blessings of being faithful and consistent. We are to endeavor all the days of our life to fulfill our Christian duty and that requires faithfulness. Now, here's the great thing about diligence and faithfulness, is that you can lack talents, you can lack giftedness, you can lack knowledge, intelligence, looks, you can be ugly, very ugly, atrocious, talentless, just no gifts, you just got nothing. But, you can actually make up for those things, for those deficiencies if you're diligent though. In the Christian life, if you are a consistent, faithful, diligent person, even if you have those deficiencies, you can actually make up for those things. You'll make up the difference because of your diligence. And in fact, the Bible says, Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men, meaning average men. I mean, think of the Apostle Paul, who says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counteth me faithful, put me into the ministry. I mean, the Bible literally says that God put the Apostle Paul into the ministry, not because he was intelligent, not because he was a former Pharisee, not because he knew the law greatly, although he did, he put him into the ministry because he was faithful. He was a consistent man. And look, prior to Christ, he was faithful in persecuting Christians. He actually went door-to-door more than the Jews who were saved were going door-to-door preaching the Gospel. He was going door-to-door arresting people. And the Lord is just like, hey, this guy's pretty faithful, let's get him saved, then he'll just go door-to-door preaching the Word of God. He was a faithful man. God counted him as a diligent person, therefore placing him into the ministry, enabling him to do the work of God. You know, as difficult as these other qualities that we're going to go over this morning may seem for us to adapt to, diligence can break the plateau of difficulty. Whenever something is difficult in your life, something is just hard, it's arduous, it just seems too difficult to actually execute and do, just remember this, add diligence, and you will be able to accomplish that. Giftedness and talent can only go so far. If you do these things, ye shall never fall. So let's get into these seven directives here. The first one is giving all diligence, verse number five. Beside this, giving all diligence, I want you to notice this, add to your faith virtue. Okay, so I need a virtuous man. We're going to have seven guys come up here in just a bit, but let me get a virtuous man. Who's willing to be humble enough? Come here, Damian. Here's our virtuous young man here. There we go. We're going to stand right here, virtue. This is virtue, okay? Amen. Now what is virtue? Virtue is moral excellence, okay? This is righteous living. What is the Bible telling us here? Let me just say this before I get into my point. I do believe that these are in chronological order. Like I believe God laid them out in this manner for a specific reason, and when we add to our faith, it has to go in this particular order. And I believe one kind of gives over space for the next. So the Bible is saying here, you know, Damian comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, right? A soul winner comes to him, preaches the gospel unto him. He gets saved. He knows by salvation, by grace through faith. It's eternal. He can't lose it, and he's like, man, I'm saved. I'm a child of God. What's the next step for this guy? Virtue. Believe it or not, it doesn't say like Bible reading. It doesn't say knowledge. It actually says virtue. And what does this mean? It means that what God wants this guy to start doing immediately is cleaning up his life. He doesn't want to be able to clean up his life completely because he hasn't read the Bible. He hasn't been in church. He doesn't know necessarily what the standard of God is yet. But let me just say this. Everyone who gets saved, they have this innate understanding that there's something in their life they got to get right, right? Everyone who gets saved is just like, all right, time to get rid of whatever. Like I got to stop doing this. Like they just kind of innately know that. It's not like they're going to be able to like just conquer everything and, you know, they don't come with batteries included, right? You know, they come with the cheap batteries that give out in an hour or so, okay? But virtue is important. Righteous living. Just automatically, once you get saved, start living righteously. Meaning stop, you know, get rid of some of your friends. Add some good friends. You know, I know people who get saved and they're just like, you know, I just need to stop drinking. And it's not for salvation. They just know like, I'm struggling with the sin. I know I got to get rid of it, right? What is that? That's called virtue. You know what God wants from us? He wants us to live virtuously. He wants us to live righteously. He wants us to live holy, right? Cleaning up our lives. Add high moral standards to your life. Be a virtuous person. Go to James chapter four, if you would. You want to grab, you could grab your Bible so you can. He can also reference. Virtue can look at virtue. James chapter four. Look at James chapter four and verse number eight. We're talking about how to never fall. This is how you can never fall. Once you get saved, add virtue to your faith. It says in James four, verse number eight. Draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. And I want you to notice this. Cleanse your hands, the Bible says. You sinners and purify your hearts, you double minded. Well, hold on a second. I thought I was supposed to purify my heart first. Well, here it says you're supposed to cleanse your hands first. And what is cleansing your hands? That's called virtue. When you get saved, you're like, all right, it's time to start living holy. Now, let's just be honest. When Christians first get saved, even if they try to live a holy life, there's still a lot of deficiencies there. There's still a lot of things that they need to get right and we need to be patient with people and not just come down hard on individuals or whatever. We need to make sure that we give people space to grow, that they can pace themselves, et cetera. But the point is, virtue is necessary to add to your faith in order to grow. So, when you cleanse your hands, you sinners, purify your hearts, you double minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. New Christians innately know there's something that's got to be fixed. OK. Turn with me, if you would, to 2 Corinthians. Actually, go to Luke chapter three. Luke chapter three. I'm going to read to you from 2 Corinthians chapter seven and verse number one. You go to Luke chapter number three. 2 Corinthians seven verse one says this. Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now, here's the thing, is that, you know, obviously, this person is not going to live 100% virtuously, not even 50% virtuously, if they don't go to the house of God. You know, in order for this person to really meet the standard of God, of the Bible, he needs to bring his rear end to the local New Testament church. He needs to hear hard preaching. He needs to hear what the Bible expects of him because he's going to hear some things through preaching. He's like, whoa, I didn't know fornication was that bad. I've got to break up with my girlfriend now. I've got to break up with my boyfriend. Or we've got to get married. I didn't know just loving her wasn't enough. You know, I've got to get married. So, he needs to come to church in order to hear hard preaching, not soft preaching, not watered down preaching, not TED Talks, not the Joel Osteen, you know, sermonette of the week or whatever. He needs to hear legitimate preaching from the word of God to clean up his life because that's what the Bible does to you. It cleans you up, right? But hold on a second. Even before that, he knows there are certain things that he needs to get right. And you know what? Once he begins to live virtuously, he places himself on a path to virtuous living, adding to his faith virtue. And again, we're not talking about being sinless. We're not sinning less, though. And that should be our goal as Christians, right? That the longer we're Christians, you know, we're not sinless, but we are seeking and endeavoring to sin less. We're seeking to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. We're seeking to live a virtuous life. Look at Luke chapter 3, verse 10. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He, referring to John the Baptist, answerth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also the publicans to be baptized and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. Now, do you think that the publicans know that this is something they gotta fix? Yeah. You know, the reason John the Baptist is even calling this out, because he knows the publicans are guilty of, you know, taking a little off the top, right? A little commission here and there. And he's telling them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. Stop stealing from the top and just be happy with whatever is given to you. He says in verse 14, And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages. You know, the soldiers obviously would take advantage of people. In some instances, they would enact violence on individuals, they would accuse people, and basically for filthy lucre's sake, because it says there, be content with your wages. So we see here that John the Baptist is preaching virtue to these people, to these converts, and in like manner, this is what we need as well. We need to add virtue to our faith. Well, I thought knowledge was important. I thought learning the Bible was important. Yeah, but that doesn't come until later though. The first thing God wants you to add is virtue. You know, you don't want to fall from your own steadfastness, live a virtuous life. If you don't want to fall outside of the will of the Lord, outside of the service of God, be a virtuous person, endeavor to live a holy, virtuous life, ye shall never fall if you add this to your faith. Brother Damian, you can have a seat, virtue. I'm not going to have everyone stand at the same time. Alright, I need knowledge now. Oh, you're waiting for that. Alright, TJ, come up. Cody was just waiting for that one. Alright, TJ, right there. Your knowledge, okay? So, the person gets saved, he's got the right salvation down, and now he's adding virtue, right? He chopped off the beard, he's only keeping the mustache now. He's putting away the video games, amen? He's putting away godless living as best as he can. What does God expect from him now? What God expects is knowledge, okay? Now, what is knowledge? Knowledge, look what it says in 2 Peter 1, verse 5, let's read it first, it says, Beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge. What is knowledge? Knowledge is knowing the will of God. We're not talking about arithmetic, history, English, you know, knowledge of politics, current events, we're talking about knowledge of the Bible. Knowledge of the standard of God. What is it that the Bible says regarding all things that pertain to life and godliness, right? That is what knowledge is. And the Bible explains to us over and over again the importance of taking in knowledge. And in fact, the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5, you don't have to turn there, in verse 15, it says, See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Listen to this, wherefore be ye, not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. The best way for you to live your life is knowing what the will of the Lord is. And you know what, a lot of Christians don't know how valuable that is. Because you don't realize that there's a lot of Christians who think they know what the will of the Lord is. They claim to know what the will of the Lord is. They're all over social media. Everyone's just telling you what the will of the Lord is, they don't know jack squat about the will of the Lord. They claim to know what the will of the Lord is. They claim to know what the will of the Lord is. They don't know jack squat about the will of the Lord. I'll tell you why, because they don't know the Bible. But you know what, the young man who's added virtue to his faith, who's in church listening to Bible preaching and reading the word of God every single day, guess what, he understands what the will of the Lord is. And folks, that's more valuable than all the silver and gold and raises and possessions and abundance of riches of this world could ever offer is knowing what God's will is through the word of God. So God expects for this young man to go to church, listen to the preaching of God's word, learn the principles of God's word, walk with God on his own to understand, Lord, what is it that you require of me? And look, we got 66 books that tells us what to do, right? It's knowing what God requires of you. This comes as we read the Bible daily, as we digest biblical content regularly through personal devotions, preaching, and even sharing with others what we've learned. You know the best way for you to just keep in mind what you're learning today? Go and teach it to someone else. Go talk to each other about it. Go talk to your family about it. Go talk to your kids about it. Go talk to your friends about it. Why? Because we often engraft, we ingrain, we essentially embed biblical truths in our lives when we teach it to someone else, OK? Virtuous living, listen to this, isn't enough to ensure avoidance of failure. We need knowledge to be added to virtue. Well, because if you have virtue, but you don't have knowledge, you have zeal without knowledge. If you're only living right and or, you know, if you are cleaning up your life, but you don't know the standard of God, you become a holier than thou. Because whose standard are you using to determine what is holy living, right? God wants you to know knowledge. Knowledge is knowing the why of the what. Turn with me, if you would, to Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter number one, if you would. Hold your place here in Second Peter. Look, a lot of churches, they're like against knowledge for whatever reason. You know, they kind of look down on knowledge. They look down on churches that teach the Bible. They look down on churches that talk about doctrine and they're like, well, read the Bible for inspiration, not information. Folks, I'm for reading the Bible for inspiration, information, every other asian in between. I want it for all, right? And you know what? The Bible over and over again talks about knowledge. It talks about the importance of learning the word of God. And so we are not to talk down on that, despise that. God wants us to understand what the will of the Lord is. And in fact, doesn't the Bible literally say grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? And look, when someone tells me they know Jesus, but they don't read the Bible, here's my assessment, they don't know Jesus. Like, oh, I know Jesus. Do you read the Bible? Every once in a while. Then you don't know. Because Jesus says search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are which testify of me. If you wanna know the Lord Jesus Christ, you gotta be a Bible thumper. You gotta have this right here before your eyes all the time. I know it sounds romantic to say that you know Jesus and you have it in your bio or whatever. Follower of Jesus, I know Jesus and all this stuff. Don't deceive yourself. Don't deceive yourself because if you wanna know the Lord Jesus Christ who is the word of God, you actually gotta put your eyes right into here. Take your eyes off of Facebook and put your face in this book, amen? For the boomers. The Bible says in Ephesians 4-13, you're in Colossians 1, Ephesians 4-13 says, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature according to the Bible, we can never reach spiritual maturity. We can never be perfect, complete and entire. We'll never reach the stature of the fullness of Christ if we don't have the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sounds to me like knowledge is important. Now, knowledge isn't everything though, right? Obviously there's other steps that we gotta take, but in order for us to ensure that we never fall, we gotta add to our faith virtue and to this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. So I want you to notice, according to the Bible, knowledge is necessary to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Like, you wanna please God? You gotta have knowledge. You wanna be fruitful? Gotta have knowledge. You wanna be fruitful in every good work? Have knowledge. Hey, you wanna increase in knowledge? Gotta have knowledge. Sounds like knowledge is important. Knowledge is power, believe it or not. And according to the Bible, if you do these things, ye shall never fall. Go ahead and have a seat, brother TJ. You can get Cody back later if you like. Verse Philippians 1, 9 says, In this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more. And people say, you know, you talk about knowledge, but you know, Pastor, love though. Gotta have love. Gotta abound in your love, Pastor. And to that I say, amen. Because it says here, I pray that your love may abound yet more and more. But it goes on to say, yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. That's why you actually have to grow in your love for knowledge and judgment. Sounds to me like God doesn't separate these two. Because, you know, to know the Lord is to know him through his word and how can you really truly love the Lord if you don't know his commandments. And in fact, doesn't he say, if you love me, keep my commandments. He didn't say if you love me, buy me roses. He didn't say if you love me, say that you love me. You know, he says if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. In knowledge and in all judgment. Oh, there goes that dirty word judgment. Sounds to me like God wants us to understand, know and exercise judgment. If you do these things, ye shall never fall. He goes on to say, to add to our faith, virtue to virtue knowledge and now add to knowledge temperance. So let's get a tempered person here. Let's see here. Brother Adrian, you're smiling. Come on up. Right here. Yep. So this is temperance right here. Okay. Why? Don't laugh. He is a tempered person. He's in church. Amen. What is temperance? Temperance, a good definition of temperance would be this moderation and self-control or self-restraint. Okay, so how does this look like? You know, a person comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. They're like, I need to get right with God and I need to add virtue, I need to add value to the games. Amen. I keep saying that because that's like a that's like a thing that young people struggle with. Puts away Call of Duty. That's all the video games I know. Tetris. No, I'm just kidding. Oh, not Pong. What is that game with Pong, right? You know, he puts away the video games, right? The things that rot your brain and then, you know, he's living righteously. He comes to church and he starts hearing all this preaching and the pastor's just yelling at him about reading the Bible and he's like, you know, I need to start reading the Bible and then he starts reading the Bible and he comes across the passage that says, you know, when I was a child, I spake as a child, understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. He's like, oh, man, I got to put away childish things. He starts reading the book of Ecclesiastes. Amen. And then he's just maturing and he's just like growing and now he has all this knowledge. Now he's like, I know what the Lord doth require of me. I need to be out there preaching the gospel. I need to be in church on Sunday. I need to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. Like, I know what sin is. He starts acquiring all this knowledge and this knowledge he's acquiring is increasing his love for the Lord, right? Because now he's obeying the commandments of God. Well, what's the next thing that God requires of him? Temperance. Temperance is discipline. Temperance is self-restraint. Temperance is self-control. Temperance is moderation. Here's a good way to put it. It's the ability to rule over your body and your spirit. Okay? Go to Romans chapter 6, if you would. And here's another way to put it. It means that you're spirit-led. See, it's not enough to be virtuous. It's not enough to have knowledge. Now God wants you to govern yourself, right? He wants you to rule over yourself. He wants you to be a disciplined person and restrain the appetites of the flesh. He wants you to have power over the members of your body. And here's how the Apostle Paul put it. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest by any means when I preach to others I myself should be a castaway. What is he saying? You know, lest by any means I would fall away. I would fall, right? From his own steadfastness. What does that require? Temperance, self-control, discipline. Look at Romans 6 verse 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God for sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace. So what do we have here? The Apostle Paul is saying, you know, you have the ability to reign over your mortal body. Make it do what it's supposed to do. Because here's the thing, you know, you could try to be virtuous. You can have knowledge, but if you're lazy you're not gonna come to church. What is laziness? It's when the flesh says, you know, oh, it's time change. Right? Laziness is like, oh, I don't feel like reading my Bible. Temperance says, we're reading the Bible though. Temperance says, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do, okay? Temperance says, I'm gonna make myself do what I'm supposed to do. And you know what? This is an important quality in the Christian life in order to be successful because of the fact that the carnal mind is at enmity with God. It's not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. So our flesh does not want to do godly things. Naturally, it just doesn't want to obey the Lord. Therefore, we need to make it obey the Lord, okay? You know, a very carnal illustration would be, you know, if you're dieting, right? And if you're dieting, you know, if you're giving over to cupcakes, bread, and all these delicious foods, and pizza, and man, I'm hungry, no I'm just kidding, you know, all this good stuff, but you're trying to lose some weight, you know, you have to have some temperance about yourself to restrain, to have the self-control. Because here's the thing, you know this will make you gain weight, but knowledge isn't enough if you don't have temperance. And here, this particular stage can be vexing for a lot of Christians, especially if they've already grown in knowledge. Because they know what's right to do, they know the wrong things to stay away from, but if they don't have temperance, you know, they're always going to be warring within themselves. They're going to struggle in the Christian life. Why? Because, you know, the things that they're supposed to do, they do not. The things that I hate, that I do, right? Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? And that's not to say that we're not going to struggle from time to time, but in general, in order for us to succeed in the Christian life, temperance must be added to knowledge. Once you know what God requires of you, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit of God, help me to be led of the Holy Spirit, help me to be filled with the power of God to make myself do what I'm supposed to do and to abstain from that which you would not want me to do. If you have virtue and knowledge, but you can't seem to temper your fleshly appetites and the desires, then, you know, you're not going to be spirit led. You're not going to succeed in the Christian life. You're not going to read your Bible every single day. And it comes to a point that, you know, we as Christians can't just live the Christian life on a whim. Like, I'm so inspired to read the Bible today. I'm going to read like 10 chapters. And you end up reading 10 chapters. But then tomorrow you don't feel that way. Tomorrow you're like depressed, you're all sad. Well, you know, read the Bible when you're depressed and sad, too. You need to make sure that you learn temperance, that you restrain yourself, that you make yourself do the things that you're supposed to do. You know, the Bible says he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh the city. The Bible also says he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls, showing us conclusively that God expects for us to be tempered in our spirit. Look, we're going to be heartbroken. We're going to be sad. We're going to cry. We're going to have maybe some outburst of anger. Maybe we might lose our temper, but maybe not be characterized by that. We need to be characterized by spirit filled, spirit led Christians who are tempered in their Christian life. And now you say, well, how do I do that? Well, obviously, you've got to ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit. But, you know, it's good. I keep relating this back to church because I'm telling you, church helps with all this. When you come to church, you're around other tempered people. And tempered people help you to be tempered. You know, if you start like, you know, crashing out, start whining, you know, and you've got a brother or sister in Christ, they're going to come and say, hey, stop whining so much. You're a man of God. You're a Christian. Stop being a little buster. Let's go eat. You know, you need to quit. You cry too much. Stop complaining. Stop whining. You playing video games, too? That's what's up. That's what helps. We exhort one another to be tempered. And then we're inspired by the temperance of others. Right. Why is this important? Because it'll ensure that you never fall. Go ahead and have a seat, Brother Adrian. Temperance. If you do these things, you shall never fall. It tells us, add to your faith, virtue to virtue, knowledge to knowledge, temperance. All right. Let's get patience up here. Brother Maury, man, that was quick. All right. Come on, Brother Maury. Let's go, Brother Maury. I ain't got the patience. Leave your jacket. I'm just kidding. All right. So what do we add to temperance? We add patience. And the Bible isn't necessarily used the way we would use it. They're very closely related. We think of patience like, well, we just need to wait. But patience simply means endurance in the Christian life. The ability to withstand hardships. And here is where the men are separated from the boys in the Christian life. Because you can have virtue. You can have a lot of knowledge of the Bible. And in fact, you could even temper yourself in the Christian life and being having self-control, self-restraint. Oh, man, but endurance. That's a tough one right there. Because what's endurance? Endurance is being able to just hack it into Christian life no matter what and you don't quit. It means that you do virtue, knowledge and temperance when you're going through a hard time. It means you're in church even though you're heartbroken. It means that you're reading the Bible even though you don't feel like it and you're down in the dumps. You are going through afflictions, you're going through hardships and you're still fulfilling the will of God. You know what that is? That's called endurance. And you know what? This right here is something that I cannot teach people. I can try to inspire people to be virtuous, inspire people to have knowledge, teach people how to have temperance. Only you can teach yourself to have patience though. You're the only one who can keep yourself in this race and to hack it. And look, every single person here, every person under the sound of my voice, you're going to experience something super hard in the Christian life. You're going to experience hardships and afflictions that make you want to take the towel and just throw it in. But you've got to remember, I need to add patience to my temperance though. How do you add patience? You just push through it. You got to push through it. And push through it while serving God. It's not called pushing through it if you quit. Well, I'm just working on my endurance right now so I'm just going to take a break from church for a while. That's called quitting, that's not called patience. Endurance is the ability to execute the tasks at hand while weary. Pursuing yet weary. Pressing towards the mark even though you're tired. Seeking to serve God even though all odds are against you. Serving the Lord Jesus Christ even though it seems nothing in the end will work out for your benefit. That's called endurance. Don't quit in the Christian life. And you know what, let me just give you a list of things that will cause you to quit. Offenses. Disillusionment. Failure of your spouse. The failure of your children. The failure of a church member that you look to. Just so many things that can cause you to get out of the race. Folks, learn endurance. Be patient. Add to temperance patience. Knowledge does you no good. There are people in the Christian life as a pastor who have had knowledge of the word of God and they're not here today. They know the deep truths of end times Bible prophecy. They can find all kinds of nuggets of gold in the word of God. I mean the Holy Spirit led them to deep truths in the Bible. They're not here today. I'll tell you why. They didn't add patience to their temperance. And you know what, I've said this before and I'll say it again. I'll take a tempered person who has patience, who has a little bit of Bible knowledge, than the person who has a lot of Bible knowledge but no patience. Because at least this guy is going to hang for the rest of the ride. And you know what, the longer he's in the ride, he's going to learn more knowledge. But the guy who has knowledge, now he's vexing himself in the world because he knows he's not living right and he knows he has no endurance. Hey folks, let me just give you a harsh reminder from the word of God. It's just a verse. If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. That's a hard truth right there. There have been times when I wanted to quit as a Christian prior to being a pastor. In tears reading that verse and I thought to myself, I don't want to be a punk. The Bible is calling me out right now. And it's just like, I need some comfort here. I need something. It's like if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. It's like, man. Alright, alright. How do you handle that? It's a reality check. I don't want to have small strength. Therefore be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Grow in your strength. Grow in your ability to withstand. And you know, we all have opportunities where we are presented with the temptation to quit. And that is an opportunity for you to learn patience. And you don't have to go it alone, that's why you have a church. That's why it's important that when you go through battles, go through it with the church. You feel like quitting? Go tell a brother, I feel like quitting. You know what the brother will say? You know what? That's a completely normal feeling. I've been through times when I've wanted to quit. I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. That thy faith fail not. I want you to make it through. You got this. Call me. Text me. Let's go out to eat. Let's spend time together. Let's help you to make it through this trial. Gain patience. Learn endurance. I want to see everyone here who's in this room, here 10 years from now. 15 years from now. 20 years from now. 30 years from now. 40 years from now. But it's not going to happen if you don't have patience. And sadly enough, as much as I want that, I know there's people here who because they're not adding patience to their temperance, I probably won't see you. And that's an unfortunate reality. And all I can do as a pastor is try to exhort you, have patience. Hey, are you going through a tough month? Have patience. Endure. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. And here's the thing, folks. Let me say one last thing regarding this point. Actually, go to Mark Chapter four. Mark Chapter four, if you would. If you don't learn patience and endurance in the Christian life, when you go through a hardship and offense and affliction and you don't learn patience, that ends up coming back around sometime later in life and ends up being harder the second time than it does the first. Like the purposes of these afflictions is for us to withstand in the evil day so that the next time it comes around, it's just kind of like water off a duck's back. You know, if you learn to endure the hardships of the Christian life, you'll find that you'll go through that hardship again sometime later in life and you're like, actually, this is actually not as hard. Because you've built up strength. You've built up the ability to withstand in the evil day. Hold on a second, but if you don't pass with flying colors the first time, you're going to be extremely weak the second time. This is an admonishment to you, an instruction to you to make sure that you pass that test when it comes your way. Look at Mark Chapter four, verse 15. And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown. But when they have heard, saying, cometh immediately, take away the word that was sown in their hearts. He says, And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness. And I want you to notice this. And have no root in themselves, and so endure before a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended, the Bible says. So this person could not endure, this person does not have patience because they're not rooted in the Christian life. Turn with me, if you would, to Romans Chapter eight. Romans Chapter eight. I'm going to read to you from James Chapter one, verse number two. It says, Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Now that's kind of weird. He says, when you fall into diverse temptations, what is temptation? It's a trial, it's a tribulation. And James is saying, you've got to count it all joy when that happens to you. Now that's really hard to do. To be happy when you're going through a hard time. To be joyful during times of tribulation and temptation. But I'm going to continue reading here. It says, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. In other words, trials and tribulations, if you make it through, if it tries your faith, it works patience, and patience makes you a mature Christian. And he goes on to say in verse 12, blessed is the man that endureth temptations, for when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let me admonish you this morning, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The year's not over, too. There's going to be some hardships maybe coming your way, coming my way. And they never stop. It's not like, oh man, we went through a hardship, I'm never going to experience another hardship again. No, no, no, it just gets worse. The older you get, it just gets worse sometimes. Sorry to be like a downer, but it's true, like it just gets worse sometimes. But that's why it's important for you to pass the previous trial to make it to the next level. Go to have a seat, Brother Moore, thank you. You see, patience, endurance gives you stamina, the ability to withstand in the evil day. And if you want your virtue to count for something, if you want your knowledge to count for something, if you want your temperance to count for something, you better have patience and endurance in the Christian life. Why? Well, if you do these things, you shall never fall. What's the next one? I need another guy. Godliness. All right, who's willing to stand up and be godliness? All right, Cody, come on up. You made eye contact. He's all reluctant, he's like, all right. Now, after patience, when you begin to work on patience, you know, the Bible says that we need to add godliness to patience. Now, what is godliness? How do we define godliness? Well, godliness is when the Bible becomes the centerpiece of your life. It's when you basically make all decisions based upon the Word of God. Now, the person who has added virtue has not yet done that. The person who has added knowledge has not yet done that. The person who has added temperance has not yet done that. The person who is learning endurance has not yet done that. The godly individual is the person who recognizes, I need to make all decisions based upon how it affects my relationship with the Lord. Meaning that the Bible dictates every facet of your life. Meaning this person does not compartmentalize God. Meaning that you're a Christian, not just when you come to First Works Baptist Church. That's expected. But you behave as a Christian at work. You behave as a Christian at home. You behave as a Christian with your friends, with your family. In every situation that you're in, you look at life through the lens of scripture and you make decisions based off of what does the Bible say. That is a godly person. They've essentially made the Bible the centerpiece of their life. Like, what do you think about this situation? Well, the Bible says, well I don't care what the Bible says, tell me what you think about this situation. Well, what I think is what the Bible says. That is a godly individual. Are you planning to take this job? Well, it really depends. Is there a church out there? Will it take me out of serving God? If it does, then I'm not doing it because I want to live a godly life. That's going to affect my service for the Lord. Now, what does this require? It requires commitment in a lot of ways. It means that you make your home as an atmosphere conducive to spiritual growth. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the house. And not just in word, but in deed as well. Meaning that you raise your children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. They hear about the Lord Jesus Christ in biblical things from sunrise to sunset. That requires commitment. But that is what godliness is. Let me read to you from 1 Timothy chapter 4. And verse number 7 says, But refuse profaning old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things. Having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful, excuse me, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all expectation. So this guy, he gets saved. Comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He gets baptized, because that's what you're supposed to do after you get saved, by the way. Come to church. Like, I need to start living virtuously. You know, he's got Tarzan hair, so he chops that off. Right? Because he's like, this is not becoming unto the Lord. He wants me to get rid of this. And then he begins to add knowledge. He starts reading the King James Bible. Starts learning. He's starting to find all these truths in the word of God, and he's increasing, he's abounding in his knowledge. And then he's like, you know, I need to be disciplined, because I didn't read my Bible yesterday, but I can't be a punk. Like, I need to make sure that I rule over my flesh, and do what I'm supposed to do. So he starts to practice temperance. And then he starts seeing that there's old heads at the church. He's like, these people have stuck it out for a long time. I want to be an old disciple one day. I need to endure the Christian life. I'm kind of weak emotionally sometimes. I get offended easily sometimes. I feel like I'm not strong. I need to learn patience. I need to learn endurance. He begins to add that, right? But then he's realizing, you know what? I think I need to just live my life in accordance to the Bible at all times. You know, like, not be so worldly and godless when I go home. You know, not be a hypocrite. Not live a double life. And we're not saying that you have to be all extreme about it, and holier than thou. We're just saying you're living a godly life, meaning like, I'm a Christian 24-7. Like, when you go to work, you don't take off your Christian garment, and you're like, alright, time to put on my worldly garment. It's like, no, you're a Christian at work, too. Because Christianity permeates all facets of our life. It's supposed to. And it improves every facet of our life, but it's supposed to permeate every aspect of our life. Meaning that, you know, now he's not ashamed to call himself a Christian before his friends. When he's around friends, he's not like, you know, they're over here using the Lord's name in vain, and he's not going to shut up about it now. He's like, hey, don't do that. Don't use the Lord's name in vain around me. I'm a Christian. That's wrong. Ah, get out of here. You used to do that. Yeah, but I'm a Christian now, and I don't believe that that should be done. Well, I'm going to continue to do it. Alright, then you and I can't be friends. Because I'm loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a godly man. You know, he has a girlfriend. He doesn't. We're just the example. He has a wife, actually. But, you know, he has a girlfriend, and she doesn't want to come to church. She's like, I'm fine with you being a Christian. I'll stop you from serving God. I will support you in everything that you do. And he's like, oh, great, come to church. Why can't? Dumper. This is a godly man. That's kind of extreme. No, it's kind of godly is what it is. What's extreme to you is actually what godliness is in the Bible. It's when you make certain decisions based off of what does the Bible say. It's when you put God first over everything else. Look at Romans 8.28. And, you know, at the end of the day, it's Christ's likeness. It's growing in your love for the Lord. It says in Romans 8.28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. So, godliness is when you take on that divine nature. You begin to love the things that God loves, hate the things that God hates, and you seek to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord at all times. Now, let me just give this disclaimer. No one in here does that perfectly 100% of the time. So don't think, oh, that's an unreasonable standard. No, obviously we're supposed to strive for this particular directive. The goal should be this directive. And, you know, I hope you walk out of this building saying, you know, I need to live a more godly life. Lord, help me to be more godly. Help me to exercise myself rather unto godliness and to put you first. Maybe some of you parents need to go home and say, you know what, we need to put a Bible in the center of our house and read it at our house. We need to have family devotions. We need to pray with our children more. I need to talk to my kids about the Lord Jesus Christ more. Instead of talking about sports. Instead of talking about politics. Instead of talking about whatever other subject. Maybe we need to communicate due to Deuteronomy 6 and just communicate the word of God unto our children. Maybe you need to start communicating what you read out of your Bible as long as you add a knowledge to virtue, though. Communicate what you got from the Bible to your children. Amen? Or, you could just talk to your spouse about the Bible and let your children hear it. Godliness. You say, why? Well, I'll tell you why. Because if you do these things, you shall never fall. Go ahead and have a seat, brother Cody. Thank you. We're almost done here. Alright, I need brotherly kindness. Philadelphia. I need brotherly kindness. Brother Paul, come on up. Your name starts with a P. Come on up. Come on down. So after we've added godliness, now the Bible says we need to add brotherly kindness. Okay, to the right a little bit, brother Paul. To the right. A little inch to the right. I'm just messing with you. What's brotherly kindness? Brotherly kindness is simply preferring and giving to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Now what's interesting is godliness, it like grows here in your love for God. Right? Because you love the Lord, therefore you want to please the Lord. Now God says, alright, now I want you to love the brethren. I want you to show brotherly kindness to the brethren. Now how do you learn godliness? Well, coming to church. But you are able to exercise brotherly kindness if you also come to church. Because now you have recipients that you can express these things to, right? You can be a blessing to people. So now this guy, he gets saved, you know. He adds virtue to his faith. He adds knowledge to virtue. He adds temperance. He adds endurance. He adds godliness. He's like, I'm going to determine my life based upon what the Bible says. Now the Bible says, okay, now go be a blessing to someone in this building. Go prefer someone else in this building over your own needs. I know you love the Lord, but kind of show that by going and loving your brother, your neighbor as yourself. That's what brotherly kindness is. Now the Bible says to love our neighbor as ourselves. But the Bible also teaches that as we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men. But listen to this, but especially to those of the household of faith. Meaning that God wants us to favor God's people. And we have a perfect opportunity here to be a blessing as Christians because we have a church filled with people with needs. So Paul just needs to look for someone and is like, who needs my encouragement today? Who needs a meal? And you know, honestly, by the way, Paul is actually a really good example of this in my opinion. Because at our church, when a lady has a baby, we typically do like meal trains and he always gets involved. Like I know that he gets involved. Sorry to embarrass you like this. But like I always know that Paul is going to like do something. You know, he's a single guy. He's not married or anything. But what is he doing? He's expressing brotherly kindness to others. Right? Go with me if you would to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. How can we make sure that we never fall from our steadfastness? That we stay in the will of God, that we keep serving God? I'll tell you how. Add brotherly kindness to your repertoire. Make sure you look for an opportunity to be a blessing to someone else. And look, it's great to come to church and fellowship and just talk and laugh. And those things. But the house of God is also to come to be a blessing to other people as well. You know, before you go find your click after church, after church service, go find someone else's click and go click with them a little bit. Go encourage someone else. And look, if you've added virtue to your faith, if you've added knowledge to that, if you've added temperance to that, if you've added all these other directives to that, you can add brotherly kindness by being a blessing to someone else. Look what it says in Philippians chapter 2. In verse number 1 it says, If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Esteem someone else's benefit over your own. Inconvenience yourself for someone else's benefit. That's what it's saying. That's what brotherly kindness is. Thank you, Brother Paul. If you do these things, you shall never fall. And here's the last one. Go to Colossians chapter 3, if you would. Colossians 3. What do we add to brotherly kindness? Charity. What is charity? Charity is simply love. And more specifically, unfeigned love. Love that is without dissimulation. So, when you are growing in your Christian faith, when you're adding to your faith these directives, it's important that you top it off with the cherry on top, and that is unfeigned love. Meaning, you're real. Like the things that you're doing are out of a heart of love. And you may think like, oh, yeah, of course. But you'd be surprised how many churches have fake love. A lot of churches out there that have a lot of feigned love. Pastors who have feigned love for their congregants. Church members that have feigned love for their pastor. Members that have feigned love for one another. You go to some church and it's just like they talk about love, and all they talk about is love. All they want to do is talk about the love of God, but I'll tell you why they talk about it so much, because they're overcompensating for the fact that they don't have love. We want to make sure that we're real with our love. That we have charity, that we have unfeigned love in all matters. Now, why is that important? Look at Colossians chapter 3 and verse 12. And again, I believe that this is in chronological order, and this is what adds the cherry on top. Look at Colossians 3 verse 12. He says, God, holy and beloved, boughs of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity. And I want you to notice this, which is the bond of perfectness. You know why charity is last? Because it brings everything together. It brings the virtue, along with the knowledge, with the temperance, with the endurance, with the brotherly kindness, it adds everything together. It's the bond of perfectness. Because at the end of the day, you do all things out of a heart that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and that loves your neighbor as yourself. You know, oh man, are you sure this is a loving church? Folks, we wouldn't be able to function as a church if we weren't. This would be a circus! This would be a church of just like holier than now, hyper spiritual, with no brotherly kindness whatsoever if we didn't have love. And obviously I'm biased, because I'm the pastor here, but I honestly say from the bottom of my heart, I believe we have very loving people. That are striving to add to their faith. That are striving to grow in unfeigned love. And if there's someone in here that doesn't, by the end of this sermon they will. You know, that one person is like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm loving, yeah. And they're like, I need to work on this love real quick. Love is important. Charity is important. But let me tell you, what's more important is unfeigned love. Unhypocritical love. Love that's not simulated. Legitimate love. Amen? What's the point here? Go back to 2 Peter, chapter 1. By the way, let me read to you from 1 Corinthians real quick. Verse 4 says, Charity suffereth long in its kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own. Is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. Sounds to me like charity is involved in all of these directives. Look at 2 Peter, chapter 1. I hope today that you add to your faith these directives. And you know what, if you could just pick one out of these that you need to add, it's a success. But the goal would be to add all of these. Why? Well, it 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. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Folks, what's the message this morning? The message is simply this. You know, if you don't want to fall, you want to stay in this thing for the long haul. You want to succeed and prosper and achieve great things for God. You want your children to succeed and prosper and serve the Lord all the days of their life. Add to your faith. And be diligent about it, for if you do these things, ye shall never fall. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the principles of the word of God that helps us to not just be functioning members of society, but just to live a life that's pleasing unto you. And Lord, it's true, you came to give life and life more abundantly. And I pray that, Lord, as your people, that we would esteem the principles of the word of God, and that you would help us and enable us to obey these commandments, Lord, and to add to our faith all the days of our life. And we obviously understand that once we moved on from one directive to the next, it doesn't mean we stopped working on the previous one, but rather we add it to the bulk of the work that we have. And I pray that you'd strengthen us, help us, and may we live lives that are pleasing unto you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Song number 119 as our last song, Till the Storm Passes By. Song number 119. 119. 119. 119. Song number 119. 119. We'll sing it on that first verse. We'll sing it on that first verse. From the sky, holy fast let me stand in the hollow of my hand. Keep me safe till the storm passes by. Many times Satan whispered, there is no need to try, for there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope I am by. But I know thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise, where the storms never darken the skies. Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds more, till the clouds fall over from the sky. Holy fast let me stand in the hollow of my hand. Keep me safe till the storm passes by. When the long night has ended, and the storms come no more, let me stand in thy presence on that right peaceful shore, in that land where the tempest never comes. Lord, may I dwell with thee when the storm passes by. Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds more, till the clouds fall over from the sky. Holy fast let me stand in the hollow of my hand. Keep me safe till the storm passes by. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.