 The title of our sermon this morning, Assured by God, our primary text, 2 Peter chapter one, verses one through 11. If you are saved, if you are saved, you're not saved because of anything that you did. I think the scripture is pretty clear about that. Not a prayer that you said, not a decision that you made, not a doctrine that you believe, not a thing that you've done. If you are truly saved from sin, saved from the wrath of God, then you are not saved on the basis of any work that you have done, but entirely upon the basis of the work of another. The deplorable, the inexcusable theology of much of the professing church today has a vast majority of professing Christians believing that their salvation is predicated on a decision that they themselves have made. When salvation is predicated exclusively on a decision that God has made. Now we know this from the clear and inarguable testimony of scripture. If someone is genuinely a Christian, then they have been born again. They've been born from above, as John would say. That new birth is not of blood. In other words, it doesn't matter what family or race you were born into. That new birth is not of the will of the flesh. In other words, it's not produced by human desire or human merit or human effort. And that new birth is not of the will of man. It's not produced by man's determination or by man's decision. The Christian is born, as John would say, of God. God chose us in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world. God predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself. God makes us alive in Christ when we were dead in trespasses and sins. The Lord says that those whom he foreknew, he also predestines. Those whom he predestines, he also calls. Those whom he calls, he also justifies. And those whom he justifies, those he also glorifies. Bible says, for by grace, you have been saved through faith. And that salvation by grace through faith, and including the faith through which that salvation by grace comes, is not of yourselves it. Salvation by grace through faith is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. So when someone comes to acknowledge their sin, to acknowledge their wickedness against a holy God, when they repent and turn from their sin and turn to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, often the question that will come crashing in upon their heart and mind is, how do I know that God has done all of that for me? Am I saved? It's a humbling position to be put. You consider that God is the one who does all the work. It is entirely and all of grace. Humble's the sinner. Well, we must also assert from the clear and inarguable testimony of scripture that that faith, which is the gift of God, will bear the marks of his workmanship upon it. If it comes from God, it'll bear the marks of his workmanship, amen? The faith through which God saves is a repentant faith. It's a faith that turns from sin. The faith through which God saves is an obedient faith. It will strive to please him in all that it does. It's an affectionate faith. It's a devoted faith. It's a loving faith. It's a hope filled faith. It's a joy filled faith. The faith through which God saves is a working faith. The faith through which God saves is a living faith. It's a fruitful faith. It's a growing faith, a maturing faith. It's a sin battling flesh mortifying faith. It's a persevering faith and enduring faith. It's not a perfect faith, but it is an enduring, a lasting, a persevering faith. And often the question that will come crashing in upon our heart and mind is this, how do I know that my faith is that kind of faith? How do I know that my faith is a saving faith? Am I a Christian? The grace of God that is at work in the life of a genuine believer. That grace of God teaches the genuine Christian to deny ungodliness. That's what that grace does. It teaches us to deny worldly lusts. The grace of God teaches us to live soberly, to live righteously, to live godly in this present age. That's what the grace of God in salvation does. Paul says it's a grace that reigns through righteousness. It's a grace that has delivered us not only from the penalty of sin, but it's a grace that has also delivered us from the power of sin and increasingly delivers us from the presence of sin. It's a grace that enlivens. It's a grace that enables. It's a grace that empowers. It's a grace that exhorts us. It's not a grace by which God nearly changes our eternal destiny, but it is a grace by which God is at work in my life now to change me. And often the question that will come crashing in upon our heart and mind when we consider these things is this. How do I know that God has poured out that kind of grace upon me? How do I know that I'm a Christian? Am I saved? Is my faith genuine? Has God done a work of grace in my heart? Am I one whom God has predestined from before the foundation of the world? Has my name been written in the Lamb's book of life there before creation? These are serious. They are sobering and they are eternally significant questions. And they are questions that pertain to the Christians assurance. In asserting the nature of a true and saving faith we acknowledge the reality of a false and a damning faith. You get that? When we assert that the scriptures speak of a true and a saving faith we are also acknowledging the truth of the Bible that there is such a thing as a false and a damning faith. How do I know that my faith is true? How do I know that my faith is real? These are questions of the Christians assurance. In asserting the presence of a work of God's grace in the life of a believer and that supernatural work we also acknowledge the presumption upon grace that is the vain profession of the unbeliever. How do I know that God has done a work in my heart? How do I know that God is at work to willing to do in me according to his good pleasure? Vast innumerable multitudes, masses of people have gone to the grave presuming upon the grace of God. Masses of people, a vast innumerable multitude has gone already gone to perdition presuming upon the grace of God. Confident in a sham profession of faith. Confident that Jesus Christ has saved them without the slightest doubt that they will spend an eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ believing in their heart that he is theirs and that they are his and that they will spend an eternity with him. And all without any evidence of being born again all without any evidence of a living thriving faith all without any evidence of a wonder working grace. Many would say, listen, I don't need to worry about assurance. I don't need to worry about assurance. I'm assured already. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Christ did all the work, I believe in him. That's what he does, that's what I do. I would be foolish to doubt what he has done. No, what's foolish is to presume that what he has done applies to you without testing and without evidence that it is so. Without testing your faith to know that it is genuine and true and saving faith. Your heart is deceitful, Jeremiah says so. Your heart is deceitful. Above all things deceitful and desperately wicked. You have an enemy in your own breast. Jeremiah says, who can know it? You can't know your own heart. Peter calls Christians to be even, calls Christians, calls brothers, brethren, to be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. Because if you do these things, you will never stumble. First John is a series of tests by which you may examine the genuineness of your faith. And then John writes, after having examined your faith through the letter, the epistle of First John, John writes these things I have written so that you may know that you have eternal life. Paul exhorts us, test yourself. Whether you're even in the faith, test yourselves. A.W. Pink tells the story of a man who lived through an economic depression in England. And during this economic downturn, the banks in England were failing. So people, when the banks started to fail, the people started to panic. And many lost confidence in the banks and so there was naturally a run on the banks and this man, a very wealthy man, decided to withdraw all his money from the bank. So he took his money out in five pound notes, pound sterling, and he had a friend exchange the cash for gold coins. Then he took his gold coins and he hid them in a place where he knew that no one would find them. All his wealth, all his savings, all that he had, all that he'd earned, all that he materially possessed, wrapped up, hidden away with those gold coins. Wasn't long before this man needed to buy some supplies. And so he went to his secret stash and took out some of the gold coins. He went from one shop to another, attempting to buy supplies and none of the shops would accept the gold coins because they were counterfeit. The wealthy man, the one who thought he was wealthy, in a panic went back to his hiding place to look at the rest of the coins and he realized that all of the coins were counterfeit. A man who thought that he was wealthy wasn't. He lost everything. Many, listen to me, many people walk this earth believing themselves to be in possession of heavenly riches. They walk this earth believing themselves to possess something that they do not possess. And you know, I know exactly what we're talking about here. That was many of us before the Lord intervened with grace poured out on us. He poured out on us in Jesus Christ to save us from that wretched condition. And that comes at the preaching of the gospel. It's the duty of every informed and blood-bought believer to preach that truth to unbelievers, to those who are deceived. Vast innumerable multitudes will perish and drop into torment believing as that wealthy man did that they are in possession of something that they are not in possession of. They believe their faith to be true gold when it is in reality a worthless and useless and damning counterfeit. How do you know that your faith is real? How do you know that you are genuinely saved? How do you know that you are in possession of a genuine faith? How do you know that you are in possession of heavenly riches in Jesus Christ? I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. We deal with our sin on this side of our eternity. We deal with our sin in this life. How do I know that I won't die in my sins? How do I know that I'm forgiven? How do I know that Christ has saved me? These are questions that pertain to the Christian's assurance. An assurance of salvation that grows out of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there's a spectrum of opinion on the matter of assurance, and we'll consider the spectrum of opinion, men's worthless opinions, and then we'll go to the Bible to know what the truth is. There's a spectrum of opinion on the matter of assurance. On one end of the spectrum, there are those who would say to you that it is the sin of presumption, that it's always presumptuous to ever claim to have a full assurance that you are saved no matter what may come. Those words are important no matter what may come. Roman Catholicism, for example, rejects the teaching of the Bible that once a sinner is genuinely saved, he cannot lose his salvation. That once a sinner is genuinely saved, he cannot lose his salvation. Now there are many who absolutely abuse that beautiful truth with a horribly unbiblical version of once saved, also saved. And we would like to add to that that once genuinely saved, once truly saved, then always saved. And that's the teaching of the Bible. The Bible teaches eternal security, the Bible teaches the perseverance or the preservation of the saints. But Roman Catholicism rejects the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Roman Catholicism rejects the doctrine of eternal security, and so they reject that. A believer may come to a full in what our confession calls an infallible assurance of salvation. They reject the Bible's teaching of assurance as presumptuous because men cannot possibly trust themselves to be faithful. That's true, you can't trust yourself. I can't trust myself to be faithful. Praise God, our faith isn't in our own effort. They would say that full assurance is not wrong because it puts too much faith in God. They would say that full assurance is wrong because it puts too much faith in ourselves. Well, that would be exactly right if it were up to us to preserve ourselves. That would be exactly right if it were up to us to grit it out in our own effort to persevere as it is in the Roman Catholic heresy. But according to the Bible, we don't preserve ourselves. We're not preserved in our own effort. We do not hold ourselves. Jesus said, John chapter 10, verse 28, Jesus says, I give them eternal life. How eternal is it if you can lose it? I give them eternal life and they shall probably not perish. They shall never perish. Listen, we can have assurance of that. We can have a full assurance that we have presently eternal life and that we shall never perish. Neither, Jesus says, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who gave them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. We are assured that we are saved in Christ. We can have an assurance of that fact. London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689, our confession. Chapter 18 of the assurance of grace and salvation in article one, our confession says, although temporary believers and other unregenerate men, temporary believers are unregenerate, you see. Although temporary believers and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and with carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and in the state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish, yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace. On the other end of the spectrum, on one end of the spectrum, those who think that any assurance at all is presumption. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who would say that assurance of your salvation belongs to the essence of faith. In other words, true faith involves a settled assurance at the very outset. If I say I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then that is assurance of your salvation, you should never doubt it, right? This was a part of the marrow controversy. If you remember that, the marrow men debated this issue and a knowledge of God's saving disposition toward us based solely and only on the truth of the freely given promises in Christ. In other words, when you turn to Christ in faith, you should immediately have full assurance of your salvation and infallible assurance of your salvation based upon the work of Christ and the promises of Christ alone. Now, those who believe this might tell you don't ever doubt it. Maybe you've heard that before, I have many times. Don't ever doubt your salvation. They're not concerned with fruits or evidences. Don't ever doubt your salvation. If you ever doubt your salvation, it's the devil who's making you doubt, right? Satan is making you doubt. That may sound good at first blush, but it seems to me that Satan most often is involved in the work of keeping you from doubt, not causing you to doubt, right? Article two of our confession upholds the initial thought of that. Article two says this certainly is not a bear. Assurance is not a bear conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but assurance is an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel, amen. And if that's all that our assurance was based on, then full assurance of salvation would be of the very essence of faith. When you come to believe in Jesus Christ for those promises, then you should have full assurance of faith, but that's not all. Our confession continues. Our assurance is also based upon the inward evidence of those graces of the spirit unto which the promises are made. That statement, unto which the promises are made, we are saved to holiness. Like we talked about last week, we are saved to good works which God determined beforehand that we should walk in them, right? It's the purpose of our salvation, our election that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So salvation, assurance of salvation is also based upon the inward evidence of those graces of the spirit unto which the promises are made. And on the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God and as a fruit thereof, keeping the heart both humble and holy. On the issue of assurance, the Puritan, John Rogers, taught that true faith involved a particular persuasion of my heart that Jesus Christ is mine. In part, assurance of salvation is believing upon the promises of Jesus Christ in the gospel, that Jesus Christ died, that if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ that you can be forgiven of your sin, saved from sin and the wrath of God, delivered from that and ushered into given eternal life. But John Rogers taught that true faith also involved a personal persuasion of that, that it's not just for mankind in general, but that he died for me. Whatsoever Christ did for the redemption of mankind, he did it for me. It is mine and he did that work in and for me. Now that assurance may take some time. The London Baptist Confession of Faith in Article 3 says this, this infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, right? A true believer may not have it at the very beginning of faith, at the very inception of his faith, at the very outset of faith, but a true believer may wait long in conflict with many difficulties before he be a partaker of it. Yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of means attain there unto. The term infallible that's given in our confession comes from a compound Latin word that means not deceiving, means not deceiving. It's a faith that's not deceptive. It's not a false counterfeit faith that deceives you, right? You're not merely a hearer of the word deceiving yourselves, but a doer of the word also, do you see? It's an assurance that every believer can have. It's an assurance that every believer is called to pursue. Let's talk about that. We're in 2 Peter chapter one. Look in 2 Peter chapter one, beginning at verse one, the text read in your hearing. Now as Peter, as Peter sits to write this letter, Peter's aware that his time is short and that he will likely very soon die. The concern of this letter is really parting words of the apostle Peter to strengthen believers in the faith, to serve them up by way of reminder that said several times throughout the letter and to prepare them, prepare the church for attacks that are most certainly coming. Peter is giving them parting words. False teachers will come in among them, chapter two, verse one. They will bring in destructive heresies. They will seek to exploit them with deceptive words. Scoffers are gonna come mocking the truth, chapter three, verse three. The Lord will deal with all of them, but it's through their influence that many are brought into bondage, that many are eternally lost, chapter two, verse 20. Peter wants them to be on their guard against these false teachers, these destructive heresies that will creep into the church. So in the time that Peter has left in this letter that will be his last letter that he writes, what is Peter's concern at the very outset of the letter? It is the assurance of genuine believers. Peter's concern is the assurance of genuine believers. Assurance is necessary to stand fast in the faith. How successfully, how diligently, how earnestly do you fight when you're not even sure you're a Christian? Strength just evaporates, right? Strength is out the window. Steadfastness out the window. Perseverance out the window. We need assurance. We need to grasp and lay hold of these promises so that we may stand fast in the faith. And these folks are gonna have a battle on their hands very soon. Assurance is necessary when you're weathering spiritual battles, waging spiritual warfare, when you're facing persecution, when you're battling spiritual enemies, right? How steadfast, how faithful in the work are you gonna be when the work is difficult, you're facing difficult, you're facing adversity and you're not even sure if I'm a Christian, I'm saved, right? We need assurance. Weak faith makes you an easy target. And that's Peter's concern here. Peter knows that a strong Christian, a persevering Christian is an assured Christian. Paul says that it is the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. It's a shield of faith. So Paul, Peter then gives us three pillars, three pillars of a full or infallible, a not deceiving assurance. And the believer is called to pursue this assurance with all diligence, all diligence. The first pillar is this. Assurance of our salvation begins with a firm foundation in sound doctrine. Assurance of our salvation begins with a firm foundation in sound doctrine. To have assurance of our salvation, we must understand that our right standing with God rests upon the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. We must embrace him and all that he has done for us in faith. So Peter begins with all that God has given to us in Christ, verse one. Simon Peter, a bond-servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, we have obtained to, been delivered to, a like precious faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Not by our own righteousness, but by his righteousness. Okay? Verse two, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these, through these great and precious promises, you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now notice with me, verse three, he called us by glory and virtue. The word virtue there means moral excellence. It's by glory and virtue that we've been given exceedingly great and precious promises. Well, by whose glory? By whose virtue? By your own virtue? No, you have none, you had none. Certainly not our own glory, not our own virtue. It's by the glory and virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by his glory and virtue that we've been given such great and precious promises. He has accomplished all that is necessary for our salvation. And that salvation comes to us through exceedingly great and precious promises. We receive these promises. Those promises become ours through faith in Jesus Christ. And Peter describes them as exceedingly great and precious. Now what are they? What are those exceedingly great and precious promises? There are many of them. They are manifold, right? The forgiveness of sins. Is that not a beautiful promise of the gospel? The forgiveness of your sin. You've been forgiven of your sin in Jesus Christ. Glorious. The imputation of Christ's righteousness. You are a worthless sinner. I am a worthless sinner having no righteousness of my own. But I have been given as a gift, as a free gift of God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I have it as my own. Such that God looks upon me as righteous. Not that I just avoided the things that I was supposed to avoid, but that I did everything that I was supposed to have done. Amazing. Justification. Reconciliation with God. Right standing with God. God is holy. I am not. And we are made to be at peace through the blood of His cross. God's spirit to take up His dwelling place within us. We are not left orphans. He has come to us by His spirit and dwells in us. We are a dwelling place of the spirit. Adoption as sons and daughters of God. Not just reconciled to God, but brought into His very household as sons and daughters. And listen, not just as red-headed stepchildren, but as heirs. And heirs with Christ. We have an inheritance. Eternal life with Jesus Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. These precious, exceedingly great and precious promises. It's through these promises, verse four, that we've been given two benefits. Through these promises, we have two benefits. One, that we may be partakers of the divine nature. Partakers of the divine nature. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Communion, unfettered by sin and eternity. Communion, fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, we escape from the corruption that is in the world through lust. We have been set free from bondage to the power of sin. Created anew, as the Bible says, in true righteousness and in true holiness. So the first pillar, the first pillar of an infallible or full assurance of faith is Christ. In Christ for these promises. We are to put our faith in Jesus Christ for these promises. This isn't bare conjecture. This is not a probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope. This is an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel through which we must believe that we have, present tense, have exceedingly great and precious promises. From there, from that first foundation, Peter moves on to the second pillar of an infallible or full assurance of salvation. Our confession describes this pillar as this, the inward evidence of those graces of the spirit unto which the promises are made. Those promises are given to us that we might be holy in him. We might be holy as he is holy. We were saved two good works, saved to be conformed into the image of his son who is himself holy, right? So it's the inward evidence of those graces at work in us, the graces of the spirit unto which those promises are made. Now Peter references that second pillar or that inward evidence beginning in verse five. Look at verse five. So believer, listen, we're still talking to believers. But also for this very reason, for the very reason that we've been redeemed by Jesus Christ, for the very reason that through him, we have these exceedingly great and precious promises. For this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. All of these are inward workings of grace, do you see? An inward fruit of God's spirit. Peter says here in verse five, bring to bear on your Christian life all diligence. You work out your salvation with fear and trembling, why? Because it is God who is at work in you, both the willing to do according to his good pleasure. Bring to bear on your Christian life all diligence. Employ a zealous and intense fervor to accomplish this purpose. Make every effort is what the word means. Make every effort to add to your faith. Now what does a believer need to do to experience a full and infallible assurance of salvation? Do everything, make every effort, do all that you can do to add to your faith these seven characteristics. When someone comes and says, I'm not sure I'm a Christian, I'm having difficulty. I doubt whether I'm saved, right? And that happens in the life of every believer. Our confession says that's gonna happen in your Christian life. We're gonna struggle with these things. Sometimes we struggle for a long period of time. I remember when I was a new Christian and I was struggling with assurance over my salvation, I read John Bunyan's work, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. And you read in that book of Bunyan's horrible, difficult battle with assurance of his salvation. And Bunyan was convinced that he didn't wanna presume upon the grace of God. He didn't wanna pick up assurance of salvation as if it were something that he could just choose to believe Bunyan wanted to be assured by God. But Bunyan wanted God to assure him that what he had done applied to him. And Bunyan struggled with assurance of his salvation. When someone struggles with assurance, take Peter's heed here. Put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for all that he has done for sinners. If you're a sinner, you qualify. Turn to Christ in faith for all that he has done and then pursue these marks. Listen to what Peter says. Diligently add to your faith virtue. Don't forget the diligence. Diligently add to your faith virtue, refers to moral excellence. Again, arete. The word really refers to moral heroism. Great feats of piety. An excellent singer. An excellent singer might be referred to as arete. An excellent craftsman might be referred to as arete. Here the word refers to a morally excellent or a virtuous Christian, arete. Turn from your sin, put on the new man that is renewed according to the image of him who created him and do that with all diligence. Jesus Christ is our example. Follow his example, imitate Christ and add to your faith virtue, moral excellence. Diligently add to your moral excellence, knowledge. We talk about this on a regular basis. Diligently add to your moral excellence, knowledge. The word refers to an increasing understanding of divine truth. Increasing discernment, increasing understanding, increasing wisdom, increasing application of that. We must grow in our knowledge of him. The more that we grow in our knowledge of him, the more that we grow as it were in our view of who he is, the more that we grow to be like him. The more that we reflect that image, we must grow in our knowledge of him. Grow in your understanding of good, sound, Biblical doctrine. Don't just settle for cotton candy. Grow in your knowledge of him, grow in your knowledge of theology, grow in your knowledge of the Bible. What we know impacts how we think and how we think impacts what we believe and what we know, how we think, what we believe impacts ultimately how we live, how we conduct ourselves. It has an impact in your life. Now some knowledge, most knowledge, all knowledge outside of the Bible is not like that. The more that I study, forgive me engineers, the more that I study engineering, that has no impact on my life unless it's gonna help me fix my garbage disposal or a garage door when it breaks down. It's not gonna change who I am, but your knowledge of him will. It is in the work of the Spirit of God, applied in your life to change who you are, to change you into his image. You must grow in your knowledge of him through his word. Proverbs 23, verse seven, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. How do you add knowledge to virtue? You give all diligence to the study of the scriptures. You give all diligence to study. How do you add knowledge to virtue? You meditate on those truths from the word of God. You give yourselves to them. Next, diligently add to your knowledge, self-control. These are building upon one another, right? You see a connection in these. Add to your faith virtue. Don't just say you believe, follow. Live a holy life. Live like Jesus Christ. Those who believe in him, themselves also to walk just as he walked. Add to that virtue, that moral excellence, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and then with that knowledge and wisdom, add to your knowledge, self-control. Diligently add to your knowledge, self-control. It speaks of self restraint. It's through faith, moral excellence, knowledge that you become then more and increasingly self-controlled. It speaks of self-restraint. Much in the way that an athlete might restrain his use of time. Much the way an athlete might restrain his use of food to accomplish a great feat of strength or endurance. Self-control denies self. You're not driven by the flesh. You're not driven by emotions. You're not driven by fleshly desires, fleshly lusts. Add to your knowledge, self-control, self-restraint. Discipline yourself in the use of time. Discipline yourself in the use of resources. Discipline yourself in the use of your own effort, your own gifts. Add to your knowledge, self-control. Diligently add to your self-control, perseverance. Diligently add perseverance, endurance in the faith, endurance in holy living, endurance in study. Once you've implemented self-control, now persevere in it. Add another day, and then another day, and then another day. Endure in virtue. Endure in faith, endure in knowledge, endure in self-control. Endure in the midst of affliction. Perseverance in the midst of persecution. Maintaining strength, faith, knowledge, virtue, self-control in the midst of adversity. Faith in the midst of suffering. It's not merely resigning yourselves to these things, but it's forward-looking with all those things in your possession. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Despising the shame meaning that he counted it a common thing. In comparison with the joy that was set before him, the shame is nothing. I'll gladly endure it. We are to endure with that kind of understanding, that kind of mindset. It's a forward-thinking, a forward-looking perseverance for all that we have in Jesus Christ. All that has been given to us. The inheritance that we look forward to. Heaven, eternity, for all of that, the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can endure, bring it on, right? That needs to be the attitude. Add to your self-control perseverance. Diligently, add to your perseverance, godliness. Godliness is a devotion to Christ's likeness. A devotion to Christ's likeness. God likeness, right? Godliness. Godliness is marked by a reverence for God. God is regarded as holy by those who are godly. And we strive to be holy just as he is holy. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Godliness is not leaning on your own understanding, but in all your ways, all of them, godliness is acknowledging him. He is directing your paths. Godliness is constantly aware, constantly thinking, constantly asking, constantly depending, constantly looking to him in faith. Diligently add to your godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. These are linked together. Add to that godliness a genuine Christ-like and sacrificial love. A love that esteems others more highly than yourself. It means investing your time. It means investing your resources to pour into your brothers and sisters that you serve the Lord with. Well, how do you give all diligence, every effort to brotherly kindness and love? How do you do that? You labor in the church. This is how you serve, right? This is how you serve in the body, the one and others. Love bears one another's burdens. Galatians, chapter six, verse two. Look for burdens to bear and go out. Be intentional about it. Love your brothers. Love comforts one another. Who can you comfort? First Thessalonians, chapter four, verse 18. Love stirs one another up to love and good works. How do you do that? Be practical, be intentional. Stir one another up to love. Stir one another up to good works. Let's go guys, right? Stir one another up. Love praise for one another. Love edifies one another. Love corrects, love instructs, love rebukes, love forgives, love is hospitable. Love cares for one another. Love labors to be involved in the life of this church where love can be expressed in action. If you're not laboring in the life of this church where your love can be expressed in action, then you're not acting upon your love. Love preaches the gospel. Love preaches the gospel. This is how you serve in the church. This is how you love. If you want to experience a full and infallible assurance then give all diligence to pursuing these things. Give all diligence, Peter says. Why? Why? Verse eight, this speaks to assurance. Verse eight, for if these things are yours, you possess these marks and they abound in you, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful notice in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's knowledge of Him that produces fruit. John chapter 15 verse one, apart from Him, you can do nothing, nothing. You must abide in Him, you must know Him. A knowledge of Him produces fruit and fruit is the measure that the Lord uses to distinguish between that which is alive, that which is real, that which is genuine and that which is dead. That which is false and that which is damning. If these things are yours and they abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It'll show, it'll give evidence that you know Him. It'll give evidence that you know Him. Four, verse nine, He who lacks these things is short-sighted, myopic, even to blindness and has forgotten that He was cleansed from His old sins. Those who are unfruitful, now listen to me, we all at one period or another go through periods of time where we are unfruitful. We wax and wane often in our fruitfulness. Why? Because we wax and wane in our devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. We wax and wane in our faith. Why? Because we are still dealing with the flesh on this side of eternity. I'm still dealing with my sin, my sinfulness. We may go through periods of time where we're not as fruitful during that period of time as at other periods of time. But listen, those who persist in unfruitfulness are growing spiritually blind. Those who are unfruitful grow spiritually blind. There's a hymn, it's often sung. Theology of the hymn is somewhat questionable, but the words of the hymn go that, in the light of His glory and grace, the things of this world grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace, the things of this, not in that order, but get the idea. In the light of His glory and grace, the things of this world grow strangely dim. Well, in the darkness of our sin and self-will, the glory of God grows strangely dim. The opposite is also true, do you see? Those who are unfruitful, which means that they are weak in their knowledge of Him. Those who are unfruitful grow spiritually blind. When you increase and abound in these things, then there is evidence of a work of God's grace and evidence of a living faith. There's evidence there. And upon that evidence, there is the basis for a full and infallible assurance of our salvation. It's one of the pillars on which assurance of our salvation is built. Where there is no increase, where there is no abounding, where there is no abundance of growth in these things, no fruit, then there is no evidence of a work of God's grace, only evidence of a dead faith, and you have no title, no warrant of any assurance that you are a genuine believer. If there is no, if there are none of these marks, if they are not yours, and they are not abounding, then you have no title, no warrant for any assurance that you are a genuine Christian. Why? Because when God saves, God works in the one whom He has saved to bring about all His good pleasure, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And that produces fruit, failure to pursue these things with all diligence will lead to a weak or even presumptuous assurance. Eventually it will lead to a spiritual blindness. It'll expose your spiritual blindness. You see? And spiritual blindness is already there. A lack of assurance is a forgetting that you were once, that you once believed that you were cleansed from your old sins. That condition, that spiritual blindness will rob you of assurance, that lack of fruitfulness, that lack of growing in those spiritual graces, that lack of growth, that lack of fruitfulness will rob you of assurance of your salvation. You see? And that condition will plunge you back into those sins that you once repented of. I don't know about you, but maybe it's only true of me. But in my Christian life, there have been times when I acknowledge that the things of God begin to grow strangely dim. And all of a sudden, it's almost like grabbing someone by the lapels and shaking them, right? Like, and the Lord uses that to remind me that I am in great need of him, great need of perseverance, great need of his power to preserve me. Pursue those with all diligence. You'll be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of him. In all of this, we see the third pillar of a full or infallible assurance of salvation. And here, throughout this text is the work of the spirit. The third pillar is the spirit's work in testifying to your spirit through these means that you are a child of God. These are, as our confession states, the inward graces of the spirit. They're not produced in your own strength. You can't fake it for very long. You can't really fake it at all. The Lord knows, right? Romans chapter eight, verse 16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. These are inward graces of the spirit. Assurance of our salvation, then, assurance of our salvation is not only faith in Christ for the objective promises that are freely offered us in the gospel, but assurance of our salvation, then, is the subjective and spirit-given, spirit-wrought confidence that we truly, genuinely possess saving faith and, therefore, eternal life in him. Verse 10, therefore, brethren, be even more diligent. Give all diligence to pursue those characteristics and then give even more diligence through these appointed means to make your call an election sure. Peter is calling you to a full and infallible assurance of your salvation. He's calling you to that assurance. This is something that we should have, possess. It's something that we should pursue. If we don't have it, this is something that the Christian can have. Peter is calling us to it and you make your call an election sure by pursuing these things that Peter is calling us to pursue. Four, he says, verse 10, if you do these things, you will never stumble for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Peter's concern here is assurance. Do you see? The assurance of the believer. A full and infallible assurance is the experience of the Christian who gives all diligence to what Peter has instructed us to do here. First John, chapter three, verse 18, John says, my little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this, we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. It's by this, faith in Jesus Christ for the promises, a working out of our salvation as it were in fear and trembling by pursuing the evidences of a genuine faith. By this, we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. It's by this that deluded souls escape their deception. It's by this that the hypocrite is exposed. Do you see? Article three of our confession continues, therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence, to make his calling and election sure that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace, may be enlarged in joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and in thankfulness to God, in strength and in cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance. It's a wondrous doctrine. Brothers and sisters, let me encourage you, let me exhort you, pursue this with all diligence. Don't grow lazy or sluggardly or apathetic or indifferent. If you grow lazy or sluggardly or apathetic or indifferent, spiritual blindness begins to set in. Don't allow that to be the case. Pursue these things with all diligence. Give yourselves to them and you'll be neither barren nor unfruitful in your knowledge of him, which is a wonder to behold. All praise honor and glory and blessing to him who works in us by his spirit to assure us that we are his children, amen. Let's pray. Take a moment now. As you consider the teaching of God's word on this subject, do you have assurance of your salvation? Are you a Christian? Is God, has God done a work in your heart by grace? Is he at work through the means of faith to produce these graces in you? If not, cry out to the Lord now, depend upon him and ask him to do that work in you. If he is, praise him for it and revel in that and embrace the full assurance by faith. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I pray that if there's anyone here who's unconverted, Lord, that you would save them for the glory of your son, for the glory of your own name, that you would work in them to produce the fruit of that. For my brothers and sisters here, Lord, I pray that you would build them up in their most precious faith and that you would render them neither barren nor unfruitful in their knowledge of you. You would only increase, you would add to their faith of virtue, to their virtue knowledge, to their knowledge, self-control, to self-control, perseverance, to all that godliness, brotherly kindness and love, Lord, that you would work in them these inward graces of your spirit that they might be fully assured of their standing with you and that that would, for your glory, add to their fruitfulness and add to our joy. Encourage us in these things, Lord, we pray. We love you, we thank you, Lord, for the blessedness of these truths and worship you for them. In Jesus' name, amen.