140727 Confirm Your Calling

                                                                                     

2 Peter 1:5-11 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Last week we looked at the same passage of Scripture and titled the sermon, “Losing Sight of Salvation”. Now we are going to look at it from a little different angle. We want to be sure that we are among those who are saved from the consequences of sin by the grace of God. In verse three we are told that God has granted us, by his divine power, everything that pertains to life and godliness. We’re given this in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us his precious and very great promises. This passage does not teach that we are to earn our salvation by works of righteousness instead we are told to “make every effort” to grow in grace.

We need to remember that we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God! God’s grace comes into our life by the gift of faith. The Christian life is not one of works in order to be saved it is works because we’re saved and it is…

Beginning with faith. We go to Peter’s first letter and read 1 Peter 1:3-5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a ruler the Jews and he came to Jesus by night to try to determine what He was all about. Now Peter tells us that God has caused us to be able to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This gives us an inheritance that is absolutely safe.

An inheritance is only as valuable as its security. At the end of October in 1929 there was a stock market crash that was the beginning, in America, of the Great Depression. At that time millions, if not billions, of dollars ceased to exist. There was no security behind them. All around the world inheritances dissolved. People were driven to despair and many committed suicide.

After that, the government started to initiate reforms that would protect bank deposits and, incidentally, the inheritance of most people. The FDIA is only as secure as the federal government. Many people today believe that security is in great danger. All insurance is dependent upon the ability of the insurers to cover the cost of the losses.

Our spiritual inheritance is secure because it is reserved in heaven for us! It is not maintained by the Federal Reserve nor is it protected by Social Security. It is dependent upon God and his divine power. By faith God’s power is guarding, for us, a salvation that will be revealed in the last time. Nothing could be more secure and I want to assure you that those whom God has chosen will be saved!

Having begun in faith we are to…

Press on toward the goal. I can’t imagine anyone more secure in their relationship to God than the apostle Paul. He had seen the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. He was selected to write most of the New Testament. More than once, the Lord Jesus had met with him in a vision or a dream. Yet, he never relaxed. Listen to what he wrote in Philippians 3:12-16. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Paul had put aside everything in his religious life. He had the right to confidence in the flesh, if anyone did. He was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was raised a Pharisee and taught by Gamaliel himself. He zealously persecuted the church and was blameless with regard to the law. Yet, in spite of all this, he laid it all aside for the sake of Christ Jesus.

At the same time he did not consider himself to have “arrived” spiritually. He pressed on forgetting the past and pushing forward toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul was determined to…

Not just drift along. In our primary text, Verse 9, we read For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Anyone who doesn’t continue to add to faith is just drifting along. If Satan cannot keep you from salvation he will keep you from growing in grace if you allow him. Salvation, or being born again, obviously occurs at a specific time and place. Yet there is a process leading up to salvation. When a person begins to seek after the things of God every effort will be made by the enemy, Satan, to keep them from going forward into salvation. One evidence that a person is being saved is that they are beginning to seek the things of God. They are adding, in their faith, virtue and with this growing faith they add knowledge. On and on they grow towards the Lord. The fruit of the Spirit begins to manifest itself. That fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Holy Spirit works with our spirit to establish and maintain our salvation. We are saved by grace and not by works but there are works we have to do in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is easy for a person to fall into the trap of expecting God to do everything in regard to their salvation but many Scriptures teach us to…

Make every effort. Without a doubt, we have a responsibility to focus our lives on things that count. Listen to Philippians 4:8-9. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹ What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Heading these qualities in our faith we are supplementing faith with virtue and moving to love. This has a lot to do with the focus of our lives. Godly qualities are eventually going to be seen in the life of the person who is saved. No one of us is perfect but all Christians are in the process of being perfected. We have a responsibility to make every effort in our faith to grow in grace.

Once a person comes to Christ there are a lot of things that need to be done. You see a person who has just been born again is a spiritual infant. That person has to have “childcare” concerning his or her spiritual life. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he said that it was necessary for him to address them as infants in Christ.

Little babies are cute but they are very dependent. They make strange noises and bad odors. They have to be fed correctly. They have to be taught everything. Only when a new Christian begins to grow up spiritually do they become really useful in the kingdom. As we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord we become more capable in spiritual matters. As a result we begin to have a positive impact on the world around us. Remember, we are not working to be saved we are working because we are saved. Jesus once said that we will know people by their fruit. It is very important that we…

Bear good fruit. Paul told about the privilege we have to bear fruit for God in Colossians 1:9-14.  And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ¹¹ May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul’s prayer for the Colossian church is a prayer that we can pray for each other all the time! We desperately need the knowledge of God’s will. Only when we understand what God wants us to do, and how he wants us to do it, will we be able to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. There is a promise in this prayer that we can be fully pleasing to Him! Much of what we hear in preaching and teaching seem to imply that it is really impossible for us to finally please God. Just as we enjoy our children, who are not perfect, our Heavenly Father enjoys us. Many of the things that we do probably add to his entertainment.

We need to bear fruit in every good work in our lives and we need to increase in the knowledge of God. After all, God has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light because he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Even the bearing of good fruit still leaves us with concerns with regard to the judgment. William Carey was one of the first Baptist foreign missionaries. He was a cobbler, a shoemaker, who was called of God to preach and then called to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to India. He, along with his family, traveled to India in the late 1700s and began the process of learning the language of the local people. There’s too much to tell about him in the short time we have here. Suffice it to say that he helped to translate the Bible into more than 35 languages. He spent 41 years there with never a return to England. As he was approaching the end of his life he was asked what his feelings were in the immediate prospect of his death. His response gives us confidence and, at the same time, something to think about. In response to the question he said, “As far as my personal salvation is concerned, I have not the shadow of a doubt; I know in Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day; but when I think that I am about to appear in the presence of a holy God, and remember all my sins and manifold imperfections—I tremble.”

For many years William Carey had walked in a manner worthy of the Lord. He had been bearing fruit in every good work and had been growing in the knowledge of God. He knew that he knew Christ! He knew the promise of the Word that Christ is able to keep all that we have committed to him. At the same time, he knew that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. He trembled at the thought of appearing in the presence of a holy God just as we all should.

We need to pray that we too will bear fruit in every good work. We need to be thankful that the power of God will be released for us so that we can endure with patience and joy. It is God who enables us to be His people. It is God who calls upon us to yield ourselves, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, to put to death the deeds of the body! However, God doesn’t call on us to do these things in our own strength. We are to yield ourselves to God and, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body!

Sometimes the popular phrase “let go and let God” causes us to become passive in our Christian walk. Many years ago we had the privilege of hosting Capt. J. C. Metcalf who at that time was the editor of Overcomer magazine that is still printed in England. In one of our meetings with him I asked him what the greatest problem of the church was. He spoke so quickly that I had to ask him to repeat his one-word answer. He said “Passivity”. He went on to say that the church around the world has settled into a passive mode. We are to take the salvation God has given us and work it out in the world. We are to strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. We are to abstain from immorality and obey the will of God. John says that those who hoped to be like Christ when he appears will actually work at purification in this life. This kind of positive application of the Christian life is not an easy job. We need to build into our life the patterns and habits of godliness. The book of Hebrews tells us that mature Christians have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. The Lord Jesus has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us. He is faithful and promises to complete the work that He began in our lives. At the same time, He gives His Spirit to us to make us able to do what he has called on us to do. God empowers His people with strength for the day-to-day task of godly living. We do not have to be concerned about losing it because He has given us an inheritance that is protected in heaven for us. If you have placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ…

You’ll never fall. Jesus gives us words of encouragement in John 10:27-29. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

There are so many passages that I could have chosen to make this point. In this particular passage Jesus has described Himself as the good Shepherd. If He is the Shepherd then we are the sheep. Every person that is truly born again will be kept by God’s power, Praise God we are not dependent on our own strength. Jesus promises eternal life so that we will never perish. No one can snatch us out of His hands because He and the Father are one and, as such, serve to protect us from being lost. He is the good Shepherd and will not allow any of His sheep to wander very far. No one, or nothing, can ever separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. The Christian life is not easy but the Holy Spirit enables us “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk”. Having put our faith in Christ, we will finish the course and keep the faith. The rewards are beyond our imagination. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” God’s rewards are beyond our imagination! It’s not easy but it’s worth the effort!

The word of God warns us against being lazy in our faith. As we drift away from Jesus Christ we lose sight of our salvation. The Bible encourages us to fight the good fight of faith and by doing that take hold of eternal life. We are taught to lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely to us. We are to press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus! In our faith we are to advance in virtue and knowledge and self-control and patience and godliness and brotherly affection and love. As we grow in the Lord we can have confidence that we have been called to share in God’s glory and excellence. Those who continue to the end will be saved. Don’t turn aside instead move forward in faith. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. He who calls us is faithful! Have you put your faith in Him? Why not now?

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

140720 Losing Sight of Salvation

2 Peter 1:3-11 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. ¹¹ For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This is Peter’s second letter written from prison as he was awaiting execution. In his first letter he laid out a great deal of information for the Christians who lived in the center of modern day Turkey. He has told them many of the things they need to know to live a godly life. Now Peter points out the need to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The passage we’re going to look at lists a series of growth steps that are essential to the believer’s assurance of salvation.

Now, I want you to understand neither myself, nor the apostle Peter, is advocating any kind of works for salvation. We are saved by grace through faith and that is not because of any works of righteousness that we have done…

It is God’s work. A number of places in the Bible affirm without question that salvation and growth in grace are God’s work. Listen while I read 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Just as Peter began with, “He has divine power”, Paul begins with, “Now may the God of peace”, do his work in us. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Those things are granted us through the knowledge of Jesus, the one who called us to his own glory and excellence. I am so grateful that my salvation, and my spiritual growth, are both dependent upon God’s ability, not mine! You cannot sanctify yourself! You cannot somehow morph yourself into life and godliness! That is God’s work! His divine power has given us…

Everything we need. Somehow it seems that most Christians expect that they will be rewarded materially as well as spiritually because of their faith. Paul wrote to the Philippians thanking them for helping him materially but he assured them that he knew how to live with material blessings or without them. Listen while I read Philippians 4:11-13. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Verse 13 is often quoted out of its context. We use it too often to claim some ability that we really do not have. This passage affirms that we can live with, or without, material blessings. What we really need is a godly life. We do not have the ability in ourselves it is a gift of God given to us…

Through knowing Christ. Christ alone gives us the ability to know God. The Bible doesn’t say that we should accept Christ as our Savior. The Bible says we must confess Christ as our Lord. Listen to what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:5-6. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The message of the Bible is, “Jesus Christ is Lord”. The persons bringing the message are secondary, not primary. God has lighted our hearts so that we can share the knowledge of the glory of God. Through Christ Jesus God has given us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. We know that because…

God has given us his promises. I feel so sorry for those people who believe that some of the promises of God found in the Bible are no longer ours. Again, let’s listen to the words of the apostle Paul. This passage is found in 2 Corinthians 1:18-21. As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. ²⁰ For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. ²¹ And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, ²² and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

All the promises of God are granted to us in Christ Jesus. Paul tells us that the message he shared was not yes and no. The message he had from God was YES! It is God who has given us all we need to live a godly life. It is God who promises to sanctify us entirely: spirit, soul, and body! He doesn’t promise to teach us how to be godly he promises to “gift” us with godliness!

We are born separated from God by sin and subject to death all our life. Left on our own that inherited sin would drag us down to the pits of hell. All any of us deserve is death and hell! But God demonstrates his love for us in that while we are still sinners Christ died for us. Thanks be to God we can come to a place where we see that Jesus Christ has taking our sins into his own body nailed them to the cross, he then buried them in the grave and left them there. When we confess him as Lord we are brought into his family allowing us to be…

Partakers of his nature. The apostle John lived longer than all the others and had a deeper spiritual insight than most of the others. Towards the end of his life he wrote the gospel of John, first, second and third John and Revelation. In his first little letter he tells us about that nature that we receive from God. Listen while I read 1 John 3:2-3.  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

When he appears we shall be like him. But, we don’t have to wait till then! “We are God’s children now”! The work of God in the life of the believer gives us everything that we need for godly living. And since that is true we make it our desire to be like him in every way. We purify ourselves, growing in grace, because he has worked in our lives to shape us into the image of Christ Jesus.

We begin with faith that God has given us and then, in order to grow in him, we begin the process of…

Adding to our faith. How do we go about that? Listen while I read Philippians 2:12-13. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

One of the most misused passages of Scripture is found at the end of verse 12. Where it says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”. This is in no way talking about our work earning us salvation. If that were the case none of us would have any chance of being saved. We could never do enough good to overcome the sin we were born with and the sin that we have committed ourselves since birth. “Work out” with regard to salvation is an interesting term.

Have you ever watched someone prepare dough for baking? Yeast bread requires a good deal of kneading. All of that working with the dough has a very special purpose. The purpose is to spread the yeast evenly throughout the loaf. If it’s not done properly the bread will be ruined. At the very best, it will rise unevenly. God does the work in us for salvation we do the work of spreading the good things of God throughout our lives as we are guided by the Holy Spirit. Faith itself is the gift of God.

Peter says that we are to add virtue, or excellence, to our faith. Then we are to add knowledge; and then we are to add self-control; then we are to add steadfastness; then we are to add godliness; then we are to add brotherly affection; then we are to add love. I don’t know if this is a necessary sequence of qualities added to our life but I do know that they are necessary and that God has given us everything we need to be able to add them. God does the initial work of salvation and grants us all the tools that we need to grow in grace! Salvation makes us children of God — partakers of the divine nature! Jesus says that we must be born again. That new birth comes about as a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Just as when we are born physically we have to mature, when we are born spiritually it is absolutely essential that we grow up spiritually. A major problem in the church in Corinth was that Paul had to address them as infants in Christ. In Peter’s first letter he said that we, like newborn infants, are to desire the pure spiritual milk, that by it we may grow up into salvation.

We don’t grow spiritually by somehow straining out each one of these qualities mentally. We find out how these qualities work by spending time with the word of God. The Bible teaches all that we need. Yet most Christians read the Bible very little. It is very important that we spend time reading and meditating on the word of God.

Many people say they just don’t have time. Well, if it’s important you will make time! Or, you will use your time more effectively. Most people, I believe, listen to the radio in their car. Most cars today have CD players as part of the radio. You can buy the Bible on CD’s and as you ride to and from work listen to the word of God. You can take some of the time before you go to bed to read a little in the word. You can get up a little earlier and spend a half-hour reading the word of God.

Some people have a real problem in that they do not know how to read or, have a difficulty reading because of dyslexia. Again, the recorded Bible will solve that problem and will help you with your reading. My uncle, Wilbur, had a very limited education. As a result he could not read well and seldom ever tried. Then he met Jesus! He was saved by the power of God and began to apply himself to reading the Bible. He literally learned to read from the King James Bible. As time went by, God called him to preach! He was the pinch-hitter for several churches in the area, filling the pulpit when their pastor was away, or ill. As time went by he saw the need for a new church in the area where he lived. He formed a church out of his friends and neighbors and then deeded a piece of land from his farm to the new church. Then, with his own hands, and the help of many others, he built a church building. Today, the Indian Creek Baptist Church outside of Defuniak Springs Florida is still in existence to the glory of God! One man, determined to grow in the Lord, was used by God to establish a church where many people came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He added to his faith!

Peter tells us that if we have these qualities and they are growing in our lives they keep us from being failures in the Christian walk. God has given us everything we need with regard to life and godliness. He has brought us to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and has worked in our lives to encourage us to grow in grace.

The more these qualities increase the clearer we see our relationship to God. For many Christians there has been a…

Failure to add to faith. Again let’s look to the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³ each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

When God led Paul to preach to the Corinthians he laid a foundation. That foundation is Jesus Christ! Having faith in Jesus gives us everything we need. Our knowledge of Christ releases God’s promises in our life and allows us to begin to build on that foundation. As Paul puts it to the Corinthians, we can build with gold, silver, or precious stones. That’s good quality building! That’s what happens when we add all these qualities to our faith.

Very often we build with wood, hay, or straw. Most of us know the story of the three little pigs. It goes like this:

Once upon a time there were three little pigs. One pig built a house of straw while the second pig built his house with sticks. They built their houses very quickly and then sang and danced all day because they were lazy. The third little pig worked hard all day and built his house with bricks.

A big bad wolf saw the two little pigs while they danced and played and thought, “What juicy tender meals they will make!” He chased the two pigs and they ran and hid in their houses. The big bad wolf went to the first house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in minutes. The frightened little pig ran to the second pig’s house that was made of sticks. The big bad wolf now came to this house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in hardly any time. Now, the two little pigs were terrified and ran to the third pig’s house that was made of bricks.The big bad wolf tried to huff and puff and blow the house down, but he could not. He kept trying for hours but the house was very strong and the little pigs were safe inside.

Now we know that the story of the three little pigs is just a fable but it does teach a truth. What you build with determines how protected you are. The problem with comparing our spiritual development with the three little things is that we are stuck with what we build. We can’t run to the brick house and be safe we have to build out of material that will stand the test of time — and of fire!

The Bible tells us that we are to be careful what we build with. Our work in the Christian life is going to be tested by fire. Remember, it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. The day of judgment will test our work. The work that can go through the fire will be to our credit. There will be rewards for those who build with gold, silver, and precious stones. For those who build with wood, hay, or straw will suffer loss. However, if the foundation is there, then they will be saved, but only as through fire. I am afraid that a lot of us will arrive in heaven with the smell of smoke all over us.

A person who fails to grow in grace, adding to their faith — etc. grows more and more nearsighted even to the point that they are blind to their salvation. They do not lose their salvation they simply lose “touch” with their salvation. It seems strange to say but they forget they are saved because they have not been making every effort to add to the faith they began with. If we look at these qualities, or virtues, we see that they are found in studying God’s word. Satan does everything in his power to keep a person from salvation. Having failed that, Satan works at keeping that person from acting like a Christian. If he is successful in that then the church becomes more and more like the world. Christian believers are reduced to stumbling along, spiritually, getting further and further away from appearing saved. Where are you in your Christian walk? Have you come to know Jesus as your Lord? Are you adding to your faith every day the qualities that cause you to remember your relationship to Christ? Today is the day! Come to Jesus, or, come back to Him!

All scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.