These Things

We're going to turn to his word today. This Bible class, study the word of the Lord. And this is so important, isn't it? You have to have the word. You can't do without it. It's just it's it's our bread. It's what keeps us. It sustains us. It helps us grow in Jesus. It helps us to know what it is to be more like him. You got to have the word. You've got to have the word. And so that's why we take this time this morning to get into the word of God. Second Peter chapter 1. We've been in this chapter for a while. I'm going to read this portion, I guess, probably one last time before we go into a different topic. But first Peter chapter 1, beginning at verse five said this. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue. To virtue, knowledge, to knowledge, temperance. To temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness, charity. Now, we have gone through each one of these different things the Bible has said to add, and we've had a lesson on each one of them talking about what all that means. And then Peter says this, "For if these things," and I'm going to use that for the title of the lesson today. If these things that we have just listed 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 lacks these things is blind and cannot see a far off, and 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 fail. 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. Yeah, I think it's me or it's important as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my deceased to have these things always in remembrance.

We spent about probably the last three months or so in this first chapter of second Peter and he gave this list of qualities, these list of virtues if you will, that we must develop in our spiritual walk. So we, as we said, we've looked at each of them in detail. And so in this lesson, we read Peter's conclusion to this part of his epistle. He's started it out talking about this and then he will deal with some other things later in in this book, which we're not going through the whole book. We wanted to focus on this passage in particular, but second Peter was probably written obviously written near the end of Peter's life. Most likely Paul was either imprisoned or or perhaps even had been martyed at this point. So he was no longer around, no longer available. And Peter and John were the two major remaining apostles that had walked with Jesus and knew him. And so it's getting toward the end of Peter's life. And in some ways, I think we'll see it toward the end of the le lesson. There's there's almost a nostalgic, if not wisful tone in Peter's writing. He understands his time is very short. And he understood that those who had been with Jesus would soon be gone. And he wanted to ensure the next generation held to these truths, that kept on living with this doctrine. And so I find it significant that Paul Peter uses this phrase these things five times in the text that we just read referring back to that list. And in doing so he he gives us some results of doing these things these things that we have studied as well as consequences if we don't. So so

let's take this morning to dissect this this epilogue if you will this ending to this section. He said it this way in verse eight. For if these things be in you and abound, if they're there, they abound in you. We've been struck instructed uh earlier in the chapter in verse 5 to add these qualities to our faith. This verse assumes that we've done so. It talks about you, okay, you've add them. And and while the King James translators, if you look at verse 8, he said, "For if these things be in you, that if is a word that is added by the translators, but I like the way the Derby translation states it. It said, "For these things existing and abounding in you." So Peter wasn't necessarily using an if there in the original language. He's not saying, "Well, if they are, here's what happens." But rather, he's saying, "I know they are. They're in you and they abound in you." And so he said because of that and because you have had these you're not if you add these qualities but you've done that but he doesn't stop with just adding them he says they are abounding they're alive they're working in you and I think that's important with these qualities with these things they need to abound in us that word abounding when you think about it it implies growth it speaks of of movement it's not standing still in your walk with God we don't add these virtues and say, "Okay, well, I've been working on brotherly kindness and I think I got that covered, so now I'll move on to this and and just kind of leave it there." But we must constantly be growing in Christ. Those things must be of increasing. In other words, that word abounding implies increasing. It it just keeps growing. It's been said that whether as people or corporations or anything else, you're either growing or you're dying. You're either moving forward and expanding or whatever or you're fading away. And here's the thing, there's no room for complacency in our walk with God. We don't make it and then sit back and say, "Well, I'm just going to wait for heaven to get here now." You got to keep walking, right? You got to keep growing. You got to keep adding to that faith, adding to our walk with God. Paul said it this way. Don't be weary in welloing. Well, I'm just getting tired of living this way. No, don't stop. Let it abound. He said, "In due season, you'll reap, but you can't faint. You can't quit. You got to keep going." So, if these things are in you, and they are abounding, there's godly virtues, this godly things abounding. If if that is happening, no, we're not growing weary. We're not giving up. And I can look across this congregation, there's people that have served God for many decades, many, many years, and yet you're still living for God. Why? Because you didn't say, "You know what? That was enough. I did it. Okay, I've been there. I got the t-shirt. I'm going home." No, you're living for God. You're still serving him. It's abounding. And here's the thing. We've got to keep our eyes on the prize, don't we? Every one of us. You can't get right close to the end and then just give up. And what is that prize? We are striving to be more like Jesus every day. We are working that these these virtues, these things in our life, and really that's what they are, will make us more like him. Paul gives us an a similar uh sentiment in First Thessalonians 4. He said this, "Furthermore, then we beseech you." In other words, I'm begging you, brethren, and I'm exhorting or I'm teaching you also by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and please God. So, he said, I' I've shown you how to do that. I've told you how. I I've given you instructions how to live, how to walk, how to please God. And then he said this, here's what I'm beseeching you so you would abound more and more. There's no stopping, church. as a church and as your personal life, there is no stopping. We must abound. Both Peter and Paul had given instructions in godly living. And both men desired that we abound in those things more and more. And then

Peter tells us the results of applying these virtues to our life. And it's interesting he does it in a negative way by telling us what he won't be. Sometimes we use that literary tactic, I guess. it. He said this, "They make you that you shall neither be." So here here's what they'll make you so you won't be instead of telling what you would be, right? He said, "I will they make you so that you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." Now barren and unfruitful probably describe the same thing. If a tree is barren of fruit, it doesn't have any fruit, so it's unfruitful. Um but but really the the Greek behind that word barren carries the idea of idleness of not doing anything of of sitting back being at leisure. Uh it's a word that could mean you are unemployed you know or you're not doing anything for gainful employment you're not working. You're not doing or or even laziness. And he said, "So these make you so that you won't be lazy, that you won't be unemployed in the things of God, that you won't be at leisure and idle and not putting adding to these virtues." Because there's no place in God's kingdom for lazy Christians. If we are working and adding these virtues to our adding to our faith these virtues, it's obvious we're not being lazy. We're working at it. I think that's the the essence of the oft misunderstood verse in Philippians 2:12. It says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Work it out. Now, that doesn't mean you work out your own plan. Doesn't mean you sit down and figure it out. Here's how I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do this because here's how I see it, and this is how I want to be saved. No, you got to do it by the word of God. But it what it does mean is just what we have studied. Adding to my faith, working it out that way. It means you have to work at applying the word of God to your life. Now, I'll return to that idea about working that out here uh later when we get to verse 10. But not only we be will we not be idle, but we also not be unfruitful. Again, it's written in the negative. I guess if he'd have stated it positively, he would have said since you have these things and you're abounding in them, it shows that you're active and you're fruitful. You're doing something and that doing something is bearing fruit. It's coming alive in your heart. Now, what's he talking about? Well, it's pretty easy if you go back and look at John 15 because Jesus tells that tells us what that means. He said this, "I am the vine and you are the branch." In other words, I am the source of your life. I'm the source of everything. And he said, every branch, every branch that abides in me that stays there, he said, it brings forth fruit. But if it doesn't abide in me, then it can't bring forth fruit. Well, that makes sense. If you've got a plant that bears fruit and it's got a vine and you cut off a branch and you can lay it there and say, "Okay, I expect to get some grapes or I expect to get raspberries off of this next week." It's not going to happen. It's got to stay in the vine, right? You can't cut it off. And so Jesus tells us that you have to abide in me. He said in verse 16 of John 15, "You have not chosen me, but I chose you and I ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit." So he called us to produce some fruit in our lives. And then he said, "And that your fruit should remain. It can't stop producing fruit." In other words, not notice some similarities between these things that Peter said we should add and what Paul calls the fruit of the spirit. Now, there's not a onetoone correlation on every point, but most of them are pretty close. Peter said, and we've already read about it, add to your faith. So, you start there and then you add virtue and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brother kind, brotherly kindness, and charity or love. Paul has a very similar list, although it's not necessarily in the same order. He said, "Add love, fruit of the spirit is love." Well, that's the charity that Peter talked about. He he mentions joy, which Peter doesn't mention. But then he says longsuffering. So, the fruit of the spirit is longsuffering. That's that patience thing that we don't like, right? Sometimes you just have to wait for things. Sometimes you have to bear some things. He talks about gentleness. He said to add fruit of the spirit is gentleness. That would be a brotherly kindness to one another. He talks about goodness which is virtue. He talks about faith which is faith. He talks about meekness which Peter doesn't mention. But he talks about temperance which we've already studied from Peter's list. So I think if Peter and Paul both saw this as here's what needs to be coming out of our lives. Here's what needs to be abounding. Here's what needs to have. Truly, it's God's desire that we have these things and that they abound in our lives, that we're fruitful in these things, that we are bringing forth these things. Jesus said another place, a good man from the good good things that are in his heart brings forth good things. It does. If there's an evil heart, it brings forth evil things. And so when God works in our lives and he puts his spirit in our lives and in our heart, it will bring forth this fruit. Peter concludes this verse by telling us what we will be fruitful in. He said, "We will be fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." I ponder that statement for a little bit. As Dr. Carden taught us uh in the lesson on knowledge, this is an experiential knowledge. It's not just what you know up here, right? It's it's what we know from living it out. Could it be that adding these virtues are the equivalent to being conformed to the image of Christ? I think it is right. We're trying to be like him and to become what more what he is. He said that's that is our goal. That is our purpose. And when you think about it, all of these virtues were perfected in Jesus. They all fit him. Obviously, he was godly. was God manifest in flesh. Obviously, he he had patience. He had longsuffering. He had all these things in just great measure. And so, as we abound in these things, here's what we know. We are becoming more like Jesus. And we're living out what he was, right? We know him because of that in a very concrete way, a very exper experiential way, a way that is lived out. Not just something we know in the back of our minds, but we're living it out. And so, Peter said, "You will abound in these things. And as you abound in them, and you're not idle, and you're working on it, you're going to know more about Jesus. You're going to come become better acquainted with him."

In verse eight, he turns the tables around a little bit and he talks about those who had these things and abounded in him in verse eight. But in verse nine, he looks at those who did not have those things and were not abounding in them. He said this, "But he that lacks these things. They lack virtue. They lack patience. They lack temperance. They lack love. They lack brotherly kindness. They don't have that in their lives." He said to you, "You lack those things." He said, "They are blind and they cannot see a far off. And they have forgotten that he is purged from his old sins." Now, why would Peter equate not having these virtues to blindness. I think it's interesting the words that Peter uses. Notice that although he calls them blind, he then says they cannot see a far off. Okay? In other words, they weren't totally blind. They just couldn't see very far. Kind of like I am right now. Put those back on so I can see your smiling faces. In other words, they weren't totally blind, but they were very nearsighted. In fact, the English Standard Version translates this way. Whosoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he's blind. You're not seeing correctly. You're not seeing what you should be seeing. So, here's what that says to me. As Christians, we must always have our eyes on eternal things. Sorry, it's not up there. on eternal things, things that are far off, right? We're not looking at present. We're looking at something that's in the future. I know people say, "Oh, you're Christians, your head's always in the cloud." Well, they better be in the cloud to some extent, right? That's our goal. That's what our future is. And he said, "If you're not looking that way, you're very nearsighted." In other words, you're only concerning yourselves by the things you can see here and now in this present life. As Christians, our eyes must be on the eternal things. Why? Why do we strive to be like Jesus? It's because we understand the reward. We understand what is prepared for us. Paul gives great insight in that idea in 2 Corinthians 4:18. He said, "While we're not looking at things which are seen." So, we're not looking at the things with our nearsightedness that are all around us, what we can have, the things we can do here in this world, but that the things which are not seen. For the things which we can see, he said, they're temporal, temporary. They're things of this life. But the things which are not seen are eternal. That's why Jesus said, "Don't lay up treasures here on earth where moth and rust corrupt, but put them up in heaven where nothing can touch it." That's where our vision needs to be. And the carnal man is only focused in on the temporal, what is around me. Carnality sees no point in adding these things, adding virtue, adding knowledge, adding all these things because it prefers to add things that please the flesh. Well, I like this better because it makes me feel good. I like this better because this is what I want. And I think what is apparent in Peter's contrast is those that fail to add these things will ultimately add other things because you're not looking for heavenly things. You begin to add to your life carnal things. And he says that he who focuses on these things in your shortsightedness and looking only at what is temporal, he said, you have forgotten that you have purged from your old that you were purged from your old sins. I think we need to be careful because is not not the plight of a backslider. Starts out wanting to be like Jesus. You start out and you're living for him and you forsake the old life. But if you don't add to those things and you begin looking around, pretty soon it's like, yeah, you know, you're like Egypt when they or Israel when they came out of Egypt. Get away from the slavery, get away from everything there. And they get in the wilderness and they start saying, "Man, we had it so good back in Egypt. We had onions to eat. Just wish we had some instead of just this mana all the time. God's providing. We don't even have to work. Isn't it amazing how we get Yeah, I know. We were back there and they were beating us and they were making us do all this work and everything else, but you know, at least we got to eat onions and leaks. Shortsighted. And when I was saved from their old life, there was this desire to forsake the old ways. I want to be like Jesus. But if we fail to add these things, if we fail to walk after the spirit and and the things of God and to follow after those, we will soon become complacent and we will fall back into the old habits and the old way of life and we begin to looking around the things that we used to do. And I remember when I used to go here and I used to do that and and Peter I I think he's somewhat kind in his description here. He said, "Okay, you've forgotten your old life and you know, you've forgotten that you were purged from that. You were saved from that. You're blind." And and he just kind of leaves it there. But a chapter later, I think he's a lot more forthright in second Peter 2. He says this in verse 20, "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world," so he calls those near things, those temporal things pollutions, these things that are corrupt. He said, "After you've escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so you've experienced him, you're starting to know Jesus." He said, "And then you are again entangled therein and it overcomes you." He said, "Your latter end is going to be worse with them than the beginning. So you're going to be in a worse place you were than when you came to Jesus in the first place." And then he said, "For it had been for them not to have even known the way of righteousness than than after they have known it to turn from it. The holy commandment that they have. And then he gets real raw with it. He said, "But it happened unto them according to this proverb. The dog is turned again to his own vomit, and the sa that was washed." So you took that pig and cleaned it all up. you let her go, returns to her wallowing in the mire. He said, "That's what it's like when you come to Jesus and you forsake all that and he cleans you all up and he saves you and you don't do anything about it and you don't work out that salvation in fear and trembling and you don't continue to add to these things." He said, "Before long, you've forgotten about it and you return right back to what you were." He has forgotten. Peter said that he was purged from his own sins. I want us to think about that today and ask ourselves, am I working to add these things or am I just looking to what I can add that's temporal? What is my focus? What is the most important thing? Are my eyes on eternal things or they on things of this world? Think about it. Our destiny depends on it. What is important?

He starts the next verse, verse 10, with the word wherefore. Of course, that word is like therefore. It always requires us to look back to what was previously said. Wherefore, or for this reason, if you will. Peter had just contrasted those that are adding to their faith. They're adding these things and that those who are did not or are not adding those things. Those who did experience Jesus working in their life, those who did not fall back into sin. And so wherefore because of that contrast, because of those two choices, and life is about really two ways of living. the narrow way and the broad way Jesus called it or because of this he said here's what you must do wherefore the rather brethren give diligence now he used that word earlier uh when he first began to talk about that he said and besides this give diligence add to your faith virtue to virtue and knowledge so now he brings it up again give diligence to make your calling and election sure diligence as we learned And it's not just being very careful about it and working hard at it. It also implies haste. Do it quickly. Make sure you're, you know, it's an earnest haste. Something I've got to do this and I need to do it now in my life. Don't wait till tomorrow. Don't say, you know, well, I'll do it in five years. Start working on this today. And so, we must make adding these things a priority. We must, if you will, be intentional in our walk with God. I know we come here on Sunday morning and we get presence of God comes into place. God touches our hearts and lives and we worship him and a lot of things happen. We grow in his word and then we come to Monday morning. Oh, here I am going back to work. You know, everything just kind of what about that high I had Sunday morning? working for and I'm talking a high of the spirit of God just blessing me and touching my life and doing all these great things and I feel like on top of the world Lord you're you're right here beside me and Monday morning you go where'd he go be intentional in your walk with God some may wonder about these words make your calling and election sure that's an interesting phrase we understand that God calls us Right? He said, "I have called you." We also understand that he's the one that chose us. He said, "I have chosen you. You haven't chosen me." Which I find interesting because, well, why don't you make Jesus Christ your personal savior? He does that choosing. Now, we do have to choose how we have to live. So, how do we make it sure? How do we make it steadfast? How do we make sure we are right? Are we responsible for earning our salvation? Of course not. You can't earn your salvation, right? It does not happen. For by grace, Ephesians 2:8, you are saved through faith. That of yourselves, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. So the salvation he gives you, the saving of your soul, the washing of your sins away in the waters of baptism, the opportunity to repent and to turn your mind, change your mind and go a different direction, the gift of the Holy Ghost that he places in your life, his spirit in your life that will guide you and direct you. That is all a gift from God. You don't earn that. You don't get it. Yeah, you're obedient by going into the water, but you're not saving yourself and washing your own sins away. Some people say, "Well, that's just works." No, that's obedience. That's not works. I'm not earning my salvation. Because if it is, then here's what here's what we do. We say, "Well, I guess I checked off repentance. I said, "I'm sorry, God. I'm going to live for you. I guess the next thing do I got to go get baptized, so I'll do that. Um, now I I'm earning my way to salv." No, you're not. What you're saying is Jesus, you paid the price. You shed your blood for me and I'm going to acknowledge that in faith and you said be baptized. I'm going to do it and you're the one that's going to do the work. So, it's not works. It is the gift of God. In fact, Paul says it is not of works lest any man should boast. So, you can't say, "Yep, I did it. I earned salvation. I went to the altar when they told me. I got baptized like they said and and I'm earning my way to That's not what it's talking about. Salvation is a free gift from God, not something you can earn through good works. So, we don't need to make our calling and election sure so that we can say, "I'm proving to you, God, that this is sure." Because it is sure in God's eyes, right? Jesus has provided a complete finished work of salvation. When he was on the cross and he was about ready to die and he understood, I've made the sacrifice for the sins of the world. He said, "It is finished. So, how are you going to make it any better? How am I going to make it any better?" He's already done the work. He has made that calling. He has made that election. and he has chosen. However, it's here's the thing. It is not going to be finished in me until he comes again. We're saved, but we are being saved. I have a responsibility to be sure that I am adding these things. That was Peter's meaning in the in the words in Acts chapter 2 when he he gave that verse that we quote so many times. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children all that are a far off even as many as the Lord calls. So we're not calling ourselves right we're not sure of that calling but then he said save yourselves from this untoward generation. Now he had just told them he saved you but you have to do something about it. Salvation is a free gift. It's not something we earn through good works. So, let me pause here. I said I'd come back to this idea uh in verse 10 about works. There are those who see would see following Peter's advice as well, you're trying to earn salvation through good works. You're adding to these things faith knowledge. You're just doing that yourself. You're trying to be good enough so that God will accept you. Nothing is farther from the truth. And here's the thing. I think there is a misunderstanding because people love to read Ephesians 2:8-9. We're saved by grace. It's not of works lest any should boast. He's done it all. All you got to do is believe and it's there. But nobody wants to go to verse 10 where Paul said, "For we are his workmanship." So yes, he started the process. He's working on us. But we are created in Christ Jesus. Now listen to this. Unto good works. Whoa. You just said not of works less any combo. Yeah. You're not earning the salvation, but he created you for good works. And not only that, but he said which God hath before orained that we should walk in them. So there has to be some works not to earn salvation but you are working out that salvation by saying I am going to work to become more like Jesus. Now we understand we can't do that by ourselves. We have to do it through the power of the spirit and he is helping us. But you got to cooperate with that spirit right? You can't do it on your own but you do have to cooperate. So while our works don't save us we are saved to walk in good works. God expects us to do those things. This is adding these things to make God's call in our lives sure and secure as we observed earlier. Adding these things we have been studying is tantamount to bearing the fruit of the spirit. And we understand that only happens as we abide in Jesus and he and us his spirit abiding us will bring forth in the form of good works these things that Peter has encouraged. That calling election is made sure because we understand where our strength comes from. There is confidence in knowing that he is working in me. An old sister used to testify and every time she did, she'd get up and say, "I have a no." So salvation. I know it's real. I know it is in my life. This confidence we have comes with some promises. In verse 10, he said this verse 10, "If you do these things, these things adding to your faith, all the things we're talking about, you shall never fall." If we are truly doing these things, I don't think there's a fear that you're going to fall back into sin. To go back to Peter's earlier thought, if we become nearsighted and take our eyes off the goal, yes, we will fall. But if we keep our eyes on Jesus and our focus on pleasing him, you don't have to worry about backsliding. Now, I'm not saying you won't make mistakes, but here's what I know. If you do are trying to please God and you make a mistake, we immediately go to Jesus, right? He said this, "My little children, these things John wrote, I say it right unto you that you sin not." So, so don't go out there and sin just because you want to. But if you sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation. He is the covering for our sins. Not for ours only, but the sins of the whole world. I've heard people say, "Well, I can't live for God because I know if I try it, I'm gonna fall. I'm gonna fail. I can't make it. I can't do it." You know what? You can't do it on your own. And he doesn't expect that. But he puts his spirit in your life. And Paul makes it clear that it is God working in us. That fruit of the spirit, not the fruit of your efforts. That's the difference there. These things gives us an assurance that you will not fall. Paul expresses that same confidence in second Timothy chapter 1:12. He said, "For I know whom I have believed. I know Jesus, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep the things I have committed unto him against that day. I don't have to worry about, well, I'm not going to be able to make it. In fact, Jude writes it this way in Jude 1:24. Now, unto him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Notice he didn't say you're going to be able to do it and keep yourself from falling. No, he will keep you. So, that's the first promise. You will never fall if you're adding these things. If you're not, you're on dangerous ground. The second promise we have in second Peter 1 11 is this. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What a picture of triumph. There may, and I emphasize may, be those who scarcely make it into heaven. Who come crawling in or arriving sheepishly like maybe I shouldn't really be here. I maybe there will be no doubt Judas Jude describes some who have been saved with fear. They've been pulled from the fire. So, you know, I just got scared, so I better do something about this. But I think those that add these things They're going to be the saints that go marching in. I've been waiting for this. I've been living for this. I've been doing this and focusing on this all my life. Right? Those who are part of that great triumphant morning. Those that have been waiting there there are two words that are interesting in this verse. The first word is translated ministered. And so so is ministered unto you in entrance into the kingdom of God. That word ministered is the same verse that we saw in verse five where it says add to your faith virtue. And here it said, "And so will be added to you an abundant entrance." So if you do your your part, let God work in you and you add these things to your life, he is going to add an entrance into heaven. What a promise, church. That gives you a real incentive to say, "Well, then I'm going to start adding some things. I'm going to start working this out. The second word is that not only it is ministered into this entrance, but it is administered to you abundantly. Isn't it interesting? Those things that you are abounding in, then abundantly are going to enter into heaven. It's the same concept there. Just great. I think it's a reminder that it is important how we live our lives. There there's an interesting verse in second a passage 2 Corinthians chapter 3. There is that promise of victory but there is also if you will a promise of sorrow in some ways. 1 Corinthians 3:11 said this. It said for other foundation can no man lay which is laid which is Jesus Christ. We understand that's what we're built upon. And then he said this. If any man builds on that foundation, so you you're you're founded on Jesus and you're building your life. He said, "And you add gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble." So, you're putting together this building, if you will. You're building your life with these different things. He said, "Every man's work shall be manifest or revealed for the day is going to declare it because it will be revealed by fire." So he's talking about a judgment here, a time of judgment. And the fire, he said, will try every man's work, what sword it is. So it's going to try what you've done. He said, "If there's any man's work abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward." Okay? Fire does not burn gold, precious stones, silver. It might melt it, but it doesn't burn it up, wood, hay, stubble. It's going to be gone. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. The scene he's describing here. He describes in 2 Corinthians 5:10. He said, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according that he hath done, whether it's good or whether it's bad." Now, this is not the great white throne judgment that we read about in Revelation where all the dead alive, everybody stands before the great white throne, the books are open. Is your name in the lamb's book of life? Yes. No. You end up in hell. It's not that. This is a different judgment. This is a judgment of the saints of God after the rapture. We're going to stand before Jesus and at that judgment, he is going to look at our lives. Now, here's the thing. You've made it in the rapture. There's no fear of losing salvation. If you're not saved, you're not going in the rapture. But if you are, there's no fear of losing that. However, it is a judgment of the life we lived. And Paul uses an analogy of the corruptible things, wood, hay, and stubble, and contrasted with gold, silver, precious stones. The former things are useless, and they're going to be burned up, while the latter are valuable and they will withstand the flame. And the analogy is this, that carnal works and the things we do in this life and the things that we build and the things that are so important to us where we're nearsighted and looking all around us, right? Those things are useless. and net us nothing. But the spiritual things that we do and the way we build our lives, adding to our faith, these things are going to stand forever. Notice that Paul said, "If any man's work shall be burned, he will suffer loss, but he shall be saved." The carnal worldly ambitions will come to not. They shall be burned up. And the one that did them, he said, "You are going to suffer loss." Loss of what? Loss of reward in heaven. There are many rewards, many things he has prepared for us. But if we choose to live our lives just barely scraping and just barely making it through those gates and focusing on so many other things, there is going to be loss. How sad it would be to stand on that day and realize I just really didn't give it my all. I just did enough. Most of what I did in my life was useless. And others receiving great reward. I think that might be why Revelation 21 said God had to wipe away all the tears from their eyes. There's going to be some people that say, "Wow, what was I focusing on?"

So, as we wrap it up, I ask this question. How important is the things that we have studied? I think it was param important giving Peter's closing thoughts. I don't have time to get into those. We're out of time. So, I'll just read it quickly. I will not be negle negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. Peter said, I'm going to continue to remind you of these over and over and over again even though he said you know them and you're established in them. So, yes, you're living in that. In fact, he said I think at me or I think it's important to continue to reminding you this. I know I'm shortly going to be dying. He said, "Moreover, after I die, I want to make sure you know these things." That's why we have it in the word of God. My hope is that what we have just looked like looked at is not just another series of Sunday lessons, but that we take it to heart. Be diligent. Make haste. I'll read it one more time. Add to your faith virtue. to virtue knowledge to knowledge temperance temperance patience to patience godliness to godliness brotherly kindness to brotherly kindness charity and all I'll add is this the rewards are worth it rewards are worth it

let's stand let's thank him for the promises in his word so thankful God that if we choose to live this life and choose Lord to let you work in us there are great things that you have prep prepared for us. Eyes not seen, ears not heard. We don't even know everything it's going to be. But it is there for you. For us, for you many mansions, Lord, that we will be there with you forever. We thank you for your promises in Jesus name. Jesus name. Greet one another.