Be Diligent - Part 1

We live in the era of fast foods and quick fixes, book digests, magazine digests, instant photographs, and all of us seem to be in such a big hurry. But the things that really count can't be accomplished overnight. You can grow mushrooms overnight; you can't grow oak trees overnight. You can't build a strong home suddenly with some quick answer. You can't develop a lasting ministry with some meeting you held in a motel someplace at a seminar. You can't build real Christian character in one day. 

If anybody knew this, the Apostle Peter knew this. The Lord Jesus said to Peter, "You are Simon, which means a hearer, I'm going to make you Peter, which means a rock. I'm going to take that hunk of clay and make it into a rock." Now how do you turn clay into rock? Well, you put it under pressure. You put it into heat; you put it through the furnace. The rocks that we see today in our world were were made, created by God through intense pressure and heat. And that's what God had to do with Peter. He took Peter a sand dune and made a rock out of him; took a hunk of clay and made a real strong Christian. 

Now, two words describe this process: discipline and diligence. You say, "I don't know why I'm going through what I'm going through." Well, I don't either, but I'll tell you one thing: we go through what we go through because God is making us. He's not against us; He's for us. And He's got to put us into the furnace occasionally to harden us. He's building character. We don't hear much about character these days; we hear a good deal about conduct, but not much about character, and yet conduct comes from character. 

The Lord Jesus took Peter and turned him from clay to rock through discipline and diligence, and this may explain why five times in his epistles Peter talks about being diligent. 1 Peter 1:10 talks about it in verse 10, the prophets who diligently prophesied and diligently searched the scriptures. But in 2 Peter, he mentions this diligence four times. 2 Peter 1:5, "and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge," and he goes on to describe these wonderful Christian characteristics.

And then in 2 Peter 1:10, "wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure." And then in verse 15, "moreover I will endeavor," and that word endeavor is the same word translated diligence or be diligent, "moreover I will be diligent that ye may be able after my departure, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance." Peter said, "I want to be diligent to give you the word of God." And then 2 Peter 3:14, "wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless." 

Here then are five references to diligence in the Christian life. And when you put them together, they boil down to four very practical admonitions. Number one: be diligent to be sure that you are saved. 2 Peter 1:10, "wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure." Be diligent to be sure that you are saved. Secondly: be diligent to grow in your Christian life. 2 Peter 1:5, "and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." He's talking here about Christian growth. Be diligent to grow in your Christian life. 

Then he says: be diligent to search the scriptures. This you find in 2 Peter 1:15 and 1 Peter 1:10. 2 Peter 1:15 says, "moreover, I will endeavor, I will be diligent that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance." Peter was diligent to give us the word of God, and now we should be diligent to search that scripture. 1 Peter 1:10, "of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you." Be diligent to search the scriptures and to know the word of God. Finally: be diligent to be ready when Jesus comes. 2 Peter 3:14, "wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless." 

Now today I want to consider 2 Peter 1:10-11. Be diligent to be sure that you are saved. That's where it begins. And then, the Lord willing, tomorrow we'll discuss be diligent to grow in your Christian life. How do you do that? Then, be diligent to search the scriptures—we'll discuss that on Thursday. And then, be diligent to be ready when Jesus comes; that will be our theme on Friday. And so as we study the word of God, remember our purpose is to be diligent. 

Be diligent to be sure that you are saved. Now, this statement that Peter makes in 2 Peter 1:10 reminds us that life's greatest danger is false assurance. Now this is true in every area of life. Your health: a person perhaps says, "Well, I feel good, I'm just doing fine, there's no need to go to the doctor for a checkup. I'm not going to worry about anything." And then one day all of a sudden he has a heart attack, or one day he becomes very ill, they X-ray him, they make tests and discover he has a life-threatening tumor. You see, we can have a false assurance of health. People who are out jogging, "Oh, I feel so good jogging," they drop dead of a heart attack. Why? Well, they had a false assurance. Now I know sometimes these things happen and the very finest clinic perhaps could not have detected the problem. I'm not criticizing the medical profession; I'm simply saying it's a dangerous thing to have false assurances with your health. 

This could be true of your automobile. "Well, the old car is working pretty good," and we're driving down the highway and suddenly the brakes fail. Why? Well, we didn't have the the brakes checked before we left on the trip. False assurance. This could be true of finances. "Oh, I have my money in one of the finest institutions in town. They've been there for years." And then you read the morning paper, here's the headline: the whole place has failed. You see, you can have a false assurance about almost anything. Those who were who were riding on the Titanic had a false assurance—the unsinkable ship. 

But the greatest false assurance is a false assurance about salvation. Now Peter knew something about that. In John 6, our Lord's congregation left Him. From that time forth, many of His disciples, meaning those who were following Him, not the twelve apostles, many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. In John 6:68, "Then Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?'" Jesus had said to His disciples, "Are you going to leave too?" And Peter said, "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we," (notice, not I), "we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter looked around at the other eleven disciples, and he was pretty confident that they were saved because Peter did not know about Judas.

So Jesus answered them, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. Imagine that! Peter thought all of the apostles were born again. "We believe, we are sure." And Jesus said, "Peter, don't give testimony for somebody else. You don't know about somebody else. The Lord knows them that are His." And Judas turned out to be a counterfeit, didn't he? 

It was Peter who heard our Lord say, "Not everyone that saith to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out demons? And in thy name done many wonderful works?'" Why, if that wouldn't qualify you for heaven, what would? "And then will I profess unto them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.'" We've got to be very careful about being convinced that somebody else is saved. Only God knows. 

Life's greatest danger: a false assurance. In fact, Peter talks about that in 2 Peter 2 about these false professors, these false Christians. Verse 22, "It is happened unto them according to the true proverb, 'The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.'" These people were not sheep. Here's a dog that throws up and it feels better. Here's a pig that takes a bath and it looks better. But you can feel better and look better and go straight to hell. The thing that proves that we are really born again is that we have the new nature down inside. We have received God's nature; we're not pigs and dogs anymore. There are those who profess to be saved and then they drift back into their old life again and somebody says, "Oh, they've lost their salvation." No, they never had it. 

Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:4, "by which are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, so that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature." Now that's the proof of salvation: we have the Holy Spirit down inside, we are partakers of the divine nature. We can know that we're saved. Life's greatest danger. 

But this verse also talks about life's greatest decision. What is that decision? To make your calling and election sure. To be sure that you're saved. Yeah, we make a lot of decisions in our lives: we decide what school to attend, we decide what career we want to pursue, we decide what life's mate we want to choose. We make decisions. The greatest decision anybody makes is the decision to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and to know that you're born again. "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure." 

Now there are two sides to this matter of salvation. There is the election, God's choosing; and there is the calling, God calls us through His Word, by His Holy Spirit, and then we believe and trust Jesus Christ as our Savior. This whole process is described beautifully by Peter in 1 Peter 1:2, "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."

All three members of the Godhead are involved in our salvation: chosen by the Father, set apart by the Spirit, convicted by the Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ shedding His blood for us on the cross. And all of this comes together when we are born again through faith in Christ. 1 Peter 1:23, "being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever." Life's greatest decision: to make your calling and election sure. 

Now how do you make it sure? Well, this calling is described by Peter in 1 Peter 1:15, "as he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of life." If you're born again, you're called to be holy. A changed life is evidence of true salvation. 1 Peter 2:9 talks about our calling: "he hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." If you're in the dark, then you're not born again. If the light of God's grace and the light of God's guidance shine in your life, then you're born again. 1 Peter 2:21, "for even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps." Called to suffer. Are you suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ? Called to inherit a blessing, 1 Peter 3:9. Called to God's glory, 1 Peter 5:10, "but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus." Now, have you made your calling and election sure? 

This leads to a third reminder that Peter gives us in this verse. Life's greatest danger is false assurance. Life's greatest decision is to know for sure that you're born again, you've responded to God's call through faith in Jesus Christ. And now we have life's greatest delight. What is that? Well, it's to be enjoying the blessing of being God's people. "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if ye do these things ye shall never fall." Isn't it wonderful to be able to go through life without stumbling?

You see, when you have received Christ as your Savior and you know for sure you're born again, it takes care of the past, the present, and the future. It takes care of the past—verse 9 of 2 Peter 1 tells us we've been purged from our old sins. I like that. Purged from our old sins. The past is taken care of; we can forget those things which are behind. God will never remember our sins against us forever. 

It also takes care of the future because he tells us in verse 11, "for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." This is a description of what happened when the Olympic winners came home to their villages and cities in Greece. Sometimes the city, being very proud of the winners, would put up a new gate in the wall and dedicate it to the memory of the winner. What he's saying is, you're going to come home to heaven like an Olympic winner. Life's greatest delight: the past is forgiven; the present, we're not going to run around and stumble and fall; the future, we're going to have an abundant entrance into the presence of the Lord. 

Well, I have to close by asking you: are you diligent to make your calling and election sure? Nothing else really matters. The most important thing is that you and I know that we've been born again and that we are going to heaven. 

Be diligent to be sure that you are saved. Peter gives us that admonition in 2 Peter 1:10, "wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure." Now once you are sure that you belong to God, that you have the divine nature, you've been born of God into the family of God, then the next admonition is: be diligent to grow in your Christian life. 2 Peter 1:5, "and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." 

Spiritual growth is not automatic. For that matter, physical growth is not automatic. If people don't eat and exercise and keep clean, they're not going to grow as they should. When you were saved, God gave to you His divine nature down inside. We read that in verse 4, "by which are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, so that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." That's a marvelous thing. My old nature has now been invaded by a new nature, and the Holy Spirit of God wants to use the Word of God to cultivate that new nature and to help me to grow. 

The philosopher Aristotle said, "the true nature of a thing is the highest it can become." Now let me repeat that, it's worth thinking about. The true nature of a thing is the highest it can become. On the street where I live, we have a lot of pin oaks; they are really beautiful. But they also produce acorns. And you pick up one of those little acorns, and really the only thing in the neighborhood interested in those acorns are the squirrels. I look at an acorn and say, "This is not very pretty, I mean it's alright, but here it is, you know, it's just an acorn." Ah, but you're not looking at an acorn. The nature of that acorn is a tree; the highest it can become is that beautiful pin oak. 

Now you look at a Christian and say, "Well, he's not much to look at, I mean he's just an ordinary person." Wait just a minute. There's a new nature down inside. That divine nature has in it the potential for us to become more and more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we are not going to become gods. There are those who teach that when you become a Christian, ultimately you become a god. That's not true. We're going to one day have a body, a glorified body like the Lord Jesus Christ. One day we shall enter into heaven with all of the glory that's involved there. Peter talks about that in verse 11, "for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

Now don't put yourself down. Don't look at yourself and say, "Well, there's nothing here." You have tremendous potential. But this potential will not be released by the Lord unless you and I diligently work at it. There is a cooperative enterprise described here, and you and I must work with the Lord. It is God that worketh in you, therefore we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. 

Now we shouldn't use divine election as an excuse for spiritual laziness. Oh, I've met these people; they say, "Well, I'm one of the elect, so God will take care of everything." Well, He says give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Make use of your election. Election is not an excuse for laziness and lack of diligence in the Christian life. Rather, it's an encouragement because I know I am one of God's children, it encourages me to lay hold of all of the divine resources that He has available for His family. And the fact that you're going to heaven is no excuse.

He talks in verse 11 about the abundant entrance into heaven. Someone says, "Well, one of these days I'm going to heaven, so when I get there I'll be perfect." I have a suspicion, my friend, that when you and I get there, we're going to enter glory knowing what we know from the Word of God. Now every vessel in heaven is going to be filled. Every vessel in heaven is going to have glory, but some vessels are going to be bigger than others. And some are going to have a greater experience of glory because they've been diligent here on earth.

Do you have the idea that you can be a carnal Christian, a disobedient, worldly Christian, and then when the Lord comes back all of a sudden everything is changed? Oh yes, you will be changed. But you're going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ and you're going to give an account, and so am I, of the deeds done in the body. Therefore He says to us, we had better be diligent. 

And beside this, beside getting saved, "giving all diligence." Now that little phrase means to bring alongside and cooperate, to make every effort alongside. Alongside what? Alongside of God. God wants to move me along in growing. Hebrews 6 says, "let us go on to maturity." Now I come alongside with God, I keep in step with the Holy Spirit. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The Spirit of God is on the move. God wants me to grow. Now I step alongside and we walk together. That's what this word means, giving all diligence. A walking alongside, bringing alongside and making every effort. 

You see, you and I as Christians ought to put as much diligence into our Christian growth as we do other things that we do. The golf game, the tennis game, whatever hobby you may have. There are people who study manuals on how to catch fish, but they don't study their Bibles. There are people who know all about many things: baseball and football. Nothing wrong with these things, but oh, if we would just put into our Christian devotion and discipline the same kind of diligence that an athlete puts into a game, we would all be better Christians. 

He tells us we should add. Now the word add means to supply generously and pay the cost. It's the picture of somebody in a Greek city who paid the bill for the annual festivities, who paid the bill for the chorus to present a concert, a special presentation, perhaps a play of some kind. Somebody had to pay the bill. Now this word add means to supply generously and pay the bill. There is a price to pay for Christian growth. And it's not just choosing between the good and the bad; you have to choose between the better and the best. It's a matter of setting priorities and having your time under God's control. We don't like that. We want to do everything, go everywhere, own everything. No, no. Peter says if you're going to supply generously what is needed for this spiritual growth, you've got to pay a price. 

Notice now the description of this particular growth. "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue." Add—that means there is one quality leading to another. It's not just separate individual fields producing separate individual harvests. There's a mingling here; one thing helps us to develop another. Add to your faith virtue. The word virtue means moral excellence. It means goodness; it means the fulfilling of your potential.