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What Does a Fully Supplied Christian Character Look Like? (Christian Character Series Part X)
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Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Access more audio videos and Bible Study resources@christianquestions.com Our topic is what Does a Fully Supplied Christian Character Look Like? Here's Rick and Jonathan.
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Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co host for over 25 years. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?
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2nd Peter 1:8 for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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At the beginning of his second letter, the Apostle Peter reminded us that God in his power and love, has graciously given us everything we need to be faithful to the calling of discipleship. This walk of sacrifice is supported by the overwhelming gift of God's precious and magnificent promises. Peter then tells us that because we have such privilege and grace before us to build on our faith. He tells us that as a result of having this gift of faith, it should help us fully develop moral excellence. That moral excellence should in turn drive us towards spiritual knowledge which feeds our ability to have self control. Our outward manifestation of self control should trigger powerful perseverance, which in turn nourishes a godly and reverent character. This godly character produces an all encompassing, encompassing brotherly kindness, which in turn develops the kind of selfless love that our Lord Jesus and our Heavenly Father both have.
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All of these things were put in place by the Apostle Peter in the first seven verses of this chapter. In this teaching, Peter has revealed an amazing process that it followed and it will literally change our lives.
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As we have spent several episodes digesting all of this, we now want to focus on how Peter concludes this Christian character development series. As we will see, his statements in the next several verses solidify the power of the process that he's revealed. So Jonathan, we spent weeks episodes going through all of these pieces and now here's how the Apostle Peter wraps this up. Second Peter, chapter one, verses eight through eleven.
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For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things and you will never stumble. For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
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So there's a lot in these verses as Peter wraps it up and he's really, really packaging this so we can get what he's been teaching us. So let's break this down. Let's begin with verse 8. Second Peter 1:8.
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For if these qualities are yours and are increasing these, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Okay, so he says, for if these qualities are yours, what qualities, you may ask. Well, we know the answer, don't we? It's these rungs of this ladder. The first rung, the allegiance attribute of faith.
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This is the allegiance of our life's direction.
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Next is the allegiance attribute of moral excellence.
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This is the allegiance of our heart.
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And then the allegiance attribute of knowledge.
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This is the allegiance of our intellect.
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The allegiance attribute of self control.
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This is the allegiance of our passions.
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The allegiance attribute of perseverance.
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This is the allegiance of our energy.
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The allegiance attribute of godliness.
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This is the allegiance of our character.
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The allegiance attribute of brotherly kindness.
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This is the allegiance of our relationships.
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And finally the allegiance attribute of love.
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And this is the allegiance of our purpose. Let's break down verse eight. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, what does increasing mean? It means make or be more, that is increase to super inbound.
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When you super abound, what does that mean? It's a super abound increase. It's not just like, well, let me just add a few drops and see what happens. This is a dramatic increasing. Let's look at an example of this in Philippians 4:17.
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Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound or increase to your account. How do we get these qualities?
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So these qualities. How do we get these qualities to really explode within us into something really, really dramatic? And it really comes down to being through faith as our foundation. The really good news is that we don't have to have all these qualities in a big way as we begin. A lot of times look at this and it's like overwhelming. Well, you don't have to have them in a big way to begin. All we need is faith and the focus and desire to properly build on that faith.
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Well, Rick, that's good news because when I began, I didn't have many of these qualities. And think about it. When we first find faith, our emotions are a good as we begin to follow Christ. But we need to build on our faith beyond our emotions to maturity.
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And that's really the key. Building on our faith beyond our emotions. It's not about emotion. It's about character development. So let's be focusing on this verse. If we are really growing these qualities in our everyday lives, then as the verse says, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so there's a lot of little pieces in here. They render you neither useless nor unfruitful. Well, useless. What does that mean? It's saying we won't be useless. That word means to be inactive or unemployed or lazy.
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And let's look at an example of this in Matthew 12:36. But I say unto you that every idle or useless word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. So being idle is having a lack of purpose for the Lord. The next point in verse eight brings out unfruitfulness. To be unfruitful means barren, not yielding what it ought to yield. So picture in your mind a tree that is barren. It's not yielding fruit. It's not doing what it's supposed to do. We need to ask ourselves, what about me? Do I lack fruitfulness?
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And that's such an important thing. Be neither useless, neither unemployed, essentially, or barren. And really, the thought is, we're not approaching our lives the way we have been shown. We need to approach our lives through our faith. We need to really, really focus on this and ask ourselves those really, really hard questions. Let's look at Ephesians 5:11 as an example of that unfruitful or barrenness you were talking about.
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And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
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Pretty dramatic thing. The works of darkness are not fruitful in the context of spiritual growth. They simply aren't. And like you said, Jonathan, so when we come with that faith and that emotion, that's good. But that needs to be the catalyst to changing, walking away from certain things toward fruitfulness. And the apostle Peter really does show us how. So he says in this verse, again, if you have these things, they will render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we don't have these things, instead, we will be flourishing in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to understand that a little bit better.
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Yeah. The word for true knowledge in second Peter 1:8 means full discernment, a precise and correct knowledge. You know, Rick, there's no uncertainty here. You know, a great example of true knowledge is in Colossians 1:9 and 10. For this cause. We also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to Pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge or full understanding of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that ye may walk worthy of the Lord unto all, pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.
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I like the way you described that. There's no ambiguity here. It's a clear understanding. There's no, well, I didn't know this part. It's that full discernment that we need. And so the Apostle Peter is really telling us that if we have these things, we won't be unemployed or inactive or barren in the true knowledge in really understanding our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we want to be. I mean, look, when I grow up as a Christian, I want to be one who understands my Lord so I can follow him better every day. Developing our Christian character along appropriate lines drives us to a truer and more complete understanding of our Lord Jesus. That's what these verses are telling us. He's our model. Understanding him is understanding what we strive to emulate.
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How about the Apostle Peter? You know, he taught us one of the most comprehensive lessons in our Christian lives.
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He did, and he did it in very few words. And it was so much to the point. And it was such a. It is such a very powerful package that is truly transformational if we allow it to be. And we're going to come back to that as we move forward. Jonathan, let's put this together. We've looked at verse eight here. So keeping our Christian characters growing, let's look at the Apostle Peter's first conclusionary thought for this lesson.
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Through our sincerely applied faith, we have the capacity to develop moral excellence, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. The key here is to be a work in progress, to not be discouraged by what we don't have, rather to be encouraged by what we are given to work with. Rick, this is such a high standard, and it sounds daunting.
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It does. And that's why not being discouraged with what we don't have is such an important piece of this, because the encouragement of growth has got to be what we're all about. You know, a little child may be looking at other children that are a little bit older that can run when you can walk and, you know, maybe you keep falling down. But most kids, they see the example and they want to run. And that's the point. We want to see the example say, okay, maybe I'm crawling at this point in my Christianity, or I'm walking, I just need to work on these things and I can learn to grow in Christ. That's the key for everything here. Looking at all that we've been given, our response to these gifts and tools needs to be enthusiasm and determination.
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Peter has thus far emphasized the value of having and growing these virtues. What happens if we don't work on growing our Christian characters?
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Well, the Apostle Peter's next element of teaching focuses on this very problem. And it is a problem, and it's an incredibly important piece of our Christian character puzzle. In any endeavor of life, it's critical to not only know what growth and achievement look like, but also to know what falling short looks like as well. So we need to understand what growing and achievement look like. We need to understand falling short. Don't try it out to see what it looks like, observe it from afar, but you need to know what it looks like. So let's look at the falling short side. This is the other side. This is the disappointing side of this story. So let's look at two Peter, the next verse, Chapter one, verse nine.
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For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. You know, blind literally means blind. And short sighted means to see dimly, to see only what is near.
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If we lack these qualities now, we are called Christianity. And if we lack these qualities, the apostle is saying, you're the blind or short sighted. You either can't see or you're not seeing the bigger picture. You're kind of in a foggy state, so to speak. Jonathan, let's read 2 Peter 1:9 from the Concordant version. It's a version that really works on using the actual definitions of the words. So sometimes it doesn't sound really easy, but I really appreciated the way it worded part of this.
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For he in whom these are not present is blind, closing his eyes, getting oblivious of the cleansing from the penalties of his sins of old. This is saying that we are losing our ability to see what's right in front of us. And this reminds me of 1st Timothy 4, 2. By the means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience, as with a branding iron. To be seared in conscience means to render unsensitive. To be blind and insensitive to our weaknesses is the last thing any of us should want.
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We don't want to be oblivious to the things that we've been notified are there. And look, obliviousness can be a choice, and it can be a really dastardly choice. It does not help us so we need to understand what Peter is saying and take this little piece as just as important as the rest of the pieces that he's putting together. Can I be coming down to this blind or short sighted obliviousness that he's talking about? Are we being genuinely transformed and elevated in our response to the call of Christ? Again, emotions are good at the beginning, but they don't carry growth. They can't. We have to change from the inside out. Let's look at in principle a teaching of Jesus that really helps us to focus in on this. Matthew 13:20, 23, one of his parables.
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The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places. This is the man who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the Word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil. And this is the man who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some a hundredfold, some 60 and some 30. Let's ask ourselves a mirror question. Do I have a thorny heart?
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That's a big question. Do I have a tendency towards being oblivious towards those things that I may be comfortable with or used to that are not in line with all of these character development traits, this virtue ladder that the apostle Peter has built for us? Am I in that situation? Because Peter's saying watch out and Jonathan, the fact that he brings it up means it's easy to have happen. He's not bringing it up to say that. And in the one in a million chance he's saying this is something you have to watch out for. Spiritually fruitful characters and lives are what we're called to produce. That's what our lives are to be about. Let's go a little bit further. He talked about blind and short sighted in the verse. He says we have forgotten the purification from our former sins. This word purification literally means the washing, the cleansing, the ritual purging of our sins. And this is a big thing that the apostle is bringing up. What does he mean forgotten? The purification of our former sins. Let's look at Hebrews chapter one, verse three, because it helps to put this in order.
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Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
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high, when Jesus himself had washed us, had purified us of our sins. So when Peter says, forgetting the purification, he's saying, forgetting the sacrifice and the merit of what Jesus did to pull us out. Discipleship means that we've been cleansed from our previous lives, cleansed from that to a new creation.
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Have we forgotten? We need to continually reflect on all our Savior did for us. And then we have to see where we were when he called us and how he's helped us up to this point. Self reflection is so important, so we don't let former sins creep back into our lives.
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You're right. And it's easy to get comfortable. The growth process is not one necessarily of great comfort. I'm not saying there's no comfort in it, but where is the comfort coming from? Is it coming from honest service and reverent service to God, or is it coming from, I can rest now in what I used to be or what I am used to. So let's focus on that self observation and really, really, really keep that as we move forward Here. The cleansing. The cleansing creates a deep personal responsibility to live in accordance with this upward call. Along the lines of this cleansing, let's look at Romans 6, 11, 13.
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Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ, Jesus Christ. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. But present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, because
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we have been purified by Jesus. So the idea here, the thought, the teaching, the principle is that's what you were. Do not go back there. You have been purified. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Present yourselves to God through the righteousness of Christ. Never forget what we have been called to. That's what all of this is saying. And then Peter is saying, if you are lacking these qualities, you're blind, shortsighted, having forgotten this purification. Keep it in mind.
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You know, we began this verse in verse 9 in this segment, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. You know, that made me realize the context is about those who have been in the way for quite a while and have relapsed into bad habits and have forgotten how the blood of Jesus cleansed them and gave them A new start. You know, this describes a lukewarm faith.
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What happens is we tend to relax and then we relapse. That's really what you're saying? And yes, and the apostle is warning us, don't allow that to happen. Let's do a quick look at the resulting challenges of not working at climbing this virtual ladder. What happens if we stop or get sidetracked or things come up? Well, First Corinthians 3, 11, 13.
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For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
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Pause there for a second. There's only one foundation here. Again, it's not about emotion, it's about growing your life based on that one foundation.
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Now, if any man builds on the foundation of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident, for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
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Okay, so let's pause there again. So we have one foundation. That's Christ. So it's only talking about those called to this call, and it's saying that we can choose our free moral will. We can choose what we build on that foundation with. Is it the things that the Apostle Peter told us or are we starting to mix in other things, other earthly things? And if you notice, you have the gold, silver, precious stones, they're not going to get burned up, are they? Or wood, hay, straw, not very good in a fire situation. The comparison is, am I building with the indomitable spiritual things or am I building with earthly things? So what happens?
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Verse 14, if any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved. Yet so as through fire.
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So you're on that foundation. But if we're not building with the things from above that we are given, then our work will be burned up. It won't accomplish that which it set out to accomplish, but God's grace says, but he'll be saved but through fire, through difficulty. And so that's the important thing. So when we look at these two different aspects of this, we have to ask ourselves the question, will we succeed or will we fall short? And that question really is bound up in what am I building with? Will we succeed or will we fall short?
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Well, what are some similarities and differences between high level and low level success? You know what's common, Rick?
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Okay, so what's common between the succeeding and falling short. The high level and low level. The commonality is the foundation of Jesus Christ as it was mentioned in the verse upon which we are to build a fruitful life of discipleship. That's common in this verse and in our lives.
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But what's missing, ah, see, this is the key.
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What's missing in those that fall short, that come up with a lower level of success. What's missing is spiritually minded choices. These Christians choose to build with earthly and perishable things upon a foundation meant for spiritual and eternal glory. Human comfort, familiarity and desire drive these foolish choices. We get stuck and get comfortable and relax and then relapse. And then we're building the wrong kind of structure on this beautiful gift that we've been given of salvation.
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What's the result?
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What these Christians have built is easily destroyed in the fire of testing. Now, in spite of this failed structure, these Christians are saved from destruction. That's what the scripture says. We need to really, really, really grab hold of that. They're saved from destruction because this saving comes through the fiery trials. And that's where the realization is, wow, I've fallen short. I need to get up and get going again.
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Well, Rick, this is a reality check. It's such a high standard.
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It is. And we need to understand that we. Just because we may have been in the way for a long, long time doesn't mean we are exempt from this kind of challenge. When we relax, we tend to relapse. We have to rest instead of relaxing. And that's something that we're going to actually come to next. Really take heart. Even if we find ourselves not doing as well as we should, even if we say, oh man, what is happening here? There is a marvelous hope. Let's look at Hebrews 4, 14, 16.
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Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but. But one who has been tempted in all things, as we are yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I've got work to do. You know, if we don't think we need to improve or restart, we're oblivious.
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Yeah. And we want to avoid that. And that's why the apostle Peter, in the midst of this beautiful, wonderful lesson in two Peter, chapter one, the, you know, verses essentially 5 through 12, this beautiful positive lesson, he puts this verse in there to say, be aware, be on guard. This isn't an automatic. This is something that we do have to work on. And looking at verse nine here, keeping our Christian characters growing, let's look at the Apostle Peter's second conclusionary thought.
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For the called out disciples of Christ, there can always exist a downside. The dilemma only arises when we allow our hearts and minds to stray from true Christ likeness and revert back to our own ways of thinking and reacting. The obvious solution is to seek forgiveness, refocus on our faith and restart our supplying moral excellence, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. I was thinking that as we get older, we can't do all the things we used to do and we may even have new disabilities, but we can't use these as an excuse to let weaknesses back in. The question is, what can we do to focus on the right things?
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So what can we do as we focus on the fact that we've been purified from our sins and we've been given God's spirit and we've been given this ladder of virtue to climb? You're right, Jonathan, we may not be able to be as active, but it doesn't mean we can't be contributing. And the spiritual contribution is such a powerful thing. And do not, do not ever underestimate the value of small contributions if they're all that you have to be able to give. Remember the experience of the widow's mite in Jesus example? You know, they're sitting by the treasury and all these people, you know, with the big advertisements of look what they put in, and she puts in two little mites, you know, just, just nothing. And Jesus said, her gift is greater than everybody else's. Why? Because she had nothing and she gave all that she had and that was of great value. That's what you're talking about. That's why this list, this virtue list is so important. And understanding the difficulties we can be challenged with is so critical for us to pay attention to. So because we live in this sinful and broken world, we always need to be aware of what is around us and what we, what we allow to grow within us.
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Seeing this sad potential for getting tripped up can be really discouraging. What is the solution?
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Peter, in his deep spiritual wisdom, and it is deep, arranged this teaching to first remind us of God's great gifts to us. He then showed us that what we as footstep followers of Jesus are to become as a result. Result. Next, he warned us of the dangers of losing focus. Next, he will re energize us with the practicality and power of how our call works. So if that last segment was kind of discouraging, like, oh, brother, look at the stuff I've got to do, prepare to be encouraged because Peter doesn't leave us there. 2 Peter, chapter one. Jonathan, let's go to verse 10.
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Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. You know, Peter is saying, we have great value. Continue to strive earnestly. Make haste.
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We have great value. That's the big thing. And he says, be all the more diligent. Use speed, make haste, be earnest. That's what that word means, to be all the more diligent. And what Peter's doing is he's going back to. To the beginning, beginning of his lesson in verse five. Now that we've seen the magnitude of God's gifts and the opportunity that we have to respond and honor him, let's go back and remember how to begin. Let's go back to second Peter 1, verse 5, because that's where it all started.
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Now, for this very reason, also applying
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all diligence, for this very reason, apply all diligence. That's from that same root word. It's the same thing. Apply earnestness, but for this very reason. What reason? Because God, in His might and power and mercy and grace, has given us power of his providence in our lives through his promises. Because God's given us all of these things, we need to apply all diligence. Apply eagerness and earnestness.
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I really love this, and I didn't notice it before Rick, but Peter started with diligence in verse 5 and ended with diligence in verse 10. You know, these are wonderful bookends, but if we only do things quickly or fast and forget about earnestness, we lack the sincerity of intentional God honoring actions.
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Yeah, it's not about speed. It's about the quality. It's about the heart being behind what gets done. Well, I got that job done quick. Yeah, but was that job done well? Was it done with the heart that reaches up to honor and praise God? That's the diligence that we're supposed to have here. Our diligence is to focus on the fact of God's care and providence for all of those who are called. That's the fact we're supposed to be focusing on. Romans 8, 28, 30.
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And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that he might be the first fruit among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. What a reward we will receive to be the firstborn ones. You know, that's amazing. But it's only if we are faithful and do the work.
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So that's where the diligence comes in. If we are faithful and do the work. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about your calling. Make sure that you're pouring your heart into it. And look, Jonathan, pouring our hearts into it doesn't mean we're going to do it perfectly. No, but it means that when we fall down, we're going to get up and ask for forgiveness and just keep trying. And God's grace can overwhelm us in those things. So we looked at the first part of verse 10, being all the more diligent to make certain about us calling and choosing of you. Let's go to the second part of 2 Peter 1:10.
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For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble or trip.
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You'll never stumble or trip. Now wait. You'll never stumble or trip ever.
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We're not perfect. Like Jesus was no stumble.
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So. So what's the point? Let's look at another. Scripture uses the same word for stumble and trip, and then put them together to understand what Peter is saying. James, chapter three, verse two.
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For we all stumble into many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he's a perfect man able to bridle the whole body as well.
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So James is saying, yes, you are going to stumble in many ways. So why is Peter saying, well, you'll never stumble? Are they contradicting each other? No, not at all. Peter's point is that if we truly practice these things, we will able to continually be able to move forward in spite of our weaknesses. It's not a matter of never having a weakness. It's a matter of having the capacity to get up and keep moving forward as a result. Let's look at Romans 2:7.
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To those who, by perseverance in doing good, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. You know, we are not perfect like Jesus was. We make mistakes, but we need to get up, brush ourselves off, and grow from the experience of stumbling or misstepping.
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And that's such an important thing. To do grow from the experience. Then it talks about through perseverance, moving forward. That's the point here, is to grow through these things. So for as long as you practice these things, you won't stumble where you can't get up or you get sidetracked if you continue to practice these things because you're reminding yourself of all the spiritual steps you need to take. So keep moving forward. We need to practice, to be intentionally diligent in what things? Well, Jonathan, we already know the answer, but let's just read the answer again. Second Peter, chapter one, verses five through seven.
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Now, for this very reason, also applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence. And in your moral excellence, knowledge. And in your knowledge, self control. And in your self control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness, love.
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We keep repeating these qualities because in this entire series about Christian character, the development of it, they fit so well together and they're in such a profound order. So that whenever we fall, Jonathan, whenever we begin to get tripped up, we can look at things, we can assess ourselves, we can analyze ourselves based on these character traits and say, what am I missing? Hmm, maybe I'm missing some self control. So you gotta go back and say, okay, what does my knowledge teach me about self control? And then get back to it. And then you re engage perseverance, which brings us to godliness. This is a tool of recouping our lives and going in the right direction. So as we look at these beautiful, beautiful characteristics, let's look at other pieces that can help us. How do we enhance this journey? First, be diligent in knowing God's word and God's will. Second Timothy, chapter 2, verse 15.
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Be diligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Accurately handling the word of truth. This is that same diligence, earnestness, sincerity. Let God's word drive us always going
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back to God's word, not going back to somebody's opinion, some new thought going back to God's word. That's the driver. That's a way to enhance this journey. Another way to enhance this journey. Be diligent to enter into the spiritual rest that discipleship brings. Let's look at Hebrews, chapter 4, verses 9 through 11.
- [35:15]
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So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall through. Following the same example of disobedience, diligence. To enter into rest sounds like an oxymoron. So the question is, what does God's rest look like?
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You know, and that's a really important question because we can confuse relaxing with God's rest, and we don't want to confuse the two. The idea of laboring to enter into rest, that's the way the King James version reads. It's like you labor so you can enter into what? Into the rest. That God Almighty is handling it, and we're working our lives within his providence for us, we're following his will through Christ. That's where we can rest. Life can be difficult, but that's where we can rest. It's kind of like, Jonathan, you. You need to have surgery. You sit down with the surgeon, and the surgeon goes through, and they show you the X rays, and they show you what they're going to do and all of these things, and they tell you about the probabilities of this, that, and the other thing. And at the end of that conversation, you walk away saying, I can trust this individual. I can rest in their ability to work me through this. Now I'm gonna need physical therapy afterwards, but it's okay. I trust the surgeon. Entering into God's rest is saying, I trust the Heavenly Father to oversee and take care of the challenges of my life. That's what laboring to enter into God's rest looks like. Let's add another piece. Another way to enhance this journey is to be diligent. And that word keeps coming up. To be diligent, to mutually engage in working together as one body with one purpose. Ephesians 4:1 6.
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Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. With all humility and gentleness and patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent or earnest to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This is one body and one Spirit. Just also, you were called in one hope of your calling, One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is overall and through all and in all.
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So the enhancement of our journey works so much better when we decide to work together, to be mutually engaged in working and handling each other with humility and gentleness and patience and showing tolerance and that agape love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit. Jonathan, when we take the thought of having God's word be an enhancement, having the rest, spiritual rest of God being an enhancement and the working together being an enhancement. What this is saying is you're not alone. And that's the encouragement of working through and growing into all of these virtues and becoming a real, true, genuine footstep follower of Jesus. Putting this together, keeping our Christian characters growing, let's look at the Apostle Peter's third conclusionary thought for these lessons.
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Because we have been so blessed with the call to Christianity, we have a singular obligation to live that blessing each and every day. This obligation is carried out by continuing to focus on our faith and continually supplying moral excellence, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Living this way keeps us from getting tripped up with the wrong things.
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We keep repeating all of these virtues because the Apostle Peter is basically telling us this is a formula that you can continually, regularly rely on to keep you on the path to glorifying God with your everyday life. And look, as hard as this journey is, it's not without anything and everything we might need to continue moving forward in God's grace.
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We have been looking at a remarkable process of Christian character development. If we do these things, what is the end result?
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All of what Peter has been teaching us in these several verses leads us to this exact point. If we do these things, if we take our commitment to be transformed by God's spirit into true footsteps, followers of Jesus whose lives are on the path of God honoring self sacrifice, what will our lives look like and where will we end up? That's the big question. And the Apostle Peter has the big answer for that big question. Let's go on to the next verse. Second Peter, chapter one. Now to verse 11.
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For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. This applies to true footstep followers of Christ, not Christians in name only.
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Yeah, and that's important to those who really are walking the walk as best as they can and striving upward and forward and, you know, abundantly supplied. We're going to define that in a few minutes. But we want to just get the sense of this journey and who's involved. We'll end up entering the kingdom of our Lord, you, Jesus, and be with him. That's what the Apostle Peter is saying. However, however, Jonathan, this entrance into the kingdom is no small little thing. It's not some like, yeah, and that kind of happens sort of at the end. This is a dramatic change. Dramatic, eternal, life altering change that can never be undone. And that's how powerful this is. How do you get there? Well, let's think about how our Christian lives were work just for a moment. First, we're called to follow.
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Luke 9:23 and he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. This walk is a sacrificial walk, doing God's will and not our own. First Corinthians 1:26 for consider your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. You know, it's an undeserved privilege to be called, but we aren't special in the world's eyes.
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Yeah, yeah, it's a difficult walk. God doesn't call the best of the best of the best. He calls those who have a heart that can be driven towards God. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. So this is where the call is established. It's very difficult taking up your cross, and it doesn't mean that you're just a of part applying all of your natural greatness to something. We're taking our natural mess and having it transformed by the greatness of God through His Spirit. The road that we walk is narrow and it's difficult. Let's continue. Matthew 7:13, 14 Enter through the narrow
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gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. This is a narrow path. Not many follow through because it's difficult.
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Not many do follow through because of the challenge of this path. The difficulty of this road is there to develop our characters. It's not there to trip you up. It's there for the purpose of developing our characters into spiritually strong and mature examples of Christlikeness. Again, Peter's Virtue Ladder is all about exactly that. Jonathan. There are no flaws in any of this. It is such a perfect path for us to follow. It is a path that we can just completely pour our trust into and say, let me follow along with these things the difficulty of this road. Spiritually, we need to be Christ like. Let's look at 1 Peter 4:12 13
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Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you. But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing so that also at the revelation of his glory, you may Rejoice with exaltation. It's going to be hard. Why? The reward is immortality. God is proving heart loyalty that will last an eternity.
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It's an amazing thought. I cannot get my head around it. It's too big for my little brain. And I just say, you know, in faith, Lord, whatever, whatever your will is, I don't understand it. All I know is that we've been given this incredible privilege and we want to work every day. We want to work every day at all of this. By doing these things. That's really what it comes down to. By doing these things, we can get there. Well, what things? Well, Jonathan, let's say it again. Let's go back to 2 Peter 1:5:7 again.
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Applying all diligence in your faith, supplying moral excellence, in your moral excellence, knowledge. And in your knowledge, self control. And in your self control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness, love.
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By doing these things, that's where the abundant entrance into God's kingdom is supplied. And that's where we can now say, okay, an abundant entrance. What does that mean? The word for abundant means copious or richly. Jonathan, if you have ice cream and you want to put some chocolate syrup on it, especially a dark chocolate kind, you want to have copious amounts, okay, that's abundant. That's what this is looking. We're looking for this abundant entrance. Let's put that to scriptural. Use that word abundant in Colossians 3, 3 verses 15 and 16.
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Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you are called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. With all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
- [45:41]
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I mean, think about that. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. And when it says richly, then it shows you, it expands what that richly dwelling within you means. With all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts. I mean, this is like a whole person, a whole being experience. That's what happens when the word of Christ abundantly dwells within us. Well, that's the kind of entrance that is given to us. It's not some little crawl space that you go through. It's this abundant entrance into something so much bigger than us. This abundant grace and privilege is offered as a result of fighting the fight. And it's simply overwhelming. Like you said, it's too big. It's too big to understand. This entrance is going to be supplied. It's going to be furnished, it's going to be made ready for us. There will be no miscues on the part of God with this abundantly supplied. Let's look at this word supplied a little bit. Colossians 2, 2, verse 19.
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And not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God, we are fully supplied. Through our head, which is Christ Jesus,
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we are fully supplied. And the abundant entrance is fully supplied. So with the supply that Jesus gives us, with his example and his being our ransom price, and being the price of redemption, and his paving the road for God's kingdom to be in heaven and on earth, that's supplying. That's the kind of entrance that's supplied to us. This abundant entrance is supplied, fully supplied to you, as you have fully supplied each and every rung of this ladder of Christian character. Because we're supposed to be fully supplying them as we go through that. Are we going to do it for perfectly? No. Are we ever going to be able to be exactly like Jesus in this life? No. How often are we going to fall down? Frequently. How often are we going to get up? Just as frequently. That's the key. It's a matter of growing through the challenges of our lives and applying these things so that we can be true disciples of Christ. That's the core value of the reason that the Apostle Peter is teaching us these things. So, Jonathan, Keeping our Christian character growing Peter's fourth Conclusionary Thought because we have
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been called and are engaged in following Jesus, our broken daily lives have become integrated into the body of Christ. As we climb this ladder of virtues, let us remember that God's grace and provisions for us far outweigh what he requires of us. And his reward for us and of being with Jesus is bigger than anything we can even begin to fathom.
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So as hard as the work is, what God has supplied for us is bigger and stronger. And no matter how difficult or deep the trial we may have, no matter how much of a dead end we might feel we are at, if we are walking this walk and working on applying these things, there's always a way through. That's what the Apostle Peter is teaching us. You know, We've talked about two Peter chapter one, verses eight through 11 through this entire podcast. We didn't talk about verse 12 at all. And I think this is the touching, beautiful, profound icing on the cake. Peter's final verse. In this direct context, his final teaching is 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 12.
- [49:20]
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Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you.
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So he says. Therefore he put this beautiful teaching in place. Because we've been given every conceivable gift to help draw our thoughts and words and deeds upward, and because we are willing to do the daily work, the hourly work of character transformation because of those things, I, the apostle Peter, will regularly remind you of God's plan and God's providence for you. I will regularly remind you of what you need to do because you are that important to me. Look at what the apostle Peter has learned in his life.
- [50:07]
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He's amazing.
- [50:08]
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It's so deep and it's so profound and it's so personal. It's not a theoretical teaching. As long as I breathe. Because the next few verses, the apostle says, I don't think I have long left in this life. And he's basically saying, as long as I breathe, I, the apostle Peter, am going to be with you in these things. In what things? In what things? Well, let's go through it one more time, Jonathan. One more time. First, the allegiance attribute of faith.
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This is the allegiance of our life's direction.
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Second, the allegiant attribute of moral excellence.
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This is the allegiance of our heart.
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Third, the allegiance attribute of knowledge.
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This is the allegiance of our intellect.
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Fourth, the allegiance attribute of self control.
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This is the allegiance of our passions.
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Fifth, the allegiance attribute of perseverance.
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This is the allegiance of our energy.
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Sixth, the allegiance attribute of godliness.
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This is the allegiance of our character.
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Seventh, the allegiance attribute of brotherly kindness.
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This is the allegiance of our relationships.
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And then finally, the allegiance attribute of love.
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This is the allegiance of our purpose.
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So what we've been shown is that the apostle Peter has put our entire lives, every aspect of our lives, in order so that we can fully and by God's grace. God, grab hold of what following Jesus really truly is, what it really, truly looks like. We're going to close with another verse from Romans chapter 8 to just put in place the power of what the apostle Peter has shown us. He has given us the tools. Now Romans 8 says, and I'm going to begin with verse 35. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, just as is written, for your sake, we are being put to death all day long we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. He continues. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Why? Because we have Jesus as the example. We have God's spirit working in us and we know what we need to do. We have this ladder of character virtues that we need to climb each and every day. This is what the Apostle Peter is driving us towards. Think about it folks. We love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes episodes@christianquestions.com coming up in our next episode how is my faith revealed when I am at work.