Shabbat Shalom. I would like today to begin our study in the second epistle of Peter. And please turn with me to this first chapter of 2nd Peter. We're going to give some introduction to the second letter that Shimon Petros wrote to Hebrew believers of first century. Peter was pointing out to these believers three facts that every believer ought to enjoy in his life if he is to grow and develop spiritually as he or she walk with the Lord. And I'm reading the first 11 verses. Simon Peter. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Yeshua the Messiah, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Yeshua the Messiah.

"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertaineth unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance 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 Yeshua the Messiah. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. And I'm stopping here in verse 11. Simon Peter, Shimon Petros wrote to early Jewish believers who were scattered from Jerusalem, through Judea, Samaria, and they now were located in areas that are known to us in Portia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

He wrote them a first letter in about 60 AD, just about 10 years before the destruction of the temple in the city of Jerusalem. At that time he emphasized the sufferings of the Messiah and the glory that will follow. The Messiah suffered once. The Messiah paid a price for sin. Yeshua the Messiah was rejected by men. And he told them, listen, you are going through trials and through sufferings in your life and recognize that when you have gone through those sufferings, you are identifying with the sufferings of the Messiah. But now some years pass by. Those brethren have gone through sufferings and persecution, and now he is writing to them a second letter.

Notice that he said in verse 1 of 2 Peter 3, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance." In this second letter, he is writing to them now not so much to emphasize the sufferings of the Messiah and their own trials that they have been going through. Now he is writing to them and pointing to two very important things. The first thing that he is pointing out to these brethren is to the importance that they all need to know and to learn more about the person of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. The more we know about him, the more it will enable us to walk with him here in this world.

The second thing that he is pointing out is that he is warning them about false teachers who are going to creep in to the midst of the assembly of the church of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. And so he is writing the second epistle or the second letter in about 66 AD, between 66 to 70 AD, six years, seven years, eight years, we do not know exactly how passed by. And now there are things that are going to shape in the life of those believers and he is giving them those instructions in the second epistle. Number one, to know the Lord more. And as you know the Lord, you will grow as you know Yeshua more and more.

Number two, be careful because false teachers are going to creep in and you must be on guard, not to allow yourself to be influenced by false teaching. You and I know that today in the body of Christ, in the professing church of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, how many times we have to put a watch, a guard because a new teaching comes along and another one comes and teach us something else. And another one come and teach us something else. We always have to be on guard, not to allow ourselves to deviate from the ABC of the word of God. It is the safest thing for every believer to stay close to the word of God and the Lord will be able to protect us from all sorts of false teaching.

Now, another thing that I want to mention by way of introduction, the writer Shimon Petal Simon Peter was growing up in age and he was now anticipating the time that he's going to leave this world. He's going to die and he's going to leave the assembly. He's going to be in the presence of the Lord and he's not going to be able anymore to instruct the believers. And because he knew he's going to leave this scene, he's writing these warnings to the brothers and sisters to whom he was responsible over. You notice what he says here in chapter one, verse 13. Yes, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, as long as I'm here in this body to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Yeshua the Messiah had showed me.

Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. You see, Shimon Petal was anticipating to die, to leave this scene. And he's already telling them, listen, I'm now in this tabernacle, I'm in this body right now, but after I'm going to leave this scene, I want to make sure that I'm reminding you again and again of the truths that I've already taught you in the past. Because he was doing, brothers and sisters, exactly what Paul, Shaul have done, when he wrote to Timothy, and I would like you just for a moment to turn to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4.

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 6. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing. Here is Paulos, Shaul, writing to Timothy about his disease. He says, I'm ready to leave soon. Soon I'm going to come.

The time of my departure is going to come very soon. And he says, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Shimon Petros does the very same thing, writing to these early Jewish brethren. And he's saying to them, brethren, he says, listen, I'm going to leave this world shortly. I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, have showed unto me. And now, brethren, I would like you to remember all what I have taught you. And that's why this second epistle of Peter does not so much emphasize the sufferings of the Messiah and the glory that should come, but emphasizes the importance of knowing more of the Messiah in our lives and being always on alert against false teachers and false prophets who will come our way seeking to teach us that which is wrong.

So here it is, by way of introduction, Simon Peter, Shimon Petros is writing those things as he is anticipating to die and to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. So the author in verse 1a is none else but Shimon Petros. Now, I want you to notice one thing that he adds here in the introduction of the book. In chapter 1 and verse 1, he adds the word servant. You notice it says here in verse 1, Simon Peter, Shimon Petros, a servant and an apostle of Yeshua the Messiah. You remember when we studied 1 Peter chapter 1, he didn't use the word servant. Apostle is one that is sent by the Lord.

He did not have it in the first epistle because in the first epistle he was identifying with the sufferings believers who were suffering for the name of Yeshua the Messiah. And he didn't use this expression, I am this servant, this messenger of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. But in this second epistle, in addition to the word apostle, he is using the word servant here because here he is now showing to these brothers and sisters that he was a bondman of the Messiah. Yes, messenger and apostle of the Lord, but also a servant of the Messiah who came to minister to the brothers and sisters and to help them in their spiritual growth and the spiritual progress.

So here we have Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus the Messiah. The word for servant is bondman. Another one time we use the word slave. He was literally a slave of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. He was ministering to those people. He was ministering to the Lord and he became a servant of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. So he was a servant, he was a servant, he was an apostle of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Now notice the recipients, the one who received this letter at about 66, 67 AD, were the very same group of people who have already received the first letter. Those recipients, it says in verse 1b, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God.

Now those recipients whom he already have written in the first epistle, those are believers like you and I who had obtained like precious faith. The same faith that was once delivered unto the saints, Jude and verse 3, the same faith, the faith. They have obtained this faith, becoming believers in our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Just the same as we, this is Peter is writing, we have obtained this precious faith, you also have obtained this precious faith. And he adding this word precious that he always loved to add every time when he was writing. You remember he used the word, the trial of your faith is much more precious than of gold.

First Peter 1 and verse 7. He used this expression, precious, many, many times when he wrote, you remember he said in 1 Peter 1:19, "You were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Messiah." So they were saved by the precious blood. The trials were much more precious than of gold. And here he used the word precious again, but this time this faith, the faith in our Lord Jesus the Messiah is very, very precious. Very dear to God dear to God, dear for each and every believer in our Lord Jesus the Messiah. It's very expensive. In Hebrew we call the word yakar, very dear to every believer because this faith was provided for us by our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

One more thing he emphasized in verse 1 about the recipients and what they have received, how they received his faith. It said in verse 1c, "Through the righteousness of God and our Savior Yeshua the Messiah." What does that mean, the righteousness of God? Notice it doesn't say here the righteousness of Christ or the Messiah. What is the difference between the righteousness of the Messiah and the righteousness of God? The difference is simply this. The righteous life of the Messiah could never avail for our salvation. His life was so pure and perfect that he didn't need to die. He could go straight to heaven without death because there was no sin in him.

That's the righteousness of the Messiah. But had he gone to heaven without to die, all his righteousness could not avail for you and I. Why? Because he would live a godly life. God will be pleased with him and he have been pleased with him. He would have taken him to heaven because he did no sin. But all his perfect life could not avail for a sinner such as you and such as me. But the righteousness of God is in addition to the perfect life of the Messiah. Now God had to judge him because of the sin of this world. So the righteousness of God, that simply means that the Messiah had to die to be punished on behalf of mankind.

So God now could declare man righteous because he had been vindicated. Sin had been dealt with. Judgment upon sin had been placed upon our Lord Jesus the Messiah. That's why he used this word through the righteousness of God. Paul wrote it like this in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 and 17. He said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also unto the Greek. For therein, in this body of truth, in the gospel, the righteousness of God revealed from faith unto faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

You see what Paul is saying in the gospel, in the death and burial and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah, God's righteousness had been revealed. God now had been satisfied with respect to sin, and now he can provide righteousness to everyone that we believe in Yeshua the Messiah. That's why Peter is writing in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 1, we receive this precious faith, but it didn't come to us just like that. It came to us through the fact that God had been vindicated through the death of the Messiah. When the Messiah Yeshua died, God now had been satisfied with respect to sin. Now he can extend his hands to any sinner who will only accept the Messiah Yeshua's death, burial and resurrection.

So the recipients are the Jewish believers and you and I today who became believers through the work of the Messiah. God's righteousness has been extended to each and every one of us. So now thirdly, you notice that by way of introduction, he greets them with two expressions that we often use in the land of Israel and elsewhere among the Jewish community. He used these two words called grace and peace. In Hebrew we say chesed and shalom. The Greek word, of course, for the word chesed and shalom, it is interesting, the word peace here, it comes from the Greek word E-I-R-E-N-E. Those of us that have the name Irene or Irene come from the Greek word shalom, peace.

And he's telling them grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. He's desiring now that the grace and the peace be multiplied to the believers. You know, believers need shalom, peace every day because we don't only have the peace of God positionally and the chesed, the grace of God, which we received once we became believers in Yeshua, the Messiah. We need grace and peace every day of our lives as we walk with the Lord. When trials are coming, we need chesed and shalom. When false teachings are coming, we need grace and peace to know how to handle those situations.

By the way, the Greek word for grace is C-H-A-R-I-S, keres, which simply means grace. And again, the word for peace is the E-I-R-E-N-E, which comes from the word Irene. So those two things that he wishes for them in the greeting. And you notice he used the word be multiplied. It's not only the grace that we received once when we became believers, but it is the day by day grace that we need as we walk with the Lord. Every day we need grace. Every day we need peace. Not the peace with God, but the peace of God. Not the grace that once saved us, but the grace that now is going to meet our need as we go here through these trials here in this world.

Now, notice that again, he used this word knowledge in verse two, grace and peace be multiplied to you. How? Through the knowledge of God and Yeshua, our Lord. He used this word knowledge many, many times in the second epistle. You will notice that the word knowledge is mentioned more than once here in this passage. He used the word knowledge in verse three, the knowledge of him. He used the word knowledge in verse five, add to virtue knowledge. He used the word knowledge in verse six, and to knowledge temperance. He used the word knowledge in verse eight, where it says, and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

Again and again, he used the words knowledge. It's actually mentioned again in the later parts of the epistle in chapter two, and as well in chapter three, chapter two in verse 20, chapter three in verse 18. What does it mean to have the knowledge of God and the knowledge of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah? You see, in order for us to grow spiritually, we have to know the one that we follow with and follow after. The more we know of the Lord, the more we are going to mature and develop and be those that are stable in our walk with the Lord. The less we know of the Messiah, the less we will be able to walk with the Lord in a spiritual way that is pleasing to God.

So to know the Messiah more and more, it is very important. In John chapter 17, Yeshua said that this is eternal life. That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah whom thou has sent. To know more of the Lord is not only to know him positionally, but to know him practically. You know the people that we know the most are the people that are close to us. Husband and wife know each other more because they live together. Brothers and sisters know each other more as we walk with each other, as we intermingle, as we rub shoulders, walk with each other every day.

We know our weaknesses. We know our strength. We know our failures. And we know our success in our lives as we are closer to each other. Well, the more we know of Yeshua, our Messiah, the more it helps us to carry on the fight here in this world. The more we know about him, as Paul said in the book of Philippians, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. The more we know about Yeshua, the more we are able to walk here in this world. Now, Paul knew Yeshua positionally. He was a believer. He was a writer of the word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.

But he wanted to know more of Yeshua and beloved brothers and sisters. Really, isn't it true? There is one that is so dear to the heart of God. The reason we are here at those meetings on a regular basis. The reason that we read our Bibles every day and we talk to God is because this person, whose name is Jesus, whose name is Yeshua. And the more we will learn about him, the more our behavior will change. Our conduct will be pleasing to the Lord. And the more fruitful we are going to be in our lives. And that's why the apostle Shimon Petros is writing in the introduction that grace and peace be multiplied unto you, but we are only receiving it as we are knowing through the knowledge of God and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

And that's why it is very important for us to speak less of God's enemies, less of Satan and his followers and more of the Messiah and more of God, more of the word that belongs unto him. We are to focus our hearts and our minds on the person of the Lord so we will grow and develop in our lives. So now, brothers and sisters, this is the introduction. About 66, 67 AD, he's not so much writing about the suffering that he has done in the first epistle. Now he's writing about knowing the Messiah and being aware of false teachers who are going to creep in as time will come.

So now, brothers and sisters, let's move on from verses 3 to 11. Peter points out to three facts that ought to be found in the life of every believer. The first thing is verses 3 and 4. God, through his power, gave us all that we need to be able to live a godly life. Secondly, verses 5 to 7, God seeks to see spiritual progress in the life of each believer in Yeshua the Messiah. And thirdly, in verses 8 to 11, God's people will be fruitful when they obey the word of God. Let's go through those things verse by verse. First of all, the first fact is that God had given us power to enable us to live a godly life.

Look what he's saying in verse 3. He says, according to his divine power, he has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. God has the power to enable every believer to live a godly life. Notice he used the word given unto us. God, according to his divine power, has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. You know, there is no excuse for us. We often take this excuse. And we carelessly at times allow ourselves to be carried on in all sort of activities and things that we do that is not pleasing to the Lord.

And we excuse ourselves by saying, you know what, I just carry on my life. That's the way I am. But you know that there is a power that has been given unto you. And that is not magic. This is the word of God, the Holy Spirit of God. There is a power of God that has been given to us by the Holy Spirit to enable the believer to live a godly life here in this world. He has given us, as it says here in verse 3, all things that pertaineth unto life and unto godliness. The believer has a divine nature, the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us.

And by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, we are able to live a godly life, a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Every time when we don't behave in a godly way, it is coming out of the flesh, out of the old nature, sinful old nature. Cannot do anything right. But every time when we are doing or living or speaking in a godly way, it is given unto us by the power of God, the ability to live a godly life. How do you think those old men of God, old women of God, who have lived a godly life here in this world, who please the Lord?

How? Where did they get this ability to do so? Because they have the same old nature as you and I have today. They had the same trials with their own nature, the inclination to do that which is wrong, just like you and I have. But the thing is that God enabled this to them by giving to them the ability to do so. Well, it is no magic. It's not a course. We don't take a course of six months in a school and we get a certain portion of power and now we are able to do so. No. It is day by day living as we are walking with the Lord.

And you notice that when he used this expression according to his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. He adds in the very same verse, how are you doing that? Through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. In other words, if we are able to live a godly life here, it is through the knowledge of God and the knowledge of Yeshua. The more we know about Him, the more we will be able to live a life that is pleasing unto the Lord. None of us is lacking this. There is no such thing, oh, he has it and I don't have it.

She has it and I don't have it. No, all of us, all believers, are positionally complete. None of us is lacking anything because all believers are complete in the Messiah, Yeshua. It was Paul who said in Colossians 2 and verses 9 and 10: In him, this is in Yeshua, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You are complete in him. Every believer is totally complete in Christ, in the Mashiach. Positionally. None of us is lacking anything, but all of us are responsible to react to what God has done for us and to allow the Holy Spirit of God to work in our lives as we know more of the Messiah.

And the more we know of him, we are able to live our life in a Godly fashion, in a Godly way. And every time we don't do so, it's not the new nature, it is the old nature. It's not the Holy Spirit of God, it's the self-will of ours that fall again, that stumble again, that gets his own way again. God had provided for us, by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, the ability to live a godly life, a life that is pleasing unto the Lord. I can go to many verses that I have before me, I'm not going to go through them all.

But in John chapter 14, John chapter 16, Yeshua said to the Hebrew disciples who were with him in the upper room, he said to them, you know, I'm going to send unto you the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh. And he will guide you unto all truth. He will not speak of himself, he will take of mine, and he will show it unto you, to enable you to live a godly life. The Holy Spirit of God is the one that is able to give each and every believer the ability to live a godly life. Now notice what he does in verse 4. Not only that power had been given to us to be able to live a godly life, other things that had been given to the believer.

Notice verse 4, he says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Not only that God, through his divine power, had given us the ability to live a godly life, but it's in addition to that, he had given unto us exceeding and great and precious promises. Do you know, brothers and sisters, the promises that we received through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah are such precious promises. Again, you notice he used the word precious. What are the promises that we have received? You remember what he said already in the first chapter of that epistle?

He said to them, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. According to his abundant mercy, he has begotten us again unto a living hope. By the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah from the dead to," here's the promises, "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away, reserved for us in heaven." Promises have been given to the believers, promises that we are going to be eternally with him, eternal salvation, forgiveness of sins, justification, reconciliation. All those things that we have been promised by God, the believers have to remember that. Those precious promises have been given unto us, and those precious promises are surely going to come to pass.

And he's saying to them here in verse 4, "Don't forget it. It had been given to us through those promises that by these promises ye might be partakers of a divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in this world through lust." You see, those believers have escaped, like you and I have escaped, this world of corruption. You know, if we would not be saved, if we would have not been believers today and have the promises of eternal life with our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, and forgiveness of sins, and peace with God, and reconciliation and justification, if we would not have these promises, we would probably be today living our lives like we used to before we became believers.

We would never think for a moment of coming to be under the sound of the word of God. We would probably be just the same like what we used to be, before we became believers. Living in a world, living as it says in verse 4, corruption that is in the world through lust. We would have seeked day by day to satisfy the lust of the flesh, living in a life that is full of corruption and sin. That's the way we used to be. That's the way those Hebrew believers used to be before they became believers in Yeshua the Messiah. That's the way every one of us who is saved today have been purchased, have been brought out of this world.

The system that denied God, that denied the Messiah, we have been brought into this wonderful relationship with the Lord. Paul said in Ephesians 2, by grace are ye saved through faith. And that is not of yourself, it is a gift of God, lest any man should boast. We have been brought into a relationship with God by the grace of God, and the promises that God had given unto us. And so, he is saying to them in that verse 4, you have received precious promises. And by these promises, you became partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. What he is really saying is simply this.

You had your old nature, which you have inherited through Adam and his fall in the Garden of Eden. But now you became partakers no longer only of the Adamic nature, the sin nature. Now you became partakers of a divine nature. This is the new birth that we have received when we became believers. We read in John chapter 3 that Yeshua said to Nicodemus, and we read that already, but I just want to emphasize this again in connection with the divine nature. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again.

You must have divine nature. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Yeshua said to Nicodemus in chapter 3 of John verse 5. Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, you have to have divine nature. The old nature could not save you, could not give you promises for glory, for heaven. You must have a divine nature. Now to the believers here, he said, now you are already partakers of this divine nature, the nature of God. The Holy Spirit of God had been given unto us. This divine nature is simply mean that we have the nature of God.

It doesn't say that we are gods, not at all. But we have the nature of God. The spirit of God has given us a new birth, a new life. And we are now partakers of this divine nature. Just one more verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. Paul said, therefore, if any man be in the Messiah, he is a new creation. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. That's the divine nature. Those that are in Yeshua the Messiah are new creation. And so, this is verses 3 and 4. God, through his power, had given us the ability to live a godly life. Now he continues.

And he's moving on with those three facts that every believer ought to have and know in his life. The second thing, now verses 5, 6, and 7. He's pointing to the desire of the heart of God to see spiritual growth in the life of his own people. Just the same like parent like to see his baby boy or baby girl growing. The same thing with God. He desired to see the believer growing, maturing, becoming men and women of God here in this world. And so, look, there is a progress in which spiritual growth is occurring. In verses 5, 6, and 7, we notice that, first of all, in verse 5a, he is encouraging the believers to give diligence, to work hard at this, and to add to his or her faith sevenfold characteristics in their lives as believers.

Notice I'm reading verse 5a, and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith. That word for diligence speaks of hard work. You see, the faith that we have received once for salvation, this is once and for all the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. That's the truth concerning our salvation. The truth concerning our eternal relationship with Yeshua the Messiah. That was given unto us. But now there is a responsibility that the believers have. And the believers are, notice he used the word here in verse 5, take diligence to add to your faith. Okay, you are a believer. Your sins have been forgiven. You are going to go to heaven.

You are secure as the Messiah had made it possible for you and for me to be secure positionally. We belong to the Lord. But now we are here in this world. Our tickets have been paid. The price is the precious blood of the Messiah. But how are we carrying on our life here today until he is going to come to take us to be with him in glory? Well, here he is telling them that they and we are to add, to supplement to this faith. Sevenfold graces or characteristics that every believer are to have in his life or her life as we move on here in this world.

And he's taking these step by step and I'm just going to highlight them. You notice that in verse 5, there are seven of them. In verse 5b to verse 7, we have those seven graces, seven characteristics that are found here in these verses. The first thing he says in verse 5b, add to your faith virtue. The word for virtue is moral excellence. That means that a believer morally should show excellence. We are to be different than the world that are outside of the Messiah. And this virtue is something that we are to add to our faith in our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Moral excellence. That morally, the believer ought to be different than the unbelieving world.

Now, it's not always so. We are not always morally different than others. We ought to. We should be. But this is the example that we are to have in our lives as believers. There ought to be this moral excellence in the life of the believer. He used that word virtue here in the text before us. Notice he's adding now. He's continuing. And he says now in verse 5b at the end, he says, and to virtue, knowledge. Again, he used the word knowledge. And the word here for knowledge is full knowledge. Not only that we know the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, positionally, but we are to know him practically more and more.

It is a greater knowledge of Yeshua, the Messiah, in our lives. He continued in verse 6. And he says, and to knowledge, add temperance. Now, temperance is really self-control. A time we cannot control ourselves. A time we are not allowing the Lord to control our life. And this is something that we should be willing to have the Lord help us to add to our faith. It is the temperance, which simply means self-control. There is a verse in the book of Proverbs, chapter 16 and verse 32. In this verse, Solomon said, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

In other words, when a person is self-control, he is able to control his tongue, to control his life, to control his anger. We at times get angry. And this anger, we are not controlling ourselves. And it is not right. But imagine to see this self-control, which is here found, temperance. To be able to control oneself. What about controlling our tongue? James says that the tongue is like fire. With the tongue, we are able to praise God and say hallelujah. And then turn around and uncontrollably curse others who were made in image and likeness of God. We are not controlling ourselves. And we are doing that.

We are able to do that. And that's why he's saying, listen, if you receive all this ability to live a godly life, add to your faith a virtue, moral excellence, knowledge, more knowledge of the Messiah, temperance, self-control. And that is something that ought to characterize each and every one of us as we mature, as we walk with the Lord. Notice the next thing in verse 6. He used the word for patience. What is patience? Patience is the ability to endure. But how do you get patience? I said before, if you remember, I've seen on a secretary's desk that says, Lord, give me patience, and I want it now.

Now, you may want the patience now. If you want patience, Romans teaches us in chapter 5 that tribulations work as patience. You're going to ask God for patience. He's not going to send you a hundred gram of patience. He's going to send you and I tribulations. And when we walk with the Lord and we experience trials, it develops us. It helps us to build this character that is the ability to endure what we couldn't endure in the past. We are able to endure more of it as we are walking with the Lord. And that's why, notice this, building up. Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience.

Tribulations and trial will help us to have more patience. You know, thank God for mothers who raise children at home. Can you imagine how much patience you have to have when you have a little baby and a toddler and another one who is growing up and so on? And can you imagine how a mother is able to handle so many things? And she needs a lot of patience with her children as she raises them. Same thing with fathers. The same thing with all of us. The patience that we need as we walk here in this world. That's only come through the knowledge of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah.

Fifthly, now, brothers and sisters, in the same verse 6, he's speaking about godliness. You notice that? And to patience, add godliness. And godliness is godlikeness. More like God. More like Yeshua, the Messiah. In our conduct, in our behavior, in our language, in our communication. More like Yeshua, like God. Paul said to Timothy, "Great is the mystery of godliness." God was manifest in the flesh. Speaking about Yeshua, the Messiah. What a godly man he was. He was a man of God. He was the God-man. What an example we have in the Messiah. And we are to learn of him. So we will be a little bit more like God or God-likeness.

To add to what have already been required from us previously in verse 5 and 6. Now, verse 7. Additional things to add to our faith in verse 7. He's using two more things. Brotherly kindness. Oh, how we need this in our life. The word for brotherly kindness comes from the Greek word Philadelphia. Philadelphia. And Philadelphia, if you remember in the seven churches that are written by John. The Lord gave to John the seven churches. One of the churches was Philadelphia. Brotherly kindness. There was a character that characterized the assembly in Philadelphia of the love among the brethren. Kindness among the people of God. And how important it is. Add to your godliness.

Brotherly kindness. Philadelphia. And this is the love of the brethren is so important. We are to love everyone. But we are to love the brethren. Romans chapter 12 and verse 10 says. Be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honoring preferring one another. You know how we need that today. You know why so many assemblies and church groups are splitting. It's not because of doctrine most of the time. But many times it's because there is no love among the brothers and sisters. Now don't go and blame somebody else and say there is no love here in this place. Never in the Bible we are told to expect for love.

But we are told to give this love to the others. And that's why brotherly kindness is very important. Can you imagine to go to a place where the saints have no love one toward another? How is it possible to have the Lord enjoying our gathering when the brethren do not have love one towards another? And Peter has mentioned the importance of brotherly love. To have the love of the brethren. The same apostle in chapter 13 who wrote to the Hebrews in chapter 13. He did say the very same thing. He says let brotherly love continue. Not only start. It have started. But continue in loving the brothers and sisters.

They might not be lovable all the time. But yet we are responsible to add all these things to our faith. To also add brotherly kindness. The Greek word is Philadelphia. Beautiful verses that we have here before us. One more verse in Ephesians chapter 4. In verse 32. Paul said be ye kind one to another. Tender hearted. Forgiving one another. Even as God for the Messiah's sake have forgiven you. Well if you and I have benefited from the forgiveness of Yeshua the Messiah. We are to extend this to each other through brotherly kindness. What a precious thing it is to experience this. So brothers and sisters. This is very much applying to us today.

In this building up those sevenfold graces. Or characteristics that are to be evident in the life of each and every believer. Now finally the seventh characteristic is in verse 7 as well. And to brotherly kindness. Love. This time it's not the Greek word Philadelphia. But it's the Greek word agapeo or agape. And agapeo or agape simply means unconditional love. That's the love that God has shown to us. When we were far away from him. In love for you and I. He unconditionally have sent the Messiah Yeshua to pay for our sins. He didn't expect from us anything. He didn't ask for us to do anything in order to receive this love.

The only thing he asks from us is to accept his extended love. Unconditional. Unconditional. Now that is high beloved brothers and sisters. Unconditionally to love mankind. To love one another. Unconditionally. No condition. Unconditional. Love of our Lord Jesus the Messiah for us. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 13. The love chapter. Love never fails. Love suffers long. Love is patient. Unconditional love. And Paul said that in Romans 5. He says the love of the Messiah shed abroad. It's in our own heart because of what he has done for us. And it ought to be spread elsewhere to others. So beloved brothers and sisters. In verses 3 to 4. God gave us all the power in order to enable us to live a godly life.

In verses 5, 6 and 7. God seeks to see spiritual progress and growth in the life of every one of us who is a child of God. Now finally in this portion. Verses 8, 9, 10 and 11. God's people will be fruitful when they obey the word of God. You will see that there will be fruit in our life when we are simply submit to what we just heard in the previous verses. And so he says. Listen to that. The more we know about the Lord Jesus the Messiah. In verse 8. The more we will bear fruit. It says in verse 8. For if. Notice the word if. If these things. Going to be in you.

And abound. They will make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. So do you want to see fruit he is saying to them? Do you want to see fruit in your life as a believer? Do you want to see a change in your life? The more you know about the Messiah. The more all these sevenfold graces are evident in your life. You will surely see that you will be fruitful and not barren. You know a barren is where there is no fruit. You come to a tree. You go to the desert. And you watch the trees.

And if there is no water to enable them to grow. What you see a dry. Tree with no fruit. On that tree. And for us. As believers. We ought to have fruit in our life. A fruit that is honoring unto the Lord. And it is a shame. When there is a barrenness. In a life of a child of God. It doesn't have anything to do with salvation. But it has everything to do with fruit for God. In our life as believers. Jesus. Yeshua said. That without him. We cannot bear fruit. In John 15 and verse 1. Yeshua said. I am the true vine. My father is the husband man.

And then he says. In verse 3. He says. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me. And I in you. And the branches cannot bear fruit of itself. And he continued. And he is saying. Really. Except it abide in a vine. No more can you except ye abide in me. Later on he says. Without me. Verse 5. You can do nothing. You want to bear fruit. I want to bear fruit in my life. I want to bear fruit in my life. We have to do it. The more we know of him. We are changed from glory to glory. And then those graces are being added to our faith.

And there will be fruit in our lives as believers. And what a joy it gives to the heart of God. In verse 9. He says. The less we know of the Lord. The less we see spiritual growth. And we are unable to see clear. In verse 9. He says. But. Here is the opposite. You remember in verse 8. He says. And in verse 9. He says. But. He that lack these things. What those things. Those things are. Virtue. Knowledge. Temperance. Patience. Godliness. Brotherly kindness. Love. If one. He or she are lacking these sevenfold graces. Look what we read about these believers. He says. He or she are blind. And cannot see afar off.

And have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. He doesn't talk here about the person that will lose his or her salvation. Not at all. He is speaking about fruit bearing in the life of a believer. Of a Christian. Of a Meshichi. A follower of the Messiah. If a person does not show evidence of those things. And he lacks these things. He is really blind. Blind. Blind. To see. Growth. In his or her life. He cannot see afar. But. He has forgotten that he was purged. The believer. He was purged from his old sins. A believer. Need. To show. These evidence. In his.

Or her own. Life. The more we are focused on the Lord. The more fruit there will be in our life. The less we are focused on the Lord. The less we will be able to see spiritual knowledge and growth. And we will be like these babies who don't grow spiritually. You know how sad it is to see this in the life of a believer. And finally. In connection with those three facts. In the life of every believer. Every believer. He is mentioning in verses 10 and 11. The importance of appropriating. To our life. Every day. Our calling. And our election. To appropriate it to our own life.

Day by day. He says in verse 10. Wherefore. In light of what I just said to you. Brothers and sisters. He is saying to them. Wherefore. The rather. Brethren. Give diligence. To make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things. Ye shall never fail. For so an entrance. Shall be ministered unto you abundantly. Into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior. Yeshua HaMashiach. Yeshua the Messiah. So. In these last two verses. Verses 10 and 11. He is emphasizing to the brethren. To the Achim. To you and I. To again. Give diligence. This is the second time he used the word diligence. He used it already in verse 5.

To give all diligence. To add to your faith. Now again. He used the word diligent. Work a debt. Labor in prayer a debt. Seek before the Lord. Help for that. Give diligence. Brethren. He says. To make your calling. And your election sure. Now remember. He doesn't say. Get resaved again here. No. But he says. You have been called. And you have been elected. Elected. Chosen in the Messiah. Before the foundation of the world. And called in time. To become a child of God. But to make it sure. It means. To appropriate. To your own life. You know that you have been chosen. We know that we have been chosen.

Because the Bible tells this to us. We know that God have called us. Because the Bible tells us this. We have been called. By grace. We have been called. From above. In 1st Peter 1. He says to them. In verse 2. You have been elected. According to the foreknowledge of God. We have been called in time. Well now. Make it sure. In other words. Make it. Appropriate it. To your own life. Every day. If you and I. Are children. Who belong to heaven. Well. It's pretty bad. If we don't. Appropriate it to our life. Recognizing. Wait a minute. I'm a child of the king. I'm a child of God.

Now. I need to have my life. In such a way. That it is pleasing to the Lord. And I need to. Appropriate. These truths. To my own life. He's really saying here to them. Then he says. For. If ye do these things. Ye shall never. Fall. Do you know. When we fall. When we don't. Do those things. That we just. Talked about. Then we stumble. And we fall. How many times. We fail. How many times. We stumble. And we know. If you're going to. Check yourself. And you're going to say. Wait a minute. Lord. I fail you. And I fell into sin. Because I was not.

Close to you. I know it. In my heart. And then. Of course. It's always. Restoration. Praise God. For that. We confess our sins. He's faithful. And just. To forgive us. And to cleanse us. From all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9. But we know. That there is a possibility. Only by God's grace. That if these things. Are in you. For if you do these things. It says. You shall. And notice that. I didn't write it. Peter wrote it. By divine inspiration. He said. You shall never fall. They had been given unto us. The possibility. To live a godly life. And we are. Able. Never to fall. But. That old word.

But. When we allow ourselves. To do our own thing. To live in the flesh. We are. Sure enough. To fall. Every time. And of course. We know. That as long. That we are here. In this world. We still have. This sin nature. And that's why. We sin. But. Nevertheless. They have been. Given. And to us. By the divine power. The ability. To live. A godly. Life. And finally. Conclude here. In verse 11. For so. And. Entrance. Shall be ministered unto you. Abundantly. Into the everlasting kingdom. Of our lord. And savior. Yeshua. The messiah. What he's really saying here. That when a believer. Is walking. In a way.

That is pleasing. To the lord. He already. Is to anticipate. Rewards. That he. That she. Will receive. In the coming. Messianic. Kingdom. That is about. To come. In the future day. When. Yeshua. Will take. His rightful place. As. King of Israel. As. King of kings. And lord. Of lord. Notice. It's called. An everlasting kingdom. Of our lord. And savior. Jesus. The messiah. When he. Is going to. Take his place. As king. Here. Can you imagine. The one. That is. Rejected. And despised. Going to be. The king. The everlasting. Kingdom. From shore. To shore. Everyone. Will recognize. The one. That was once. Rejected. But now. He is.

Having. An everlasting. Kingdom. Every knee. Will bow. Every tongue. Will confess. And we. As believers. Will enjoy. With him. A time. Of reign. And rule. When we. Will receive. A reward. From the one. That loved us. So much. And left us. Here in this world. To seek. To live. For him. So every time. Brothers and sisters. When we. Do the right thing. When we have. Those seven. Fold. Graces. Virtue. Knowledge. Temperance. Patience. Godliness. Brotherly. Kindness. And love. When those things. Are being added. To our faith. Every day. Of our life. Remember this. There is coming. A day. When the Lord. Is going. To reward. You and I.

For every. Iota. Every little bit. That we have done. For him. He is going. To reward us. And there is an entrance. Entrance. As he says here. In this verse. Shall be ministered. Unto you. Abundantly. Unto this. Everlasting. Kingdom. Of our Lord. And Savior. Yeshua. The Messiah. You and I. And all believers. Who lived. For the Lord. Everything. That we have done. For him. Is going. To reward us. In the coming. Messianic. Kingdom. What a wonderful day. Is awaiting. For us. As believers. And therefore. Brothers and sisters. In this introduction. And this. Provision of God. We are to seek. The Lord's help. To. Have those seven.

Fold. Graces. Added. To our day. By day. Living. To appropriate. The. Sure. Calling. And election. To appropriate it. To our own life. As we wait. For the day. Of the coming. Of our Lord. Jesus. Nemesis.