by Roby Ellis
[Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 3:18]
Introduction
A. Writing to Christians who are soon likely to see great persecution, Peter exhorts his readers to grow in grace and knowledge.
B. Peter knew that he himself would soon die for his preaching of the Gospel (2 Peter 1:14; cf. John 13:16; 21:18-19).
C. We hear of persecution in other places, but what will we do when it comes to where we live? How will we be able to stand?
I. Solid Christian character begins with faith.
A. Faith is a precious thing (2 Peter 1:1), and ours is not founded on “cunningly devised fables” (vs. 16).
B. Without faith, nothing else that we do really matters (Hebrews 11:6; Romans 9:32; Colossians 2:12).
C. Genuine faith always comes from an honest hearing of the Word of God (Hebrews 11:7-8,11,30; Romans 10:17).
II. If we want to be fruitful, faith alone is not sufficient.
A. We need to be fruitful if we wish to please God (John 15:2; Matthew 7:19; Galatians 5:22-23).
B. To be fruitful we must add some things to our faith (2 Peter 1:5-8).
C. This will require a tremendous amount of diligence on our part (2 Peter 1:5, 10; 2 Timothy 2:15).
D. The result will be well worth the sacrifice (2 Peter 1:8-11).
Conclusion
A. Since becoming a Christian, have these things become more abundant in your life?
B. We need to be making every effort to add these things to our character as we seek to make our calling and election sure.