A Child of God's New Pursuits

Please open your Bibles again to the book of second Peter chapter 1. Sometimes you can tell by the questions that someone asks whether or not they have understood what has been said, I'll give you a couple of examples in the Bible so in Romans chapter 6 the chapter begins with the question, what shall we say then shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound now that is both the and informed question and an ignorant question. It's informed because it indicates that the questioner has understood what has been said in the previous chapters, which is this. We are saved because of what someone else has done. If we are saved because of what someone else has done. That is a reasonable question to ask, then doesn't matter what we do can we live in sin and especially if God's grace is magnified by saving desperately evil sinners than is it reasonable that we should be desperately evil, so that God will get all the more glory for having saved us so that's an intelligent question. It's ignorant because the questioner has not yet understood that when the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us and when we are joined by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ brings about a transformation in us so that we are no longer attracted to sin in the way that we once were.

So the question is, shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound answer certainly not by no means how can we who have died to sin, live any longer in it or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.

So, but the question indicates that the person has understood the idea that we are saved because of what someone else has done.

I give you another example.

So in Romans chapter 9, Paul asserts that God sovereignly chose Jacob and rejected Esau before they were ever born or had done anything good or bad. And this is part of Paul's argument saying that God has always, even within the family of Abraham. He is always chosen certain persons from the family of Abraham. Just because they are his offspring doesn't mean that they are his children is one of the arguments that he uses and then he wraps up that part of the argument by saying even if you go from Abraham to Isaac and then from Isaac to the twins in the womb of Rebecca that before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, God said the older will serve the younger.

Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated and then Paul anticipates a question being asked what shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God. That question indicates that the questioner has understood what has been said that there are some presentations of the doctrine of election that will not leave a person asking that question.

There certain presentations of the document election essay God chose the people that he saw were going to choose him. Nobody says hey, wait a second. That's not fair, but the presentation of the document election is presented in that section of Romans chapter 9 elicits the question why do second. That sounds unfair and so he deals with that objection, but it's an intelligent objection. No, we don't exactly have in fact we don't have it all.

That question in my text tonight, but I daresay some of you might have this question so what we saw last night is that God has provided everything that we need his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, and this is brought to us through not our good works, but through our knowledge of him, namely Jesus Christ who calls us by or to his own glory and excellence, and by these he is given to us is very great and precious promises through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world. That's all great. That is all great, all that God has done for us and then it leaves us asking this question are our efforts significant at all do our efforts make any contribution to this great promise that we may become partakers of the divine nature. In light of God's sovereignty do our works make any difference in light of God's sovereignty doesn't matter if we pray if God has already planned everything exactly the way that it's going to be and there's no possibility that is going to turn out any way other than the way that God has planned it, then what's the point in praying. That's just a particular example of the broader question. If God is sovereign God has determined that we are going to be in heaven then do our efforts matter at all. Prayer would be one of those efforts will answer that question that will see in this text. Tonight is yes our efforts to matter now again emphasize something that I said last night. It is entirely by God's free grace, that we were chosen entirely by God's work that we have faith that we are unable to repent that we are granted the disposition to believe and obey everything that God has revealed that disposition to believe and obey the new birth. It's regeneration. We would never exercise faith and repentance.

If it were not for God's granting us that disposition to believe and obey everything that he is revealed all by his grace. Once we have been converted. Here's the question do our efforts matter.

Let me lay this down as a general principle.

You should never let a theory about the sovereignty of God, even if it is the correct theory keep you from doing your plainly revealed duty may say that again you should never allow the doctrine of the sovereignty of God keep you from doing your plainly revealed duty. That is what God has said, you ought to do and so if in the question. Since God has determined everything that is going to happen, ought we to pray. What good does it do to pray. Just be careful that the you don't start behaving as if you have got some kind of insight into the nuances of theology that has not occurred to God because God has directed that we should pray and so, if for no other reason. If we can't figure out what good it does, then we still should pray and obey God and that has relevance for for other aspects of the Christian life. Besides the ones that were going to consider night which product primarily have to do with the efforts that you and I expand towards the bringing about this great promise that we may be participants in the divine nature. So for example when evangelism.

If this is one of the questions that occurs to people when they first see the Bible teaches that God has chosen who is going to be saved and that nobody will be saved except those whom he has chosen.

The question arises then what's the point in witnessing. Why do it once again. If God has directed that something ought to be done, then we ought to do what God says whether or not we understand how it all works together with his divine sovereignty but having established that this is also helpful to know God has not only established the end.

He has also established the means.

So God has established that his elect should be saved. But he also has determined that he is going to provide all the means for their salvation. So that includes the work that Christ did during his life was the work of the Holy Spirit includes the work that Christ is doing now from the throne. It includes the preaching of the word. It includes the prayers of the saints that are all used as the means that God has ordained foreordained to bring about the accomplishment of his purposes, and in our text tonight. We will see that we are directed to make every effort or or be all the more diligent in light of these great promises that God has made. So let's take a look at that in the text and begin will begin with verse with verse three I just quoted verses three and four to you but let's read it again. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love and then the text for tomorrow night begins with verse eight it talks about the benefits of these qualities being yours their wonderful hope that you can come back tomorrow night. See the wonderful benefits that are promised to us.

If these qualities are ours and are increasing, not usually in my sermons. There is set to or three main points and I suppose I could say that there are 23 main points, but the first couple are very, very brief and the first one has to do with the fact that the provision of the promise or the promise itself lays a motivation for us to be diligent in seeking to acquire these eight character qualities that are mentioned here. So for this very reason, because these things have been made available to you because these things have been promised for this very reason, then, be diligent, show all diligence or make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and so on through the list of eight. This is so similar to the question that I asked you last night. What would you undertake to do if you knew there was no possibility of your failing well this is one of those promises that is made. If you are if you're diligent in pursuing after these things you will make progress. There are blessings that are promised to you. These are the aspects of the divine nature that are appropriate for a recovering sinner to pursue and if you will pursue them. You will be greatly blessed you will become a partaker of the divine nature.

And so for this very reason, make every effort it says in my translation. You may have a translation that uses the word with all diligence that the either.

Either way, so the first point of this sermon was that the promise lays the foundation for the effort now.

Secondly, look at the degree of effort that is urged upon us here make every effort. This is this is not something that you're going to sleep your way into the Christian life commences with resting but it progresses with wrestling. The apostle Paul, after saying that he wants a righteousness that comes from God through Jesus Christ says I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold on me. I strain with all of my might to pursue after these things and so a strenuous effort in the pursuit of holiness is consistent with the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone so make every effort not. I wonder, can you think of anything in your life that you have expended every effort available to you in order to accomplish it. I can think of a time or two when I was filled with regret and still have some doubts would that have succeeded if I had just put a little more effort into it when I was in the sixth grade I was on the football team that was going into the final game of the season undefeated and the score was was really close and I was playing safety on defense and the fastest boy in the league.the ball and was sprinting down the sideline and I was the only one who had any hope of catching one of Artie said that he was the fastest in the league so I wasn't going to run them down but I I worked the angle so that I was going to be really close, but I couldn't touch him. Always wondered what if I had just given a great diving will eat and tried to catch his ankles mind. I have caught him.

We lost the game 12 to 6. If I had just given a little more effort. What if try to choose a variety of examples here. What if you got a message from God saying you will win the Masters golf tournament next spring. If you will give it every effort if you're a golfer and aspire to that sort of thing feel sorry for you for having such a boring life. But I just thought I'd try to be try to be openhanded with my illustrations. What if, what if an angel from heaven said, if you will give every effort then when the World Series is played next fall.

You will be the picture on the winning team.

What if you put forth every effort and the next time the Olympics are held, you would be the 100 m dash chant or not. I don't know what really appeals to you know but what what if you what if you were told by God. If you expand every effort then you will be successful in that we hear the word of God tells us here is a great a great quality that you may enjoy. You may be a partaker of the divine nature. It has been provided for you now since it has been therefore let us make every effort to cooperate with the process of this divine nature, being stamped on us and our nature being transformed from a sinful nature into a holy nature, so now those of the first visits the first two points of the sermon. Now we come to the third which is going occupy the rest of our time and it is what are these eight qualities, so I don't think that this is an exhaustive list. Their other very important virtues very important character qualities that are left out of this list. This list doesn't say anything about hope this list doesn't mention some of the character qualities that are identified as fruits of the spirit in Galatians chapter 5, but this is an extremely good list and if you're going to make every effort to have these eight character qualities developed in your life, then not. I would recommend that you you you pray about them at least pray about them and may be right here at the first when it's fresh on your mind. The Holy Spirit will impress upon you and you just open up your Bible and and pray through these eight character qualities I hope in the exposition that follows that out be able to give you some insight into what these various things mean and that you'll be able to pray for them intelligently and not just as a mere name of something that you think is probably pretty good, but here are eight character qualities and the one that is foundational to them all is faith. I you see in in verses one and two. This is addressed to people who have a faith like we did a faith that is as precious as ours, and now he comes back to that and says I know that you have faith. Faith is fundamental to all of your character development in the kingdom of God and of Artie told you that faith is believing what God has said, especially when the only reason you have for believing it is because God has said it. There are truths that you will never figure out on your own. There are truths that must be revealed to you or you will not know them in the most important truths in the world are not truths that we decipher their truths that we recognize triggers that we have revealed to us and we respond with with saying yes that is true, and I will build my life upon the fact that it is true earlier today. The pastor and I were having lunch and I mentioned that I had mastered for about three years with Jim Ellison. He said all Jamel of Cayman preached at our church gave a weekend seminar on childhood conversion. So some of you will know Jamel if Jamel if has a couple of remarkable sons. He has a lovely daughter as well of the sons came to school at Boyce College.

When I taught there and so I got even further acquainted with the boys both extraordinarily bright and in fact one of these boys. The oldest of them had probably read more books at age 14 than I'll ever read my whole life, so he had hidden done an incredibly extensive amount of reading and the boy was an unbeliever, but he read great books. He was a very dutiful child very obedient to his parents never gave them a bit of trouble. He always listened very attentively when I preached, but after I had been pastor there for three years.

He was about age 17. When I left he still was not a believer and I talked to him. We had a good relationship and I had to urged upon him all the reasons for becoming a believer that I could but when I left he was still a nonbeliever and then about a year later I heard that he had been converted. He was coming to Boyce College. So when he arrived he came to my office and I survive her that you been converted, and I said will tell me about it and he said well I wanted to be the first person who would prove from philosophy and logic that Christianity was a true religion and so I was working hard to try and figure that out, but all the while remaining an unbeliever in one day my dad sat me down and and said son under the auspices of humility. You are in fact behaving in a very arrogant way you're never going to come to an understanding of the truth in a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ until you accept that the Bible is the word of God and receive the revelation of the Lord is given, and he said so II realized that I had to take something on faith. I had to either take on faith that the word of God was true and I could build my life upon it or I had to take on faith, that reason was a legitimate means of ascertaining truth. I don't know if that's ever occurred to you, but you can't prove that reason is a legitimate logical way of ascertaining truth, especially if there is no God.

If there is no God, then your reasoning capacity is nothing more than the result of the random movement of atoms and you know that's not a trustworthy way to ascertain truth and yet and yet atheist behave all the time like that's an acceptable trustworthy way of ascertaining truth. But if there's no God your reasoning capacity is nothing more than the result of the random movement of atoms. So anyway he didn't go, and all that I threw that in for free. He said I know that I had to take something on faith and so I accepted that the Bible was the word of God. He paused and I said and so shortly after that, you became a believer. He said well it was virtually inseparable from that because you see I knew what the Bible said I knew what it said about Jesus and so on and so when I received that the Bible was a trustworthy revelation of truth from God, then virtually at the same time.

I put my faith in Christ faith is that the basis faith.

Faith is at the basis all the truth is that you need to know in order to be right with God are truths that have been revealed man through wisdom has not figured them out and so it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching foolishness of what is preached to save those who believe.

So faith is at the beginning. You are never going to make any progress in being conformed to the divine nature until you first of all receive as true. What God has revealed about the way to be made right with him, so faith is foundational to all of this, but don't stop there.

For this reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue.

You may have a translation that says excellence. It can be translated either way, it's the same word that we saw earlier when we saw that Jesus calls us either by or to his own glory and excellence, or virtue. It's the same work and virtue virtues. Let me put in the plural virtues are those ideas and behaviors that strengthen your character to become more like God.

I don't think that there are.

There can be any persistent virtues in the universe where there is no God. Every every motivation for doing what someone might propose to be virtuous. Every motivation for continuing to do that when it involves self-sacrifice ultimately fails. If there is not a God so virtue are virtues are those character qualities there those ideas and behaviors strengthen your character in a universe that is governed by God.

What are some of the virtues that you ought to be cultivated and the word of God is going to inform inform you that, but let me just choose some so the ancient people said that there were four cardinal virtue four cardinal virtues are courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice in all four of those things are virtues that are talked and encouraged, and in the Bible.

But what is courage wealth courage is the determination to do what ought to be done when you're afraid doesn't mean that you never have fear, but it means that you have the determination to do what is right and to think what is right even when even when you may be afraid. You don't always have to be afraid to be courageous… To two stand up for the truth to do what is right. When nobody else is doing it to believe the truth even if nobody else is believing it. That takes courage and wisdom what is wisdom.

Wisdom is the ability to discern what is best and to know the best means of attaining what is best.

It's it's the capacity to see what is the most noble goal and then to implement the most effective means of attaining that most noble goal and that you're not even going to make any progress towards real wisdom until you embrace God's revelation of himself, which I believe in the Old Testament is summarized as the fear of the Lord. I think of the fear of the Lord is a figure of speech that represents all of religion as revealed by the true and the living God and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You're not gonna make any progress towards the most noble goal and know the most suitable means to achieving the most noble goal unless you understand what God has revealed the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And so it will be very profitable for you to consider various virtues and ask yourself well.

What is hope is is hope of Christian virtue. Yes, it is hope is one of the three Christian virtues, faith, hope and love and would do you well to think through from a biblical perspective and in conversation with your Christian friends.

What is hope. You've heard that hope is not just that an optimistic perspective on the future. What is hope in him as its as is described in the Bible and and so on.

Supplement your faith with virtue deliberately work on the improvement of your character and and seek to make it stronger and more like the Lord.

This word virtue. As I said could also be translated as as excellence and I would be very profitable for many of us justice to try and do excellent believe the things that we like do you like music do you think that some music is more excellent than others. What you pursue the most excellent music do you play basketball. How do you suppose that a Christian person ought to play basketball pursue that excellence try to try to do excellently the things that you have been called to do so supplement your faith with virtue or excellence and then the third virtue that is in this list is knowledge and your virtue with knowledge only say this more than once. It's worth writing down is certainly worth remembering all Christian motive and all Christian comfort flows from Christian doctrine understood and believed all Christian motive and all Christian comfort flow from Christian doctrine understood and believed while Christian motive. I mean that the motivation that you have to do the things that you ought to do like this sermon and I hope that as a result of the knowledge that you receive from this sermon tonight, your motivation to pursue after the divine nature will be increased and then the comfort that you have the assurance of God's love, peace of conscience. Joy that you may experience in the Holy Spirit, the increase of grace. The ability to persevere in in the Christian life. These various comforts also flow from Christian doctrine, understood and believed. So it is a common part of sermons. It's a common conclusion to books to say now what is the application and that's just fine off and do it myself. And so I'm not I'm not criticizing that.

But the point that I'm making is that sometimes just what you have learned is going inevitably to lead to the application. I've heard that Martyn Lloyd Jones would only agree would agree to counsel someone or a couple only after they had listened to him preach for six months now and I've never read that in the biography, but I had a trusted friend tell me that that was the case that he would agree to counsel someone only after they had listened to his preaching for six months now. Why would he do such a thing.

It is based in the idea that I'm communicating right now that all Christian motive and all Christian comfort flows from Christian doctrine, understood and believed in. There are just a multitude of problems that are taken care of when we are making progress in understanding and believing Christian doctrine and so the at the success of your Christian life in the comfort of your Christian life rests on your increasing in knowledge. So are you making every effort to increase in knowledge are you reading the Bible. Are you memorizing the Bible are you talking about the Bible with people who are interested in the Bible are you listening to good sermons are you making a good use of your time.

Make every effort to increase in knowledge. It's amazing what you can do if you will just start devoting a little bit of time towards accomplishing it.

Perhaps some of you have made the mistake of thinking that you're going to you're going to get into shape and so the first day you exercise for two hours and that is generally bad idea. I want to start with something that's a little more manageable. Start with saying I'm going to try to exercise for five minute a day every day this week and next week. Six minutes know if you say will have a goal that I want to benchpress my body weight. Well, if you have been lifting weights you need to go into that kind of easier you're going to hurt yourself. You hurt your shoulder will hurt your elbows start easy. Don't don't think you're going to accomplish all this in in just a short while and apply that same sort of thing. If you thought you are being convicted. Now that you are not making every effort to supplement your faith with virtue in your virtue with knowledge and you say I need to do better at this start.

Realistically it's amazing how much you can accomplish if you will just stick with it slow and steady wins the race, I not last year but the year before last, I determined that I was going to read the Gospels through every month and I determined that I was just going to read aloud for half an hour half an hour day. I would read aloud and if I never missed any days. I finished all four Gospels on the 20th day of the month and I thought God sends his son into this world. He inspires for men to write a perfectly sufficient account of all that Jesus said and did so that we might know him and you can read all four books and 10 hours all four books in 10 hours there's really no excuse for not reading the Gospels and if you apply that same principle. So I'm just going to read aloud for half an hour a day and you will be amazed at how quickly you get through the New Testament some time ago I was interim pastor at a church where I told this story and then I'll tell you the effects of the story.

There is a college professor. I think he teaches here in North Carolina who is an apostate from Christianity and that he teaches at a major university and his classes are very popular, and he has several hundred students in his introductory classes and at one of the first days of class, he asks his students how many of you believe the Bible is the word of God will many of these freshmen another come from Christian families were in the Bible Belt. Almost everyone in the class raises his or her hand's okay hands down. Now how many of you have read Suzanne Collins trilogy on the hunger games. Almost all the young people of red that almost all raise their hands.

Okay hands down. Nine. How many of you have read the Bible through all the way from cover to cover and there will just be a few hands that are raised in this auditorium sees hundreds of students and then this apostate from Christianity will try to grind down the faith of these young people by saying so you don't really believe the Bible is the word of God. Because if you did, you would read it so I told that story at the church where I was interim pastor and later on I learned that there was an unconverted man in the church who had been attending that church for 30. His wife was a devout part of that church and he had been coming with her for 30 years at his heels dug in, but he went home that day and he said, have you read the Bible all the way through the asked his wife will know not all the way through. He said we at least need to read the Bible and he started reading the Bible and several months went by and he asked me to go turkey hunting with him and he sat there and talked the whole time. You will be quiet when your turkey hunting.

They sat there and talked the whole time and I when the day was finished.

He said Dr. Orrick, I need to apologize to you I ask you to come turkey hunting.

But what I really want.

Do we just sit here and talk to you about the Bible and I called them by name and us way rather sit here and talk to you about the Bible that should and make long story short, the Lord saved him through reading the Bible and he is he's a dear brother, I baptized them before I left that church.

The word of God is powerful and you you will be conformed to the divine image.

If you read the Bible and read it. Praying that God will open your eyes and teach you things. There's an amazing passage of Scripture in the book of second Timothy that says, think on these things. Paul tells Timothy for if you think on them. The Lord will give you understanding pretty could promise think about them and the Lord will give you understanding, will you become some kind a great Bible scholar. Maybe not, but you will learn and day by day. Your knowledge will increase put some effort into it don't stop there. So to your face and virtue to your virtue and knowledge to your knowledge, and self-control. So self-control and the one the virtue that follows after this steadfastness, or perseverance. I believe that they are twins. I think that self-control is scripture informed reason moderating excessive desire and steadfastness is scripture informed reasoning reason motivating defective desire to explain both of us. So there are times when you really want to do something, but your scripture informed reason says that's not a good idea that will hurt you or that will hurt someone else. So that will bring dishonor to your family will bring dishonor to the Lord's name don't do that and you are to be governed by scripture informed reason you're not to be governed by your whims and fancies are not to be governed by your affection. Once you were because that's one of the devastating effects of sinfulness on humans is that instead of being governed by scripture informed reason we are instead governed by our corrupt affections, and we just use reason to try and justify the corrupt choices that we've made when you're born again then your your human nature, which had been turned topsy-turvy so that affections were uppermost in reason was bottommost is righted and once again reason is made, the king of man's soul, but it is scripture informed reason and so when when you want to do something that is going to be bad for you or dishonoring to the Lord your scripture informed reason has a little conversation with you and says that's not a good idea. Don't do that and you know we've always got these conversations going on in our heads.

I believe that when conversion occurs, the most reasonable voice and the dominant voice becomes the voice of Scripture informed reason in your head, and it may just be barely in control of the first minute off to become more and more in control so that we learn and develop self-control. So self-control is scripture informed reason moderating excessive desires, but in our sinfulness. Not only do we sometimes have excessive desires but sometimes we have defective desires.

We don't want to do the things that we ought to do you determine when, in light of brother Jim sermon I'm going to become a more diligent student of the word of when to start committing Scripture to memory. Just taking a spinning five minutes a day to memorize a passage of Scripture. Start small and build up from there and it'll be great for about three weeks and then after about three weeks. It'll be time for you to do your memorizing and you'll think now feel like doing that today. And that's when Scripture informed reason says well you're not a slave of what you do and do not want to do today a new ruler has taken over in your life and that is scripture informed reason and so go ahead and do what you are supposed to do. Even though you don't feel like doing it. One of my favorite definitions of education is that education is the process of teaching a person to do what he ought to do.

Whether or not he feels like doing it when he ought to do it and that's a very good definition of education. But that is that's the function of self-control and steadfastness that Scripture informed reason corralling our way word as affections and desires so that they are harnessed to pursuit after God's glory and the divine image implanted upon ourselves.

Now they the influence of Sigmund Freud is extremely, extremely powerful, even after it's not all that influential in psychology anymore. It's still very influential in the in the culture.

Still very influential in Christian culture. Here's the way that it manifests its ugly lie. So the ugly lie of Sigmund Freud, is that if you really want to do something you'll get sick if you don't do it, and course that's so prevalent in the culture. But the way that that that idea and the idea of Sigmund Freud really gets to some of you is that you think that your unconscious self is the real you. You think that if you want to do something as bad.

Therefore, you must be a bad person and maybe all of your Christianity is just a big lie. Well, these two virtues, self-control and steadfastness say the real you is not the unconscious. You the real you is the deliberate you the real you is the person that you cultivate in secret. There is the possibility of hypocrisy, but a hypocrite.

Rare rarely carries on his hypocrisy when no one will know about it and so I think it's a fairly good indication of the state of your soul. The real person that you are what kind of person are you trying to cultivate in secret. Are you bringing your self-control and your steadfastness to their on your desires, then then don't.

Don't be tormented by the fact that your your walking with Jesus, you're seeking his word you're deliberately praying your deliberately cultivating Christian fellowship and then all of a sudden this vile thought comes blasting into your mind you think, oh that reveals the real me. You may not even know that that kind of idea came from Sigmund Freud which is all that's really me that vile pervert is the real me. John Bunyan deals with this in his Pilgrim's progress.

When Christian is going through the valley of the shadow of death, and as he nears the end of the valley of the shadow of death, there are these demons that come up and start whispering things in his ear and Bunyan write something like this. Alas, poor man.

He was so distracted he thought that they were his own thoughts and accost them such deep distress. He was unable to realize that's not real me. That's not me several years ago a pastor friend of mine whom I've known for most of my life called me and and he for the first time ever, revealed that he was having enormous struggles with with depression and accusing thoughts, and he identified one particular incident that he remembered from his college days he he was getting ready to play a prank and before he threw the water balloon or whatever it was he was getting ready to do. He said the thought went through my mind.

What if the Holy Spirit doesn't want you to do this and he said just quick as a wink.

I thought answer willfully on the Holy Spirit that was not exactly half cleaned it up so he said willfully on the Holy Spirit and then disguised talking to me on the phone. He says this probably 20 years after that happened, he said in all these years I have wondered have I committed the unpardonable sin I so disrespected the Holy Spirit in saying I said the difficulty of Pilgrim's progress.

I do have you ever read it. So I wanted to get it and I when we get off the phone I want you to find the section that I just described to you. So we got off the phone and several weeks later he called me and that he revealed that he had been so depressed that he was not even able to carry out his pastoral functions he had been getting someone else to preach for. In fact, he said he woke up one Sunday morning he told his wife you're going to have to get someone else to preach for me.

I just can't do it today, but he told me that passage from Pilgrim's progress was the breaking of the son of the rock above the horizon in mind night of dark despair and it was this it was this principle that the real you is the you that you cultivate in secret. It's the deliberate you.

It's not is not that wild and crazy you that sometimes sometimes breaks out in spite of your efforts. The real you is the you that you cultivate using these twin virtues of self-control and steadfastness and then I think that the next two virtues are also complementary.

There is godliness and then there is brotherly affection or brotherly love. I think that these twin virtues remind us that there are two dangers that we face in the cultivation of virtue. One is that we will apply merely human standards but no, your goal is God likeness not just Aristotelian excellence uses this very word in the very famous work of his when he cultivates these 12 easy. He says here the 12 virtues that you ought to pursue and this will make you the excellent man. This will make you the virtuous man that's noble but it's just human. We are aiming to be partakers of the divine nature and to become like God.

Now the other extreme is that we will make the mistake of thinking that we can accomplish all this in some kind of monastic seclusion that all of this is going to take place while we're quietly in our closet with the door closed and nobody intruding upon us, but this second and in this pair.

This idea of brotherly affection reminds us you've got to do this in the presence of obnoxious people.

Now maybe you had experience with thinking that you had made pretty good progress in a certain virtue until you were tested, you know, it's impossible to tell if you are really submissive until the person who is your authority ask you to do something that you'd rather not do real, it's impossible to tell that you are submissive until the person who is your authority asks you to do something that you'd rather not do. Similarly, it's important, it's impossible for you to know that you have patience until you are faced with a situation that you'd rather not being when I was about 14 I was converted, and I thought, I think that I gained an immediate victory over a pretty bad anger problem and so for about the next 13 years. I can only remember getting really red in the face angry. One time that's pretty good record.

I felt pretty good about my victory over anger but just laid in my 27th year when I was about to turn 28 I learned that my anger problem had not been conquered for that was when I married this precious little woman sitting up on the front and I I I discovered, much to my dismay that loving her so deeply and wanting our relationship to be so good. I was caught was a context in which I would sometimes get angry when she never behaved the way that I wanted her to behave or the relationship wasn't going the way that I want to go all those years when I thought I'd I was not angry was because I was not being severely tested and if someone did make me angry. Then it was easy just to stop hanging around them or to go go somewhere else but here was someone God promised God that I would be with and try to love her as Christ loved the church and this attempt to practice wifely affection or to practice, brotherly affection as a tendency to keep you humble and keep you. Praying for grace and so don't make the mistake of just pursuing after human excellence. Where wanting to be godly. Don't make the mistake of thinking that godliness is something that you're going to make great strides in just you and Jesus in your Bible.

Somewhere off in the corner of some remote desert.

That's not the way your to supplement godliness with brotherly affection. I thought about illustrating these eight virtues as like petals coming off of the flower in the middle. If you think of the Daisy like the middle would be the divine nature.

And then there would be faith in virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection and love those eight pedals would be around and I thought, I don't really really like that illustration as these are more intertwined than petals on the Daisy.

This is more like the petals on you think about one of those T hybrid tea roses that are so densely packed with pedals that you can't really take it all apart without destroying the rows they all are meant to hang together and then there is that color that fragrance that's in the rows and I would then represent the color and fragrance of the rows by this eight virtue that is mentioned here and that's love. Love is really a summary of all of these seven things that have gone before and so make sure that if you lose sight of all the rest that you love because if you love and you will fulfill the law, you will fulfill the because love is the fulfillment of the law and if you love God with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength. And if you love your neighbor as yourself, then you will behave towards God. Believing is where you have faith in him you will seek to expend the effort to become what God wants you to become and so on through the seven virtues that have preceded this spring.

Our father in heaven. We pray that you will help us to expend every effort to put forth all diligence to supplement our faith virtue by virtue with knowledge.

Knowledge with self-control self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness. Godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love and we ask this in the name of our great Savior, Jesus