June 19, 2024 - Terrell Suggs

e e e e okay well let's get our Bibles out and if you don't have your Bibles you probably got your cell phone and maybe there's some Bibles around in here that you can look so we're going to be looking at second Peter second Peter verses 1 to verse number six I'm sorry to verse number seven y'all ready verse second Peter second Peter 1 to verse number 7 I want y'all to think about tonight the word addition y'all pretty good in arithmetic addition we're going to be we're going to find out tonight that it's very very very it's an absolute must for a Christian to be good at addition I want show you why let's start in verse number one Simon Peter a servant or slave and Apostle of Jesus Christ that those who have obtained a faith equal St in and equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ uh may God May the May the grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us uh by his own glory and Excellence by which he has granted to us listen this now he's 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 desires for this very reason make every effort effort to supplement and replace that word with add a d d replace that word with adding now here are seven things you're to add to your faith got it seven things to supplement your faith with virtue and to Virtue with knowledge and knowledge with selfcontrol self-control with steadfastness steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love now let's look at this really carefully we know that U Peter was on his last leg of of uh uh being an apostle because God was fixtion to take him this was written in about 66 ad and uh his his uh imprisonment and his uh death took place a year later and so this is the last thing that Peter ever wrote and it's so important to listen to this he's trying to counsel Christians and help them to be discipled in Walking with God and it's also a rebuke to false teachers which were all over the place then all over the place false teachers just like we have today we have our genuine Believers but we have all kinds of false prophets today false teachers that would love to lead us astray and so Paul is writing for that purpose but notice what he says right here in verse number one Simon Peter a servant which is uh the meaning of which is a slave Peter was a slave of Jesus Christ and I would love for all of us to get it in our minds and in our hearts that that word servant means slave and how do you think about that pertaining to yourself the greatest honor in this whole world greatest honor you can ever have in this whole world is to be a slave of Jesus Christ normally we look at this and we say boy Peter was something else but it's something we all ought to be proud of right you can boast about that folks uh that's something you can honestly truly boast about a slave of Jesus what about that I can make it through life and all the issues that come up because because I'm a slave of Jesus Christ that means he's my master and he's my Lord and I can walk in faith in this world knowing that God has me in the palm of his hand I'm a slave and I report to him every day saying Lord today is yours it's not mine I want you to give me my orders that's the way we all ought to be right how many of y'all can honestly say I'm glad and I praise God that I am a slave for Jesus Christ hope all of you can do do that maybe you've never thought about it quite like that but I'm so happy that God took over my life a long time ago and he has made me his slave and I'm so glad about it that's what our young people need to know you know our young people need to know about the fact that we are slaves to Jesus Christ and get them to understand that it's something very positive the most positive thing in this world uh instead of us thinking about it in such a negative way what Jesus or Paul said in Romans 12 verse1 I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you were sent your bodies as a Living Sacrifice I want to be a sacrifice I don't want it to come across in a way that I look at it negatively If any man come after me let him deny himself why should we deny ourselves because I am my biggest problem and I hope you can say that as well you are your biggest problem stop pointing your fingers at other people repent of your sins and get right with God and you are a person that ought to deny self because it'll get you in trouble every time but if you got Jesus as your master you got it made folks there's nothing can take your life away there's nothing that can destroy you God has a hold of your life so let's go on just a little bit more to those who have obtained a faith equal in equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ that is Paul was trying to say don't think that because we're Apostles and we're leaders among you that you don't have the same kind of faith that we do he wanted them to know that uh we're equal we don't have to take a secondhand faith we can be equal all of us as Christians and not think of ourselves as inferior than everybody else which apparently these people were doing but let's look at this I want you to notice that word righteousness we have equal standing with ours by the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ this this what I want to say tonight I mean you cannot get any better than this you can't get any better than this because did you know when you got saved whenever that was God declared you Justified and gave you his perfect righteousness it's called justification God declared you as perfect in his sight he said well now whoa wait a minute but that's the truth that's what salvation is all about folks it's not in you and what you do is what it's what it happened happen in your life by way of Jesus Christ and when you got saved that that doesn't mean that you are made righteous in your sanctification process but in your position in Christ in your position in Christ you are declared Perfect all your sins are forgiven he's cast your sins as far as the East is from the West he's hidden them behind his back and he'll never turn around and accuse you with them God has made you perfect in Christ that's the reason you're going to be able to go to heaven because he makes you perfect so that you can walk into Heaven someday and it's done and did you know that you cannot be unjustified I love that you cannot be unjustified no matter what you cannot be unjustified but God we always remember is the one that's guarding us and he's guaranteed us our Salvation we all think about that man that's good but notice this as he goes on May Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ I I want youall to know a verse uh some of you know it well but knowledge of Jesus Christ knowledge of Jesus Christ I want to tell you something else the most important thing you'll ever know as those other things I've said I want you to know folks that our Christian lives are wrapped up in knowing Jesus Christ Christ Philippians the thirr chapter verse number 10 you'll remember what Paul is saying here he's giving his testimony and he had uh he was testifying there that he gave up everything to know Christ he gave up all those Jewish ways those uh ceremonies and things that he fought for his faith he thought he was a perfect man and many of them didn't say that Paul was or Sol of Tarsus was perfect but notice this Paul gave up all of that that he had been working for when he was saved on the Damascus Road remember that saved on the Damascus Road uh he gave up everything and counted all those religious things that he did as a pile of garbage in the in the Greek it literally means uh manure he counted it all of those things that he was working for for so long he counted as a pile of manure in comparison to knowing Christ notice what it says here that I may know him G no scope that I might know him personally and the power of his resurrection and being shared in Sharing in his uh sufferings becoming like him in his death so how well do you do you do you know Jesus tonight how well do you know him that is what sanctification is all about now I've been declared perfect in in Christ by way of justification but what about sanctification you see sanctification is where I get to know him better and better and better how much have you learned since you've been saved are you growing in the grace and not how well do you know Jesus tonight and how do you get to know somebody better hang around with them be with them talk to them learn about them I know Jan better than I do anybody else in the whole world he's put up with me for 55 years a little bit before that cuz we dated about two years and uh I know her like nobody else and she knows me like nobody else why because we spent all of our lives together and so folks that's the way you get to know Jesus and Greater Grace comes upon you the more you know Jesus and so think about it like this the more grace you get the better you're going to become when I counsel people especially married couples I'll tell them the first thing you need to do in understanding how to improve yourself and how to improve your marriage is get to know Jesus better and better and better and if you do that your marriage will begin to straighten out you'll become morally upright you'll become a person that thinks Holiness and thinks love and all the great fruits of the spirit man that's powerful that's powerful so I need to give my time and my and my efforts to knowing Jesus and I need to study God's word every day I need to I need to live in this book just live in it jump in it and live they not just visit it every now and then we must learn to live in this book that's the way we're sustained as Christians it's the most important thing in the wide world but then notice this his Divine Nature has granted to all of us what everything that pertains change to life and godliness how important is life and godliness to you you see as you receive what God has given you you will have life and godliness life and godliness how important is that and it goes on to say he called us to his glory and Excellence you had been called to something that you're miserable about out he's called you to his grace and Excellence what about that wow just doesn't get any better than this folks but then notice this he's granted to us his precious and very great promises are y'all Standing on the Promises of God that's the greatest thing you can ever do right Johnny Standing on the Promises of God we need to know that the pro Promises of God are our foundation are you building your life on something else is it on something that crumbles away and will fade away or rot away you need you need to know Jesus as your very foundation and U it goes on to say so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature you see God gave us his divine nature he he equipped up he equipped us with the Holy Spirit when he saved us you don't have to wait till some second work of Grace as a lot of people call it and speak in tongues or something like that it's not that way you receive the Holy Spirit when you get saved you don't need a second work of Grace you've already got it and you're to grow in the knowledge of the Lord by the power of the spirit of God and you grow in his grace you grow in his grace that's what sanctification is justification is where you're declared righteous and sanctification is where you grow and grow and grow and you'll never be perfect until you get to heaven but you grow by knowing Jesus and standing on his promises for this very reason all right wait I'm sorry having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful nature y'all ever seen that movie The Great Escape a pretty good movie huh I've like I've watched two or three times but did you know as a Christian you had the Great Escape did you know that you have greatly escaped from what your sinful nature you have escaped from hell you've escaped from the judgments of this world God's got you right there where he wants you and you've made the Great Escape The Great Escape I'm so happy about that I don't know what to do sometimes people ask me about well are you happy and I say I'm happy as a lark how happy is that I've got the joy of the Lord in my heart tonight folks I do do y'all it's a security it's a security that we can uh count on every day but I want you to notice y'all get your addition ready now get it ready y'all get ready to add these things to your faith look it right here for this very reason may make every effort to supplement your what faith supplements means add addition and I want to say it again every Christian needs to be an expert in addition well you supposed to add these things right here let's look at them add to your faith and you know that we're not to interpret this scripture right here and by way of uh thinking that faith in Christ alone is not adequate we are saved by faith alone but after we get saved we are and this is Peter's way of expressing sanctification we are to begin to add to our faith virtue and I love this I love this word sanctification you to add first of all virtue you know what that word means man it'll blow you away virtue means striving To Be A Champion for Jesus it means that first thing you're to add to your life don't go around all depressed and worrying about everything and thinking God's not going to take care of you folks he's got you where he wants you right now don't be afraid don't fear anything except God and he wants you to set your goal To Be A Champion I want to be the best that I can possibly be God is Sovereign in all things but also we are responsible to be good stewards of what God gives us and so set your goal right there just like a uh an Olympic Athlete which is this summer you know we had the Olympics maybe it's still going on I don't know but those those guys and girls train themselves discipline themselves and they get on the the line or jump or whatever they do showing the throwing the shotput or whatever they do they've trained for it for years they they know what they're doing and they've eaten right they've kept good care of themselves and they've trained and trained and trained and so they're ready to compete with everybody else and they do well and so guess what that's what we as Christians we're not sit around and watch TV all day long and do nothing we are to train we're to train we are to understand that our lives are to be committed to Christ in such a way that we are named by him spiritual Heroes that's not boasting it's not boasting it's just a reality folks I need to give my very best to Jesus and put down everything else that would hinder me and be ready to run the race that is set before me and then notice the ne the next thing here we are to add virtue and then to Virtue knowledge now what's this book right here it's the Bible and we are to as we said a moment ago live in it and uh this is the book that will change your life now we talked about it in last last Sunday Sunday school lesson uh John mccarth I'm sure you've heard of him before he's a great commentator a great preacher I don't know if anybody else in the whole world is better than him but anyway he made a great statement the other day when a man by the name of Ben Shapiro was asking him how do you defend the Bible how do you defend it he said I don't need to defend it I just need to open it up and let you read it because it's like a lion it's like a lion you don't have to defend a lion do you what do you do you just turn him loose and folks the next time you have maybe some confrontation with somebody you're trying to explain the gospel to somebody or trying to help somebody in the midst of their needs tell them to read the Bible I saw a guy the other day with a t-shirt said read the Bible and folks that will absolutely change if you want to know that God is real and if you want to know his power in your life read the Bible and it will defend itself and it'll change your life if you do it with all honesty that's amazing so add that to your life add that and then notice this the next thing is self-control wow boy I need a lot of help in this you know we all have our sinful problems we do we have maybe sexual problems we have uh financial problems we have uh anger problems we have problems with our pride you name it and Christians can uh on occasion commit the worst sins you ever saw Christians godly people can fall as hard as a rock I've seen it happen through my Ministry of 58 years I've seen more people just fall flat on their faces and they were genuine Christians so don't take it or don't take it in stride folks if you don't if you don't give yourself the self discipline that you that you need if you don't really give it all you got disciplining yourself you'll get in trouble you just will you see that's what Peter is talking about here give yourself to these things and you'll have the ability to persevere how many times have you seen somebody that started out in the faith but they kind of left the faith and went somewhere else they didn't persevere and I want to say this you know we say about eternal security we believe in eternal security yes we believe that once God Saves you he keeps you saved but I would rather use the word perseverance if a person will persevere in the faith other words you can't get out here and just say well I was saved a long time I'm going go on a Revival but my life has not really changed I'm not living for the Lord you got to doubt their salvation folks you got to doubt their salvation because you see what happens when God gets a hold of you you will persevere you might backslide sometimes you might fail as a Christian but you're going to ever more come back you're going to ever more come back because God will guarantee it for you but be careful folks don't take yourself for granted because you can fall flat on your face if you're not careful and then look at this steadfastness into steadfastness godliness godliness now how would you interpret that for a Christian over and over again in like books like Ephesians the first chapter of Ephesians it tells us our position in Christ and what is that we are in Christ it says it over and over again and that's the way you become Godly by understanding that Jesus lives inside of you and that's the way you become Godly think about it uh take heart to that because when you uh really give yourself in commitment to Christ you can live a Godly life and uh it comes out when you understand who Jesus is and follow him and love him because he's inside of you another one I love is in Colossians 1:27 it is Christ in you guess what not only are you in Christ but what he's in you two ways what you think about that Sydney two ways he's in you and you're in him how can you fail if you just keep your mind on your business you can be a champion for Jesus don't you believe that DAV you believe that don't you and so look at this godliness and to Godliness brotherly affection y'all got the one another statements taped in your Bible don't you there's 59 of them in the New Testament one another statements let me just read some of them to you uh be at peace with one another love one another build up one another uh be the same be of the same nine one to another give preference to one another greet one another esteem others as better than yourself you see that's what we're supposed to practice what's the greatest of all the Commandments to love God with all your heart soul mind and body and what's the second your neighbor yourself we need to be full of love for somebody else other people we that means that we are to go out of our way to think about how somebody out there can be blessed by me who can I talk to today who can I go to today to be a blessing to them maybe somebody you're talking to on the phone or somebody you see at Walmart or some other place when you're shopping uh I love to keep tracks with me love tracks love to give them out and uh I give them out to people try to witness to them most of them don't listen they don't want them but I'll try to ask them please read this because you'll love it and uh that's what I do and just giving out tracks trying to witness to people like that and so we are to love one another with a brotherly and a sisterly expression don't criti Iz people cut this finger off cut it off take an action cut your finger off and quit pointing your finger somebody else that's our trouble folks we're too mad at other people and we think he's our problem or she's our problem no did you know that you are your biggest problem I found that out about myself a long time ago and I found to know that you don't Point your finger around to other people you don't you don't go around just griping about about other people and what they've done to you and so on you point to yourself and if you can get yourself straightened out you'll be surprised how you'll be able to handle your relationships with people you'll be surprised at how you'll be able to do the will of God in a in a Victorious way if you just point at you use those fingers to point to you okay and then the last thing is love and I've heard you know many people give a testimony about this chapter I had one lady to say you know she must have heard me say it in the from the pfield or something and there's a fellow named Andrew Murray whose life was a special blessing to PO to folks you know a long time ago and he would people would testify about Andrew Murray about uh how he read 1 Corinthians 13 every day and pray over it and people would say about him he is the most loving man I ever been around I had a lady to say that she said I heard you say that in sermon one time and I've started doing it and she said you'll be surprised how it's changed my life reading this and praying over it y'all know how to pray scripture don't you read the scripture let it speak to you and ask the Holy Spirit to make it come alive to you you want to learn how to love better then memorize the scripture like this right here and other scriptures that tell you how to to love people let me just read this love is patient boy I need a lot of patience love is patience and kind love does not envy or boast it is not arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way it is not irritable Bo that's a big isn't it not resentful it does not rejoice in wrong doing but rejoices with the truth love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endur all things well have I gone long enough would y'all pray over this tonight would you please you know to finish up Lord help me to be a good ater help me to be a good arithmetic person and I want to add to my faith virtue and then the virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control to self-control self steadfastness steadfastness godliness godliness brotherly kindness and the brotherly kindness love let's all pray and ask God to add these to our lives and do it every single day with all your heart with all your soul I ask command last night talking to him I said how much do you love God and he's having trouble in his life and he said I love God with all my heart then I ask them how much do you love your wife I love her with all my heart and they're going to get better they're going to have a better marriage because if you get your heart right about you and adding these things to your life your life is going to be a heroic Adventure you know that all right let's pray Lord I pray that you will fill us with these wonderful things that you've asked us and commanded us to do to add to these uh let us dear Lord add our uh add to our faith virtue and The Virtue knowledge the knowledge self-control and the self-control steadfastness the steadfastness godliness to Godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love Lord grant that these things will be added to us and live in them every day in Jesus name amen I love all of y'all good night