2 Peter 1:5-10 KJV
[5] And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
[6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
[7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
[8] 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 Jesus Christ.
[9] But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
[10] Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
"For if these things be in you, (What things: Faith, Virtue, Knowledge, Temperance, Patience, Godliness, Kindness, and Love, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful. But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
This easily leads me to believe that these several things work together, and if any of them are missing, we are considered as blind. Verse 8 tells us if we have these things, then we shall not be:
* Unfruitful
* Barren
Unfruitful:
1. Not producing fruit; barren; as an unfruitful tree.
2. Not producing off-spring; not prolific; barren; as an unfruitful female.
3. Not producing good effects or works; as an unfruitful life.
4. Unproductive; not fertile; as an unfruitful soil.
Tying this in with the fruit verses in Galatians, there is a way for us to bear fruit, adding one thing to another and possessing and abounding in the combination of these things.
Galatians 5:22-23 KJV
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 Amplified
(22)But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness.
(23) Gentleness (meekness, humility), self control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge against you].
Genesis 2:9 KJV
And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Now there is a direct correlation between the fruit of the spirit and the works of the flesh and the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I am not over spiritualizing. It is in the BOOK.
Jesus said: Matthew 7:16-18 KJV
[16] Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
[17] Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
[18] A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
In the mathematics of heaven, in order to be fruitful we must do some heavenly addition:
faith + virtue + knowledge + temperance + patience + godliness + brotherly kindness + charity = Fruitful
This equation requires all of these things in order for it to work. If we are to bare fruit, we must, as 2 Peter 1:5 in our text says: giving all diligence.
Diligence means we have to work at it, PERIOD. We have to try. We have to pay attention to it. We have give forth an effort.
If you know your bible, and I’m hoping that you do, someone right now is thinking, “You’re saying works, we aren't saved by works, we are saved by grace through faith, Hello!”
Ok, let me explain.
Fruit comes forth as a result of the Holy Ghost in our lives. if the work of God inside us bring forth the fruit of God, It is not I that bring it, but the Holy Ghost . We do not make the fruit grow.
Lets think of a tree. Apple tree. How does an Apple tree make apples? First of all, the apple tree did not decide to be an apple tree. Its genetic makeup makes it an apple tree. That makeup says when fruit is hanging from it, it will be an apple.
The tree has some things it must do:
· The tree absorbs water and nutrients from the soil,
· sunlight synthesizes the water and carbon dioxide to form sugar and oxygen (tree-food)
· The process is further impacted by a grower who tends to the tree and prunes it to make more apples grow.
· Now the tree has to absorb water and it has to absorb sunlight, otherwise, not only will there be no apples, the tree will die.
Likewise, you and I, giving diligence to the things of God, draw water from the Holy Ghost, nutrients from the word of God.
As we walk in the Light as Jesus is the Light, those things synthesis (combine to make a change) in us and because of that we bear fruit after a specific kind: The fruit of the Spirit.
The Holy Ghost will also act as a vehicle to prune us and help us bear more fruit. That is the fruit we bear because we, as new creatures in Christ, born again, are predisposed to bear.
Prior to the new birth we could only bear the works of the flesh, that was the only fruit hanging from us.
The born again of water and the spirit will be a God Tree. And the fruit hanging from it will be of God.
Unlike the tree, we can choose not to eat.
We can choose not to partake of what is required in order for fruit to come forth.
We are compared to trees many times in scripture. Bearing fruit is the mark of the Christian life; it is evidence of the Holy Ghost living in us.
The work is God's, but we have to apply ourselves to the things of the kingdom of God.
Barren:
1. Not producing young, or offspring; applied to animals.
2. Not producing plants; unfruitful; sterile; not fertile; or producing little; unproductive; applied to the earth.
3. Not copious; scanty; as a scheme barren of hints.
4. Not containing useful or entertaining ideas; as a barren treatise.
Reproduction was the first command given by God to man.
Genesis 1:27-28 KJV
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
[28] And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
In this we have the picture of what God expects of the church. We are to turn sinners from there sin and to the gospel that they might be "born again" into the kingdom of God. That is the whole point.
In ancient times a woman who was incapable of bearing children was considered by and large to be worthless. The measure of blessing on a household of the Old Testament Israel was how many children where born to a family.
Here is what the New Testament say of Genesis 1:28 :
Mark 16:15-16 KJV
[15] And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
[16] He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
This is the Mighty God in Christ Jesus instructing the Church, something he purchased with his own blood to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:” We have the saving message for this world today.
But, the message alone is not enough for birth to happen. The message without the fruit is like spiritual birth control.
We need to add something with some other things to make sure that we are not barren. Its time for us to have a revival mindset. Start adding.
We all want to see new people find God and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Start adding.
The Admonition:
Peter leaves us with some words in 2 Peter 1:9 : But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."
Piece by piece analysis:
1. But he that lacketh these things is blind...
In Matthew chapter 23 from verse 16 to verse 26 Jesus uses the word blind five times. Five times in ten verses. Who is he speaking to? The Pharisees. God is not pleased with spiritual blindness in those who presume to hold the truth.
2. ...and cannot see afar off...
[Proverbs 29:18 KJV] Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Folks who have not added what is required to be fruitful and to reproduce are people without a vision. Note how the verse says "the" people perish. I have heard that misquoted as "my" people perish. "The" people are those who are perishing who would not, if someone were there with a vision. Someone there who had added all the necessary things.
3. ...and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Remembrance is a big thing. The people of Israel in the Old Testament were instructed much about remembering and not forgetting. We are quick to take the scriptural high ground with Deuteronomy 6:4, ( quote )
but the one God verse doesn't end there: look at verses 12-13
Deuteronomy 6:12-13 KJV
[12] Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
[13] Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
There we go again, giving diligence and a conscious effort to remembering.
How Does This Apply To Current Issues Today?
The world is in a rut. We are looking at evil men and seducers waxing worse and worse.
All of the bad things that are happening that we would want to examine from gay marriage to child porn on the internet to rampant violence everywhere are all manifestations of one single thing: sin.
In the middle of this time, there will be a thousand messages preached by a thousand preachers and the ratio is that about 999 of them qualify as seducers. Preaching a false gospel and a false salvation. The message of Jesus name gets lost in the translation.
Lets look at this illustration: The Bible is a wonderful book filled with all kinds of contrasts and parallels. The human mind, with all its capability could not make such a book. The word of God is divine. The word of God is a picture of the mind that created the universe. Going back in time to:
Genesis 3:6-7 KJV
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
[7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
When they tasted the fruit, their eyes were opened.
The shallow understanding says "oh, they realized they weren't wearing any clothes."
No, this eye opening was much bigger than that.
They knew in that instant they had a revelation, they now understood that things weren't like they were before, and that they now could not go back.
They went from not knowing anything about clothing to understanding how to sew clothes from fig leaves. But they were trying to cover more than just bare skin, they were trying to cover the nakedness of their soul.
They realized what they were before in their innocence, but now they realized what they are after that taste in their nakedness.
They understood not only good and evil, but they understand that, in their innocent ignorance they were good, but now, naked in evil.
Nakedness is now passed down to every descendant since that time.
Nakedness that has launched a thousand wars, nakedness that is the cause of disease, famine.
Nakedness that would perform every evil act and perpetuate it with each new generation.
Nakedness that could only be covered by the shed blood on the cross at Calvary.
Oh yes, that eye-opening experience was the most profound thing in human history.
It is interesting to note that they had access to the tree of life as well, yet no record exists that they ate from it. In fact the Word does seem to indicate that they did not, in that God said: "..and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:" [Genesis 3:22 ].
Flash Forward to the Present...
Here we are, in a world surrounded by lost people hearing a thousand voices clamoring for attention. And we have someone who has diligently added all the things that Peter wrote of. Who is bearing that fruit of the Spirit, which is the fruit of the tree of life as well. Someone from the crowd reaches and takes of that fruit you bear and tastes it.
...then, their eyes are opened...
...then, the understanding of the message comes...
...then, knowledge that sin has made them an enemy of God, and godly sorrow working repentance comes...
...then, baptism in Jesus name becomes a wonderful opportunity instead of a topic of debate...
...then, the Holy Ghost becomes the "Christ in you, the hope of glory", instead of the third person of a trinity...
...then, the understanding of the One God in Christ Jesus is there, and forever settled ....
...then..... then….. then……
ENDING / ALTER
What is the Will of God for you? How can you make a difference in this perverse World? four, short, simple, words:
Add To Your Faith
