Are You Saved?

2 Peter 1:8-11
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, June 24, 2018
Copyright © 2018, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

In 2 Peter 1:5–7, the apostle lists eight spiritual qualities that define a true Christian. Now, in 2 Peter 1:8–11, the apostle is speaking about the need to possess these qualities in increasing measure so that we will not be ineffective or unproductive in our faith, but, rather, bring forth much fruit, never fall, and finally receive a rich welcome into God’s eternal kingdom. This is the purpose of the Christian life.

The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” What is the chief purpose of human existence? The answer is, “To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” Jesus told Martha, “Only one thing is needed” (Luke 10:42). Jesus came into the world to testify to the truth, and he said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). In other words, the elect will listen to Jesus. The elect will hear and do God’s will and be blessed forever. Others will not listen. They may pretend to be listening, but they will not listen and obey. John writes about this: “This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11–12). He is speaking about eternal life.

God commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). God commands all people to believe in him and to love one another (1 John 3:23). To the question, “What must I do to be saved,” Paul answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your household” (Acts 16:30–31). Paul speaks in Romans 10:9 about confessing with our mouths, “Jesus is Lord.” When we do so, we are saying to God, “We are your obedient slaves.” And in that condition of perfect submission, we can experience blessed assurance, perfect delight, perfect rest and peace in God.

So Paul writes, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That is a promise of God who can never lie. Jesus said to Nicodemus that he must be born again by the Holy Spirit to see or enter the kingdom of God. Without faith in Christ, we will not glorify God and we will not enjoy this life or the life to come.

In 2 Peter 2:10, Peter is asking all believers in Jesus “to make every effort, to be very diligent, to make your calling and election very sure.” In the end, when Jesus judges every human being who ever lived on this earth, will you hear from him, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’” (Matt. 25:34)? Or will you hear, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41)?

The chief purpose of human life is to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to grow in holiness and be conformed to the likeness of God’s Son, our Lord Christ.

In 2 Peter 1:8–11, Peter tells us how believers can be very sure of their calling and election. Peter was about to be crucified as Jesus had predicted. I am sure that the apostle had made very certain of his own calling and election before his martyrdom.

You must be certain that you are saved from your sin—from its guilt and eternal punishment. Be certain that you are saved from the wrath of God revealed from heaven against your sin. Be certain that you have been saved by faith in Christ, who was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Be certain that Jesus Christ, the perfect God/man, has made atonement for your sins and therefore you are now clothed with his perfect righteousness forevermore, as the Scripture says in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Let us, then, consider in detail 2 Peter 1:8–11.

“For If You Possess These Qualities” (v. 8)

In verse 8, Peter is referring back to the qualities mentioned in verses 5–7. They are:

True, living faith in Jesus. It is a gift from God to all those born of God by which we trust in Jesus forever.
Moral excellence. A believer in Jesus will live as Jesus lived. John writes, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). We will live obedient lives. If a person does not live an obedient life, he is not saved; he is still under God’s wrath. A true believer will live an obedient life. He is not an antinomian, which is the chief characteristic of many evangelicals today.
A believer will order his life according to biblical knowledge, which is the primary means of God’s grace.
Self-control. The believer will live by Holy Spirit’s control in his life. This control is total; there is no exception. So he will say “No” to sin and “Yes” to the will of God as found in the word of God. He is being led by the Spirit. Paul writes, “Those who are being led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). No one else will do this; only believers can live this way.
A true believer will not quit following Jesus. He will practice what Jesus said in Matthew 16:24: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” He will even rejoice in sufferings, knowing that God-ordained trials produce perseverance, character, and hope.
Godliness is our awareness of God’s presence with us always. And knowing that, we will live our lives to please God. We will live Coram Deo.
Brotherly kindness (that is, loving one another). By this virtue, we love all true believers sacrificially, as we read in 1 John 3:16–17: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”
Divine love, agapê love. With this love, we fulfill the law of God that we read in Luke 10:27: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” We also read, “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10).[1]

Continually Abound in These Qualities (v. 8)

Peter says we are to possess the qualities “in increasing measure” (v. 8). In the parable of the four soils, the first three soils produced no fruit. They represent the false Christians of Matthew 7:23, to whom Jesus said, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Such antinomians go to hell. The fourth soil represents born-again true, believers. They are very fruitful. They produce thirty, sixty, and one hundredfold by the Holy Spirit’s power.

The Holy Spirit dwells in true believers. He teaches them and gives them power to obey God’s word immediately, exactly, and with joy. Thus, the fruit of the Spirit is produced in them: “love, joy, peace, [perseverance], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). Such people are not lazy and unfruitful. Rather, they are hardworking and very fruitful. They are like Jesus, who said, “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him” (John 8:29).

Jesus was the most productive and fruitful person who ever lived, and we are also to be productive. Consider the following:

Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
1 Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” They will be rewarded.
1 Thessalonians 3:12: “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” Increase and overflow.
1 Timothy 6:18–19: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

A true believer is vitally united to Christ by saving faith. How can we recognize a true believer? A good tree will produce good fruit. By their fruit, we can recognize true believers. Jesus said, ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1–2).

I learned what I learned through suffering. God’s people increase in their knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the painful practice of pruning. True Christians will grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And if we are not being pruned now, our pruning will be coming, for no one is exempt. It is going to come because God wants us to be more fruitful. But though we are being pruned, we also know that God will carry us through.

Jesus said, “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (John 15:6). Jesus was speaking about hell. He also said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). God knows who his disciples are, but we must know that we are his disciples by our obedience.

A false believer is a fruitless branch. God cuts off such branches and throws them out, where they are picked up and burned up in hell. And all branches that bear fruit, he prunes, so that they may bear more fruit and much fruit for God’s glory, thus proving that we are Christ’s disciples. Jesus said, “You are my disciples.” We bear fruit by the life of Christ flowing into us by our abiding in Christ through obedience

Those Having No Fruit of Obedience (v. 9)

Peter writes, “If anyone does not have [these qualities], he is blind and nearsighted [that is the order in the Greek], and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins” (v. 9). This verse tells us that anyone who lacks these spiritual qualities, beginning with faith and ending in divine love, is a fake Christian. Such a person is to be cut off, thrown out, dried up, gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.

I believe in heaven and hell. The destiny of a fruitless Christian is not glory but eternal destruction. Such a person is blind to eternal realities. He has no understanding of his own sinfulness. He sees no need for Savior Jesus Christ. He has no knowledge of his eternal destiny of hell. He is blind to the kingdom of God. He is unregenerate and therefore he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God.

He is also myopic (that is the word in the Greek); he is nearsighted. He can only see this world. He lives in corruption (2 Pet. 1:4). He lives by lust. That is why he buys all kinds of things on credit. He lives in corruption. Such a person is dead while he is living.

Such a person lives by lust. His god is the devil, the god of this world, who has blinded him. He cannot escape the idolatry and death of this world on his own. Such a person worships money and what money can buy. His treasure is in this world. He does not heed what Jesus said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19–21).

Such people are like the rich young ruler, who loved his money. He went away from Jesus Christ and was damned. They are also symbolized by Judas, the son of perdition, who worshiped money, though it could not save him. They live for the pleasures of sin for a season. They deliberately forget the fact of forgiveness, which true believers do not forget at all. They live by lust and so, like Judas, they soon fall away and leave Christ’s holy church to sin. This is true of all holy churches; people leave them to sin. Of such people we read:

2 Peter 2:20–21: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”
1 John 2:19: “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” They did not have perseverance.
1 John 2:15–17: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
Romans 9:22: “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?”

In his commentary on this passage, Michael Green said, “Lack of spiritual growth is a sign of spiritual death.”[2] Such people say, “We do not need Jesus; we have plenty of money!” What does Jesus say about them? Jesus said they are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked (Rev. 3:14–17).

Such people have no time for Jesus. And being shortsighted, they see only this world; they are myopic. Yet they are very busy. What are they doing? Eating and drinking; buying and selling; planting and building; marrying and giving in marriage. They would say, “Don’t bother me with Jesus, with the gospel. Can’t you see I am busy?”

“Make Your Calling and Election Sure” (v. 10)

Then Peter writes, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure” (v. 10). In the Greek, this is a command. God is commanding his people. In other words, this is our responsibility.

Peter is addressing true believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, not fruitless, fake professors in the visible church. Note the following points:

“Therefore.” This means, in view of the truth of verses 8 and 9, that fruitful people are true believers; unfruitful people are false believers. The latter do not know Jesus Christ.
“Make every effort.” We are to do this speedily, urgently. We must be very diligent. We must focus and pay attention, for God is speaking. We must give all diligence to the one thing essential to eternal happiness.
“Make your calling and election sure.”

The basis of our salvation is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. But the proof of our salvation is our obedience of faith, our holiness.

God commands all people everywhere to repent of their sins. God commands us to believe in Jesus. God commands us to love one another. God commands us through the preaching of his ministers. If God calls the elect, he will also enable them to respond to his effectual call. Therefore, he regenerates the elect sinners, dead in their sins, and makes them alive in their minds, in their wills, and in their affections. When that happens, they can understand God’s word, will God’s will, and love God.

Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). Jesus draws us by regeneration. God calls us effectually. So the elect will repent, believe, and love to follow Jesus. And they will produce fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. Through their obedience to the Lord Jesus, they will prove that they are God’s elect, objects of mercy prepared for glory. (PGM) Paul writes, “What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?” (Rom. 9:23). Peter also speaks of “the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ” (1 Pet. 5:10).

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that the object of the whole second letter of Peter is found in 2 Peter 1:10: “to enable us to make our calling and election sure,”[3] meaning very certain to us. God knows. We do not know. We must make certain that we know that when we die, we will go to paradise.

If our calling is true, then we can go backward to conclude that our election in eternity past is true. And we can also go forward and conclude that we will be glorified in eternity future. Paul writes, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29–30).

It is certain, it is sure. God cannot lie. Calling is the key. And our effectual calling is proven in our ongoing obedience to our Lord Jesus. Those who are effectually called will obey Jesus.

There is no salvation without obeying Jesus. They are all damned who teach that people can believe in Jesus and continue to live in sin. Those who teach such things are demon-possessed. They themselves are going to hell, and they want more people to go with them to hell. But consider the following:

Hebrews 5:9: “Once made perfect, [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
Acts 5:32: “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” We do not like the word “obey.” We are autonomous people. But if you are autonomous, you are demonic. There are no truly autonomous people. Either you are a disciple of Jesus or a follower of the devil.
1 Corinthians 1:2: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy.”
2 Timothy 1:9: “[He] has saved us and called us to a holy life.”
John 14:15: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
John 14:21: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.”
John 14:23–24: “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”
John 15:10: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
1 Peter 1:2: “[God’s elect] have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ.”
Matthew 28:20: “Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Is there a way of salvation that says we do not have to obey? No. God calls us to live holy and obedient lives. The Hebrews writer says, “It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. . . . Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Heb. 4:6, 11). Disobedient people are not saved and have no rest. They are restless, demonic people.

By baptism in the Holy Spirit, each true believer is sealed by the Holy Spirit. This sealing shows three things: ownership, authenticity, and security. The Holy Spirit guarantees to us these three things. We are owned by God, we are authentic, and we are secure. Paul writes, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Cor. 1:21–22). He also writes, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13–14).

Elsewhere we read, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom. 8:16). This is the highest form of assurance. Make your calling and election sure. Then we read, “Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: ‘The Lord knows those who are his,’ and, ‘Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness’” (2 Tim. 2:19). And, finally, we read, “As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:36–39).

Peter concludes verse 10 by saying that if we practice these things, meaning holiness—that is, faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love—we will never fall.

This is security. There is eternal security for the elect who are called. If we practice these things, we will never fall. We are elect, called, justified, adopted, and being sanctified to be glorified. In other words, antinomians will fall away, not those who practice holiness. Consider the following:

Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Hebrews 12:14: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
Matthew 7:24–25: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Jesus Christ is the rock.
Psalm 16:8: “I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” This is Coram Deo

The great Spurgeon said that the one who makes his calling and election sure is a happy person. He has nothing to fear—not even death itself—because he knows that he is going to paradise. And I say that a holy person is not only a happy person but also a fearless person, as we read in Proverbs 28:1 “The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”

God Gives Him a Rich Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (v. 11)

Verse 11 tells us that he who obeys God eagerly will be welcomed richly into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus said that to see and enter the kingdom of God, we must be born again. All those who are born of Holy Spirit will live by repentance and faith to practice holiness and be granted a rich welcome to the future kingdom. Peter exhorts, “So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Pet. 3:14).

It seems that some believers will get into Christ’s eternal kingdom not richly. Paul writes about such people and the works they have built in their lives: “If [their works are] burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Cor. 3:15). God may kill a person in the midst of his life to bring him to heaven because he is sinning all the time. Paul says, “Hand this man over to Satan, so that the flesh may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord” (1 Cor. 5:5). He also writes, “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:30–32). God’s discipline starts with weakness. And if a person does not want to repent, he will experience sickness. If he still does not want to repent, he will die. Paul says, “If we judged ourselves.” That is what we do when we take holy communion. We are to examine ourselves and live by repentance and faith, and God will forgive our sins. God will discipline his people, including killing them, to bring them to heaven.

But other believers, like Stephen, are given a rich entrance into God’s eternal kingdom. We read, “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Jesus was saying, “Come in, come in.” He was welcoming him. Continuing, we read, “‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’” (Acts 7:55–56). Jesus himself was standing in heaven, welcoming young Stephen, giving him a rich welcome.

J. Gresham Machen, the founder of the world-famous Westminster Theological Seminary, was an aristocrat, a rich man, but God saved him. He was a famous professor at Princeton. But Princeton rejected Jesus Christ as God, and Machen, along with other professors, started Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. In 1936, he went to Bismarck, North Dakota, to preach for a friend, Rev. Samuel J. Allen. On the last day of 1936, Machen was suffering from pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital. And on the last day of 1936, God gave him a vision of heaven. He said to Rev. Allen, “Sam, I had a vision of being in heaven. Sam, it was glorious, it was glorious.” And on the first day of 1937, he was called to heaven. He was given, in other words, a rich welcome by God into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He went to heaven with great joy at 7:30 p.m. on January 1, 1937.[4]

The thief on the cross repented. He said to Jesus, “Remember me,” and God gave him a rich welcome. Jesus himself said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” And I believe Peter was given a rich welcome, as was Paul, who wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. . . . I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Phil. 1:21, 23). Now, can you say that? This is true of those who make their calling and election sure: “To me to live is Christ”—that means I obey Christ—“and to die is gain,” profit.

Conclusion

May the Holy Spirit help everyone on this Lord’s Day to make his calling and election sure, that we may all be given a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we may live with God and elect angels and with his holy church in the new heaven and the new earth where dwells righteousness, and that we may live in eternal happiness as we read in Revelation 21:1–4:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

May God help us to make our calling and election sure. May we not spend all our time merely eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage, but may we do the one thing needful, so that we all will dwell with God in the new heaven and the new earth. Amen.

[1] See my sermon on 2 Peter 1:5–7, “Christian Growth in Faith,” http://www.gracevalley.org/sermon/christian-growth-in-faith/

[2] Michael Green, The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 81.

[3] D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Expository Sermons on 2 Peter (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1983), 32.

[4] Ned B. Stonehouse, J. Gresham Machen: A Biographical Memoir (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 507–508.