Passage: 2 Peter 1:1-11

The Big Idea

The gospel isn’t about what you do for God, but what God does for you. Peter says grace and peace multiply as we know God, because His divine power has already given us all things for life and godliness, through exceedingly great and precious promises that make us partakers of the divine nature. Grace speaks in promises, not demands. So when Peter says “add to your faith” virtue, knowledge, self-control and love, he’s not handing us a to-do list. He’s inviting us to draw on what’s already been given, like swiping a new card loaded with unlimited funds instead of our old, declined one. Those who forget they’ve been cleansed become shortsighted. Those who keep believing His promises will never stumble.

Grace Is Everywhere

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord (2 Peter 1:2).

Anyone who studies God’s Word to get to know God runs into this word grace. It’s everywhere.
From cover to cover, grace seems to be the central thing God is explaining.
The gospel isn’t about what you do for God, but what God does for you!
Grace is what God gives us. Jesus is full of grace and truth, and we all receive from Him (John 1:14, 16). We don’t earn it; it’s given, and we receive it.
As we get to know God, His grace multiplies to us. Getting to know someone does that. Over time, what makes them special comes out.
Relationships are built on promises, made and kept.
Knowing Jesus is the most wonderful relationship you’ll ever have, because it’s so one-sided! He makes all the promises and supplies all the resources, and we receive what He promised.
A healthy church talks a lot about relationship, because that’s where grace always pushes us: knowing God better. Not a legal relationship based on your performance, but a love relationship based on His.
It isn’t a burden; it’s a tremendous blessing.

All Things Have Been Given (2 Peter 1:3-4)

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Grace is simply God’s power and heart, given to you freely.
The language of grace is promises, not demands. Grace is always promising something new and more.
These aren’t empty promises, or promises that depend on your effort. They’re exceedingly great and precious.

Spurgeon pointed out that many things are great but not precious, like huge rocks of little value; and many things are precious but not great, like small jewels. But God’s promises are so great they’re nothing less than infinite, and so precious they’re nothing less than divine.

What’s promised here? All things for life and godliness. The very power of God.

All things? Yes. You’ll never lack what you need to be all God made you to be.
That sounds like the life Jesus lived: total victory, never a lack of resources, supernatural ability.

Do we believe it? Or do we say, “Well, I have some victory, some resources, some ability. After all, I’m only human”?

Peter says we’ve been given promises so that we may be partakers of the divine nature.

You used to be “only human,” only a child of Adam, able only to rebel and go your own way.
Through grace, you’ve been given a share in a new, divine nature. You’ve been adopted as God’s child, not just legally but by God’s supernatural power.
As His child, you’ve escaped the corruption of the world. Sin’s power was broken when the Spirit came to live in you.
You became a new creation.

The New Card

So that’s it? Just ask Jesus to save me and I’m set?

It’s true that all this grace has been given. But we choose, moment by moment, to draw on what’s been given.

Imagine I handed you a brand-new debit card with your name on it, loaded with unlimited funds. At checkout, you have a choice:

Pull out your old, crinkled card and watch it get declined, as always. That’s the self-life.
Or swipe the new card with unlimited resources. That’s grace.

When we ask Jesus to save us, He does. And He also provides everything we’ll ever need to live the life He designed, according to His will.

“Add to Your Faith” (2 Peter 1:5-7)

For this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

“Add to my faith? I thought faith was all I needed!”

That’s how I was saved. I believed the message of Jesus on the cross and that it was for me, enough to wash away my sins.
What a day that was! It felt like a semi-truck was lifted off my shoulders.
And I did nothing to earn it. I humbled myself, admitted my sin and believed. I added nothing but faith.

So what do we add? Everything that’s already been given to us by grace through His promises. Picture storehouses filled with these promises. Moment by moment, we choose to draw from them.

Virtue: real inner goodness and integrity. Already given. Step forward in faith and add it.
Knowledge: truth isn’t a mystery anymore. In Christ you can know your true identity and God’s will. Already given. Add it.
Self-control: resisting temptation, using time wisely, not wasting yourself on substances or entertainment. Already given. Add it.
Perseverance: the ability to keep going when it’s hard, to love when hated, to stand when you should fall, to wait for God’s hand when all seems lost. Add it.
Godliness: becoming like God in thoughts, emotions and desires: no worry, consistent victory, pure desires. Already given. Add it.
Brotherly kindness: caring for your brothers and sisters. You can’t practice it if you never gather with them! “I don’t need the church.” Well, the church needs you. We all miss out when you’re not here to bless us. “I don’t know if I can be kind.” It’s already given. Add it.
Love: agape, sacrificial love. Laying down your life for friends, and treating enemies like friends. Forgiving, patient, selfless (1 Corinthians 13). You can’t produce this love yourself; you can only receive it. It’s already been given. Add it.

Fruitful or Forgetful (2 Peter 1:8-9)

If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

They are yours! Draw on them, and they’ll abound.
The result of abiding in Christ is fruit (John 15:5).
Knowing Jesus means living by His grace, depending on Him moment by moment for absolutely everything.
Do you sometimes worry you aren’t doing enough for God? Remember what He’s done for you first.

For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

We all know believers whose lives seem fruitless. It’s sad: they’ve forgotten what was given to them. It’s all right there, free to access by faith with humility. And you get to remind them.
Their real problem is that they’ve forgotten what Jesus did. They were made new. They used to be “in Adam,” and now they’re born again as children of God. The old self was crucified and cleansed, done forever.
But we forget. And the enemy uses our forgetfulness.
The remnants of who we used to be still linger in our memories, emotions, habits and thoughts: old desires, old idols, old strategies, old sources of satisfaction.
But that old self is dead.
The enemy reminds us of it anyway. If we’re not diligent to walk in grace, we forget it’s dead. Then temptation comes, and the enemy whispers that this sin is who you really are, even using your own voice: “This is what you really want.” But it’s not! You’re a child of God. His grace has given you a new heart and the power to live a holy life. Hudson Taylor called it “the exchanged life.”
The enemy can only deceive you. He can’t defeat you. He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Don’t forget it!

Never Stumble (2 Peter 1:10-11)

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Who called and elected you? God. Your part is to believe it. By faith we lay hold of all His promises.
Be diligent to keep your faith in Jesus Christ alone. Test what you’re trusting: yourself, or the power of the Holy Spirit? Ask, “Could I do this if the Spirit weren’t with me? Do I need Him to show up?” That’s living by faith moment by moment.
“If you do these things”: remember by faith that you’re a new creation, a child of God. What you believe about what Jesus has done will shape how you live.
The key is believing and applying His great and precious promises. That’s why we invest so much time in God’s Word. It uncovers these promises so we can believe them.

An entrance will be supplied to you abundantly. “Supplied” is the same word as “add” in verse 5. What you add to your faith, Jesus supplies. And as you believe His promises, He supplies abundant entrance into His kingdom.

God’s kingdom is where it’s at: no fear, no loss, always love, always satisfying, never stale.
Is the kingdom only heaven? “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). It’s here and now too, an ever-growing kingdom the gates of hell can’t stand against.

Rest for the Weary (Matthew 11:28-30)

So many of us are tired and worn out from trying to earn God’s kingdom, or grow it by our own strategies: serving more, being more, giving our best, giving more. All the while, Jesus has been standing here with hands of grace extended, inviting us to receive everything we need.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

How do I receive it?

Humility: admit your need. “I’ve been trying to be better, and failing. Even when I succeed, I fall short of Your standard. I’ve forgotten that You made me Your child, that You’re all I need. I’m tired of trying to meet my needs on my own, and tired of the enemy reminding me who I used to be.”
Faith: we have access by faith into this grace (Romans 5:2). “The Bible says if I call on Jesus, He’ll forgive my sins and make me God’s child. I believe it. The Bible says He’s given me everything I need for life and godliness by abiding in Him. I believe it.”

Grace Takeaway

Humility and faith aren’t works; they’re relational realities, and they’re all you can really control right now. Do you feel your need for God, His Spirit and His grace? If not, that’s pride. Do you believe the gospel? If not, you’re depending on yourself. God invites everyone everywhere to be saved and enjoy Him forever through the grace of Jesus Christ. Stop swiping the old card. Draw on His exceedingly great and precious promises today.

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Exceedingly Great and Precious Promises