06.09.24 evening service

The speaker is discussing the topic of godliness and its importance in the Christian faith. They explain that godliness is an active pursuit and involves striving to live according to God's standards. They emphasize that godliness is made possible through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. The speaker encourages listeners to dedicate their lives to the Lord and grow closer to Him. role in the services this evening. We're going to continue in second Peter. If you'll go ahead and turn to second Peter. Chapter one. We're still in verse six. And I guess by the end of the year, I might be able to finish preaching through second Peter the whole three chapters at this rate. I'm glad. Second Peter, chapter five, verses, or chapter one, verse five through eight. And it says, besides this, giving all diligence and to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall be neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Christ, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. God, we come to you now. I just thank you for your word. I thank you for the blessed thing that it is, that it helps to instruct us, to guide us, Lord, to live for you that you may be glorified, to know more about you and to grow closer to you, and how to live in this world. I ask you to just help us to grow stronger in you as we continue to apply these different parts to our lives as we grow closer to you. That you may be glorified, that we may be fruitful and bountiful in everything we do, that we may be a church that lifts up your name, that we may be Christians that lift up your name. God, I thank you for all that you do. I thank you most of all for Jesus Christ and salvation in him and the hope in his resurrection. I pray that you'll just work in all of us this evening to grow us closer to you. If there are any here that do not know Jesus as Savior, that they will accept him before it's too late. And Jesus will be free. Amen. So, of course, we've been going through this the last several months. It's finally making our way, little by little, through these lists. And what's the point? Why is Peter giving all these things? Why is Peter giving this list to describe, describing what to add to our faith? Of course, remember that add doesn't mean necessarily something that we must have to have faith in Jesus, but rather we have faith as the stone, the foundation, the bedrock. Praise the Lord, we're saved. But just like a child is born, he doesn't stay a baby. He grows, he learns different skills, he applies different things that he may mature, she may mature. And likewise, as a Christian, we apply these different things that we may mature, that we may grow stronger in the Lord, that we may grow closer to the Lord and we may grow more dedicated through him, for him, that we may be fruitful and bountiful in everything that we do. And we come down to this final, not this final point, but this seemingly where it seems to take a turn, where it says godliness. And after this, it'll make that turn, but here's the spot just before that turn in these characteristics that we're adding. Godliness. What is godliness? Godliness here in this portion of Scripture, where it's described, what it's being defined as. We see godliness all throughout the Bible. Here, it's likened to the word piety. Now, raise your hand if you know what the word piety means. OK? Would anybody that raised their hand like to answer that and say what they think it means? OK, that's what I thought. I wouldn't want to either. But piety, of course, is this. It's a marker. It's described in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, marked by or showing a reverence for a deity or devotion to divine worship. That was not what I thought it meant. But even still, this idea of godliness does, is reflected in that word piety, because a lot of times we can also be described as holiness in a way, I say in a way, in acts that uses the same word and changes it into holiness. But sometimes we see that idea of godliness or holy as a state it's working to. But here we see godliness, and what really separates this word out from being godly or being holy is this, is that at that point of being holy, it's the thing that's set apart. It is holy. It's there. It is what it is. But this word godliness, it has an idea of motion to it. It has an idea of direction. It's striving towards that point of being godly. It has feet to it. It's a working type of verb, if that makes sense. That we may grow more and more devoted to our Lord and that we may show him reverence, that we may glorify him in everything that we do. In other words, to be described in this way, to be actively dedicating ourselves to the Lord and his standards. We look at this idea of godliness, and how is it possible that we can have godliness in our lives? We see all these different things, and as they're starting to connect together, we see virtue, we see after virtue, that we need to add knowledge and knowledge, temperance and temperance, patience, and then finally we get to godliness. How do all these things kind of add together as we pursue all these things? Remember, virtue is, of course, the best of the best. We see knowledge, and of course, that's the knowledge of the word of God. We see temperance, and that's the control of ourselves and applying what we know from the word of God, and patience to be able to endure using everything that we know. Godliness naturally fits in there, because if we are truly being godly, we're truly striving to dedicate our lives to the Lord, all these things have to be used, all of these things have to be applied, that we may come to this point and to live for the Lord as He desires us to. But I come back to this point. How can we be godly? How can we be godly? How can we live in godliness? Turn to 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. And I love the way Paul puts this in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. And it says, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, lived on in the world, received up into the glory. Great is the mystery of godliness. How do we obtain this godliness? How do we obtain godliness for the Lord? How do we strive for it? Great is the mystery of it. It's an incredible thing, and He gives us the answer to it. It's through Jesus, what He did. He has made it available to us. Godliness is available to us to strive for and to apply for. It's not impossible. It's not something out there that's beyond reach, but it's something that can be. How? Through Jesus. He says that it's a mystery, something that's baffling. We see how it goes through that. That God was manifested in flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, lived on in the world, received up into glory. Who is Jesus? He's the Son of God. He's God in flesh. Jesus Christ is described in Isaiah chapter 53 as several different things. We can turn there real quick. I don't have it in the slide, but just to describe some of the things that we see where Jesus had some sacrifice, where Jesus laid His godliness down, not godliness down, but He laid that high point where He was right beside God down, chose to come to be a man, but yet still be God, just God in flesh, that He may be able to redeem us of our sins and pay for us in debt. He became a man, but yet was still God. Says, Who has believed a report, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of the dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God Himself. How did He come? He was born where? In Bethlehem, in a manger, in a place that doesn't seem comely to God, but yet we see here in Scripture that that's what He did. He humbled Himself even lower than the angels, and He humbled Himself even lower than most men that we see. You would think He would come as a king. You would think, it says here in verse 3, verse 2, that He came, there was no beauty about Him. He wasn't just this miraculous looking dude that stood out among the crowd. He came and He looked normal. You would think He would have made Himself a little bit more flasher, but yet He didn't. We obviously know that Jesus Christ, who He is, He's amazing. When He revealed His glory to the apostles, Peter and John and the other one that was up there, I believe it was Andrew. I cannot remember the third one that was there with them. They were awestruck. So we see how God, how Christ is described in His reality, but in His humanity, He humbled Himself. He took a sacrifice to make godliness available to us, that we may be able to live in a godly manner for Him and to dedicate our lives for Him. So He came and He became man. Referring back to 1 Timothy 3.16, justified in spirit, seen of angels, we see all these different things that Jesus Christ went through and all of that. During His earthly ministry, preached unto the Gentiles, believed in the world, received of them glory. Turn to Romans chapter 5, verse 6-8. As we continue looking through this mystery of the gospel, this mystery of godliness, and this is the big mystery. For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet for adventure, for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commenced His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we couldn't do anything and didn't deserve anything, Christ came in and made salvation available to us. Christ came in, He made freedom available to us. Christ came in and everything that we're talking about in 2 Peter, this idea of patience, this idea of conquering the flesh, this idea of living for Him, He made this completely and utterly possible. He made it so that we could have a right standing before God. Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross. He also came and lived and sweated just like we do. He worked just like we have to. He had the same temptations just as we have, but yet He did not sin and He died as a perfect sacrifice. We see this mystery of the gospel that's available to us, that this availability is to be godly for Him. The other thing that's a mystery that's just amazing is how it went out. Acts chapter 5 verse 34, and I just want to bring mention to this, this is something the gospel going out the way it did, it shouldn't have been possible, but yet it is. Yet it was because of God. Acts chapter 5 verse 34 says this, Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had no reputation among the people and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space. Now of course, Peter is up there before trial, John there with them, and they've gotten in trouble because they've preached the gospel, and he says unto them, You men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do is touching these men. For before these days rose up Thaddeus, boasting himself to be somebody to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naught. After this man rose up in Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing and drew away much people after him. He also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men. Let them alone. For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest happily you be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak of the name of Jesus and love him. And then they departed out of the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer the shame for his name. And daily in the temple, in every house, they ceased not to preach Jesus Christ. A message that should have been stopped right here at the beating. God continued working through them and in them to preach the gospel. Now, I'd like to take note, this just kind of came to mind, but this awesome availability to live for Jesus Christ came, of course, through his sacrifice. And because the gospel has gone out today, we have heard the message and praise the Lord. Some of us, most of us here by testimony have accepted it. It had mentioned that these two different characters, you know what? They gathered a following, martyred him, happened, they scattered, their cause went out the window. But yet, we see when martyrdom happened to the Christians, they scattered and the gospel went further. This mystery of the gospel, referring back to 1st Timothy chapter 3, this gospel, the mystery of godliness that was preached into the Gentiles, bleed on in the world. This awesome, incredible availability to godliness was made because of what Jesus has done, because of the sacrifice he gave in his resurrection where we see he is alive today. And also because of the message that was continued to be preached as he gave the commandment to go out and share the gospel. The gospel was carried out amongst persecution, but yet being counted worthy, being counted with joy to have suffered just as Christ suffered. And they continued sharing the gospel. We see today that the message has even gotten to where we are today, thousands of years later, and now we come to this next point in this idea of godliness. How is it possible? Because of Jesus. How do we have the aptitude for godliness? It's because of Jesus. It's because of Jesus. John chapter 15, verse 4-5. Let's turn over there and look there Jesus speaking says this, Abide in me, and I in you. Of course, given this idea of a vine and a branch, how can a branch produce any fruit if it's not connected to the vine? Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, accept it. Abide in the vine. No more can you accept you. Abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me, you can do no thing. We have an aptitude for godliness. If you are saved and you have received Jesus as your Savior, that is awesome. You have the capability to live for the Lord. We're about to look at some other things that God has done for us, but without Jesus Christ, it is impossible to produce fruit. If you are saved and you have Jesus Christ as your Savior, praise the Lord, but if you're not living in his will, if you're not taking everything that we've talked about in 2 Peter and applying it, that we may grow closer to the Lord and continue walking day by day beside him, you won't be bountiful. You won't be fruitful. You won't be able to be bountiful in everything that God has called us to. 2 Timothy 3, verses 1-5. I'd like to point out these sets of verses. Paul writing says, Does this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come? For men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinence, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. They have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such, turn away. We see that there's some, even a form of godliness that can come, but really behind the veil, it's powerless. It has no end. It has no fruit to come through it. There is no power. There is no life. We can only produce fruit through Jesus Christ as we are walking in him. With Christ, we can live godly. How is it possible? First and foremost, because he has freed us from sin. Turn to Romans chapter 6, verse 7. Romans chapter 6, verse 4, excuse me, says, therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ we are raised from the dead by the glory of God, even so as we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of the death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth we should not serve sin. And henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is free from sin. And upon taking salvation, upon trusting Jesus as Savior, he makes us free and free indeed. Godliness is not something that he does make us free. Yes, our chains are broken. We no longer have to struggle like we sometimes so often do, even after being saved. But yet, effort still has to be applied. Why do I say that? 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7, says Paul speaking to Timothy, refuse profane old wild stables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profit little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having for a promise of life that is now and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, worthy of all expectations. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. Notice, as we are saved, we're trusting the Lord, we're walking in him. Paul says this, we exercise ourselves rather unto godliness. How many of y'all have played Total War? OK. How does that game work? You throw it out in the middle, you have one side pulling against the other, and there's a constant struggle having to pull back and forth. However, if you get some big guys on the other end, say if you get a Brother Donnie, or a Brother Phillip, or you get Daniel back there, or Eli, suddenly you notice the other side really isn't that strong. It's there, but it isn't that strong. But what happens if they let go, or they just sit there with their arms dangling, they're not really doing anything? That opposing team that really isn't that strong, suddenly has to pull to it. Suddenly they start getting some headway. And just like that simple game that I know we've all played at some point in our lives, this idea of living for the Lord and godliness does have that same application. We have all the power on our side that we need to live for the Lord. As we are applying these different things, and we are holding steady, pursuing our Lord with a passion, with piety. Big fancy word again, it means just dedication to the Lord, if we want to put it simply. Applying all of these things, and holding strong to Him, this battle that we have, because we know that we're still sinners, we're saved, praise the Lord, but we're still sinners. We still have this battle, we still have temptations. But the temptation to have a lot less power, and a lot less strength, and the sin that so tries to bite at our heels, gets a lot less smaller, as we are dedicated and focused on the Lord. Just like that tug of war, who's going to win? When you have all the power on your side, as long as you keep on working and pulling, you ain't ever going to lose. But so often, we become complacent. You know what, this is conquered, it's done, and suddenly it starts gaining ground. Godliness is especially possible because of this, and I say especially possible for this reason, the Holy Spirit. In John chapter sixteen, or John chapter sixteen verse seven, the gifts of the Holy Spirit described to us is what Jesus has promised that He would send, who He promised He would send for us as He left. It says, nevertheless I tell you the truth that it is expedient, it's good that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will prove the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. He's going to lead, He's going to guide, He's going to help us do all these things and live for Him. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no more. Of judgment, because the Prince of the world is judged. I have yet many things for you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit, has come, He will guide you into all truth. He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that He shall speak. And He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, and He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." The Holy Spirit, this One that comes within us upon salvation, gives us that extra boot. It's literally all the strong men that I've described, including Uncle Ed over there, since I forgot to mention him a minute ago, that as long as they're on your side, you ain't ever going to lose. But the problem is, is we stop relying on the Holy Spirit. We stop really seeking the Lord, and we take this temple that is described as in 1 Corinthians and allow it to be filled with things that are not really godly, that are godless. We become complacent. We start losing headway. Godliness is available. We have an aptitude for godliness. It's all there, ready to use. We got it upon salvation. But we must apply it. We must use it. I say godliness especially possible, is especially possible because of the Holy Spirit for this reason. We have such an awesome gift to us, do we not? The Holy Spirit is constantly praying on our behalf. It's constantly there, helping us to lead us, to guide us, to convict us, to live for the Lord. We've seen where, yes, the Holy Spirit moves in different ways and different means in the Old Testament, but we see some examples that even not being filled in the way that we are with the Holy Spirit today, still strove to live for God through the same ways, through control, through patience, through focus on Him, through constantly seeking Him with complete diligence. The individuals that I'm going to point out this evening, of course, is in the book of Daniel, because we see three different examples. Of course, there are several others within just that book alone, but three different examples. What I'd like to point out, of course, is the first one. One of the first ones we come to in the book of Daniel. Daniel comes in. The king there in Babylon has all of them come in and bring in the best of the best of the young men of Israel, and they bring in Daniel amongst that lot. And Daniel, he's there. He knows the king's meat's been offered to him, but the thing is, though, the stuff that the king was wanting them to eat was defiled. It wasn't things that were holy for the Lord. It was out of their laws to eat and would defile his body and not be able to serve or to worship the Lord in the way that God would have them. And so he talks to the guard that's with him. Of course, he knows all this because he knows what the Lord's commanded. He knows how to walk with the Lord. He's put patience into practice. He's put that diligence in it that he may apply it in every point of his life. He's put his body under subjection. He knows how to walk with the Lord, and he knows what steps to take. And he sees these foods that he can't eat and still live for the Lord as he desires. So he talks to the guard, and the guard says, OK, we'll give it a try. And so he eats these foods that should not add any meat to his bone, that shouldn't make him fat, that shouldn't make him bigger, stronger. But what happens after he's applied this godliness? He's living for the Lord. He ends up getting bigger than the rest of them. He becomes more lean. He becomes stronger. It becomes more toned. He is good for service for the king there in Babylon. God blessed that godliness. God blessed Daniel as he dedicated himself to him. We'll see another three examples, three individuals as an example. I know we all know this story. Shadrach, Meshach, and They understood what the statutes of God were. They understood everything, and they understood how to apply it. And there comes up this law that everyone there in the kingdom has to bow to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar when music plays. They start playing the music. Everybody bows down except within three. Now, the consequence of this is death and death by fire. They were going to be thrown in an oven, and they were. I bring up this part of the story to describe that, you know what? Even after living in a godly manner, living for the Lord does not mean that we're going to be free from trials. But it does mean that God will be with us through it, that we may live godly for him to be fruitful and bountiful in everything. They get thrown in there, of course, the guards having died from the heat of the furnace. And lo and behold, they get in there, and there's a fourth one in there. They shouldn't be in there. He appears as the son of God, and they come out, don't even smell like smoke, and God's glorified in them. Even the martyrs there in the early Christian church and the martyrs today, as they are glorifying God through their death, more and more people are coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. God's being glorified. And we know what waits on the other side. We will be led to the Lord. Another example of godliness lived out and applied, Daniel in the line of sin. We see Daniel, he's faithful to the Lord, even all these years, he's an old man now, still serving the king. They make a law that if you praise any other god, you're to be thrown in the line of sin. Daniel's faithful to the Lord. He has piety. He's living out godliness. And what happens? He opens up his window. He prays in the direction of the temple, Jerusalem, and they catch him. What happens? They throw him in the line of sin. He gets slaughtered? No. The lines don't do anything. The angel of the Lord comes down and protects him, shuts the mouth of the lines. If we live for the Lord, we're not better than our master. Persecution can and will come eventually in some way, form, or fashion. It may not be death by furnace. It may not be death by line. It may not be death at all. It could just be somebody has it out for you and they're going to try to get something over you and try to do whatever, especially in our society. I don't think we have to worry about huge, urgent forms of persecution at the moment. But yet, Daniel came out of that line of sin. God was glorified. All of this is to say it's possible to live a godly life. Can you live a perfectly godly life? No. Not in this world, anyway. But it is possible. We have everything we need. Greater is he that is in you than he is in the world. The Holy Spirit is with us. And just a reminder again, how does godliness connect to everything As we pursue all these different things to add to our faith, it only helps get us everything we need that we may pursue and live for the Lord in a godly way, in a godly life. As our musicians come forward for the invitation, do you want to live a godly life?