2 Peter 1:5-10 Asv

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 4:25-32

There is a price to pay for our desire to grab at easy answers and that price is "trivialisation". Trivialisation is the acceptance of explanations that ignore the difficult questions of life in order to experience relief from confusion. I have no hesitation in saying that this is a curse of the modern Church. One...

For Reading and Meditation:     Galatians 5:16-26

So important is the point we raised yesterday - the need for selective expression - that we will spend another day considering it. Listen to how the Amplified Bible translates Psalm 73:15: "Had I spoken thus and given expression to my feelings, I would have been untrue...

For Reading and Meditation:     2 Peter 1:1-11

It is one thing to accept the faithfulness of God as a clear biblical truth; it is quite another to act upon it. God has given us many great and precious promises, as our text for today puts it, but do we actually count on them being fulfilled? We have to be careful that we do not hold God to promises He has not given....

Put your religion beyond a doubt; let there be no reason to question whether you are sincere or not. Calling separates us from sin, Satan, and the world; to holiness, Christ, and the church.

Election is the root of calling; it is God's choice of us from others - in Christ, by grace, to holiness, for His glory. We know our election of God, by our being led to choose Christ, holiness, and heaven; to choose them freely, heartily, and habitually. If we thus choose them, we shall use every...

"For if these thing be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:8

If we desire to glorify our LORD by fruitfulness, we must have certain things within us; for nothing can come out of us which is not first of all within us. We must begin with faith, which is the groundwork of all the virtues; and then diligently add to it virtue, knowledge,...

If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit's influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, "Give diligence." Take care that thy faith is of the right kind-that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage. Plead with God that he would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study...

In all of God's dealings with mankind, there is a curious merging of the divine and the human.

Take the Bible, for example. There is the divine Author, and there are human authors, who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

As far as salvation is concerned, it is of the Lord from start to finish. There is nothing a man can do to earn or deserve it. And yet he must receive it by faith. God clearly elects individuals to salvation, but they must enter in at the strait gate....

The context sheds all the light that we need upon this passage, explaining both the nature of the diligence that we are to use, and the object to be obtained by it. "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall." The things are mentioned before: " Giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance, etc. The words " shall never fall" have an immediate reference to the words " to make sure." Let no one bring in here his theory of election to...

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction… Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. § The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. § Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. § Be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure … for so an entrance will be...

Take careful heed to do the commandment and the law … to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. § Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. § Abstain from every form of evil.While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept....