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There’s a new threat on the horizon. It used to be global warming with a 20-foot rise in the oceans. Now it’s AI. We hear about it every night on the news. Some call it a coming apocalypse. Most of it I know very little about, except when I do a search on the internet. It is powerful. But don’t let Chicken Little scare you. The sky won’t fall until God wants it to fall. God is still on the throne and He has told us how it’s going to end, and it won’t be by AI. Apparently it can write a book or do your homework for you, so that’s a problem. It may dumb us down even more than we are already. AI is powerful but it has no power to change the sinner’s heart. And it has no power to help you grow spiritually. It won’t replace the Spirit of God. By His divine power and magnificent promises God has already given you everything you need for life and godliness.
And that’s exactly what Peter is telling us here at the beginning of this powerful little epistle. God has given you a precious faith to believe the gospel (v. 1). He has given you His divine power that equips you with everything you need to live for Him. He has also given you His precious and magnificent promises that have made you a partaker or sharer of His nature. And combined, these have liberated you from your slavery to sin (vv. 3-4). AI is helpless to give you spiritual life and power, whether regeneration or justification and now sanctification. There is one place that generates the power of God and that’s through the gospel, “…it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). First Corinthians 1:18 says the cross is the power of God to those being saved. When you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, God sends His Spirit into your heart to equip and empower you to grow and change to become more and more like Christ.
FOR THIS VERY REASON
2 Peter 1:5-8, Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, [6] and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, [7] and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. [8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 5 says in view of how God has equipped you spiritually with all you need, you are ready for practical and personal growth and change in your life. You can never complain that God hasn’t equipped you for this Christian life. God also gives seven godly qualities that He wants you to build into your life. Each one builds on the previous quality. Moral excellence or virtue comes before knowledge. Knowledge without godly virtue can puff you up like a blow fish. “Knowledge puffs up; but love edifies” (1 Cor. 8:1). When I’m looking for a mechanic, I want one with knowledge but before that I want him to tell me the truth. You’ll notice in verse 8 that as you build these qualities into your life, you will become useful and fruitful. You won’t waste your life. You’ll be useful to your Master and your life will bear fruit for God’s glory.
APPLYING ALL DILIGENCE – vs. 5
So for the very reason that you’ve been given God’s power and promises and you’ve become a partaker in God’s nature and have escaped the self-serving corruption of this world, God expects you to be aggressive in building your Christian life. Peter’s not talking about justification here. When you come to Christ in faith, God imputes to your account the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. That’s a gift of His sovereign and free grace (Romans 3:24). We’re justified by faith alone in Christ alone, not by faith plus works or plus growing or plus loving God and others, or plus anything.
But justification always leads to sanctification. Here we’re talking about progressive sanctification, putting off ungodly attitudes and habits and putting on godly, Christlike attitudes and habits. God grows His children. Ephesians 4:15, “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, Christ.” First Peter 2:2, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word that you may grow in respect to salvation.” Second Peter 3:18, “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.”
Peter is talking to every believer here, not just a few elite spiritual warriors. He’s talking to the ordinary Christian. This is for you, and you, and me. “Everyone is on the field. Get out of the bleachers. No spectators here.” I fear some of us ordinary believers are so far behind the go-getters that we feel like we aren’t even in the race. Martin Strel is a renowned Slovenian endurance swimmer known as the Big River Man. He has swum the major rivers of the world, including the Amazon in 2007. It was a staggering 3,273 miles in about 68 days, battling piranhas, parasites, and severe exhaustion. While some Christians seem to have endurance like Martin Strel, many will never rise spiritually to his level.
Most believers are of the ordinary type. We live ordinary lives. We go to work to support our families, pay the bills, try to save some money, mow the lawn, take out the garbage. We faithfully attend church, we give, we read our Bibles, we pray, but we’re not selling out and moving to Tibet. We’re just ordinary. Here’s my point – Peter’s not just talking to high risk-takers, selling everything and going where no man has gone before. He’s talking to us, Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Christian, and he expects us to be aggressive in growing in grace and building our Christian lives.
Peter says this growth process requires diligence in applying it in our lives. Applying means to bring in alongside of, like a tool chest if you’re a mechanic, or your tackle box if you’re a fisherman, or your hammer, drill, saw, whatever else you need to get the job done. God has given you all the spiritual tools you need to be diligent, so bring it on. Get fired up to change and grow. Apply all diligence, all zeal, all effort. Be aggressive. One author wrote, “You can hear a kind of surging ‘Forward! Forward! Forward!’” in Peter’s words here. The word translated “diligence” (spoude) is used in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman.” That’s AWANA – Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed. The word is also translated “make haste,” as when Mary made haste to go down to Elizabeth’s house (Luke 1:39).
What is God saying here? Growing isn’t automatic. We’re saved by grace alone. We do nothing to merit justification or regeneration. It’s a monergistic work of God alone. God is the sole agent who brings about a person’s spiritual rebirth and salvation. But in sanctification we have something to do. God calls us to run the race, fight the fight, discipline yourself for godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” And here in 2 Peter applying all diligence means aggressively building these seven qualities. So let’s diligently get to these first two qualities.
RICHLY SUPPLY MORAL EXCELLENCE IN YOUR FAITH
2 Peter 1:5, Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
You’ve already got your precious faith that brought you regeneration and justification. God gave it to you. We saw that in verse one. Your faith is the foundation for the rest of the building. But now God says you need to richly, abundantly, and daily build on that faith moral excellence or virtue. You are a believer, you represent God in this world, and God wants you to shine in your virtue, integrity, or moral excellence. Paul uses the same word in Philippians 4:8 as part of our godly thinking – to think on “whatever is excellent.” The word speaks of a quality of life that stands out as excellent or doing well what you were designed to do, living a life that shines with virtue.
You see this beautiful quality in men like Joseph who ran from the temptress. You see it in Daniel who had an excellent spirit. His enemies couldn’t find a crack in his moral excellence so they had to go after his prayer life. You see it in Nehemiah who handled a position of power and authority with great honesty and humility, a man of moral excellence.
So, are you known as a man or woman of moral excellence? As Daniel shone for the true and living God in that pagan culture. Are you shining for God at work, at school, in the middle of personal temptations? You need a resolute determination to do what is right in the sight of God. That’s virtue. We live in a moral battlefield. Moral perversion used to hide – now it’s marching on main street. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life.”
We had a man in our first church who I thought was a man of moral excellence. He was actually a leader in the church. One day he stopped by to share with me that he’d been seeing a lady from work. My heart grieved. Sin had so deceived him that he began to think God was providentially putting her in his path. He’d come to a red light, look over, and there she was. He failed the virtue test. Did his wife have an easy time with this betrayal of trust? No. But he applied all diligence to repair his marriage and worked hard on rebuilding moral excellence. Praise God there is forgiveness and opportunity to rebuild. But unless you are firmly committed to moral excellence, before you know it, a few moments alone, a slight brushing of arms, the smell of perfume, and down you go. We’ve seen this failure of moral excellence too often in high profile preachers. Pastor Bill Goode of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette used to warn dating couples, “When the physical gets involved, the passions are aroused, and reason flies out the window.” We could add, “Virtue takes a hike.”
So what do you do when you blow it in any ungodly way? Do you run, hide, cover, and blame like a Genesis 3 person, or do you walk in the light of Scripture and confess your sins like a 1 John 1:9 person? Thank God He is merciful and forgiving and that there’s restoration in sanctification. You are grieved and broken by your sins of pride, nasty words, lies, cheating, or displays of anger or overindulging. You are humbled and seek God’s forgiveness and restoration. Learn from your moral failures and go back to growing even more aggressively. That’s the godly virtue or moral excellence God says you are to richly supply in faith. He wants your life to shine with His excellence.
RICHLY SUPPLY KNOWLEDGE IN YOUR MORAL EXCELLENCE
2 Peter 1:5, Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
The order here is important. First moral excellence or virtue, then knowledge. Tommy Nelson talks about a pastor in London who got on a trolley. When he bought the ticket the driver gave him way too much change. As the pastor sat down he thought, “Wow, God has blessed me today!” But then God troubled him and he made his way back up to the driver. “You gave me too much change back there. Here it is.” The driver’s response was, “I did it on purpose. I was in your church last Sunday and you talked about honesty and I just wanted to see if you were for real.” Before you want to listen to a preacher’s knowledge, you want to be assured he’s not a moral compromiser or a liar. You respect people who keep their word and admit it when they are wrong.
Integrity or virtue precedes knowledge. God says as you build your spiritual life, as you grow in grace, you need aggressively to go after knowledge.
Proverbs 18:15, The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
We know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of true knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). You can’t live a successful, God-honoring Christian life in ignorance of God’s Word. Thank God we have lots of godly knowledge coming at us in our church. Nathan is pouring out knowledge from Genesis. Keith is teaching about the excellencies of Christ. John is teaching principles for life in the Newcomers. And then we have the small groups and the men’s and ladies’ studies. Charles Bridges wrote, “Never has apostasy from the faith been connected with a prayerful and diligent study of the Word of God.”
What kind of knowledge are we talking about? We’re talking about objective knowledge based on the truth of God’s Word, not subjective knowledge based on our feelings. We’re talking about absolute knowledge or truth, not relative knowledge as in you’ve got your truth and I’ve got my truth and everyone has to find their own truth. God is talking about knowing God’s objective and absolute truth revealed in the Scripture and building it into your life. It begins with the knowledge of God.
J. I. Packer in Knowing God wrote:
What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set for ourselves in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God. “This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). What is the best thing in life which brings more joy, delight, and contentment than anything else? Knowledge of God. “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.” (Jeremiah 9:23). What, of all the states God ever sees man in, gives him most pleasure? Knowledge of himself. “I desire . . . the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings,” says God (Hosea 6:6).
Feed your faith with good, rich, healthy spiritual food. One of the exciting things about getting saved is you begin to really know God, who He is and what He’s like. Romans 11:33, “Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” This isn’t optional. Listen to God’s condemning message to Israel, which could just as well be written to America today.
Hosea 4:1-2,6, Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, For the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. [2] There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. [6] My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
The only way to discern right from wrong and truth from error is to know God’s Word. Every believer needs discernment, now more than ever. Romans 12:2, “Don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might discern what God’s will is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Satan, the father of lies, is flooding our land, our classrooms, our politics, airwaves, churches with lies. The only way to fight lies is with truth. In 2 Peter 2, Peter details the false teachers that have crept into the churches. How can you recognize them? With the truth! Second Peter 2:2 says these false teachers will malign the way of truth. In 2 Peter 3:17-18 Peter charges us to be on guard and not be carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” There are always false movements and ear tickling teachings pressing into the church. Christian Nationalism is one of those movements gaining popularity. Phil Johnson brought an excellent message on the issue in August 2026 at his home church – Kingdom Come: A Biblical Assessment of Christian Nationalism | Grace Pulpit | Grace Community Church. Only a solid grasp on God’s truth will keep us on track spiritually.
Ephesians 4:14, We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.
Biblical knowledge is a lifelong pursuit. What does the Bible say and where does it say it? The Bible has the answers – we just need to know where those answers are, what it says, and how to apply those answers to life. Where do you go for God’s teaching on creation or the end times? Beware of being squishy on both ends. Where do we find verses on justification by faith alone, or sovereign election, or how God uses trials? On marriage? On forgiveness? On anger? On fear? On anxiety and worry? Know where to go, what it says, and how to apply it to your life. This is the path to spiritual strength and confidence in God.
- Daniel 11:32, “The people who know their God will be strong and take action.”
- Psalm 9:10, “Those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.”
SO WHAT?
God’s will for you and me is to add moral excellence and godly knowledge to the faith He has given us. We need to be in His Word every day, reading it diligently in order to learn its truths and apply them in our lives. We want our church to be strong in faith, in moral excellence, and in godly knowledge. As our culture plunges deeper into paganism and spiritual darkness, God’s people need to shine with virtue, know their God, and be strong and take action.