This study was first taught on July 16, 2013

Topic: The Essence of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives (6.5): The Necessity of Works (2)

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Background
Last week, we saw that there are reasons why, in spite of God’s work of grace through the Holy Spirit, the believer in Christ still has to work hard to build on, or add certain supplies to, his faith in God; otherwise, he will be unfruitful. We noted three broad reasons as follows: the upside or blessedness of adding the necessary supplies to our faith; the downside of, or problems associated with not adding the necessary supplies to our faith; and, the ultimate reason for, or absolute necessity of, the believer having to work hard to ensure that the necessary supplies to his faith in Christ Jesus, are in place.

Our focus last week, was with the downside of not investing time and energy in adding the required supplies to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which are; virtue or moral excellence; knowledge or more specifically, knowledge of spiritual things; self-control or better still, yielding control of self to the Holy Spirit; perseverance or patiently waiting for God; godliness or living as God would have us live; brotherly kindness or making sacrifices and showing benevolence to other Christians; and, charity or manifesting the love of God to all men. We noted that there are many believers in Christ today, who believe that once you are saved by grace, you need not do anything else, but go on living as you wish. We saw that such people may either be ignorant of, or just simply choose to ignore, the Lord’s warning against taking the grace of God for granted. We noted that by doing nothing to build on the faith which was so freely given for his salvation, the believer in Christ, reveals that he is short-sighted, even tending to blindness; and has, in addition, forgotten that he was purged from his past sins by the blood of Jesus Christ.

We thus noted that when a believer in Christ refuses to add the necessary supplies to the faith he professes in the Lord Jesus Christ, either through ignorance or by blatantly ignoring its necessity, he becomes unfruitful in the things of God. And such unfruitfulness manifest as worldliness and carnality (earthly and sensuality); lack of revelation of God’s redemptive purpose, and thus, in wantonness; a lifestyle that contradicts the faith professed in Christ; ceding to strange doctrines like, once saved, always saved, and hence, no need for repentance after salvation; and, backsliding to the point of even being demon-possessed! We also noted that there are many believers in Christ who are today, living only for this world; without a thought of the Second Coming of Christ, and even eternity. With an attitude like this, some believers in Christ have lost the salvation that was so wonderfully won for them, and many others, are in danger of losing theirs! What is sad about the state of affairs with these believers in Christ, is that, they still think they are doing okay, whereas, everything indicates that they are heading for destruction in hell! And for this reason, if you have received the free gift of salvation, you should work hard to add the necessary supplies to your faith, for which cause also, the Holy Spirit, our “Paraclete”, was given to us—to encourage and enable us do all that is required of us, so that we can indeed be heaven-bound children of God.

Scripture Text(s)
2 Peter 1:1-11
Having seen the downside of not investing time and energy to adding the necessary supplies to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall, tonight, see the upside or the blessedness of endeavouring to make these additions to our faith. May the Holy Spirit help us to appreciate the advantages of making such efforts, and thus submit to His leading in that direction, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The eighth verse of our scripture text speaks of not just the believer in Christ having these additions to, or supplies of faith; but, having them in abundance in his life! It is as these additions abound in a believer’s life, that he becomes neither barren [useless, idle, complacent], nor unfruitful [unproductive, ineffective] in the knowledge (in an intimate sense) of our Lord Jesus Christ. The labour and fruit of our intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, manifests in the fruit of the Spirit, and in its release in our lives on to others!
1 John 1:1-3; John 1:1-5; 14:7; 2 Peter 1:2; John 4:22; 17:3; Jeremiah 9:23-24; Mark 3:13-15; Matthew 16:13-19; Hosea 4:6; Matthew 8:1-3; Joshua 24:1-24; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Deuteronomy 32:39; Joshua 5:13-16; Isaiah 6:1-8; Romans 1:17-32; Philippians 3:8.

Conclusion
The more we add the supplies of faith to our faith in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, the more intimately we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ—a knowledge which derives from our interaction with Him through His word, and through the testimonies of those who have interacted with Christ, and attested to, in our own experience of Him! For instance, as you live a life of moral excellence, and you interact with the word of God, you will realize that indeed, God is holy, and that He expects the same of you—nothing less! Also, as you grow in your knowledge of the things of God or spiritual things, you will come to understand that God is not to be trifled with—that He wounds and heals; and He kills and makes alive! Also, by yielding to the control of the Holy Spirit, you will come to realize that God will do what He will do no matter what happens and no matter how long it may take; and this will enable you develop and express perseverance, even when the promises of God seem to be taking time to manifest!

And although no one can fully know all of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, in this present age, knowing the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, should be the priority of every believer in Christ, or else, he will be unfruitful. So, when the Lord comes to meet with us individually and collectively, as God did the fig tree in His vineyard, one question resounds: “Does he know Me?/Do they know Me?” So, when the Holy Spirit said, “… Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” (Luke 13:8-9), He was referring to bringing the believer to the intimate and experiential knowledge of Christ (see also Ephesians 4:11-16). And, the proof of your intimate knowledge of God and Christ is manifested in the fruit of the Spirit, your true worship of God, and eternal life, among others. Also, it is when you intimately know the Lord, that you can truly be His messengers to a dying world, and, release His power and glory in the process! Therefore, like Paul, the apostle, you ought to make the intimate knowledge of the Lord, your one mission in life; for when you know Him, everything else will fall into place for you (Matthew 6:33)!

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