The sermon continues an exposition of 2 Peter, picking up at 1:5-11 after the previous week's study of verses 1-4, which described the divine power God gives believers so they may share his eternal, godly life, a power that works effectively through the knowledge of God and his promises. The preacher recalls the earlier illustration of a solar panel: God is the sun, the source of energy; believers are the lamps meant to shine; and the knowledge of God's promises is the panel that channels the power from source to lamp. Verses 5-7 then open with "for this very reason, make every effort" — a command that is explicitly grounded in what God has already done in verses 3-4, not a condition believers must meet before God acts. The sermon insists this ordering is the crux of New Testament ethics: because God has already granted divine power and precious promises, believers are driven to strive to add to their faith goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Reversing the order — working so that God will act — collapses into the false maxim "God helps those who help themselves," which the sermon calls a direct contradiction of the gospel. Instead, believers echo Paul's language of "working out" salvation because God is already at work within them, willing and doing according to his good pleasure.

To make the distinction vivid, the sermon draws an analogy between two wives: one who works anxiously to earn her husband's love because she doubts it, and one who works joyfully and diligently because she already knows she is loved and does not want to disappoint him. Outwardly their efforts look identical, but their inward motivation is entirely different, and this, the preacher argues, is exactly the difference reformed theology insists on regarding sanctification. The sermon extends this into a discussion of evangelism and Arminian theology, recounting Hudson Taylor's story of a drowning companion whom fishermen refused to rescue until a price was negotiated, arriving too late — a story that rightly stirs urgency for evangelism but can be misapplied to suggest that a person's salvation ultimately hinges on whether believers share the gospel in time. The sermon firmly rejects this, along with the crushing, sleepless guilt it produces, while equally rejecting the opposite error of passivity: because God has chosen his sheep and they will certainly be saved, effort in evangelism and prayer becomes unnecessary. The sermon holds both truths together — God ordains the end (his elect will be saved and glorified, and none will be lost from Christ's hand) and he ordains the means, which includes believers proclaiming the gospel and praying, and he will use someone else if we do not.

Returning to the text, the sermon explains that the eight qualities in verses 5-7 are not a ladder to be climbed rung by rung but, like the fruit of the Spirit, a cluster of interwoven aspects of a single growing faith, beginning with faith and culminating in love, since love is the fruit of genuine faith rooted in God's promises. Believers are called to keep advancing rather than settling into a passive status quo, illustrated by the true story of Glenda and Robert Lennon, who drifted miles from their boat in ocean currents while merely floating — a picture of how a Christian who is not actively striving will inevitably be swept backward by the strong currents of the world, much like the servant who buried his one talent rather than investing it. Verse 8 promises that these qualities, possessed in increasing measure, keep believers effective and fruitful in their knowledge of Christ, while verse 9 warns that whoever lacks them becomes nearsighted and blind, having forgotten they were cleansed from their former sins — their prayers grow empty, worship becomes hollow routine, and God's promises no longer feel real, in stark contrast to Fanny Crosby's hymn urging believers to turn their eyes upon Jesus so that the things of this world grow strangely dim. Verse 10's call to "make your calling and election sure" is then presented as a serious warning: failure to grow does not merely mark spiritual mediocrity but raises doubt about whether one is truly among God's elect, since assurance is confirmed through visible fruit and perseverance, not through effort that earns salvation. The sermon closes by walking through each of the eight qualities as searching, personal questions — asking whether the hearer is truly advancing in goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly love, and love for all — and recounts Charles Spurgeon weeping not over his sin but because meditating on the cross no longer moved him to tears, presenting this restlessness over spiritual coldness as itself a sign of hope, whereas contentment with stagnation is the truly dangerous state. The sermon ends in prayer, calling the congregation to make every effort, to press on in faith, and to seek God's mercy to be stirred again toward growth and settled assurance of their calling and election.

Bible Verses Used

• 2 Peter 1:5-7: The central command to make every effort to add the eight qualities to faith, grounded in the divine power and promises already given in verses 1-4.

• 2 Peter 1:8: Possessing these qualities in increasing measure keeps a believer effective and fruitful in the knowledge of Christ.

• 2 Peter 1:9: Lacking these qualities makes a person nearsighted and blind, having forgotten their cleansing from past sins — used to describe spiritual coldness and empty devotion.

• 2 Peter 1:10-11: The call to make one's calling and election sure through diligence, with the promise of a rich welcome into Christ's eternal kingdom for those who do not fall.

• Philippians 2:12-13: Cited to explain "working out" salvation because God is at work within believers, correcting a self-generated view of sanctification.

• Hebrews 12:1: Referenced for the image of laying aside every weight and sin and running the race with endurance, reinforcing the call to press forward in faith.