God's diagnosis for why goodness, understanding, strength of self-control, patient endurance, godliness, mercy and unending love are lacking in the church.

Believer, this is the crux of the message of Christ: Righteousness by faith in Christ. In Him, we are made right with God, not because we obeyed but because Christ obeyed as it is written in Romans 5:19- "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

In 2 Peter 1, Peter tells of God's abundance of Grace in the lives of all who have been given the same precious faith as the apostles-

1"This letter is from Simeon Peter, a loving servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to those who have been given a faith as equally precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 May grace and perfect peace cascade over you as you live in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

Notice that this gift of faith is given only "through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Faith is not something we muster up by human effort or get by obeying the law. It is a product/gift of right believing; having Christ as our righteousness. Peter continues in verse 3-

3 "By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires."

God's promises are what enable us partake of His divine nature and also escape the world's corruption that is caused by sinful desires. In Christ, having and knowing Him as our Righteousness, we have unfettered access to every single one of God's promises for the righteous. For the one who has Christ as His righteousness, ALL of God's promises are Yes: "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." 2 Corinthians 1:20

Against this backdrop, Peter admonishes us to devote ourselves to doing the following in the same chapter:

"5 So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness,

and to goodness add understanding,

6 and to understanding add the strength of self-control,

and to self-control add patient endurance,

and to patient endurance add godliness,

7 and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters,

and to mercy toward others add unending love.

8 Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately."

Many read this passage and say: "You see, even though we are saved by Grace, we still have to try our best to be good, understanding, have self-control, etc or else you are not really saved." Not so!

Every believer possesses these virtues abundantly because they are already planted deep within us. None of these things can we muster up on our own or accomplish by human effort. They are EVIDENCES of our salvation in Christ and not things we do to get right with God. In the very next verses, God's word tells us why these qualities are missing in the lives of many churchgoers today:

"9 But if anyone lacks these things, he is blind, constantly closing his eyes to the mysteries of our faith, and forgetting his innocence—for his past sins have been washed away."

See the NIRV- "But what if these things don’t describe someone at all? Then that person can’t see very well. In fact, they are blind. They have forgotten that their past sins have been washed away."

These virtues of goodness, understanding, strength of self-control, patient endurance, godliness, mercy and unending love are lacking in the church today because many are not convinced about the efficacy of Christ's blood in washing away our past, present and future sins. Many do not believe Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Many believers are being deceived into believing that God still holds the same sins that Christ died to free us from against them and that they will experience the wrath of God if they don't exhibit these virtues by human effort.

Peter said of these virtues of goodness, understanding, strength of self-control, patient endurance, godliness, mercy and unending love- "But if anyone lacks these things, he is blind, constantly closing his eyes to the mysteries of our faith, and forgetting his innocence—for his past sins have been washed away."

These virtues are EVIDENCES of our salvation in Christ, not CONDITIONS. They are lacking in many churchgoers because many do not believe that their past sins have been washed away. The law is not of faith so understand that trying to do things to get right with God or to "fulfil all righteousness" is the definition of "he is blind, constantly closing his eyes to the mysteries of our faith, and forgetting his innocence—for his past sins have been washed away." The law is not of faith.

Understand that every single sin that you have ever committed in your life up until this moment is a past sin; every single sin in your future, once you have committed it, becomes a past sin. Hebrews 10:12 says:

"Christ, however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever, and then He sat down at the right side of God."

See the NLT: "But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand."

Christ's one sacrifice for sins isn't just for the sins that we committed before we became born-again. His one sacrifice for sins is good for all time. Based on Christ's one sacrifice for sins that is effective forever, the Holy Spirit testifies to us in verse 17 of the same Hebrews 10:

14 And by His one perfect sacrifice He made us perfectly holy and complete for all time!

15 The Holy Spirit confirms this to us by this Scripture, for the Lord says,

16 “Afterwards, I will give them this covenant: I will embed My laws into their hearts and fasten My Word to their thoughts.”

17 And then He says,

“I will not ever again remember their sins and lawless deeds!”

Understand that in Christ, God does not remember our sins because Christ died for our entire lifetime of sins. Understand that for God to not remember our sins, it means we have sins that He would have remembered were it not for the sacrifice of Jesus.

Believer, by grace, may the virtues of goodness, understanding, strength of self-control, patient endurance, godliness, mercy and unending love abound in our lives as we constantly remember that in Christ, God remembers our sins and lawless deeds no more.

Right believing always produces right living