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

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. Let’s break the verses in this chapter down:

VERSE 1-2: “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-

VERSE 3-4: “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."

From the above verses, we see that 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 very next verses:

VERSE 5-7:

“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 church leaders read this passage out of context, focusing on verses 5-7 alone and levying the helpless flock with demands for holiness. Such say things like:

"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, believer. Know that in Christ- having Him as your utter Righteousness and Strength - your salvation is irrevocable. If you have sins, He is Saviour from sins according to Matthew 1:21.

Believer, this is the truth: Every believer possesses those godly 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 the EVIDENCES of our salvation in Christ and not things we do to get right with God. Recall we just went through verses 1-8. In the very next verse 9, God's word tells us WHY these virtues 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."

The 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. It is sad to see churchgoers begging God to forgive them for the same sins that Christ has wiped away with His one death. It is sad that many churchgoers believe that God whom we call “Father” will let the devil have a go at them for the same sins that He sent His own Beloved Son to save us from. 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 churchgoers 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 produce these virtues by their human effort aka arm of flesh. Beloved of God, let’s not be found here. God's word says 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 entire lifetime of sins have been wiped away by Christ. 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 get into the future to commit it, whether in word, thought or deed, 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. This is the Good News. This is Grace: undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. His ways and thoughts are higher than man’s. His word tells us that knowing that in Christ, our entire lifetime of sins are forgiven forever and that we are forever righteous in God’s sight “EVEN THOUGH WE ARE GUILTY OF MANY SINS” is how we get to overcome sin and death. Earthly ills such as fear, anxiety, stupid mistakes, depression, sickness, fast-tracked ageing, etc are all “death begun.”

Christ’s gift of utter forgiveness aka “Neither do I condemn you” is what makes us “go and sin no more.” Many reject Christ’s utter forgiveness by clinging to their sins/imperfections and condemnation and try to right themselves like Judas. But as it is in any earthly court of law, the condemned must pay the wages of sin: the death that Christ died for all.

Antichrist pastors exalt themselves against the knowledge of God by questioning God's word and Christ's power to "save His people from their sins" with questions such as:

"So you are saying because we are saved by Grace, because the righteousness of Christ covers us we should continue to live in sin and have no good deeds?”

These ones have already shot themselves in the foot. Like Peter before he fell flat on his face three times, such proudly trust in their human effort aka arm of flesh that God’s word says will fail in their bid to overcome sin. Such deign to think that they have some strength/good in them to even be able to keep a tittle of the law when God’s word says man cannot. Believer, let's take our blessed brains to church. Matthew 1:21 tells us the purpose for which Christ the Word became flesh:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Also Titus 2:14- "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Beloved of God, how can we who believe continue to live in sin and produce no good deeds when we utterly depend on Christ whose job description is "Saviour from sins" for salvation? These antichrists are saying that Christ cannot or will not save you from your sins so it’s up to churchgoers to free themselves using the arm of flesh aka human effort. Such antichrist pastors prey on man's tendency to look for the (human) logic in the message of the saving Grace of God whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than man's. But man's logic cannot comprehend God's Grace- 1 Corinthians 1:18-

“18 For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God.”

Beloved of God, trust in the word of God whose ways and thoughts are higher than man's. Antichrist pastors exploit man's nature which sees trying to overcome sin and its deathly effects by human effort (aka arm of flesh) as the right thing to do. Such promote dependence on human effort for the attainment of godliness, just as Satan did with Eve in Eden. But the word of God whose ways and thoughts are higher than man's says differently. God's word says in Christ, we who believe get to live in triumph over sin and death through our wonderful Saviour who was born to save the world from sin and death:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

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. Only people whose walk is still imperfect can enjoy this benefit.

By God’s Grace, don’t let any “pastor” guilt you into Judas’ depression and suicide mode with their horrid “Yes God saved you by Grace but at least you still have to try to do and become godly and xyz...” false doctrine that subtly pushes one back into self-dependence and self-occupation like Judas. There is no good in man of himself (Romans 7:18.) Know that whatever good we produce is a product of God’s Mercy and Grace. If an iota of our arm of flesh/human effort at obedience is involved in our access to “not perish but have eternal life,” Christ becomes of no effect:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace." Galatians 5:4.

Being cut off from Christ equals no salvation from sins, so sin multiplies in the lives of those who are doing the seemingly good but actually self-righteous thing of depending on their human effort for the attainment of godliness aka law-keeping. These ones are always fluctuating between two grounds: smug in their self-righteousness when "pastor" focuses on a sin that they are not committing or riddled with guilt when the sermon focuses on their imperfection. Such do not have the revelation of the utter forgiveness of sins that we have through Christ Jesus. Satan and his pastor agents know this so instead of pointing the sinner to Christ who FREELY saves from sin and death (including earthly ills,) they are actively keeping many churchgoers focused on cleansing themselves of their sins and trying to be free from earthly ills like disease and unemployment with preaching such as:

"How can God bless you when you are still committing xyz sins?" or "Come and sow seed and fast for 70 days so that God can deliver you from unemployment and disease."

Believer, beware of such antichrist preachers who remove Christ from the equation of man's salvation from sin and death and place the burden of freedom from same on man's shoulders. Just look at the life of Christ in the gospels. Nobody had to go and fast or sow seed before they could freely receive from Him. Tax collectors, prostitutes, demoniacs, the sick, the blind, the lame, the idol worshipping Canaanite woman with the demon-possessed daughter. All who looked to Him freely received a "no questions asked" salvation from whatever bugged them.

But the Pharisees who positioned themselves as "good" and depended on their deeds to get God to bless could not receive from Him. The same thing is happening in many places of worship today. Beloved of God, by His Grace, watch what you are hearing in your local church. Is it Death or Life? The letter kills but the Spirit gives life and with the Spirit of the Lord, it "not by might, nor by power..."

It is Christ's freely-given "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more."

Right believing always produces right living