Verse 8,9 - For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. {9} But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

I. Promises or Blindness.

A. II Peter 1:8,9 gives us two options:

1. Learn the promises of God, live by them, and take on the nature of Christ.

2. Don’t learn the promises of God, become blind and forget that you were ever saved.

B. We would like to believe we are in category # 1, but are we really?

1. See my notes on Genesis chapter 12 to see how Abram failed to believe the promises of God, and what it cost him.

2. We will also pay a price for not believing.

3. We must learn to yield to the still small voice of God.

4. We must learn to follow God’s leadership, never our own, or other men.

II. Verse 8 - The right life.

A. Be in you and abound.

1. They must not only be in you, but they must abound (exist in great quantities) in you.

2. Romans 15:13 - "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."

3. II Cor. 8:7 - Paul tells the Corinthians they must first abound in faith, utterance, knowledge, and all diligence before they can abound in giving material things.

B. These things make you.

1. These things take away all powers of personalities and programs.

2. They focus our attention on the true attributes of holiness.

3. These things are our assurance that we cannot be barren nor unfruitful.

C. In the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. This is the only knowledge that really counts.

2. All other knowledge will perish when this world perishes.

D. Matt. 21:18-22 - Barren nor unfruitful.

1. We need leaves - for our personal growth.

2. We need fruit - for the glory of God.

3. John 15:5 - We can bear much fruit, if we have the proper knowledge about Christ.

III. Verse 9 - The wrong life.

A. Lacks the seven Christian virtues.

1. This is because the person has not tried to add these virtues to his life.

2. The newborn Christian also lacks these virtues, but Christ "overlooks" this deficiency because they haven’t had time to grow up.

B. Is blind, and cannot see afar off.

1. Matt. 15:14, They are not suitable for leadership, for when the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch.

2. They can see things up close, but they can never see the overall picture.

3. This lack leaves them without a clear direction for their lives, so they needlessly spend their lives wandering around.

C. Forgotten he was purged from his old sins.

1. This doesn’t mean they have lost their salvation.

2. Forgot doesn’t mean they have forgotten the time they were saved, but they are in a spiritual daze, and they have forgotten the joy they had when they were saved.

3. They will never bear fruit to perfection (until they begin to add the seven items in this scripture).

4. 4. Every man that has cultivated fruit knows that no tree can bear very richly the first year. The first year a tree bears, the fruit is of the lowest quality; the second year it is a little better; the third year it is still better; the fourth year it is better yet; and it continues to improve every year until the tenth; and then you begin to know what is the best thing that tree can do. Trees have to go through a maturing process of ten years’ duration before they can bear fruit of the highest flavors. So it is with the Christian. (Beecher)

5. This is the reason the Bible states that a pastor must not be a novice, I Tim. 3:6.

a. A novice may not have a root at all (Matt. 13:20,21).

b. Time will prove whether the individual has the inner ability to add the Christian virtues or not.