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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NESS not carry you to your duty will not carry you to Heaven.” In this passage from Peter’s second letter we are told what things are nec essary to that rounded out character and which will show to others what a living faith in Jesus Christ will bring forth. Seven are specified. “ Virtue.” In this word manly energy and courage are included, and it may be described as being moral excellency. Virtue is not a negative grace, but a strongly positive One. Weymouth trans lates it “ a noble character.” “ Knowledge.” This does not mean mere knowledge of material or intellec tual things, that gained in the college or university and rewarded with a degree. It does mean that knowledge of the will of God and of God Himself, which must be the pursuit of all those upon whom God has bestowed His degree of B. A. How shall we come into this knowledge? By diligent study of the Book which contains God’s own revelation of His will. By diligent obe dience to every duty discovered by our study. By earnest (and honest) prayer for guidance in the application of those great. principles, revealed rin God’s Word, to matters about which no specific command has been laid down. By con sidering the matter settled when an honest decision has been reached, and refusing to reopen it or worry about it. When worry comes in faith goes out, and our knowledge must be added to faith. “ Temperance.” This means “ self-con trol,” as it is rendered in our American version. We have been so hotly engaged in our campaign against intoxicants that we are nearly in danger of forgetting that temperance is to be exercised in other realms also, e. g., in eating, and speaking, and spending. It touches every walk of life. And the only safe self- control is when the “ self” is controlled by the indwelling Holy Spirit. See Romans 8:1-15, This is the true secret of a victorious life.
682 Bible teachers of the nation. Not His answering and His questioning excited curiosity, but His answers and His questions. Was it strange the Bible school had more attraction for Him than Jerusalem’s “ places of historic inter est” ? What do you hunt up when jrou go- to the city? He grew in spirit. The boy of twelve did not have the spirit of the man of thirty. And the grace of God was more fully manifested in the man than in the boy. In favor with God and man He grew as He reached maturity. His prayer life as a man was not,suddenly acquired on His reaching manhood; that also was the result of the habit of prac ticed in boyhood and youth. The boy gladly recognized His duty to His par ents “ and was subject unto them” , but the man about His Father’s business lovingly, gravejy yet#firmly refused to proclaim His Messiahship at the Cana wedding feast, when His mother (appar ently) suggested that He do so. To recapitulate—The things that entered into His growing were: 1. A healthy mode of life. 2. Systematic study of the Word of God. 3. Obedience in the path of duty. 4. Cultivation of the prayer life. What would be the effect on your life, if you “ should follow His steps” ? 2. How We Should Grow, 2 Peter 1:5-8. This exhortion is for twice-born peo ple, people wbo have become “ partakers of the divine nature,” by faith in God’s “ great and precious promises.” While salvation begins in faith, con tinues in faith, and ends in faith, faith is not itself salvation. Escaping the,penalty of sin is a very important part of salvation, but it is not all there is to being saved. Faith that saves is faith that makes believers holy. As Dr. William Reid says in his wonderful little book— “ The Blood of Jesus” : “ The faith that can never keep you from sin will never keep you out of hell; and the faith that can-
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