Seven Guarantees for Life

A lone wheelchair rolling through deserts, blizzards, and mountain roads becomes a window into something far greater: the kind of welcome a faithful life can receive. We open with a true story of grit and a surprise arena of cheers, then trace how Scripture lifts that scene into a hope-filled picture of the Bema seat—where grace cancels condemnation and Christ delights to commend what His Spirit empowered.

From there, we get practical. We unpack Peter’s seven supplements—virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love—and show how each one turns belief into visible evidence. Together they guard us from idleness, grow fruit that others can see, and correct the nearsighted focus that traps us in the urgent. Along the way, we borrow Joseph’s lens on suffering—God sent me here—to recover perspective when life feels unfair or slow. We also confront spiritual amnesia, that quiet slide where we forget mercy and drift back to old habits, and we offer a simple path to return: repent quickly, walk again, keep adding the next right thing.

We also lean into assurance. You do not need to solve every mystery of election to enjoy confidence; you need to make your calling obvious through a life that matches your confession. That kind of obedience doesn’t earn salvation—it steadies your heart and strengthens your witness. And when we talk about rewards, we keep it grounded: a cup of water, a prison visit, a quiet kindness to someone who can’t repay—rewardable. God casts our sins into the depths and remembers our love. Seen this way, His watchfulness comforts more than it intimidates.

If you’re tired, unseen, or worried your story ends in a whisper, this conversation aims your heart at a louder finish. Give it everything you have, imperfectly yet persistently. Live toward a lavish entrance, so you arrive with joy and something to lay at His feet. If this spoke to you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help others find it.

Transcript

Crowds, Cameras, And A Surprise Welcome

From Earthly Parade To Heavenly Reception

Rewards, Not Condemnation, At The Bema

Private Review, Public Rewards

Even A Cup Of Water Counts

Anticipating Reward Without Pride

Seven Supplements For A Steady Life

Guarding Against Waste And Idleness

Becoming Fruitful And Evident

Nearsighted Faith And Lost Perspective

Joseph’s Lens On Suffering

Spiritual Amnesia And Drift

Make Your Calling Obvious

SPEAKER_00 0:27

For a couple of years, two years in fact, Rick Hanson, a paraplegic athlete, decided to circle the globe in his wheelchair to raise awareness of spinal cord research. You can imagine how grueling this trip would be. There are photos of him in all kinds of weather, burning heats, slashing rain, cold blizzards, all kinds of terrain, dry deserts, wastelands, forests, farmlands, roads that led over mountains. At first nobody really took notice, but over time journalists began to pick up his story, and news outlets began tracing his journey. His efforts to go up steep mountain roads were captured by photographers, his arms taut with aching muscles, his hands bandaged and calloused, wheeling through little cities and villages as he literally circled the globe. On May twenty-third, nineteen eighty seven, Rick headed home on his final leg of the journey. By this time his name was well known, was caused for the paralyzed, greatly appreciated. While he was still many miles away from his home in Vancouver, Canada, West Canada, people came out and thanked him as he would wheel by. As he came nearer the goal, the crowds thickened along both sides of the highway. People stopped in their cars to get out and wave. As he wheeled his way toward an arena they had chosen where he expected his family and some friends to show up, and he just wanted to do one final victory lap while a few friends clapped. Instead, the arena, he didn't know it, was packed with thousands of people. National and international leaders, movie stars and camera crews. The streets grew impossibly dense as he grew nearer. Drew nearer to that arena. Helicopters hovered overhead. Police on motorcycles then came in and flanked both sides of him. And other wheelchair athletes came in behind them, and one reporter said, like a legion of charioteers followed him. As he swooped through the wide lower gates and glided out onto the stadium track, to his utter surprise, tens of thousands of people exploded with cheering. One reporter said it was wild. The celebration was incredible. His grueling journey for the sake of others was now complete. What a great picture. You can just see it, can't you? That, beloved, is a taste of what your future reception will be like in heaven. And when I say that, I can feel it, you're saying, no way. You don't know me. You know, I'm a little side note. I'm gonna slip in and hang my head and probably apologize to Jesus for taking up his time. Now the Bible presents a very different picture. Sin is forever gone in the record. It's never the issue. His grace multiplied in your life and how it demonstrated through your life is the issue of the bima, the bima seat, the judgment seat. The Bible clearly refers to degrees of reward for faithful living. The servant who managed, Jesus preached. Five talents for his master was given five more. The one who stewarded his money well received more to manage. In the Apostle John's second letter, he warns us, the believer, that we need to watch ourselves lest we lose our full reward. Not our salvation, that's impossible. Our full reward. And that would come from straying into indifference, unrepentance, backsliding where we should be. But even still, the picture of our homecoming is presented as a time of reward. Paul uses the analogy of the Bhima, that's the raised platform where victorious athletes would be given their reward by the officials for having run their race. Paul uses that language. Whatever was unprofitable will be burned up like wood, hand stubble. Now we'll recognize at that moment that whatever we do receive was his empowering, which is why the Bible tells us we give them back. Wouldn't it be tragic to have nothing to give back, though? What joy we'll feel when we have something. Some theologians believe the Bima seed experience will take place immediately after a believer dies. And I would agree with that. For to be absent from the body, which is death, is to be in the immediate presence of the Lord. The tour of heaven will come later. You'll see your grandparents who know the Lord later. You're going to see the Lord. And in his presence, I believe every Christian will meet privately with their Savior. The Lord will review our lives in a very personal setting and then personally reward everything possible that we did in obedience to him. And Jesus preached that giving someone a cup of water, a little cup of water, rewardable. Visiting the prisoners, rewardable. Showing kindness, rewardable. Meeting the physical needs of someone, rewardable. Doing something for someone who can't pay you back, rewardable. The writer of Hebrews says that God is not unjust to overlook your service and the love that you have shown in his name. He's not going to forget. You'll forget, I'll forget, but God hasn't forgotten anything that you've done out of love for others, ultimately out of love for him. It presents this sense that he's eager. Not to condemn, but to congratulate. Now, can you actually guarantee that a Christian could live in such a way that standing before the presence of the Lord would give this joyful anticipation? Can you guarantee that you can live some kind of life that at the end of it the Lord would reward you? Isn't that bold? Isn't that, you know, isn't that kind of proud? Isn't that the wrong incentive? Just read your New Testament. Paul talking about having run his race, he's anticipating the reward ahead. And by the way, I wouldn't be so bold as to suggest this if Peter hadn't written it down. Of all people. If anybody would rather say he didn't deserve anything, let's just move on, it'd be Peter. He never forgot that threefold denial. You can bank on that. I have no doubt he never heard a rooster crow for the rest of his life that he didn't remember that courtyard. That signature failure. But Peter is convinced because of the gospel. Where Paul says there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the gospel. Now he says, look, your failure isn't fatal all the way along your life. There's a path to pursue. Get back on it. He writes in chapter one, give it everything you've got. It's his idea. You tracked with the Lord imperfectly yet persistently. And you can expect a commendation, not condemnation. As you stand before your gracious Lord. What kind of life is that? How do we live it? Well, Peter's been answering that question in his second letter. I invite you to turn back there. He's broken down that lifestyle into the form of seven supplements. We've been studying them carefully. Now, if you track Peter's list down to the end of the paragraph, so let me jump ahead there for a moment. You'd never think we'd thought we'd get there, but let's take a look here. He's talking about your entrance into heaven. So he gets to the end of your life. Now this is going to happen. Let me show you what that's like. Notice what he writes in verse 11. For in this way, that is, according to this life you've lived, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now be careful. He's not saying this is how you get in. He's saying this is the kind of entrance you will have when you get in. He describes your entrance here as richly provided. You could translate this phrase as referring to a lavish entrance. A lavish entrance. God has lavishly provided for you when you enter. He's got a reception and it's lavish. Really? Yeah. What a promise. This is Peter's way of referring to the Bhima seat as a time of rich reward and commendation. Why? Because this has been your life. This has been your attempt, not perfect, but consciously, to add these seven supplements to your life. Now, if you're new to our study, and for all of us, just to refresh our memory, back in verse 5, Peter began, for this reason, make every effort to supplement your faith. Now he gives the seven, with virtue. Let me give you a brief definition. Virtue is a passion to pursue excellence. Pursuing excellence in every endeavor. You're not going to cut corners. Add to virtue knowledge. Now, this word knowledge is practical knowledge that it means you're applying what you learn, God's word, into your life. This kind of knowledge, as we studied, isn't related to your SAT scores. We're glad about that, aren't we? This isn't referring to intelligence. This is referring to obedience. Add to knowledge, self-control. This is the personal discipline of refusing sinful appetites, battling against it, repenting when you fail, quickly getting back on the path. Adding to self-control, steadfastness. This is seeking God's strength to handle the pressure of life. This is bearing up under, the word means, the load of life, the pressures of life, rather than walking out the back door, quitting. Add to steadfastness, godliness. This is the passionate pursuit of a pure life. Add to godliness, brotherly love. This is a winsome spirit of graciousness toward everyone really, but especially every member of the family of God, your brothers and sisters in Christ. Finally, add to your life the supplement of agape, love. That word is self-sacrificing commitment and humility to treating others as Christ has treated you. None of these seven supplements are beyond the reach of every believer. These are our goals in life. We won't perfect them, but we will pursue them. What you simply have here is a practical definition for living for Christ. This is the Christian life. Now, having studied all of that, it's not ironic to me to discover that he, and I want to rephrase them because what he's going to do is give us seven guarantees that follow these seven supplements. So let me rephrase them and then we'll look through the passage and we will get to verse 11. Here's the first guarantee. They will guard you from wasting your time. Verse 8. For if these qualities, these supplements, are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective. Now the word Peter uses here for ineffective could be translated idle. Idleness, a refusal to work. It's a reference to being inactive, uninvolved in your Christian life, unconcerned about advancing the gospel. This believer is is choosing to sit it out. I'm going to sit out the race. Too much of it's uphill. The engine's on, but is idling. Peter is saying you're going to waste time that way. Pursue this, and it will guard you from wasting time. The second guarantee follows naturally. Secondly, let me put it this way: these supplements will give you opportunities to demonstrate the character of Christ. These supplements will give you opportunities to demonstrate the character of Christ. He goes on to write in verse 8: for if these qualities, these supplements, are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective, notice, or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unfruitful carries the idea of unproductive. Unproductive means there's, well, there's nothing to show for your Christianity. This is the challenge of James. You're not going to show anybody the reality of your Christianity by your faith. They can't see that. Let them see your works. You're saved by faith, you prove it by your works. Unproductive living means there's nothing to show. You've heard it this way: if you were taken to court and accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? That's the idea. Would your coworkers be shocked if you told them tomorrow you're a Christian? Would your classmates be stunned to find out that you claim to be a Christian? It's the idea here. Practice these supplements, and I guarantee you will never need to be afraid of living a life that could be summed up as ineffective or unproductive. Now it might feel like it at times, and there may be times of greater productivity than others. You're not going to pillow your head every night and say, man, was I effective today or what? Was I productive? No, you're glad nighttime came. So you can interrupt a very unproductive day with some sleep. But let me tell you, according to God's word, as you pursue these supplements, no matter how you feel, no matter how you ebb and flow, he will sum it up as that was effective. That was productive. In fact, you you forgot a lot of things you did or said. Just the encouragement of your presence to someone near you. Rewardable. That note, that phone call, rewardable. Helping out in some way, rewardable. You haven't even calculated it. He can't wait to congratulate you. Third, these supplements will provide spiritual guidance and perspective in life. Now, this particular guarantee is coming from what I observe in the form of a warning. Notice verse 9. For whoever lacks these supplements, these qualities, is so nearsighted that he is blind. The word he uses here for nearsighted is. It occurs only here in the entire New Testament. And in this context, it refers to a believer whose eyesight has begun to focus on things around, just around him, earthly things, up close. He can't see the big picture. He doesn't see others. Just himself. His family, his job, his stuff. Peter adds the idea that he's effectively blind because of it. That's strong language. What that means is he can't visualize what God is doing, not just out there, but even in his own life. He's blind to the reality of what God is doing. You can't see God's hand at work. If you're reading through the Bible as I am, you've encountered now that signature event with Joseph. I love that account, don't you? Where his brothers show up to buy grain and they don't recognize him. He's the prime minister of Egypt. He's dressed differently as hair. Everything's different. Every time I see a picture of him at that scene, he's got a great tan. Whatever that means, he's got a great tan. Well, they're there bowing down to buy grain, and they don't recognize him, and finally he can't hold back. And he stuns them in chapter 45 with the news I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold. They're speechless. They're ready to panic. And then he says very quickly, three times, verse 5, God sent me here before you. Verse 7, you didn't send me here. God sent me here. Verse 8, God sent me here. How do you handle imprisonment without growing bitter? How do you handle betrayal, disappointment, suffering, waiting? These are all experienced by Joseph. This is spiritual perspective where God gives you the wisdom to say, this has been sent to me. And I have been sent into this by God. It's a wonderful guarantee as you face life. Here's a fourth one. Supplements will, number four, keep you from developing spiritual amnesia. Again, this follows closely, naturally. A person who is blind to what God is doing for him in the present has probably forgotten what God has done for him in the past. You see how Peter connects these, verse 9 again. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. In other words, if you don't pursue these seven supplements, you not only develop a problem of spiritual vision, you develop a problem, one author wrote of spiritual amnesia, which gave me the idea. You not only fail to see what God is doing, you've forgotten what God has done in your life. Living a disobedient life as a believer, then, as a way of dimming our vision, clouding our memory. You forget that God has saved you. You forget that God has forgiven you, rescued you. Perhaps you've met a few, but the most impactful Christians I have ever met are people who've never quite gotten over their conversion. The verb here for forgetting implies that the individual is deliberately putting out of their mind the idea of being sinful, being forgiven, the need of being cleansed, having been cleansed. This happens to a believer when they are, in fact, backsliding. Peter makes it clear in this passage, you're either moving forward or you're moving backward. You're making progress or you're backsliding. The Christian who chooses to forget their need for forgiveness, the Christian who stops thanking God for their salvation is edging back into sinful ways, old ways. Don't talk to me about cleansing from old sin. Because I'm being pulled by that undertow back in. I'm going to go back under. See, that's somebody you might know that's entering a lifestyle of sin, and you say, hey, you're a believer, you shouldn't be doing that. Don't talk to me about that. Don't tell me what sin is. Don't judge me. They're on dangerous ground of wasting, wasting away. Here's a guarantee to keep you from being pulled back under. Just take a couple of them, the supplement of virtue. The refusal to cut corners. Are you cutting corners? That job you're doing when the supervisor's not looking, what do you do? Supervisor shows up, everybody gets to work. How about godliness? Isn't it interesting? He tells Christians to be godly. The refusal to make excuses when you fail in that passionate pursuit of purity. Well, this will keep you from developing amnesia. And to forget history, you remember, is to repeat it. Here's another guarantee. Number five, pursuing these supplements will increase your assurance of salvation. He writes here in verse 10, therefore, brothers, again, note that he's writing to brothers, believers, be all the more diligent. There's that phrase again. Give it everything you've got, pedal to the metal, to confirm your calling and election. Here again is that principle of cooperation between God's work and your work. He began this paragraph earlier in verse three by telling us we have everything we need has been given to us for godliness, for life, for a godly life, you could translate it. So also here he tells the believer that God has chosen you. Other passages inform us that his choice of you was before the foundation of the world. That is, sometime in eternity past, he chose you. Let me tell you, you don't understand that any more than I do. To talk about God's sovereign election is a majestic truth that staggers our understanding. Yes, we have to say to him, we take you as our Savior. And then you find out it's sort of a wedding gift. Oh, he had already chosen you before time began. To talk about God's sovereign election taking place in eternity past. What a mystery. If you figured it out, by the way, write a book. You're going to be able to sell so many copies you can buy your own island in the Caribbean. I'll buy one too, by the way. And I'll put it with all those other books I have in my library written by people who think they've figured it out. Don't miss the fact and don't miss the point that Peter isn't telling you to understand God's work in your salvation. He's telling you to prove it. Confirm it. Firm it. Give evidence of it. Confirm your salvation means that you provide evidence in the way that you live that God saved you. Prove it. What's the benefit of that? Well, the world will see the difference in you. It gives credibility to your testimony and to your gospel. But let me tell you, the person who benefits the most is you. You. Assurance of salvation is closely tied to the evidences of salvation. You prove it to the world, but you prove it to your own heart. John Calvin put it this way in his discussion on election. Purity of life not only testifies to others that you are a child of God, it provides confidence for you. Your translation might read here make your calling an election sure. What Peter means, and you might write it into the margin of your text, make your calling and election obvious. Make it obvious. God saved you. Now what are you going to do about it? That's the cooperation between something he has done in eternity past that you ratified by your own belief in his son. Now, are you going to live up to it? God is doing his part. Are we doing ours? I love the way William Barclay dealt with this idea of cooperating with his sovereign will with our own moral choices. He put it this way, let me read it. He wrote from England about a hundred years ago. He said, Suppose a man who is wealthy and gracious chose a poor lad from the street who would never have had the chance and offers him the privilege of a university education. This man is giving the lad something which he could never have achieved for himself. Now, it's up to this young man to enter the university and study. And the harder he works at it, the more he will enter into the privilege and joy of what has been freely offered to him. So it is with God in us. The more we labor to serve him and represent him and walk with him and trust him, the more we enter into the joy and assurance of our salvation. And you know it's true. And so do I. Here's another guarantee provided by pursuing these supplements. Number six, they will guard you from a life of wandering. They will guard you from a life of wandering. Peter writes in verse 10, practice these qualities, and you will never fall. The word for fall here is used elsewhere in the New Testament for stumbling. James chapter 2, verse 10. Peter seems to be implying that stumbling here would become a permanent course of wandering. Remember this, the man writing this tasted those bitter tears of stumbling, denying his Lord, of pride, of boasting. Peter's able to write here effectively this encouragement to get back on the path, pursue these supplements, and stumbling won't become a permanent manner of living, a wandering, disobedient life. You don't want that. One author writes that Peter is referring here to being spared a life of disobedience that ends with tragic grief. Grief for a life wasted. Not just wasting time, but wasting your life. Now, with that, Peter gives us the final guarantee that naturally follows. Instead of wasting your life and ending in grief, these supplements will keep you, number seven, focused on finishing well. So here's the promise of a future reward, he writes. I'll amplify the translation, a lavish entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Imagine. Doesn't that do what Peter wants it to do? Make you want to live for him? When you see that end goal, it helps you slug through those uphill challenges. We tend to focus on now. Today, Peter's saying, I'm going to end this by talking about that day. Don't forget that day. And a lavish reception that Jesus, your Lord and Savior, will prepare for you with rewards in hand. And don't forget he had missed anything that you've done for him. You tell the average Christian that the Lord is watching them today, and they're going to take that as a threat. Wait, what? He's watching me. Is there a way to get him to not watch me so closely? Reminding me of just a couple of weeks ago, someone in our church handed me this little story about a third-grade boy got into trouble at school. He came home and he told his parents that they were probably going to get a call from the principal. Well, they demanded to know why. He said, Well, here's what happened. I was standing in line to get my lunch in the cafeteria, and I came to a big bowl of apples, fresh apples. And there was a note next to the bowl that said, only take one. God is watching. So I only took one. But then a little farther down the cafeteria line, there was a big bowl of chocolate chip cookies, but no note. So I decided to write one for me and everybody else. I wrote, take all the cookies you want. God is watching the apples. Love that kid. Man. Well, the truth is, God's watching the apples and the cookies. This isn't a threat. This is actually a reassuring promise that he cares. And again, back to that verse I mentioned in Hebrews. Let me put it up on the screen. Here it is. God is not unjust so as to overlook your work. The love that you've shown for his name. He's thrown your sins into the deepest sea, but he's keeping record of everything that's rewardable. He's eager. Imagine it's possible to enter heaven like Rick Hansen entered that arena. To hear the applause of your Savior? To hear the commendation of your Lord? Peter's saying, doesn't that make you want to give all diligence to adding to your life these seven? What's the evidence that that's happening in your life? Well, the evidence is the sadness in your heart when you sin. And the desire to repent quickly and get back on. It's the evidence of that joy that you feel when you obey. It's that it's that sense of energy that you have that keeps you serving. It's that growing anticipation of a future day when you are introduced, if you can imagine it, to this lavish reception and you enter into the eternal kingdom and we we see and faith is forever set aside. We see our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's live in light of that. Seven supplements? Guarantees. Pray with me. Thank you for your word that as we understand it correctly in the heart of every believer today is just given fresh wind in our sails to keep moving, keep praying, keep looking for opportunity. Keep loving, keep resisting, keep confessing. Not so that we can get in, Lord. That's settled. So that we can be the recipient of rewards that we will most gladly, gladly lay at your feet. Forgive us when we keep our Christianity a secret. Forgive us when we bring shame to your name. And here is this invitation to get back up, freshly forgiven, in fellowship again, serving, loving, walking with, trusting, waiting upon you, our Lord. May that be our testimony. As a church, as we take steps of faith, as individual believers, as we walk with you for others, may we bring glory and honor to you. We pray it in Jesus' name.

unknown 40:40

Amen.