goes along with the lesson this
morning. As you'll see that God has given
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have in him all that we need. Let us ask the Lord to bless
us and bless his word this morning. Our father We come before thee
this morning as thy children to be taught, to hear from thee,
to learn from thy word, to worship thee in spirit and truth, to
sing thy praises. Enable us to do so from the heart
this morning. Enable us, Lord, to sing unto
you and give unto you the glory that's due unto your name. We
ask for thy presence this morning, Father, that you would bless
us with thy presence. Enable me to preach in the power
of thy Holy Spirit. Enable me to rightly divide the
word of truth. and enable us this morning to
comprehend as much as possible the teachings that we will have
this morning out of your word. Bless those among thy children,
those who are sick, those who are under heavy trials. Our Father,
we pray for them, bless them. And we pray this morning right
now, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts In Christ's name
we pray, and what we do, pray for ourselves. We pray for all
thy ministers and all thy children throughout this world. In Christ's
name we pray, and amen. This is another message to the
church. You see, if you go back over
to, we're going into 2 Peter, I haven't told you that. 2 Peter
chapter one. 2 Peter chapter one. In 1st Peter, you know, he starts
out like this, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. And here is another letter to God's elect, to the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In all ages, you know, the word
of God is written It's written to his people, to his church,
throughout all ages. Now, Peter writes this to believers,
and he writes this, this time, this letter, particularly, has
to deal with false preachers, and to beware of them. We pick
that up in Paul's writings, don't we, a lot, and then in Peter's
writings, because as apostles and what they dealt with, they
knew that false preachers were everywhere. There's no place
that they're not. They're everywhere. Especially
when you have a place where the gospel is preached, Satan is
going to raise up a multitude of false preachers. He loves,
Satan loves the confusion of battle. And he does all that
he can to confuse us. But now he says here in verse
one, Simon Peter, he uses his first name, Simon, old Simon. He never forgot who he was, did
he? He said, Simon Peter, a servant. You know what that is? A bond
slave. A willing bond slaves. Everyone here that believes the
gospel, who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, every one of us
are bond slaves. That's what we are. We're bond
slaves. Willing bond slaves. I'm glad, I'm glad Jesus Christ
is my master. He's my master. I have a master
and his name is Jesus Christ. He's my master. And so Peter
calls himself a servant first and then an apostle. I cannot
tell you what a great privilege it is to be a servant of the
Lord. What an honor it is to be called a servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ, instead of a servant to sin, instead of a servant
to Satan. We are now servants of God. Through
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are servants
to our God. And he writes this to those who
have obtained like precious faith with us. You have obtained. You've
obtained like precious faith. There's only one faith. There's
only one true faith. There are not many faiths. There's
only one true faith, not many, just one. And it belongs to all
God's children. And that faith is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it's precious. You know, Paul said, all men
have not faith. You realize how many people in
this community and throughout this world do not believe God?
They do not believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
men have not faith. And if you and I have faith,
it's precious faith. It's precious because there's
only one like it. There's just one. It's a work of God, it's of God,
it's a work of the Holy Spirit, and it's the only one that saves.
No other faith saves, but that faith which is of God. And he
says here, you obtained it. How'd you obtain it? Well, scripture
says by grace. Well, by grace are you saved
through faith, and that's not of yourselves. It's the gift
of God, over in Ephesians 2. We obtained it by grace, and
we've obtained it by the operation of the Holy Spirit. It's not
something we mustered up. It was given to us. God has granted
us Gentiles faith and repentance. He's granted it to us by His
grace. And all of this is through the
righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want
you to notice now in the margin of my Bible, and I think most
of the ones you all have, it says, through the righteousness
of God, it's got a number two. Go over in your margin, it says,
through the righteousness of our God and Savior. The Greek,
in the Greek translation, it's calling God, it's calling Jesus
Christ, God, our Savior. It's not just saying God and
the Lord Jesus Christ. God, our Savior, Jesus Christ. That's how it is. He is our God.
It's calling Him God. That's what Peter's doing. He's
calling Him God. He's our God and our Savior. And listen, this
faith has been freely bestowed upon us and wrought in us through
the merits and the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then he says, grace and peace be multiplied to you. That's
what, that's what you and I need. We need grace and peace to be
multiplied. And this grace and peace comes
to us through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and no other
way, no other way. And the multiplication of grace
and peace comes through a, listen, It comes through a true knowledge
of Christ. And that word knowledge means
knowing. It's not a gathering of facts. It's not a gathering of historical
events of a person. It's literally knowing Jesus
Christ as God and Savior. It's knowing Him. That's how
it's multiplied. Grace and peace is multiplied
through growing in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This word, knowledge of Him and
knowledge of God, is mentioned three times just in these few
verses, because it's so important. Because there is no growing in
grace, there's no growing in these virtues that we'll look
at here in a minute. There's no growing in them without knowing
Him, because they come from Him. We cannot grow in the fruit of
the Spirit if we don't know Christ. If we don't know Christ, we don't
have the fruit of the Spirit. We're not born of God. We're
still lost. And he says, Your grace and peace
be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and Jesus
our Lord. This is how we grow in it. We
never receive any blessing from God except it come to us through
the Lord Jesus Christ. God never deals with us. He doesn't
do anything with us apart from His Son, Jesus Christ. And he says here in verse 3,
and according as His divine power. You know, it took the power of
God to save you. It took the same power, the same
power it took to create the heavens and the earth, the same power
that it took to raise Jesus Christ from the dead, that same power
God has exercised in saving you and raising me and you from the
dead. According, this is how it is, it's according to his
divine power, not according as you have been persuaded to accept
him as your personal savior, it doesn't come that way, it's
according to his divine power. has given to us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness. We just sang that song. He's
all I need. God has given to us in Christ.
He's provided for us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
He provided it. We bring nothing to the table.
When it comes to salvation, when it comes to the saving of my
soul and your soul, we bring nothing to the table, He provides
it. And He does so by His power.
God, by His power, has given us everything we need. Everything
we need. All that we need now and all
that we need for eternity, we have in Jesus Christ. And He's
made us to be fit partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. It says in Colossians 1, God has made us fit. And He's made us fit by His power.
And by all that we need, He's given to us in Christ. And therefore,
He's made us fit. He's made us fit to be saints. children of God, sons and daughters
of God. It says in Colossians, in him
you are complete. I don't feel complete, do you?
I don't feel complete. Sin is just more troublesome
to me now than it ever has been. But I do believe God's word.
I take God at his word. In him I'm complete. I don't
lack anything. But now, in verse 3 again, let's
read it. According as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
how? Through the knowledge, through
knowing, through knowing Him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. Through the knowledge, through
knowing Him, that is the knowledge of Him. This is the real intimate,
experimental, I think the old writer called experiential, knowledge,
knowing Jesus Christ. And it's through knowing him,
through him that we've been called out of darkness into light, it
says in Colossians, out of darkness into his marvelous light. And
He's called us out of this sinful world and out of our sinful conduct
to His glory. He's called us to His glory in
virtue. Sons of God, we're like Him.
There's a nature in you that's born of God that's like Him.
That which is born of the Spirit is what? Spirit. It's of the
same nature of what you're born of. There's no salvation, what
he's telling us here, there's no salvation apart from knowing
Him. We can never know grace, we can
never know peace, we can never know the fruit of the Spirit
apart from Jesus Christ, apart from a real union to the Lord
Jesus Christ. In him, we are sons and daughters
of God. Isn't that amazing? Now are you
the sons of God? I'm looking, and I think of this,
and I think of this when I'm preparing a message, and I'm
coming here to speak, coming out here to speak to you. I'm
speaking to sons and daughters of God. I am. You're his children. And he's
made me an undershepherd over his children. Who am I? Who am
I? That's probably what some of
you are saying. Who is he? But I'm an undershepherd over
his children. You're God's children. Precious. You know, when the boys were
growing up, and I know this is the same with all you parents,
you didn't just leave your kids with anybody, did you? You didn't
just put your kids with, you didn't just go knock on the door
and say, would you keep my kids while I run down the road? You,
you did not leave your children with anyone that you did not
have absolute confidence in that they would take care of. Now,
after saying that, I'm not saying God has absolute confidence that
I'm going to, he enables me to do it. He enables me to be an
under shepherd and I'm an under shepherd over
his children. But now listen in verse here
in verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises." God's given us promises. Make much of the promises of
God. Study the Scriptures to know the promises of God. They're
yours. You would think we would dig
into this. You'd think the pages would be wore out. You'd think
we'd have to buy a Bible every six months because we wore the
one out that we have. You'd think so. There's promises in here that
belong to us. And it's by these precious promises,
he says here, that by these you might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. We have been given By Christ, by His glory, by His power, by
His righteousness, these great and precious promises, we have
them in Christ. All the promises in Him are what? Yeah, and amen, yes, not maybe. There are no maybes concerning
the promises of God. They're all yes, they're mine.
They're mine. In Him, they're mine. Thank God
they're in him and they're mine, in by and through him, they're
mine. Because according to me, I'd mess it up. I'd break them. I wouldn't get one of them. I'd
be like children of Israel. Go read the Old Testament. Every
time you turn around, they're breaking the law, breaking this,
breaking that, and God's having to chase them. That's what happens
under the law. But we're under grace. And these
promises are kept for us in Christ. And they're ours. I like what
Charles Spurgeon said one time. I can't quote it verbatim, but
he said one time that the promises of God are like a check. You
take it to the bank and cash it. You take it to the throne
of grace and cash it. They're our promises. And it's
by these we have been made partakers of the divine nature. In the
new birth, we have been made partakers of the divine nature.
Now there are some who don't believe that. They believe we're
just fellowshippers with the divine nature. We're more than
that. This is more than that. You cannot
be born of something and not have the nature of that which
you're born of. I have the nature of my earthly father. I have his nature. I mean, everybody
sees me that knows me. Back there when I was growing
up and everything, they say, you look just like your daddy. The
last time Henry saw me and my dad together, he said, John,
he said, you're just becoming a spitting image of your father.
That's because I was born of him, because I have his genetics. And that which is born of the
spirit, God is spirit. It's not another spirit. I'm
not born of another spirit and made spiritual. Now I can be
a son of God. No, I'm born of the same spirit. God is spirit. I can't comprehend
this. I can't comprehend it. You can't
either. But we are made partakers of
the divine nature in the new birth. Christ in you is Christ
God He's Christ God. Christ in you, the hope of glory. I in you, thou in me, and he's
in the father. We are in the father. We're one.
You see, in that new birth, Christ is in you. You are in Christ
and we're one. We are one. And Christ in you
is that union that we have in God, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Christ became bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh. Did He really partake of flesh?
Did God really become a man? Did He? Well, that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. You have really become spirit
in that new nature. That's the spiritual man. You
didn't just become spiritual. Now, some people like to say
that you are now spiritual. No, you're spirit. That new man
is spirit. God said, I'll put within you
what? A new spirit over in Ezekiel. Then he said, I'll put within
you a new spirit. You know what he said after that?
Then I'll put my spirit within you. You're one. You're one. You're partakers
of the divine nature. And beside this, now here, Up
to this point, salvation is of the Lord. We are totally passive
when it comes to being saved. That's all of God. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's all of Him. He saved me.
He provided in Christ all I need. In Christ, I have wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. God can require of me no more
than what He has given me in Christ. But now listen, let me
go back to verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great,
you can't even comprehend them, and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that's in the world through lust. You see,
the corruption that's in the world is expressed through lust. That's how it's expressed. Whether
it be lust for riches, whether it be a sexual lust, whether
it be lust for whatever it is, power. It's expressed. The corruption that's in us and
that's in the world is expressed through lust. God has delivered
us from that. You don't live after the lust
of the flesh no more. You don't. I'm not saying we don't sin,
but we don't live after the lust of the flesh. And beside this,
now here's something he's telling us to do. And this really jumped
out at me looking at this. Give all diligence. You see,
we're totally passive in salvation, but in growth, in grace and in
knowledge of Christ, we put forth effort to know him. Paul said,
Oh, that I might know him. and the power of His resurrection.
Timothy, bring the books, bring the parchments. What for? Because
I want to study more of the Word of God that I might know Him,
that I might know Him, that I might grow in grace and knowledge of
Christ. If I say that I want to grow in grace and knowledge
of Christ and I give no attention to what we're about to read,
I'm lying. I'm lying. I'm not telling the
truth. I'm just sounding religious is all. But beside this, give
all diligence, all effort. And what he's telling us here
is give first priority to that new man that's born of God. And the first thing he says here,
add to your faith. He doesn't say here, and beside
this, give all diligence to get faith. No, it starts with faith. Faith is the groundwork. It's
the bulldozer, grace. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you have faith. But now here he says, add these
to faith. Add these to faith. Work on these
things. That's what he's saying. Work
on these things. Give diligence. Give diligence. Put forth great
effort. Great effort. Add to faith. It all starts with
faith. Add to faith virtue. That's the
fruit of the Spirit. Not just being moral. It's the
fruit of the Spirit. Knowledge. You see, add to faith,
knowing God. What does it say in John 17?
Eternal life is to what? to know God and Jesus Christ
whom he has sent. You see, you add to faith, knowledge,
knowing, grow in knowing God. You know, we'll spend eternity
knowing God. And it just, it dumbfounds me
how little interest, in comparison
to what I ought to have, how little interest I have in knowing
God. And every one of us, that applies
to every one of us. We don't really get up and really desire
and crave to know God, to have fellowship with God. Knowledge, knowing God, knowing
His will, knowing the will of God. Knowledge of the teachings
of God's word. Lord, when we open the book,
teach me, teach me. is to be able to walk by wisdom.
This knowledge enables us to walk in wisdom. And then listen,
add to faith, add these things to faith. Virtue, through the
Spirit, knowledge, knowing God, knowing His will. Temperance,
avoid excess in anything. Avoid excess in anything. Patience,
wait on the Lord. And trials, well, that's hard,
isn't it? That's difficult. Wait on the
Lord in trials. He's already determined the end
from the beginning. You know, it's taken me a long
time, about 60, almost 68 years now. It's taken me a while to
learn to just rest because the end is already determined. I
just got to go through it to get there. You know, it's already
settled with the Lord. It's already settled. It's done.
It's done. I've just got to go through it to find out the end. But he already has determined
it and he knows it. Patience, wait on the Lord in
trial. Listen, wait on the Lord in blessings. But now here's one that's really
important too. Wait on others to grow up as
well as yourself. Patience with others. Wait on
them to grow up. Wait on that baby in Christ to
grow up. Don't be so ready to spank him.
Just wait on him. The Lord will mature his children.
He will grow them up. And we need to have patience.
And I tell you something, patience shows. It shows understanding.
It shows you've been around a little bit. And you know where that child
is. Just like when your children
are growing up, they don't understand this. Y'all don't understand
this. But parents, all parents know
this. I've been where you are. I've already been down that road
and back. I can tell you what's on it. I know, I know. You know this. We, we don't want to listen.
We don't want to listen to those older because we want to, we
want the experience. We want to, we want to go out
and experience these things. No, we need to listen. We need to
listen. But patience shows understanding
and godliness. You know what, you know, godliness
starts with this, fear of the Lord. It starts with fear of
the Lord. That's where godliness starts. It starts with fear of the Lord
and it comes out in one's life. Godliness comes at your walk.
It's your tenor of life. It's the way you live. It's the way we now think and
speak in our conversations, in the places we go, things we do
and don't do. The whole tenor of that is godliness.
It's after godliness because God's in you. And you want to
be like your father. You want to be like your father.
You know, I sent Madison a text the other day. I said, you're
driven to succeed like your father. And she said, I'm trying to.
She said, I'm trying to. I didn't mean for her to try
to, but I just told her what she's doing. But she says, I try. That's my goal. What's your goal? It's to be like your father,
isn't it? We ought to be driven to be like our heavenly father.
We ought to be driven to it. And then brotherly kindness,
paternal love. That's what that is, paternal
love. Brotherly kindness, taking care
of one another, looking after one another, preferring one another. What would worship be like without
this? If we didn't prefer one another and look after one another,
there would be no worship. Couldn't be. God's not going
to bless that. He's not going to bless that. If he loves you
and I don't, If I prefer myself over me and he prefers his children,
look what Christ, having loved his own, he loved them to the
end. You know, everything he did, he did for us. He did not
do one thing for himself. Everything he did, he did for
us. We ought to be like, we ought to be like minded. And then charity, love, you know,
love fulfills the whole law. I mean, what more can you say?
If you really love someone, you don't have to tell a person what
they need to do or don't need to do. Love will guide them.
And he says in verse eight, and if these things be in you and
abound, abound, not just in you and trickle. Do you want grace to just trickle
in you? You ever see a stream that just trickles? No, we want
to be a river flowing, abounding. These things need to abound in
us like a river. That these things abound, that
they, that, listen, for if these things be in you and abound,
they make you that you shall neither be barren, unfruitful,
or it says over here, idle, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now see how they bring, he brings
that knowledge, knowing Christ again. If these virtues, if this
fruit of the Spirit, if this is in you, if this is in you,
you will not be unfruitful in knowing Christ. But now, if these
things are lacking in you, knowing Christ is going to be next to
impossible. Because you know why? Because
He's not going to be your interest. If these are not your interests,
something else is. And if something else is, it's
not going to be Christ. But he that lacketh these things
here, he that lacks these things that he has spoken of, he's blind. He can't see. He's blind and cannot see it
far off. The only thing he can see is what he's looking at in
the mirror. And he thinks too highly of that thing he sees
in the mirror. And he has forgotten that he
was purged from his old sins, or he's forgotten the profession
that he made. Now, he may have just made it,
that may be all it is, just an empty profession. You know, he's
given a word of warning here to us. And everyone who believes
God, when you read that, you're like, oh, don't let that be me.
Don't let that be me. And those who have not Christ,
they say, well, that's not me. He's forgotten he was purged
from his old sins, or he professed to be purged from them. When
he made a profession, he professed that God saved him from his sins.
But he's saying here, there's a flaw. There's a real flaw in
this man's profession. And that's why he says in the
next verse, and I'm going to stop here, wherefore the rather
brethren give diligence to make good call in the election, sure.
For if you do these things, you shall never fail. That's why
that next verse, the next statement he makes, he says, you know,
he that lacks these things is blind, can't see it far off.
He's forgotten. He's been purged from his old
sin. He's forgotten that he professed that God has saved him. Don't
take for granted these things. He said, you give diligence to
work on these things, and you make your call in an election.
Sure. Because if you do these things,
you shall never fail or fall away. You'll never fall away. All right.