service today. Heavenly Father,
we thank you again for your mercy and grace, allowing us to be
able to gather together. We know it's by thy providential
hand that you bring us together, O Lord, and pray that you would
bless the services today, Lord, that they would be a blessing
to you. Bring glory and honor and praise
to you, Lord, that you would be the focus of all that we say
and do here today, that you might be magnified and glorified. We
love you and praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn, if
you would, to 2 Peter. 2 Peter, we'll continue our study
in this book, 2 Peter. Today's message is called Great
and Precious Promises. Great and Precious Promises,
2 Peter. We'll read verses 1 to 11. 1
to 11. Last week we looked at verse
3. 2 and 3. Great and Precious Promises.
2 Peter, chapter 1, verses 1 to 11. Simon Peter. a servant and
an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power
hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge
temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness,
and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity,
which is love, 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. But he that lacketh these things
is blind, and cannot see far off, and hath forgotten that
he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye
do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall
be ministered unto you abundantly unto the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now in our study so far,
we've looked at the first three verses of this wonderful little
book. It's written to God's people, we know that. To those who are
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. those who have the Holy
Spirit dwelling within them. And we know this because in verse
one, the book says that it's written to those who have obtained
like precious faith. So the setting of this epistle
is it's written to the church. It's written to God's born again,
blood washed people who have obtained like precious faith.
And remember, always remember that your faith and my faith
is the same faith that was given to Peter, Paul, John. We have
the same faith, one common faith. It's not common in the sense
that it's a common thing, it's not that, it's common in the
sense that we all have the same faith. So this is a general epistle,
it's written to the church, again to those who are born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, to those who have obtained like precious
faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
We also know that the believer, again, has obtained this like
precious faith, which has one object, which has one object,
this faith has one object, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know that the believer in Christ has obtained this like
precious faith all by the divine power of God, all by the power
of God, all by his divine power and by his divine choosing. We
see that again in verse three, as the scripture proclaims, according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness. So we as believers have obtained
like precious faith through the righteousness of God and our
Savior Jesus Christ. And again, each believer has
the same faith, which is in Christ and Christ alone. He's the only
Redeemer of those who have obtained like precious faith. He's the
only one who we trust. He's the only one. We also learn
that our great majestic God has given us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness. How? Through the knowledge of
Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. We also learn that
God's grace and peace is multiplied unto us. How? Through the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The more we learn about our Savior,
the more we learn about who He is, the more peace we have. The
more peace we have. So our lesson today will be found
in verse four. This is a wonderful verse, again,
Peter pens this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. And
he pens these words to God's born again, blood washed people.
Whereby are given unto us, and notice again, Peter doesn't vault
himself up, he doesn't say, well I, the Apostle Peter, write these
things, does he? No, he says us, us. He's saved by the same
grace we're saved by, beloved. He's washed from all his sins
by the same blood that we're washed from. So he says us, us. And this just shows the humility
of those who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now let us
again remember that this letter is written to the same suffering
saints that Peter wrote his first epistle to. They're going through
trials and tribulations. They're being persecuted for
their faith. So this is the setting of these
letters. They're being tried very heavily
for what they believe. for who they believe on. And
remember we get a picture of that in Acts, when Paul is going
house to house and dragging Christians out of their homes. Can you imagine
sitting in your house? You love the Lord, you're just
sitting in your home. All of a sudden there's not even a knock
on the door, the door just bursts open and you get dragged away
just because you're a believer in Christ. Well, that's what
used to happen, beloved. That's what used to happen. So
they're being persecuted for their faith. Some are losing
the trades that they've been in because they won't scribe
to certain things that they have to do. They won't make idols,
say if they're a smith. They won't do things that they
used to do before. And so they're being persecuted
for their faith. And the early church suffered
much, suffered much for their faith. So let's break down verses
3 and 4 together. Let's look at these two verses
just quickly together and note the key statements in these verses.
Look at verse three, according as his divine power hath given
to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Here's
the first statement that we have in this little section. We have
in Christ all things that pertain to life and godliness. And how
has that come to us? Well, it's all according to God's
divine power. All according to God's divine
power. Let's continue, and we see that it is all through the
knowledge of him that hath called us unto glory. that have called
us on the glory. God gives us the knowledge of
himself, of himself to his people, to those who are called by his
effectual calling, by his effectual grace. And it's all according
again to his divine power. He reveals himself to his people.
He reveals himself to people who did not know him. This is
what he does, and it's all by his divine power. Now look at
the breakdown of the verse that we'll look at today. Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. We see
that God has granted unto us given unto us again, us, God's
born again, blood-washed people, those who have obtained like
precious faith, he's given unto us, always note that word there.
What has he given us? Exceedingly great and precious
promises. Exceedingly great and precious
promises. Now again, remember the setting.
He's writing to saints who are suffering in this world for their
faith. going through persecution and
trials, and he writes to them, whereby are given unto us those
who have obtained like precious faith, exceeding great and precious
promises. Now remember too, because our
God is the God of glory, and because of his excellence, his
great excellence, and his great holiness, and his great righteousness,
then everything he gives is exceedingly great. See, just because of who
He is, God, and God is great, therefore everything He gives
us is great, is great. And we know it's also great because
all these promises we see come to us in and through Christ and
Christ alone. And it is he who is God incarnate
in the flesh. Our text continues that by these
you might be partakers of the divine nature. This is not the
believer becoming little gods as false teachers proclaim. This
is the Holy Spirit in us. This is the Holy Spirit in us.
We're born again. We're born again. We have the Holy Spirit
dwelling within us. Our verse continues, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust. Again, so Peter's
writing all these things to God's born again blood washed people.
They're struggling in life, just like we struggle. They're struggling
with sin, just like we struggle. And not only again are they struggling
with sin, but they're also facing persecution for what they believe. This is why it's so important,
beloved, to be under the sound of the gospel. This is why it's
so important to be under the sound of the gospel, to rejoice
in the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
when the gospel's preached, we are bought to think upon these
exceeding great and precious promises. Do you know that? Because
they're all in Christ. They're all in Christ. So they're
constantly being bought before us. They're constantly being
bought before us. And then we marvel that we have
these, we who have obtained like precious faith, of course, have
these great and precious promises all by the divine power of God.
All by His choosing. All according to His mercy and
grace. Why are we saved? Because God willed us to be saved. He chose us. He chose us in eternity
in Christ. Why? Because it pleased Him to
do so. You ever just thought, sat and
really just thought about that? I'm saved and if you're a believer,
you're saved because it pleased God to save us. My, that's grace. And that's mercy. That's grace
and mercy. So think of what hope this would
bring to God's saints as they're suffering through trials and
tribulations in this world. How these verses would lift up
their souls. How these verses would lift up
their souls. It lifts up our souls as we read
these precious truths and study through the word of God. And
all these great and exceeding and precious promises are found
and find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus our Lord. All of
them. So with that in mind, let's look
at this verse 4 here. Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises. that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust." Take note of the first word in this
verse, it's whereby, which means because of or by means of. Beloved of God, it is through
the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we have these two blessed
truths that God himself gives to those who are quickened under
the preaching of the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ, those who
are born again, those who have been called by the efficacious
work of God the Spirit, He gives us great and exceedingly great
and precious promises. He gives those to us, and we're
partakers of the divine nature of God. If we're born again by
the Holy Spirit of God, if we have the faith of God's elect,
if we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ, We've been given all these things
that pertain to life and godliness, and these truths contained in
today's lesson will not only be a blessing to us, but they'll
excite us. They'll excite us. They'll excite
our hearts. They'll move us to praise and
glorify our great God and King. Our sovereign God who does all
things by the word of His power. And He does all things by His
divine power. Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises that By these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. Note again this wonderful statement
here. Whereby are given unto us. We don't seek them. We don't
seek them. They're given to us. Oh, everything
from God is a gift, isn't it? Given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises. We know from the scriptures that
the promises of God are exceedingly great, and they're precious to
the believer, all of them. Number one, because they're from
God himself, and he who is great, therefore, they are exceedingly
great and precious promises, and they cause the believer to
praise our great God. We also know that the promises
are exceedingly great and precious to the believer because they're
all fulfilled in Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer and given
to His blood-bought people all for the glory of God. All for
the glory of God and all through Christ and Christ alone. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians. We'll read verses 15 to 22. in chapter 1, 2 Corinthians chapter
1, verses 15 to 22. And I'll read again our text,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now
look at this in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 15 to 22. And
in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that
ye might have a second benefit, and to pass by you into Macedonia,
and to come out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be bought
on my way toward Judea. When I was therefore thus minded,
did I use lightness for the things that I purposed? Do I purpose
according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea,
yea, and nay, nay? But as God is true, our work
toward you was not yea and nay. So Paul had planned on coming
back and visiting the Corinthians Church, but by God's divine providence,
he wasn't allowed to do that. He wasn't allowed to do that. Look at this though, in verse
19, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among
you by us, even by me, in Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and
nay, but in him was yea. For all, and remember what we're
looking at, for all the promises of God, in him are what? Yea. Remember, whereby unto us is
given great and exceeding and precious promises, right? Look
at this. For all the promises of God in
Christ, that's in Christ, are yea, and in Him, amen. Amen. Unto what? The glory of
God by us. Now He would establish us. Now
again, look at Paul's writing, and what does he do? He doesn't
say, well I, the Apostle Paul, write these things by decree,
does he? No. He says, now He would establish us with you.
And look at that, we're established in Christ, right? Every believer,
every believer. By God we know, by his divine
power, with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. Man
does not save himself, he cannot save himself. No, no. We are saved by the divine power
of God. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Look at this, who hath also sealed
us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. But note
in verse 20 and consider that there's not a promise of God
outside of Christ. There's not a promise to God
outside of Christ, beloved. All the promises of God to the
believer is in Christ. And outside of Christ, no one
has a claim to a single promise of God. Not one. Not one. Because for all the
promises of God in him are yea and in him amen, under the glory
of God by us. There's not one promise to God
that's outside of Christ. Not one. Think upon this, Hawker brings
this forth. He says this, Christ himself
is the first promise which came in with the fall of man. The
seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. And after
all the promises arise out of this, hence all the promises
of God are in him, are yea and in him, amen. And that is certain
and sure. certain and sure. All the promises
of God are in Christ certain and sure. Certain and sure. Turn if you would to Titus chapter
1. Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. And this is to bring forth how
all these exceeding great and precious promises that we have
are all in Christ. All in Christ. That's why they're
great and exceeding. Oh, look at this in Titus 1,
verses 1-4. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect,
in the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in
hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before
the world began. Who are we chosen in, beloved?
Christ. Well, this just says here that
eternal life was promised before the world began. Who were we
chosen in Christ? When were we chosen in Christ?
Before the foundation of the world. Do you see all the promises
of God are yea and amen in Christ, beloved? Oh my, but look at this. But hath in due times manifested
his word through the preaching which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior to titus my own son after
the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. Again, note in verse
2, the promise of eternal life was made before the world began.
Before the world began. And we know it was made in Christ.
Think of this as you meditate upon the fact that God's people
were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
What a precious promise we have in Christ. See, that even makes
that more glorious, doesn't it? It makes it even more glorious,
the fact that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Because God promised eternal
life to us through that. And beloved of God, our God has
made many promises to believers, and these promises are all again
in Christ, since only He existed when they were made, and since
He was fulfilled all conditions by His obedience and death. Therefore,
all these promises are yes, and in Him, amen, or so be it. Think
upon this. Think upon this. You who are
the blood-bought saints of God, we have sinned against our Creator. But God promises every believer
a full pardon. Why? For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. And in Christ. And in Christ. We have no righteousness of our
own. But God promises every sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
only thing that makes us acceptable before God is Christ. We deserve to be cast into the
eternal lake of fire, which is the second death, but God promises
every true believer in Christ eternal life. How? In and through
Christ alone. All these are great promises.
God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. God himself,
the self-existent one, promises people, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. He's promised to provide our
every need. How? Through Christ. And he does,
doesn't he? We have all spiritual blessings
in Christ, Ephesians 1 says. All of them. He's promised to
be our shield and our protector. Just sometimes, No. All the time. All the time. And He's never
let us down, has He? He's never let us down. He's
our very present help in trouble. He's promised to be our great
shepherd, to guide us through our entire lives. And He does. He takes care of us and leads
us like a shepherd leads his sheep. He's promised to be our
comforter in times of sorrow and our chief joy in the valley
of despair, as well as on the mountaintop of success. He's
ever with us. He's our comforter, whether times
are good or whether times are bad. And he's promised preserving
grace to his people. to those who have obtained like
precious face throughout our pilgrimage journey. He's promised
to keep us from falling, beloved. What would happen if we were
left to ourselves? What would happen to us if we were left
to ourselves? Oh my, we'd be gone. We'd be gone. But he's promised to keep us
from falling. And he's promised to one day present us faultless
before his throne. What a promise. Oh my. That's preserving grace,
beloved. And He's promised to do it with
exceeding joy. It says in Jude. You read that
last part of Jude. It's incredible. Oh my. Again, all the promises of God
in Christ are yea and amen. All unto the glory of God. And God sent and called preachers
have the honor of declaring these promises for the glory of God
and for the good of his people. And oh, how they fill our souls
with joy. Oh, how the gospel fills our
hearts with joy. And note our text says, whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. Think
upon this as one grace preacher said, we were in Christ when
all the promises were made. Oh my. And we were in Christ
when all the conditions of the promises were fulfilled. No wonder
the Apostle Paul was persuaded that nothing could separate him
from the love of God. Nothing. Which is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Let's look at verses three and four again. And take note
of the word given and knowledge in verse three. Accordingness,
his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called
us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers
of divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust. Notice that this knowledge of
Christ is given. It's not offered. It's not said, well, whoever
wants this, come and get it. It doesn't say that, does it? It does not say that. It's given. It's given. It's a gift, beloved.
It's a gift. And we see here it's all by God's
divine power. So just think upon that. If you
have the knowledge of Christ, if God has revealed Christ to
you, that's a gift from God that's been given to you. all according
to God's divine power. Isn't that amazing? That's absolutely
amazing. And we all have family members
who he's given it to us and he hasn't given it to them. And
we know in our heart of hearts that we're no better than anyone
else, are we? Oh my, it's just amazing grace,
isn't it? No wonder Paul penned, I've obtained
mercy. My, what mercy we've obtained,
beloved. And there's nothing in us to
merit this grace. There's nothing in us for Him
to give us this knowledge of Christ. We don't deserve it. We don't merit it. But it's God
having mercy on us. It's God having mercy on us.
All by the grace and mercy of God, and again, all by His divine
power through the miracle of the new birth, we're made aware
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. We're born again of the Holy
Spirit of God, and given a knowledge of who Christ is. And then, all
through our pilgrimage through this world, we continue to grow
and learn about the Lord Jesus Christ, and our great God, and
how magnificent He is, and how wondrous He is, and how full
of grace He is, and mercy. Because we've tasted that the
Lord is gracious, haven't we? We've tasted that He's gracious.
Oh my. No one tell us otherwise either. Oh my. We're made aware of who
Christ is. He's revealed to us and what
he's done for us is revealed to us. Note again in verse three,
according to his divine power has given us all things that
pertain unto life and Godliness through the knowledge of Jesus
Christ. Whereby or by the means of his power In the next verse
it says, whereby, or again, by the means of His power in revealing
Christ to us are given unto us exceedingly great and precious
promises. Beloved of God, lay hold of these
promises. Lay hold of these promises in
Christ, you who are born again. They are all in Christ as we
saw. And all His people have them.
And God's promises to each and every one of His people. And
God cannot lie. God cannot lie. He's given us
the Spirit of His Son so we can claim every promise to be our
own personal promise from God. Find a book, there's a book by
Spurgeon, According to the Promises, which is wonderful. And just
look at, marvel at some of these promises of God. It's absolutely
stunning. And they're to the believer.
They're our personal promise from God to us through Christ,
of course, through Christ and Christ alone. And we should never
stagger at the promises of God through unbelief, although we
do. We often struggle with unbelief. But let us, like Abraham and
the Apostle Paul, and all who are strong in the faith, and
by the grace of God, of course, be fully persuaded that what
God has promised, He's also able to perform. He's able to perform
that. Let us rest in that. The hardest
thing, like Brother Joe Terrell said, for us as believers is
to enter into the rest of Christ. It's so true. It's the hardest
thing for us to do, but let us all, by God's grace, Lord give
us grace just to rest in you, just to trust in you, just to
trust in you. We are to be fully persuaded
that what God has promised, He's also, He's able also to perform. And then let us give glory to
our great majestic God for who He is. Our text finishes with
that by these Ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. By
the presence and ruling power of the Holy Spirit within us,
we escape not the corruption and depravity of human nature,
which is present as long as we are in this world, but the corrupt
manners, vices, conduct, and principles of this world. We're
new creatures in Christ. Our new nature makes us inwardly
seek holiness and outwardly avoid the prevailing corruption of
the times. Our Lord Jesus said this in John
chapter 3, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man
be born again, he cannot see, which it means he cannot perceive
the kingdom of God. And then in the same chapter
in verses 7 and 8, He says this, Marvel not that I said unto you,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof. But can this not tell whence
it cometh and whither it goeth? So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. So this new birth, this new birth is not the result
of man's works. It's again all according to God's
divine power. It's wonderful. It all goes back
to him. It all goes back to him, and
the whole trinity again, I know you hear us grace preachers saying
this all the time, and we're gonna keep saying this, the whole
trinity's in action in our salvation, beloved. The whole trinity. Father
chose us, the Son redeemed us, and the Spirit regenerates us.
And we see it all through the scriptures, don't we? We see
it all through the scriptures. So this new birth is not a result
of man's work, nor is it the result of man's so-called free
will, because man's will is bound to his nature, and if his nature
is dead, then it's bound to that nature, and if we have a new
nature, then our will's bound to that nature. No, this work,
this regeneration, this new birth is a sovereign work of God, which
God works in us, again, by his divine power, by his divine power. How? Through the preaching of
his word. The preaching of the truth about Christ. And take
note of what our text says next. It says, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. It does not say that we
might escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. Having escaped,
notice here it says it's in the past tense. It's in the past
tense, having escaped. It's in the past tense, beloved.
We escape this corruption that is in the world through lust
when we are in Christ. And this perfectly harmonizes
with Jesus Christ saying, having obtained eternal redemption for
us, and He by Himself has purged our sins. It's Christ who saved
us. It's Christ who saved us. Let's turn, if you would, to
Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. We'll look at this and close
with this, in light of this. in light of having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust. Look at this in
Colossians chapter 3. Paul again is writing to born-again
blood-washed believers. In verses 8 to 15 he says, But
now ye also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another,
seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. and have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him." Look at this, where there is
neither Greek nor Jew. Now, during those times they
were separated by who was a Greek and who was a Gentile. But look
what's brought forth here, where there's neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, and the
Scythians were worse than the barbarians. They were the barbarians
of the barbarians. They were atrocious. But look,
some of them are saved. Oh, it's amazing. Bond nor free. But Christ is all and in all.
Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows
of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering,
forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. And above all these things put
on charity, which we know as love, which is the bond of perfectness. and let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body, and
be ye thankful." So how do we put on the new man? Oh, we put
on the new man by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. We put
on the new man by faith, just looking to Christ, just looking
to Him. We believe what we are in Christ, what the scripture
says we are in Christ, We don't believe that we are something
new and special in ourselves because of what we have been
made, we look to Christ. And what do we see ourselves
as? Sinners. More and more. As we grow in
grace, we see ourselves more and more as sinners. But we're
new people in Christ, and we're to put off. You might say we are to quit
acting like we acted before. when we were the old man and
start acting like we are who we are in the new man in Christ.
And what does the new man do? Looks to Christ. Looks to Christ
by faith. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for this scripture as we looked at today. May you be glorified
and magnified through the preaching of your word today. May God's
people be comforted and lifted up and to look to thee, O Lord. no matter what we're going through.
We love you and praise you and thank you for your goodness and
mercy and grace in Jesus name. Amen.