I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1. I'd like to look at the first
four verses. 2 Peter. The Apostle Peter begins this book, and he says, Simon Peter. You know, I looked at this, we're
looking at 2 Peter, and it was very interesting to me how the
Spirit of God directed Peter to begin this book. Now he didn't start it the same
way he did the first one. Let's look back at 1st Peter. Here's what he started saying.
He said, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, and rightly so, Peter was an apostle called by
the Lord. Matthew 10, 2. Now the names
of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called
Peter. So he began that first book and
said this, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. But when he
started the second book, this is what he said, Simon Peter. A servant. A willing bond slave. What a calling. What a position. A servant of the Lord. And an apostle, he said. One
called and taught and commissioned and sent specifically by the
Lord. Peter was taught the gospel by
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a teacher. But when he started that second
book, and he started off by saying Simon, that was his name according
to being born into this world. His old nature. But that name
was used by the Lord numerous times when he was talking. to
Peter. He said in Mark 14.37, He cometh
and findeth them sleeping, and said unto Peter, but this is
what the Lord said to Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldest not thou watch one hour? And then in Luke 22.31, and the
Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat. And when they dined, you know,
after the Lord was risen on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,
Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me
more than these? Simon was his name naturally
born into this world, but the Lord had given him the name Peter. John chapter 1, Gospel of John
chapter 1, and in verse 40, 42, the Scriptures declare that,
it said, one of the two which heard John speak and followed
him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. And he findeth his own
brother Simon, and saith unto him, We found the Messiahs. which
is being interpreted to Christ. He brought him to Jesus, and
when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation, a stone. You're going to be called Peter.
Peter. A stone. Remember when the Lord,
it was in Matthew chapter 16. and the Lord talking to His disciples. And He said in Matthew 16 verse
13 to 18, When Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi,
He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son
of Man, am? And they said, Some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah, or one
of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. And I say unto thee, Thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it." You know, it's falsely said
that the church is built upon the rock of Peter. Peter the
rock. That's not what the church is
built on. When the Lord said to Peter, Who do you say I am? And Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. That's the rock that the
church is built upon. The rock of Christ himself, the
foundation. And when he said to Peter, he
said, Your name is Peter. It means a little piece of a
rock, a little pebble. So he's saying to him, Peter,
you little pebble, upon the massive rock and truth of who I am. Upon that rock, I'll build my
church. And the gates of hell are not
going to prevail against it. The gates of hell are not going
to be able to close me building my church. I'm not going to be
stopped. Yes, Peter was an object. of God's mercy and grace. He was called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ, but it was just so precious the way the Spirit
of God had him begin that second book. When he said, Simon, Peter. Simon, the betrayer. Simon, the forsaker. Simon, the
quitter. The Lord will never allow His
people to forget who they are, being born in Adam and always
reminded of who they are in the Lord Jesus Christ. So back in
2 Peter 1, Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
"...to them that have obtained like precious faith with us."
through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. To them that have obtained, that
word obtained now, it means by divine allotment. To those that
have obtained by grace and not by works, like precious faith. To them, Who are the them? Well, look back at 1 Peter. 1
Peter 1, verse 1 and 2. unto you, and peace be multiplied
to them that have obtained like precious
faith, to God's people. Almighty God, when it pleases
Him, He gives all of His elect the same kind of faith. It is
like precious faith. It's precious because of its
origin. We weren't born with it. People
say, well, just exercise your faith. I'll tell you this, when
God gives it, you will. But until He gives it, we don't
have it. Until He gives it, we're dead. You're dead. You can speak to one that has
passed from this world, and there's nothing there that reacts. We're spiritually dead. But when God Almighty gives faith,
All of the blessings of God are given at the same time. Listen
to the wording. To them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Here's what he said. When the
righteousness of Christ in regenerating grace is imputed to the believer,
faith is too. I remember Brother Henry was
asked one time, he said, which comes first, life or faith? He said, you can't separate them.
When God Almighty regenerates, all the blessings of God are
given. Faith, righteousness, life, peace,
comfort, love, grace, verse 2, and peace be
multiplied unto you. through the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord. Now here Peter expresses his
desire and his prayer to God for God's people, for himself
and for all of the Lord's people that the infinite grace and peace
of God, the grace of God, the favor the mercy of God that is
bestowed upon us. He said that grace and peace,
and that peace that we have with God, that reconciliation that
we have through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter
says grace and peace be multiplied unto you. That there might be
a greater discovery of it. Now has the Lord shown mercy
and compassion to His people? Yes. Do we have peace with God through
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes. But here's what
Peter was praying. He said, I pray that that grace
and peace be multiplied. That there might be a greater
discovery of it. All that we have, we have in
Christ. But here the Spirit of God is
pleased to reveal how we have a greater discovery of it. How
do we get it? through the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord. Through the knowledge of God
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Through a greater discovery of
Christ, we understand more of Him and we still don't know anything. Think of how wonderful it is
to hear the gospel again. It never ceases to amaze me. It
doesn't surprise me, but it ceases to amaze me. The only thing that
a believer wants to hear is the same message over and the simpler
the better. Just be simple. Be plain. Tell me again of God's grace. Tell me again of my peace with
Almighty God. Peter said, I pray that the Lord
multiply. A greater discovery of Him might
be brought to you through the knowledge Paul said in Philippians 3.10,
that I may know him. Here's what he was saying, that
I may progressively know him. You know, man, wife, they married. Until the time that they married,
they knew each other. But years and years. They know each other. They began
to progressively know each other. They know what the other one
a lot of times is thinking. They know what they're going
to say. They know them. I've told people before, people
have asked me, do you believe in love at first sight? Humanly
speaking, no. No, I don't. You love the ones you know. And Paul said that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.
Just think how the Lord has been pleased to give us a greater
discovery of the power of His resurrection. When He was raised,
we were raised in Him. Every time I hear that, I just
take it. In the fellowship of His sufferings,
made conformable unto His death. Don't we need a greater discovery
of that? Lord, teach me, teach me. How many times have we read
scriptures and just in a fleeting moment we said, I wonder what
that truly means. I wonder what the depth of that
is, greater. John 17, this is life eternal. that they might know, that is,
to be acquainted with Thee, the only true God in Jesus
Christ, whom Thou sent. You know how you're acquainted
with somebody? Be around them. Be around them. Spend time with
them. And I can tell you this, God's
people, they want to be acquainted with the Lord. We are acquainted. I do understand. I'm so thankful for times that
we can have private time. I enjoy. There's nothing super
spiritual about getting up early. People say, well, so and so,
he gets up real, real early. Well, good for you. That's great.
I'm glad. Oh, he's up late lately. Great.
That's wonderful. Whenever it's good for you. You
know, I enjoy getting up early. I just, I wake up and when I
wake up, I'm ready to get up, have a quiet time, just read,
read scriptures, seek the Lord's face. But I'm telling you, there
is nothing that takes the place of being here with you. There's
nothing that takes a place coming together with God's people. The
Lord promised when we come together, He's here. He showed up. I say that respectfully. I mean,
He's pleased to be here. Two or three gathered together,
my name, I'm in the midst of you. And I think, Lord, you're
here. Lord, teach me. Lord, I want
to be acquainted with you. Verse 3, according as His divine
power, hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to
glory and virtue according to His divine power." Whose power? Well, the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The scripture says in John 17,
2, all power had been given unto the Son,
that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath
given Him. According to His divine power,
the Scripture says, hath given unto us, hath bestowed by grace
and not by merit, Everything that we know the Lord gave us. I've never figured out anything
concerning the grace of God. I don't have the ability to know
it. The Scripture says, it took the
power of God. David, you teach me anything. I don't know anything. It's given unto us. Who? God's elect. All things. I need to know more about that. All things that pertain unto
life and godliness that hold you in place. Turn to Ezekiel
36. We've read this so many times,
but just listen. Listen to what He's done by His
power. Ezekiel 36, 25. then will I sprinkle clean water."
Clean water. Now, what is that? You hold your
place right there. I'll just read this in 1 Peter
1 verse 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. grace unto you
and peace be multiplied." Now let me ask you something. When
the Lord Jesus Christ died and shed His blood, do you know what it takes for
that blood to be applied to me, to cleanse me? He shed His blood But the Scripture
says that Almighty God, back in Ezekiel 36, I will sprinkle
clean water. That's according to 1 Peter 1-2,
that's the blood of Christ, the clean water. I will sprinkle
clean water upon you and you will be clean. What is it going
to take to do that? It's going to take the divine
power of God. I'll sprinkle clean water, you
shall be clean from all your filthiness, all your idols. Will
I cleanse you? A new heart, a heart of flesh. What is it? I'm going to give you a new mind
and a new will. I was born with a will that resists
God. By nature, me, and you, and everybody
else, every boy in this world, is born with a will that hates
God. The carnal mind, one with which
we're born in Adam, is enmity against God. I hate you. I hate
you. I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to remove a heart,
a stony heart. That heart of rebellion, I'm
going to remove it. I'm going to give you a new one.
That old nature is there. We still got it. But I'm going
to tell you something. The Scripture says that a believer
in regenerating grace has got a new heart. He's got a new will. Got a new mind. He said, a new
heart will I give you and a new spirit. Well, I put within you. I'm going to give you a new attitude. You know, you talk about somebody,
you know, he's, he just got a rebellious spirit against him. He just got
a, you know, he just got a, he got a sweet spirit. He's talking
about his attitude, his motive. That's why, you know, I'm going
to give you a new attitude. He says, stony heart, will I
take out of your flesh, I'll give you a heart of flesh, I'm
going to put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. According
as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain
unto life, eternal life, spiritual life, and godliness. That new attitude, that walk
before Him. I'm going to give you a new attitude.
You were born with a bad attitude. I'm going to give you a new one.
And a believer has a new attitude. He's got that same attitude of
rebellion that's there, that it was born with, that was nothing
changed concerning the flesh. That bad attitude that I had
being born in Adam, I still got it. Just give me a few seconds, you'll
see it. It'll manifest itself. But I got a new attitude. I got
a new heart. And it struggles. And all according
to His divine power has given us all things that pertain unto
life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him that have called
us to glory then and virtue now. Through the knowledge of Him.
Through a true and vital knowledge of Him. It manifested itself
when the Lord said, who do men say that I am? Well, some of
them say you're Jeremiah, some of them say you're This prophet,
who do you say I am? Through a new knowledge, and
Peter said, you're the Christ. You're God. You're God. You're the one that spoke this
world into existence. You're the one that sustains
all things by the word of your power. That's who you are. You're the savior of sinners.
That's who you are. You're God in human flesh. That's who you are. And then
verse 4, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. or by the means of His power.
Same what He's been talking about, by His glorious power. Whereby
are given as a gift to us, to His people, exceeding great and
precious promises. That word right there, precious,
in verse 4, I looked it up. You know we talk about the precious
blood, like But you know, precious, precious. Do you that believe
He's precious? You look up that word right there
in verse 4, and here's what it means. No word of worth. What does that mean? It means there's
no word that can describe the worth. There is no word. There is no expressing the value. There is no expression exceeding
great and precious promises. There's no way to express the
worth. How do you put a value on the
promises of God? If you could put a value on it,
then they're not precious. There is no value. People talk
about it's a priceless, this thing is a priceless vase. Everything's
got a price in this world, but not this. There is no word, there
is no word to express. I'm going to talk to you just
a few minutes before I'm closing on these precious promises, but
let me tell you Titus 1, verse 1 and 2, Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's
elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness,
in hope of eternal life, in the expectation of eternal life,
which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. Now Ben,
let me ask you something. How are you going to put a value
on that? Eternal life in Christ. One of these days we're going
to realize something. We'll never realize the totality. There's no expressing it. But
the promise of eternal life in Christ, These promises, according
to 2 Corinthians 1.20, that are all the promises of God, are
in Christ. Not in me, not in you, not in
your ability, not in my worth, not in my work, not in my efforts. All of them are in Christ. I
got to thinking about the promises of God. And there's no way in
the world we'd ever exhaust them, obviously. I just want to just
mention a few. Listen to this. 1 Kings 8, verse
56. Blessed be the Lord that hath
given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised.
There hath not failed one word of all his good promise which
he promised by the hand of Moses his prophet. I'm going to just read a couple
of verses, a few verses here, of the promises of God. Now you
listen to this, and I think, Lord, teach me something of this. We have the promise of God concerning
Him finding an accepted substitute and lamb. Job 33, 24, Then He
is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him. Deliver me. From going down to the pit, I
found a ransom. The Lord, God has found a ransom
for me. That's a promise. God said, I
found a ransom. We have the promise that our
sins have justly been dealt with in our Savior. Isaiah 53, listen
to this. Surely He hath borne our griefs. Now this is in the Old Testament.
Before the Christ ever came to this world and actually laid
down physically, God saw this from the foundation of the world. And based upon God Almighty saying,
this is so, this is done, this is done. This is the one in whom
the Father first trusted, Christ. Here's what the Father said,
Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We did
esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He
was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we are healed. We have the promise of God. concerning
the assuredness of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Now you listen to this promise. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also. That's a precious promise. I'm
coming back. I've gone and prepared a place
for you. My father's house, there's many
dwelling places. And I think, Lord, you said there
is. You know. Listen to the promise of eternal
security. I will never leave thee. I'll never forsake thee. Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust." God's people are partakers of the divine
nature. Paul said, Galatians 2.20, I'm
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but now listen,
Christ liveth in me. and the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself for me." I thought I was the one who was exercising
faith. It's not our faith by which we
live, but by the faith of the Son of God imputed to us. Don't trust in your faith, because
you ain't going to make it. But His faith, charged to my
account, what a promise. The one in whom the Father is
well pleased. Oh, but in closing, here's my
question. Am I a partaker of the divine
nature? Am I? I know this, that by these
precious promises that we can know that we're partakers of
the divine nature. I know that. I want to know this,
am I one of them? Just consider a couple of statements
and I'm going to shut up. If I'm a partaker of the divine
nature, let me tell you the first thing you're going to see. You're
going to see yourself. as being born in Adam as a wretched,
spiritually helpless sinner. One that places no confidence
in the flesh. Many were saying to me, the Lord
said in that day, Lord, we prophesied your name, we cast out devils
in your name, We did many wonderful works in your name. And I will
say to you, I never knew you. Now listen to me, if I am a partaker
of the divine nature, I know this, I absolutely have no confidence
in me. I have no confidence in me. If I am a partaker, of the divine
nature, I believe that God Almighty, according to His will, His purpose,
His choosing, everlastingly loved me. I don't believe that there
was anything in me that was worthy in me of His love. I believe that everything that
was in me was according as He said, and God saw that the man
was wicked and deceitful. There was none righteous, not
one. But I believe that Almighty God
predestinated me to the adoption of being a son in Christ because
it pleased Him to do so. If I'm a partaker of the divine
nature, I believe that when Christ died at Calvary, He was the only
hope I got. Now He said, He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. And here's what I'm going to
say. I believe that He died for me. Why? Because I couldn't die
for myself. I can't satisfy God myself. I
believe my sin is going to have to be put away and it's going
to have to be put away in His blood. And I believe He's going to have
all the honor and the glory and the praise and I'm going to get
none of it. If I'm a partaker of the divine nature, I hear
His voice in these holy scriptures and I love Him, I believe Him,
and I come to Him continually. And if I'm a partaker of the
divine nature, I love the brethren. I love His body. And they love
me. Last statement. that by these
you might be partakers of a divine nature having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust." You know, I know I'm not
free from the corruption and depravity of my old man. I know
that. I know I'm not. Paul said, I
see in me. There dwelleth no good thing.
In my flesh there dwelleth no good thing. I know, I know that
I'm not free from the depravity and corruption of the old man.
I'm not going to escape that until I leave this world. I know
that. But what did Paul mean when he said, if I'm a partaker
of the divine nature, that I've escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust? The key to that is understanding
what the word escaped means. It means I flee from. I flee
from it. I see corruption, but I flee
from it. When Potiphar's wife grabbed
hold of Joseph, what'd Joseph do? Took that coat off and he said,
I ain't staying here. I'm fleeing. He flees. He escaped. Heaven escaped. These corrupt manners and vices
and conduct, we war against it. We war against it. We war against
it. And we see it, but we don't love
it. There is an inward fight that
goes on in the believer. He escapes. He flees. from that corruption that he
sees within. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from that? Christ will. May the Lord bless
the Word to our hearts and understanding for His sake and our good. Amen.