2 Peter, and we're going to be
looking in the first chapter. It says, 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 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 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,
to knowledge, temperance, to temperance, patience, to patience,
godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly
kindness, charity. And 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 afar 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 into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Wherefore, I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know
them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it
meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by
putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this
my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that
ye may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in
remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly
defies fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now of course this is written
right near the end of Peter's life, and of course tradition
has it, we don't know that that is exactly true, that he was
crucified. Now, you know, that may be just
something men came up with, but nonetheless, we do know that
Peter was put to death for the cause of Christ. Though he was ashamed. to speak the name of Christ to
a young woman in the garden. Yet the Lord did not abandon
Peter because he loved him with an everlasting love. And he kept
Peter. And Peter did what the Lord said
to do. and he was faithful even unto
death. May the same be said for us. And it will be by the grace of
God. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle, a follower of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. Now Peter understood that the
only way that any man could obtain this precious faith is through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the righteousness of
God and our Savior Jesus Christ. It doesn't come any other way,
rich or poor, Learned or unlearned, doesn't make any difference.
Every man, if he comes into the knowledge of Christ, he comes
the same way, through the mercy of God. And he was not puffed
up. He didn't consider himself to
know more than anybody, but he knew what he knew. And so, you
know, it's never a boast to declare what we know. Now it is a boast
to tell men we know something by our own ability. If we think
that we have gained the things that we know by our own study
or by our own intellect or whatever, then that is to be puffed up.
But if we declare that which we know to be true because the
Lord has placed it in our heart, Paul said, that necessity was
laid upon him, and that he could not simply choose not to declare
the truth, because the word of God burned in his heart, just
like Jeremiah, as you recall. He got fed up with the people
not listening to him, and he said, that's it. He said, I ain't
gonna say another word. But he said, the word of God
burned like a fire in his bosom and he could not be silent. And
so it is that the spirit of God works in his people and gives
them such things that they might know that these things are true. And they can't just pick and
choose. You know, I hear about these people that for political
convenience or, excuse me, family considerations or whatever
that they adopt, this faith or that faith or whatever, and I'm
puzzled. I say, well, you know, how can
that be? I mean, the things that we're speaking about here are
not things that somebody can just decide on. They can't just
say, well, you know, I think I'll do this, or I think I'll
do that. It is that the work of God lays a necessity upon
the heart, just like, as we sang there a moment ago, Bartimaeus,
as he was beside that highway. Now, there were many people,
perhaps many other blind people, along that route that the Lord
Jesus Christ took. but necessity was laid on the
heart of Bartimaeus. And when he knew that it was
the Lord Jesus coming by, how'd he know that? Now some would
say, well, you know, the people told him and all that. Well,
maybe. But when the Lord came by, he
cried out. And he said, Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. And the people said, be quiet. That's kind of out of place. Don't disrupt things here. But
the scripture says he cried out the louder because he did not
want to be left in his condition. And I think of that every time
I think of Blind Bartimaeus, I think of Fanny Crosby's song,
Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Now, except a man be moved by
the Spirit of God, he can't have such a desire as that. That's
what blind Bartimaeus had. He could not be denied. He was,
and you know the amazing thing is, not that blind Bartimaeus cried
out, I mean he was a blind man, he needed sight. But the amazing
thing is, and the scriptures record it like this, it says,
Jesus stood still, the Lord of glory, having need of nothing, on his way, to minister to multitudes. Yet at the cry of a beggar by
the roadside, he stopped. You know, in far grander consideration
than this, but if the presidential motorcade was going down the
road and all of a sudden it stopped because someone was standing
by the road and cried out, We would think that was an amazing
thing, wouldn't we not? I mean, you wouldn't see that.
But here's the one who created all things and is walking to
go to his destination. Where was his destination? Well,
he had other destinations, but he had this one destination,
and it was there at the site where a blind beggar cried out
desiring to be given his sight. And the Lord gave it to him.
And in the same fashion, does the Lord visit his people day
by day, moment by moment, and he meets them where they have
need as they call upon him. Oh, what a gracious thing it
was that Bartimaeus was given a mind to call on the name of
the Lord. How'd he know to do that? How'd
he know? that this man Jesus was the son
of David. How'd he know he was the Messiah?
How'd he know that he had the power to heal him? How'd he know?
Except the Lord had showed it to him. Just like those wise
men in the far country had seen the star in the East. How did they know? Where'd they
get that knowledge? Where'd it come from? Did they
read it in a book somewhere? No, God, who's rich in mercy,
He visited them and He showed it to them. And Peter writes
here about that visitation, we have obtained it. Now, you know,
A lot of people think they have obtained it by doing something,
because you can obtain something by doing something, but that's
not the obtaining he's talking about. Because what he's talking
about obtaining is unobtainable. You can't obtain it. See, you
can't get it. As I spoke a moment ago, he dwells
in the light to which no man can approach. We can't get there.
We can't cause him to hear us. We can't do anything that would
bring this past. But we have obtained it. Because
you see, there's an obtaining of something that takes place
by a gift. And that's how we have obtained
it. And that's what Peter's writing about, that he obtained it. And
we have all obtained it. The like precious faith. This
is a precious faith. We'll hear much, and we're already
hearing a lot, and I'm not being critical. I don't want us to
lapse into this kind of thinking. We hear much about how God's
gonna save our country now that we've got this president coming
in and everything's just gonna be great because now we're gonna
all be following the Lord and it's just gonna be wonderful.
Well, the truth of the matter is that apart from the mercy
and grace of God, not one thing will change. Not one thing. There's no president that could
be elected that can change anything. No Congress or whatever. No people. It's not going to
do it. It's not going to happen that
way. It'll happen because, if it happens at all, it'll happen
because God, who's rich in mercy, visits us with his salvation. And I'm not saying that's not
out of the realm of possibility, but it won't be because who got
elected. I mean, it won't be what Bill, what Congress passed
or something like that. It'll just be the mercy of God
because he can visit China with his mercy and salvation tomorrow
and turn that whole nation to seek him in a heartbeat if it
pleases him to do that. You realize that Kim Jong-un
and that his name over there in North Korea. I mean, if the
Lord saw fit, He could turn him to seek the Lord. He did with
the apostle Paul. Who would ever guess that? I
mean, he was the chief enemy of the people of God in that
time, a hater of Christ. And yet the Lord changed him
in a moment. And so we need to understand
that the government is the government, and governments come and governments
go. and they're ruled over by wicked men. The scripture says
so. And we don't need to ever give
any consideration otherwise. I'm not saying that the government's
always ruled by the wickedest of men. We see in the scriptures
where Israel and Judah both had kings. Some kings were righteous
men and some kings were just total outcasts, but they were
all wicked men. because all of them had things
that were not right, perfectly right. There's many of the kings
that they did that which was right in the Lord's eyes, but
it says, but they did not remove the high places. Now the high
places were places of heathen worship. Men are just men, but God, who's
rich in mercy, is the one who saves men. And that's what Peter's
saying here. And if I ever have any ability
to ever declare the truth of God, that's one thing that I
will declare, is that men cannot and will not ever be able to
cause anything of a spiritual nature to take place. It's all
the mercy of God. Only way it can happen. Grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of
God, and of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, you hear people talk
about growing in grace. And we do grow in grace. But
what is growing in grace? Now what most people mean by
growing in grace is that somebody undertake some moral conversion,
and they start seeing more and more things, this, that, and
the other, and they just get better and better. A lot of people
call that progressive sanctification. That's growing in grace. You're
just getting better as the spirit moves in you. Well, I believe
this, and that is that men are gonna be men to the end, and
your nature will not change one whit Your fleshly nature will
be your flesh till they put you in the ground. And that's just
the way it is. Men are going to be men. Men
are going to do the wrong thing. Men are going to think bad thoughts.
Men are going to do all of those things. But God who's rich in
mercy, you see, He's that one who loves his people and works
in his people. And those whom he calls out of
darkness into the light, he does calls to grow in grace. Now what
is growing in grace is what exactly he's talking about right here.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. See, that's growing in grace,
is gaining knowledge of Christ. Because the more that we know
of Christ, the more we desire to know of Christ. See, as the
Lord is pleased to teach a man, he gives him a hunger for the
things of God. And he gives to every man the
measure of faith as it pleases him. Not all men have the same
measure of faith. Not all men have the same measure
of grace that the Lord gives them. But the Lord does give
to all of his children. those gifts of grace. And he
causes them at whatever level and measure it pleases him to
grow in the knowledge of the Lord. And as we grow in the knowledge
of the Lord, we also grow in the knowledge of ourselves, do
we not? Because you know, we can often think that we're doing
pretty good, that we're coming along progressing nicely as we
go through life. until we look at the perfections
of Christ. And when we see ourselves in
contrast to Christ, then all of our righteousness fades away.
That's what Paul said. He said, you know, I'll count
my righteousness. Anything I have to be done is
nothing. that I might know him. See, that
we might know Christ. That's our quest, that's our
knowledge, our desire for knowledge. It's not to know some facts. I mean, everybody ought to be,
as the children of God, ought to be studying the scripture
and learning things about the word of God. We ought not to
be ignorant. of the things he's written here
any more than we ought to be ignorant of the things we learned
in school. I mean, this is a book unlike
any other, and it contains those things that God would tell us,
and we ought not to be ignorant of it. But you can't gain the
knowledge that he's speaking about here through this book. Now, you probably won't get it
without it, but the Lord will apply that word to your heart.
That's what he's talking about here. He said, grace and peace
be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, as the
Lord is pleased to teach you. I mean, peace and grace and the
blessings of God will be poured out upon you as he gives you
these things, in the measure that he's pleased to give. according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness. All things. God's people, from
the weakest to the strongest, all things are given to us by
Jesus Christ. Hath given to us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, how? through the knowledge of
him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Now, Paul writing
into the Romans, he said, how shall they hear? How shall they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
he be sent? And so it is that we gain as
we are taught by the Spirit of God of Jesus Christ, then the
peace of God is applied to us. As he says here, according as
his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to
life and godliness. There's nothing that we lack.
Blind Bartimaeus. as the Lord granted mercy to
him, he didn't lack anything that the Lord did not apply to
him. But I would say this, that the
latter days of Bartimaeus, I don't know how long he lived after
that, but the latter days of Bartimaeus were filled with much
more peace and joy and love. than the days before. Because
when Jesus Christ comes and he visits a man, he gives him the
knowledge of these things and he works in him. And through
the knowledge of him that is called us to glory and virtue.
What does the Lord call us to? Did he just call us to, when
I was growing up in the church I was in, the primary thing that
they were interested in was getting you out of hell. They didn't
care, you know, really what else happened. They just wanted you
to make a decision so that you wasn't gonna go to hell. And
that was the whole thing. You know, nobody really cared
about whether anybody gained, what Peter's speaking about here,
the knowledge of Christ. the peace that passeth understanding,
the joy, the virtues of which he speaks. Nobody was really
concerned about that, just wanted to get you out of hell. Well,
that's not what salvation's about. Now, a byproduct of the salvation
which the Lord gives to his people is that they do escape the eternal
destruction of the pit of hell. They do escape that. But that's
not the goal, because you see, the scripture also says that
we were never appointed under wrath. See, God's people were
never appointed under wrath. Now we were all worthy of it,
and we most certainly would, apart from the Lord's grace,
we would perish. But you see, he appointed his
people unto salvation. And in his own time, he brings
them that way. But he has called us, when he
called us out of darkness and into the light, he called us
to glory, which is to come, but he called us to virtue. He called
us to manliness. See, those two words, glory is
the same thing as dignity. and virtue means manliness. In
fact, the Greek word literally means manliness. Now, this is
not to be a sexist thing, but a manly man is a man that, we
know what, if a man's a true man, we know what that means,
don't we? I mean, he stands for what he
stands for, and he's not afraid, and he faces his fears, and he
deals with it. and he stands for something.
And so that's all of God's people are called to glory, that is
dignity, that which is raised above the normal, and virtue,
manliness, strength. We're called unto that. We're
not called to wallow in the hog pen with the hogs, we're called
to get out of the hog pen. See, we're not to walk in that
way, we're not to think in those terms, but we are called to a
higher calling. And so is the work of the Spirit
of God in the sons of God. hath called us to glory and virtue,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,
that by these, by what, by the promises, ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. Now have we escaped the corruption
that's in the world? Well, not in these natural bodies.
But we are called, you see, the work of God is to call us to
escape that. And we presently is working in
us that we might escape the corruption that's in the world through lust.
Now, none of us can lay claim to the fact that we have escaped
these things, can we? I mean, Every man, as he thinks
on, if he had a, somebody brought a bar of gold in here and laid
it up on there, we would naturally say, man, I wish I had that.
You know, I want that. I mean, that's just the natural
way that we are. And you're not going to escape
that until this body is put away. But, by the grace of God, we're
not living for that. By the grace of God, he's taught
us that that's not the pathway on which we're comfortable, that
we are delighted in, as the world is, we have escaped it, the corruption
that's in the world. How? By the work that He performed,
were given unto us, exceeding great and precious promises.
The promise is, the Lord said that He would deliver us from
death. And all around us, the pathway
of man is death, is it not? I mean, the Lord said to Adam,
in the day that you eat thereof, ye shall surely die. Or he actually
said, ye shall die by dying. You're gonna die by dying. And
that's the way the natural man is, he's dying every day. You
don't believe it, look in the mirror tomorrow. and keep looking
and every day you'll see that you are indeed dying because
your body is aging and it is going down, down, down and it
don't matter how long you live. It's like I saw a picture the
other day of the oldest, I believe she's the oldest lady in the
world. I think she was 118 years old
and she looked like she was 118 years old. So she was still breathing
on her own and her heart was beating, but she was dying. And she might live another 118
years, I doubt it, but it doesn't make any difference.
We're all in that condition. And we have escaped that by the promises of God. So we're
not living in light of, oh no, we're gonna die. I mean, just
think of if you, and I guess a multitude of people are in
this condition, they have no hope. And it must be a bleak
existence to be staring death in the face and have no hope. I mean, they're not overly concerned
about it, but it would be of great concern to me Because I
have hope. And I would not want to be without
it. And I know I can't get it except through the promises of
God, the mercy of God. Because the Lord has promised
to give us that life. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. What a glorious thing. What a
picture of salvation there is. And we have, dear brethren, been
made protectors of the divine nature. Now, you know, that doesn't
mean what a lot of people think it means, that you're now like
the Lord. No, you're not like Him. You're being made in His
image, and He's working in you, both the will and But you haven't
arrived yet. But we have been made partakers.
We have known what the righteousness of God is because we've seen
the face of Jesus Christ. We're not in ignorance. We don't
think that a man can by his own righteousness enter into the
presence of God. We know that there's one righteousness
that is acceptable in the courts of heaven and it is the righteousness
of Christ. And what a glorious thing that
is. We have obtained this precious faith. It's been given to us. And thankfully, we can't escape
it. Thankfully, he keeps us from
falling. Thankfully, he binds our wandering
heart to him because we know we're prone to wander, prone
to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it, seal it from thy courts above." Now, some have changed
that psalm to say, seal it for thy courts above. But the actual
psalm actually originally said, seal it from thy courts above. May the Lord seal that to us
and give us hearts to walk with him.