Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles with the message, I'll be preaching from the book
of 2 Peter. This is, you know, Peter wrote
1 Peter and 2 Peter. Well, this is the second letter
that Peter wrote to people scattered throughout different areas, believers. And in his second epistle here,
his second letter, I'm gonna talk to you about, in chapter
one, this'll be 2 Peter 1, and I'm gonna begin at verse one,
but my main text is verse four. I'm gonna talk about fellowship
with the divine, which is fellowship with God. The title is Fellowship
with the Divine. And I want you to understand
something at the outset of this message. concerning what we call
fellowship or partnership, which is a union with whoever we're
in fellowship with or partnership with, and a person, all of us
individually, we are either in fellowship with the world or
we are in fellowship with God, one or the other. Now, it's common
for people, when they hear that, to think about, well, those who
are in fellowship with the world, that refers to the immoral, criminal,
perverted segment of society. Those people who don't go to
church, who are not religious, or even those who do but are
not sincere and hypocritical. But let me say something to you.
A person can be a churchgoer, And they can be sincere and dedicated
to the doctrines and the beliefs of their church and still be
in fellowship with the world. Because you see, if the church
you go to, as we say it, is not preaching the true gospel from
the word of God, then what's happening there? Well, that's
idolatry. And somebody says, well, we believe in Christ. Well, do you believe in the true
Christ or do you believe in a counterfeit? You know, there are counterfeit
Christ. There are false Christ. There are idols. How do I know
if I'm trusting, if my preacher is preaching the true Christ
and not a counterfeit? Well, the Bible says, you know,
by the doctrine of Christ. And the doctrine of Christ, 2
John talks about that. He that transgresses and abides
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. What's the doctrine
of Christ? What's the doctrine of His person?
Who He is? He is God manifest in the flesh. He's not a lesser God. He's co-equal
with the Father and the Spirit in every attribute of deity.
And yet He is also a man without sin. That's who He is. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
Matthew 1.23, which is being interpreted as God with us. He's
the manifestation and the glory of God in the flesh. That's the
doctrine of his person and the doctrine of his finished work.
Listen to me very carefully here. That has to do not just simply
that he came into the world, that he obeyed the law, that
he died and was buried in a rose again the third day. That's all
part of it. That's part of the doctrine of
Christ. But what the doctrine of Christ really leads us to
is the revelation of what he actually accomplished when he
kept the law, when he died, when he was buried, when he arose
again the third day. What did he accomplish? And the
Bible teaches that Christ put away the sins of his people by
his death on the cross and brought forth an everlasting righteousness
of infinite value, whereby God would justify His people, clear
them of all charges, of all guilt, and declare them righteous before
Him, based upon Christ's righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to
them. Not based on their faith. Faith
is the product, the fruit of His righteousness. But that righteousness
that Christ established, which is called the righteousness of
God, revealed in the gospel, is His righteousness imputed,
charged, accounted to me. And because of that, out of what
Christ accomplished in His resurrection life, His death and His resurrection
life, His people will be born again and brought to faith in
Christ. Now that's what Peter's talking
about here. In other words, I talk about how God chose us before
the foundation of the world and gave His people to Christ. That's
the election. all whom God elected, all for whom Christ died, they
will be brought out. By nature, we're in fellowship
with the world. See, we're spiritually dead,
we're in unbelief. But at some point in time in our lives, the
Holy Spirit will bring us out of fellowship with the world
and bring us into fellowship with God. Now that's what Peter's
talking about here in 2 Peter 1. Look at verse one. Look at
our scripture here. He says, Simon Peter, a servant
and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like
precious faith. Now that like precious faith
is believing the same gospel, the same doctrine of Christ.
In other words, it's not different denominations. There are denominations
who say, well, we believe in Christ, but we believe that he
only saved us partially. You say, well, who says that?
Well, now think about it. If you're in fellowship with
a group of religious people who believe that you can be saved
one day and then lost, that's what you're saying. You say,
well, he only saved us partially, but I have to keep it going.
Now, understand what I'm saying? That's a false Christ. That's
a false gospel. I'm sorry. I know it offends
a lot of people, but I'm just telling you the truth. Peter's
writing to believers here. He's writing to those who have
been brought out of that false doctrine and into the true doctrine. And he said, they've obtained
like precious faith with us. In other words, they've obtained
it. They didn't work it. They didn't earn it. They obtained
it. It was a gift. Paul talked about this. He said,
I obtained mercy. You don't earn mercy and you
don't deserve it. If you earn it and deserve it, it's not mercy.
Listen, when you work a 40-hour week or more, and at the end
of the week, your boss gives you a paycheck, you don't look
at him and say, I thank you for your mercy. No, you worked and
you earned that. But now, salvation is not earned
or worked for by sinners. It's grace, for by grace are
you saved through faith, not of yourselves, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Salvation is a matter of sovereign
mercy. It's a gift from God, and it's
a gift we don't earn and we don't deserve, and that includes faith.
Faith is not something that you have within you that if you can
find some eloquent preacher to fan the fire, that he can get
you to cooperate out of your own goodness and your own free
will. That's not what the Bible teaches. Faith is a gift from
God, and that's what Peter's saying here. Look at it again.
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them
that have obtained like precious faith with us, now here's how
he obtained it, through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Or you can read it this way,
through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The reason that I have faith
given to me by God, worked in me by the Holy Spirit under the
preaching of the gospel, is because Christ has come and finished
a great work of establishing righteousness. Sin demands life. Sin demands death, rather. Righteousness
demands life. And so, the reason that I believe
is not because I made a free will choice when some preacher
dragged me down an aisle and into the baptistry. The reason
I believe is because of the righteousness of God. and our Savior Jesus
Christ. His righteousness imputed, charged
to me. The Bible teaches that every
sinner to whom God has imputed righteousness, accounted righteousness,
they will come to faith, they will be brought to faith in Christ
by the power of God. That's what it teaches. You say,
well, then if I don't have that righteousness imputed to me,
it doesn't matter what I do. Oh no, you're not God, and you
don't live in that realm. That's God's business. You're
to seek the Lord. You're to search. You're to examine
yourself. You say you're a Christian? Examine
yourself. I got a whole series of books
on that called my self-examination series, where I tell people,
go in and find out from the Bible if your claim of being saved
is based upon God's truth or based upon some pipe dream. What
is a Christian? What is the righteousness of
God? What is salvation? Rules for
interpreting scripture. These are all things you need
to be engaged in. to examine yourself to see whether
you be in the faith. In other words, is what I claim
to believe, is it the faith of God's people? Is it the doctrine
that the scriptures say, or is it just some denominational thing
that I've been raised in? Because grandma and grandpa believe
that. Now, grandma and grandpa may have believed the truth,
I don't know. But you understand what I'm saying. They may not
have. You need to be engaged in seeking the Lord. And the
Bible says, if you seek me, you'll find me. That's what God says.
I quote all the time John 6, 37, which says, where Christ
says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Well, somebody
says, well, if that's teaching election, well, there's nothing
I can do. I might come to God and he might
turn me away. Oh no, read the rest of the verse.
Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I guarantee
you that God has never turned away any sinner who truly seeks
him according to his revelation of himself in the word. And if
you ever seek him according to that revelation, you'll find
him. and you'll find out that he chose you from the foundation
of the world. That's how the Bible's, Peter wrote this. He
says, give diligence to make your calling. Now what is that
calling? It's the powerful calling of
the spirit unto salvation through the word, through the gospel.
Make your calling and election sure. How do I know I'm elect?
What is my calling? What do I believe? And that's
what Peter's saying here. Now look at verse two of second
Peter one. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Now look at verse three. Now
listen to this. Don't let this get by you. According
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness. You see there? Everything that
pertains to salvation, to eternal life and godliness, even a godly
walk, is given freely, unconditionally, unmeritoriously to God's people
by His power. It's a powerful gift that He
works for and in His people. That's what salvation is. First
Corinthians chapter two and verse 12 says, he freely gives us all
things. Ephesians 1.3 says, we're blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. So whatever I have that pertains
to salvation, eternal life and godliness, it was a free gift
given to me. I didn't earn it. I didn't meet
a condition to have it. But God does use means. How does
he apply this? We'll look at verse three again.
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness through, or it is by means of,
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue,
that glory has called us to Christ, and called us to a life lived
in Him, verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises, that's the promises of the gospel, the
promises of God for eternal life to His people. Second Corinthians
1.20 says that all the promises of God in Him, in Christ, are
yea and in Him, amen. They're sure and certain in Christ.
And he says in Second Peter 1.4, whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that's the promise of salvation
and everything that has to do with it, that by these, these
promises that have been revealed to God's people through the gospel
of Christ, that by these, you might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. In other words, it's by God revealing
himself as a just God and a Savior, revealing His glory in the glorious
person and finished work of Christ, which is the ground and the cause
of all spiritual blessings, all the promises of salvation, everything
that pertains to life and godliness, it's through the revelation of
God in these gospel promises, which is the preaching of the
glorious person and the finished work of Christ, his death, his
burial, his resurrection, his ascension unto glory, to do what? To accomplish salvation, to redeem
his people from their sins, to give them life from the dead,
so that they might stand before God just righteous in his sight,
having been cleared of all their guilt, purged from all their
sins, their sin debt paid for. See all these things. It's a
marvelous thing. And it's by God revealing himself
as the God who justifies the ungodly based upon the righteousness
of Christ and all the promises that sinners are brought out
of fellowship with the world and brought into fellowship with
the divine. And that's described in this
phrase, partakers of the divine nature. Now that word partaker,
what does it mean? You know, a lot of people, they
look at that word and they think of it as some sort of a word
of consumption, like for example, when you sit down and you have
a meal and you partake of that meal, you eat it, you consume
food. But that's not what this word
means at all. If you'll look at 1 John 1. Let me read you
a portion from 1 John 1, verse one. And this is the Apostle
John. He says, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard. Now that's, what he's
talking about is hearing the words of the Lord, which we have
seen with our eyes. That's his, he was actually walked
with the Lord. which we have looked upon and
our hands have handled of the word of life." That's Christ.
Christ is the word of life. He's the living word. He's the
living word. He's the incarnate word. He's
the subject of the preached word and the written word. Verse two,
1 John 1, for the life was manifested and we've seen it and bear witness.
How was it manifested? When they saw the glory of God
in Christ. through the gospel. And he says,
and show it unto you, that eternal life, which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us. It's with the Father and it was
manifested unto us in Christ. Verse three, he says, that which
we have seen and heard, declare we unto you. We preach the gospel
to you. Look at it, that you also may have fellowship with
us. Now that word fellowship there,
has the same root word as the word partakers over here in 2
Peter 1.4. And it means a partnership. It
means fellowship. It means a union, see. And that's
what he's talking about. You may have fellowship with
us. In other words, with believers. The fellowship is the fellowship
of truth and love and grace that binds believers together. But
then he goes on in verse three here, 1 John 1. He says that
you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship,
same word, is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
In order for me to have fellowship with other Christians, Christian
fellowship, not just denominations now, not just simply saying this
is where I go to church, But fellowship with true believers
in the family of God, in the household of God, in the sheepfold
of God, in the church of the living God. In order for us to
have fellowship, we first have fellowship with the Father and
the Son, with God. And he says in verse four, he
says, and these things write we unto you that your joy may
be full. Well, that's what Peter's talking about over here. Look
at verse four again of 2 Peter 1. Whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises. Now that's all the
promises of God's gift of grace, all the promises of salvation,
all the promises of blessing, everything that pertains to life
and godliness. And he says, it's given unto
us that by these, these promises in Christ revealed unto you,
you might be partakers, partners, fellowshipers, you might say,
of the divine nature. Now, what is the divine nature?
There are people who look at that verse and they say, well,
when you're born again, God imparts into you a divine nature. I've even heard men say this.
They say that when you're born again by the Spirit, and that's
what Peter's talking about. And what I'm saying is, what
he means is, if you're born again by the Spirit, you're brought
out of fellowship with the world. You see, he says, having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust. Whether it's
religious lust or whatever. He brings you out of fellowship
with the world and into a right relationship with God. Fellowship
with God, the divine nature. And they'll say something like
this. I heard one man define it this way. He says, when you're
born again, the Holy Spirit, and this is his words, creates
within you a divine nature that cannot sin and cannot be contaminated. Close quotes. Now my friend,
that's heresy. First of all, if the nature,
whatever nature he's talking about here, it's divine. And divinity, which refers to
God and describes God and the nature of God, not any kind of
nature. Now we can say this, if you wanna
use that word nature, talking about the new heart, the new
spirit, it's from the divine, It's created by the divine, but
it in itself is not divine. If it's divine, it cannot be
created. The nature of God, the nature
of the Son, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the nature of
the divine is an uncreated nature. It has no beginning and no end.
He's the great I am. Not I have been or not I will
be, but I am constantly present I've always been, always will
be. So divinity, it cannot be created. Like when we talk about Christ
as one person with two natures. Now he truly had two natures.
He had a divine nature, which was always so. From the very
beginning, he was with the Father, with God, and was God in the
beginning. And then he had a human nature
which had a beginning. It was created. The human nature
of Christ was created for him in the womb of the Virgin Mary
by the Holy Spirit, that holy thing. So his human nature had
a beginning, but his divine nature had no beginning. And that's
why he's called the Alpha and the Omega. No beginning, no end.
Or the end and the beginning. See, Christ is eternal. The same yesterday, today, and
forever. But his human nature, without sin, had a beginning. That's why Isaiah in Isaiah chapter
9, 6 states it this way, for unto us, a child, a son, a child
is born. That's his human nature. A son
is given. Son was not born. The son is
the divine nature of Christ. He had to be both God and man
in one person in order to save his people. I think I mentioned
this last week, how God cannot die, but Christ, who is God,
did die, but that death is to be attributed to his humanity. That's why he said this body
has to be prepared. He told his disciples when he
instituted the Lord's Supper, he said, this is my body which
was broken for you. This is my blood. Death had to
come about because God's justice against the sins of his people,
imputed to Christ, had to be satisfied. But God in his very
nature cannot die, but this person, Jesus Christ, who is God, he
did die. And that's to be attributed to
his sinless humanity. Man cannot give or create or
give and sustain life. Only God can do that. Now this
person who is man, he did create and give and sustain life, but
that's to be attributed to his deity. Now I know this is an
awesome thought. It's kind of mind-boggling, but
it's true. But Christ, he had a divine nature. A divine nature
that had no creation, that always was, always is, and always will
be, and cannot sin and cannot be contaminated. And because
of that divine nature, his human nature could not sin or could
not be contaminated. The Bible says he was made sin
in 2 Corinthians 5.21, but that was only by the legal imputation,
charging of the debt of the sins of his people to him. He was
made a sin offering, a sin bearer. He was actually made sin, that's
no fiction. But how was he made sin? Well,
the Bible says God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses. Who did he impute them to? He
imputed them to Christ. He charged them to Christ. And
that's why we have a divine righteousness. If we're saved, we're justified
before God by divine righteousness. And then based upon that, having
been justified by God's grace in Christ through his blood,
at some point in time, the Holy Spirit comes and reveals the
knowledge of God and his Christ and the righteousness of God.
He reveals it to us and how all the promises of salvation, all
the blessings of salvation, are given freely to us because of
what Christ accomplished, His merits, the merits of His blood
and His death, and He brings us into fellowship with the divine. We become partakers, fellowshipers,
partners with the divine nature, the nature of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we're brought out of the corruption
of the world. brought out of fellowship with
the world and into fellowship with the divine. Think about it. Fellowship with
Almighty God because of what Christ accomplished as God-man. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.