If you will, open your Bibles
again to 2 Peter. The passage Brother Wayne just
read for us. 2 Peter chapter 1. The title
of the message is Partakers of the Divine Nature. Two weeks ago, we looked at verse
1. We saw that Peter is writing
to believers who all have the same light, precious faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on in verse 2. He says,
be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord. Every believer has already received
grace and peace from our God. We receive grace from God and
we receive peace from God through our Lord Jesus Christ, because
every believer has faith. Every time God gives faith, he
gives grace and peace. But now you who believe, let
me ask you this. Can you have enough grace? Can you have enough
peace? Or would you like more? Well,
thankfully, God's not stingy with his blessings. He's rich
in mercy, rich in the way he gives to his people. And this
verse assures us that grace and peace will be multiplied, not
just given, multiplied to us through the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace aren't just added.
They grow much more quickly than being added. They're multiplied.
They're multiplied through the knowledge of God and the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this thing of knowledge,
eternal life is knowing Christ. If you know Christ, if you have
the Son, you have eternal life. Knowing Christ is having eternal
life. And every blessing that God has
for a sinner is in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So every blessing,
not just eternal life, but every blessing that God has for his
people is had and enjoyed by knowing Christ, a knowledge of
who he is. Three times in the first verses
of this epistle, Peter talks about the importance of knowledge. In verse 2, he says, Grace and
peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord. Verse 3, according as his divine
power have given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. Verse 8, for if these things
be in you and abound, they make you that ye should neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. These blessings are enjoyed through
knowledge, through knowledge not just of doctrine and things,
but in knowledge of a person, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, we talk about grace and peace being multiplied. Believers
can't get any more grace or more peace than they already have
in Christ. We're not going to get more grace, more peace, but
we will enjoy that grace more. We grow and we do grow in grace.
I'm talking about the possession of it. We will enjoy this grace
and enjoy this peace more by this way, knowing our Lord better. And we'll know God better by
reading his word. hearing His Word preached. God's
revealed in His Word. If you know more of God, if you
want to know more of Him, read His Word. Hear His Word preached. This is where God reveals Himself
to men. And our enjoyment of God's grace
will be multiplied if we know more of who God is. Our enjoyment
of the peace that we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
will be multiplied the more we know who God is. The more we
know Him, the more peace we'll have, the more settled that we'll
be. Now, at the end of verse 2, there's not a period. There's
a comma. This is not the end of the sentence.
This thought continues. Verse 3 tells us how a person
comes to have this knowledge of Christ. Now, it's not like
going to school. You know, all of us have gone
to school. You get knowledge in school by studying books that
they give you. You get knowledge at school by
studying the lessons that your teachers give you. You get knowledge
at school by going home and practicing at home what you learned at school,
doing homework, or most hated activity of the school year,
homework. But this helps you learn things that you, you know,
cements them in your mind, what you learned at school. We learn
human knowledge that way. But that's not the way we gain
this knowledge of Christ. The pastor and your teachers,
your parents, your family members, Can't beat it into your head
like they beat into your head the multiplication tables. Knowledge
of Christ doesn't come that way. We gain spiritual knowledge of
Christ, who He is by the gift of God's power. This is a supernatural
gift of God's power. See that in 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 have
called us to glory and virtue. Now, God gives us the gift of
knowing Christ by His power in the new birth. Now, that's grace. I mean, you want to talk about
grace. That's grace. What better gift could you ever
receive than receiving the knowledge of Christ? If you receive the
knowledge of Christ, you receive eternal life because knowing
Him is life eternal. What better gift could you receive?
That's God's grace. And here's more of God's grace.
In His divine power, He's given His people everything. He's given them everything we
need to have eternal life and godliness. Now that's grace. That's God's grace. He's given
us everything. And this word, life, that Peter uses here, it
means eternal life, spiritual life. Literally, it means the
life of Christ. God Almighty. has given His people
the life of His blessed Son. Whoo! That's grace. I mean, what grace! God gives
dead, rotten sinners the life of His own Son. Now that's grace. Does that multiply peace to your
heart? It does mine. That multiplies peace to my heart. To know I've got the life of
Christ. Then I could never die. If I've
got the life of God's Son, I could never die. That's peace. And
he gives us all things that pertain to godliness. And the word means
just what you think it means, holiness. God's given his people
the holiness of his Son. The godliness, the holiness of
his Son. And this is necessary now. If
sinners like you and me are ever going to be accepted before God,
We must be as holy as Christ Himself. We have to be as holy
as God's own Son. Can't be anything less. There
are no degrees of holiness. You have to be perfectly holy
to be accepted in God's sight. Well, only the power of God,
His divine power, can make sinners like you and me as holy as God's
own Son. Now, I'm telling you, that's
grace. You want to talk about undeserved favor? None of us
deserve to be made like Christ. We all deserve the exact opposite.
But that's exactly what God does for His people, by His grace. Makes His people just like His
Son. And I'm telling you, that knowledge
multiplies peace to my heart. If I'm as holy as Christ is,
God will always accept me. Always. There's such peace in
knowing that. And we have all this through
the knowledge of Christ. Now, let me ask you. How important
is it to know Christ? Lots of things you need to know
to get along in this world. I know we're raising our girls.
There's lots of things we want them to know, things we felt
like they needed to know when they got out on their own and
things that they are being taught in school that you just got to
know to get along in this world. You need to know those things. How important is it to know the
Lord Jesus Christ? I'm afraid it's shameful how
often we put importance on knowing other things and we put more
energy and emphasis on that than knowing Christ. There is nothing
more important, more necessary than us to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. We can only know what life and
godliness are by knowing Christ. You can't even know what those
things are unless you know Christ. And you certainly can't have
life or have godliness unless you know Christ. See how important
it is to know Him? Now Peter goes on and he tells
us God's called us, called His people to glory. God's called
His people to this glorious, exalted position of giving the
life of Christ, be given the holiness of Christ. He's called
His people to this by His grace. God calls His people just like
He called Zacchaeus down from that tree. Zacchaeus, come down.
I'm going to bite your house today. He calls all of His people
just like He called Lazarus from the tomb. He calls us from the
dead to life in His Son. Now, that's the call of grace.
And that call of grace is always a call to peace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. This word glory that Peter uses
called us to glory. It means a thing that belongs
to Christ. It means literally a thing that
belongs to Christ. All of salvation from its beginning
to its end is all Christ. It's all of him. That's all in
him. It's all of him. It's all him. So all the glory
of salvation belongs to Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ freely
gives his people every blessing, everything that's in him, everything
he gives to his people. I see such grace in all the glory
of salvation belonging to Christ. I wouldn't have it any other
way. That's so glorious. Think about it. Everything I
have, God gave me. Everything. Everything I am,
He made me. I am what I am by the grace of
God. That's grace. And I see the glory in that.
The glory of Christ in that. And I have peace multiplied to
me in the knowledge of that grace. God will always accept what Christ
has done. What Christ made you, God will
always accept you. Isn't there peace in that? There's
peace. That gives a believer peace of
heart. God's called his people to the glory that belongs to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's your substitute and he gave
it to you. What he accomplished, he gives to you. And God's also
called his people to virtue. Now virtue means moral goodness
and purity. Now this is talking about the
new man. The new man, born of God in the new birth, is pure. He's got this virtue. He's pure.
He's so pure, he cannot sin. It's impossible for that new
man born of God to sin because he's born of incorruptible, sinless
seed, the Word of God. He can't sin for this reason. There's no sin in his conception.
You and I can't be holy because there's no holiness and righteousness
in our conception, in our first birth. But in our second birth,
there's no sin. in that conception. So that man,
born of God, cannot sin. A believer, been born again,
has a new nature. In that birth, the new man receives
the DNA of Christ. So he can't sin any more than
Christ can sin. If you look over in 1 John 3,
I'll show you that. He cannot sin. 1 John 3, verse 7. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God." And here's one of the great mysteries of the
gospel. One of the things that you just declare and believe
and do not understand. I cannot do anything but sin. Anything. You'll never see me
do anything that's not sinful. Yet, at the same time, I cannot
sin. Because I have a new nature.
Born of God with the same DNA, the same nature that Christ has. We've been born in the new birth.
That man born in the new birth and born again can do nothing
but righteousness. Now, someone will say, Frank,
it sounds to me like you're saying a believer in one body has two
natures. That's exactly what I'm saying.
And that's what I'm saying because that's what God's Word says.
God's Word plainly teaches that. Now, I know. That confuses the
natural man. That just does not make sense.
But it multiplies peace to the believer's heart. I know that
can only be so, that there's a nature in me that cannot sin,
yet in my flesh I can do nothing but sin. I know that can only
be so by divine power, divine grace of God. And that gives
me peace. Now, how can a sinner like you
and me, How can we have the life of Christ and the holiness of
Christ? I want to know that. How do we
have the life of Christ? How can I have the holiness of
Christ? By knowing Christ. It's through the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. By knowing Him as He is. Not knowing the God and the Christ,
the little Jesus of our imagination. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ as He's revealed in this book. Knowing Him. You have the
life of Christ and the holiness of Christ. And that's what Peter
says in verse 4, and he's going on. There's no period at the
end of verse 3 either. The first four verses of this
epistle are all one sentence. Now, you children write papers
at school, I don't think you ought to write a sentence this
long. I'm not an English whiz, but I don't think that. But this
is all one sentence. One thought explaining the new
birth. It's talking about a believer
here who has been born again. He says in verse 4, "...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, whereby,
that word is through, through the power and grace of God. Believers
are given exceeding great and precious promises. Now, I spent
some time trying to look at the promises of God in Scripture,
and there are too many. There are too many to count.
There are too many to read in one sitting or a whole week,
certainly. But I want to give you a few
of them, exceeding great and precious promises that you can
take home. Think on these things. Knowing
this will multiply grace and peace to your heart. First, look
in Titus chapter 1. We have the promise. This is
God's promise of eternal life. Titus 1, verse 1. Paul, a servant of God, an apostle
of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect, and
acknowledging of truth which is after godliness, in hope of
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the
world began. This promise of eternal life
is sure because it's made by God who cannot lie. Let me read
this. You don't have to turn to this.
We're going to turn to a few scriptures. I'll just turn to it and read
it to you. 1 Kings chapter 8. This promise
is sure, not a word of it will fall to the ground. Solomon knew
that in 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 servant." And that statement
is true in Solomon's day, and it's true in our day. Not one
word failed. Not one word of his promise,
because God cannot lie. And he promised eternal life.
Next, look in Acts chapter 13. We have the promise. The promise
of God to send his son. his own son to be the Savior
of his people. Acts 13, verse 22, is talking about when Israel
had Saul as king, and verse 22, when he got to remove Saul, when
he removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king,
to whom also he gave testimony and said, I found David the son
of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all
my will. Of this man's seed, of David's
seed, hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel
a Saviour, Jesus. That promised Saviour is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And if you look at Romans chapter
1, this is the promise of God, to send to his people the Saviour,
his own Son. He sent somebody that's going
to get the job done. He didn't send somebody like
you and me. He sent his own Son. He's going to get the job done.
In Romans 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God which he had promised
afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And this promise
is concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
to the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to
be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection of the dead. And this promise is an important
promise. Look over 2 Corinthians chapter
1. This promise that God will send his Son to be the Savior
of the world is an important promise. 2 Corinthians 1 verse 19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea in yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the promises of God in
Him, in Christ, are yea, and in Him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. Every promise of God is in His
Son. It's all in His Son. Next, John
chapter 14. We have the promise of the Holy
Spirit. We have the promise that God will send His Spirit, the
Comforter. John chapter 14 verse 16 And I will pray the Father, and
he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth he not, neither knoweth him. But you know him,
why do you know him? For he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you. We'll come back to that later.
He shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.
come to you. That's the promise of God the
Holy Spirit coming to comfort His people by pointing us to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter 3. All these
promises, they're made to Christ. All these
promises are made to Christ, our representative. Galatians
3 verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed. where the promise is made. He
saith not into seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed
which is Christ. All the promises of God are made
to Christ our representative, and they're made to us for Christ's
sake. They're made to Christ, yet if
you look in Acts chapter 2, they're made to you. This promise made
to Christ our representative, yet it's also made to you who
believe. Acts 2 verse 36 Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom
ye have crucified, both the Lord and Christ. Now when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and
to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall
we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is unto you, and to your children, and all them that are
far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. The
promise is unto you who believe." These promises are ours through
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, now, are all these promises
sure? I've made some promises before and couldn't keep them. Wasn't able to. I was just completely
unable to keep my word. I made a promise and couldn't
fulfill it. Well, are these promises sure?
You betcha. Yes, they are. Hebrews 10.23
says, He is faithful that promised. He'll never go back on His word.
He's got all power. He'll keep His promise. Now here
in verse 4 in our text, 2 Peter 1, we have a promise that's so
exceeding great, so precious, so wonderful, nobody could ever
believe it if it weren't God who cannot lie that promised
it. God has promised that all His people, everyone for whom
Christ died, will be made just like Christ. He's going to make
His people just like His Son by making them partakers of the
divine nature. Everybody says, yeah, I can see
that. You know, we all get to heaven, you know, be perfect
and holy and have the nature of Christ. Well, that's true,
but that's not what this means. This means right now, right now,
the moment you believe, the moment you're born again, you have made
a partaker of the divine nature by the power and grace of God.
Now, obviously, this takes miraculous power, doesn't it? In verse three,
Peter talked about power according as his divine power. What power
is Peter talking about there? Well, several things. He's talking
about the power of God to create. Create matter. Create the universe.
Create the world. Let there be light. Let the dry
land appear and appear. Let the animals appear and they
appear. God's power to create something out of nothing. He's
talking about God's power to rule His creation. God rules
His universe. Everything that happens, happens
by His will. By His permission. That's power. But he's also talking about the
power of Christ to save. Sinners are accepted by God through
the power of Christ to please His Father. We're not accepted
because we have any ability to please the Father. We're accepted
because Christ has the power. By His power, He did please the
Father. Sinners are washed free from
all sin through the power of the blood of Christ. The power
of His blood to cleanse from sin. Sinners are justified through
the power of Christ to raise Himself from the dead. You want
to talk about power? Raise Yourself from the dead.
Our Lord did. Our Savior did. Sinners come
to God through the power of the Spirit to call them and draw
them to the Savior. Sinners are kept from falling
by the power of Christ to hold and keep His people from falling.
And here, this is power. for sinners. God's power to make
sinners just like Christ. To be given the nature of Christ
by God's power. Now, I don't think anyone here
will, but maybe someone listening to this recording. Before anybody
gets bent out of shape, let's please try to understand what
God's Word is teaching you. This does not mean nowhere in
God's Word does God's Word ever teach that believers are made
little gods. Somehow we're made partakers
of God's essence, that we're made partakers of His omnipotent
power, His omniscience, His omnipresence. I don't have that power. I'm
here and nowhere else. I don't have God's power to be
present. That's not what this is talking
about. Tell you what this means. It means a child of God is a
son or a daughter of God. So in the new birth, You're given
the nature of God. You're given the nature of your
Heavenly Father. Just like in our first birth,
we were given the nature of our Father Adam. Now, I've never
laid eyes on old Adam. Never did. Never talked to him.
Never done anything with him. Never seen him. Don't have the
slightest clue what he looks like. But I'm telling you, I
know his nature. I was born with it. I got it. I fight it every day. I smell it every day. Well, with
these eyes, I've never seen God. I can't do things God can do. But I've got His nature because
I was born with it. He's my Father. I've got the
nature of my Heavenly Father in the new birth just like I've
got the nature of my Father Adam at first birth. And that natural
man, boy, he loves everything that Adam loves. He's just like
Adam. Can you deny that? Can you deny
you've got a nature that loves everything Adam loves? He loves
sin and rebellion. That's why we drink iniquity
like water we're disliking. With a new birth, there's a new
man born. He loves all the things Christ
loves. He loves righteousness and holiness. He loves fellowship
and communion with God because he's got a new nature. That natural
man, he does. Not only does he love everything
Adam loves, he does everything Adam does. We rebel against God. We rebel against His crown rights,
His authority. We commit every sin. Why? We
do the exact same thing Adam does. But in the believer, there's
a new man born. He does everything Christ has
done. In Christ, we do perfect righteousness. Because that's
the nature of the new man. And I'll grant you, no man can
understand this message. I'm not asking anybody here to
understand it. I've been looking at this for
weeks. I can't understand it. I don't know if anybody smarter
than me can. But if you say so, you're not telling the truth.
Because no man, natural man, can understand this mystery.
And if we try to understand it, we try to dissect it in little
parts and break it down to the point that the natural man thinks
he can understand it, I'll tell you what you've done. You've
taken all the glory away from it. You've taken all the preciousness
away from it. So rather than try to understand
that, rather than try to dissect this, why can't we just rejoice
in this? Rejoice in this exceeding great
and precious promise of God and give thanks for the results of
this precious promise of the divine nature, being made a partaker
of the divine nature. I can't understand that. I do
not understand how God can make a sinner to be a partaker of
his nature. I cannot understand that. I see
the results of it. I surely can. The desire to pray. Where'd that come from? A new
man. The desire to read God's Word.
Where'd that come from? A new man. The desire to worship. Where'd that come from? A new
man. The desire to love God. The desire to be holy. The desire
to not sin ever again. Be like Christ. Where'd that
come from? It came from a new man. I can't
understand that. But boy, I'm thankful for it.
I enjoy it. I can't understand, this is an
illustration, I can't understand how you can put a key in the
ignition of a car and turn it and drive for hundreds of miles.
I don't have the foggiest idea, honestly, how that happens. But,
buddy, I love it. I love driving here rather than
walking here in the cold night air. I enjoy it. And I don't
have to understand how all that works. Chip Holbrook understands
it, but I don't. I don't have to. I'll put the
key in the ignition and turn it. I'm here in the warm, heated
air. You know, I mean, it's wonderful.
I don't have to understand how God makes a sinner a divine partaker
of the divine nature. That's wonderful. That's just
wonderful. I'm so thankful for that. And I want to give you
some things in Scripture that a believer rejoices in because
we've been made a partaker of the divine nature. The natural
man will never receive the things of God. The natural man will
never come to Christ. A believer does because a believer's
got a new nature. The divine nature. God's given
you something to receive the things of God in. New man. You
come to Christ because that new man, you can't keep him away.
You come to Christ. That's a new nature. The natural
man will never love God. A believer does. Because he's
got a new nature. The divine nature that is love.
The natural man will never believe God. You will never believe the
gospel that we preach. Unless God gives you new nature.
Then you can't help it. You just believe. Because that's
what the new nature, the divine nature does. The natural man
cannot know God. You can't know God with your
natural mind. But the believer does. You know
God. You who believe, you know God. Because you've got a new
nature. You've got His nature, so you
know Him. The natural man cannot know Christ. If they would have
known that Jesus is the Christ, they never would have crucified
Him. But they didn't know Him. They couldn't know Him. So they
crucified Him. But you know Him. You who believe
do. You know Him and you love Him because you've got His nature.
The divine nature. And this new nature is the divine
nature. It's a nature that's of holiness
and righteousness It's the nature of Christ that's put in, that's
imparted to every believer. Now you listen to me. Salvation
is more than a work of Christ for his people. Salvation is
more than a work of Christ done outside of his people. Now that's
necessary. That's part of it. But salvation
is more than that. Salvation is also a work of grace
in the people, in the heart of his people. Both are necessary. We must have a work of grace
done for us, outside of ourselves. The blood is offered before God. It's not offered to you and me.
It's offered to God as payment for sin. That's the work done
for us, done outside of us. But there must be a work of grace
done in us. And that's the new birth that
Peter's talking about here. The word partaker, it means share. When used here, it means share
or partner. Well, believers share in. We
partake of everything Christ is. It all belongs to Christ. Righteousness, it belongs to
him. Holiness, it belongs to him. But he shares it with his
people. He gives it to us so that we're
made partakers of it. He gives it to us so that it's
ours. We've been made righteous. Because we've been given the
righteousness of Christ. In Ephesians chapter 4. The only reason we can be made
righteous is we've been given the righteousness of Christ.
In the new birth. Ephesians 4 verse 24. Verse 23. Be renewed in the spirit
of your mind. And that you put on the new man.
Which after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Believers can be a partaker of
true holiness because Christ shares it. He gives it to us.
It's His. He gives it to us. We have a holy, righteous nature
that's in us because we've been given that nature in the new
birth. And this divine nature is in every believer. Now, there is no good thing of
me. Not one. There's not one good
thing of me. There's something good in me.
It's what God put in me. It's His nature. And that divine
nature is in the believer. We're going to look at a couple
of scriptures. You can wait for me to read to them if you want.
You can turn. But this is the nature that's in the believer.
Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Where does he
live? 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. that he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
his Spirit, and where? To enter man, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith." to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." In 1 John chapter
4, verse 4, "'Ye are God's little children,
and have overcome Because greater is he that's in you than he that's
in the world. And that he he's talking about
there is the divine nature. The nature of Christ himself. If you care to look over Jeremiah
33. This is a very familiar passage.
I read it frequently because it's one of my very favorites.
But this shows us how close the union is between Christ and his
people. When you have the divine nature
How close does that tie? How closely does that tie you
to Christ? Now, verse 15 of Jeremiah 33. You know, if you have the
nature, the divine nature of Christ, are you righteous? Or
is it just not really, but something you have when you wake in glory
someday. If you have the divine nature,
if you're a partaker of the divine, are you righteous? Let's see
what God's word says. In those days and at that time
will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he
shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall
Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness."
You know what that says, is it? This is the name wherewith she
shall be called. She, the bride of Christ. Jehovah Sikhinu, the Lord, our
righteousness. When God the Father sees His
people, He sees Jehovah Sikhinu. He sees the nature of Christ.
He sees the person of Christ. He sees the nature of Christ.
He sees the righteousness of Christ. Yes, if you're a partaker
of the divine nature, you're righteous. If you're as righteous
as you ever will be, ever. Now you drop his body of sin,
but you're as righteous as you ever will be. Can you be any
more righteous than Jehovah said can you? Of course not. Believers
are made partakers of the divine nature through union with Christ. And believers are members of
the body of Christ. Scripture teaches that. Well,
if we're part of his body, we have his nature. My leg has the
same DNA, same nature as my head. Believers are the same way. I
might beat a little toe, but I've got the same nature as Christ
in my head. And this union with Christ is called a vital union. Why do we call this union with
Christ vital? Because it's so important. Look
at Romans chapter 8, the last scripture we'll turn to, Romans
chapter 8. We call this union with Christ a vital union because
it's so important. If you do not have the divine
nature of Christ in you, you're not part of his body. And you're
not saved. Romans 8, verse 8. So then, they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you're not in
the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell where? In you. Now, if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. I believe that's
a vital union. The only way you can have life
is through this union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you
have the nature of Christ, you will escape the corruption that's
in the world through lust. You will escape the power of
Adam's depraved nature. That nature is not going to be
eradicated. You'll just escape the power of it through the power
of the divine nature that's in you. Greater is he that's in
you than he that's in the world. And you will be under the dominion
of the world and the condemnation of sin because of the power of
God's grace, the divine nature that's in you. you will lay down that body of
flesh, that body of sin. And finally, that new man will
be set free. No more warfare. He'll be set
free to go and be forever with the Lord. Knowing that ought to multiply
peace to our hearts. I hope it will. Let's bow in
prayer. Our Father, how we thank Thee For the many
exceeding great and precious promises that you've given to
your people and your son. You've given your word to us
so we can read these awesome promises. Astounding promises. Promises that are too great for
the human mind to begin to comprehend. But how we thank you for faith.
God-given faith that simply believes these exceeding great and precious
promises. Father, human language cannot
express our thanksgiving. That in your mercy, your power
of your grace, you give your people the life of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. That you give us his holiness,
that you give us his righteousness, that you give us his nature and
accept us in him. All the praise, all the glory,
all the honor belongs to thee forever and ever. Amen.