Now open your Bibles with me
again to 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1. Now I feel identified with the Apostle Peter
when he wrote this second general epistle bearing his name for
three reasons. It says here in verse one, Simon
Peter, a servant. Simon Peter, a servant. He's a servant of God. A bond slave. A bond servant
of God. And then we know this, he was
an older man. How do you know that preacher?
Well, turn to verses 14 and 15 of this first chapter. Peter is writing this epistle
in the last days of his life. Does that matter? Well, it certainly
does. The older a man gets, the more
he learns about the things of God. Imagine Peter writing this
epistle when the Lord had risen from the tomb and he appeared
to the disciples on the river bank, on the bank of the lake
there. And he told Peter what kind of
death he would die. Peter would be crucified. And
the Lord told him that. And he turned to the Lord and
he said, what's John going to do? You remember that? He's in no shape to be talking
about what John's going to do. God has to convert us and give
us growth in grace. And Peter's an old man now. Now
listen to verse 14. Knowing that shortly I must put
off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown
me." That's over in John. He showed him how it's going
to be done. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able
after my decease to have these things in remembrance. So here's
an older believer and here's a man who looks upon himself
as a servant, a bond slave of Jesus Christ. But look at the
next line. He said, Simon Peter, a servant
and an apostle. The apostle Peter. The Lord chose
him to be an apostle. One of the twelve apostles. And
he said, I am an apostle. I'm an old man. I'm a servant
of God. I'm a bond slave. But I am an
apostle. The Almighty God has chosen me
to be an apostle. And we find these two words sum
up every true servant of God. These two words, a servant and
a preacher. A servant and a preacher. Paul
said this, listen to Paul. You don't turn to it, I quote
it for you. Paul said, in nothing, in nothing am I behind the chief
apostle. He knew the Lord. He knew the
gospel. He knew the Lord had spoken to
him. He knew the Lord had called him. He knew the Lord had put
him in the ministry. He was an apostle. He was a pastor. He was a preacher. He was a man
whom God sent to preach the gospel. And he said, I don't back down
from anybody. He said that just as clearly.
He said, in nothing am I behind the chief apostle, although I
am nothing. That always goes together. I'm
an apostle. I'm a preacher. I have a message
to tell. And I've got a message to tell
people. But I'm a servant. A servant of God. And though
I've not one whit behind the chief apostle, nevertheless,
I'm nothing. Now these men didn't always see
that. Let me tell you something here. James and John and Peter and
the rest of them debated about who would be the greatest in
the kingdom of God. They were doing that through
the Lord's ministry, debating about who's going to be the greatest.
And our Lord answered them one day. He said, whosoever will
be great among you, let him be your minister. And whosoever
you would be the chiefest Let him be the servant of everybody. You've got to have those two
things. You can't have a minister of the Gospels proud and arrogant. You can't do it. And you can't
have arrogance, see, and be a servant. So that's what Peter's saying.
I'm a servant. I'm a servant. But I am an apostle. Now what is greatness? Well,
their idea of greatness at this time They changed their mind
about a lot of things. But their idea of greatness was
to sit on thrones. That's what James and John wanted
to do. Let me sit on your right and let my brother sit on your
left. And the Lord Jesus said true greatness is not to sit
on a throne, it's to serve. Let him be your servant. The
idea that they had was this, to have servants. True greatness
is to be one. The Lord Jesus said, I've come
to seek and to save the lost and I've come to suffer. And
then their idea was to be ministered unto. But true greatness is to
minister and give to others. And their idea of greatness was
to be honored guards. Let me sit on your right hand
and let my brother sit on your left. True greatness is to humble
ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt us in
His own time, in due time. Alright, let's look at this first
verse now. Simon Peter, a servant, a servant,
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. There are three significant words
in this verse. Three significant words having
to do with what the Lord has given us. He says, I'm writing
to them that have obtained precious faith. We didn't earn it. We didn't merit it. We didn't
deserve it, we have obtained it. Paul said this, I am one
who hath obtained the mercy of the Lord. For by grace are you
saved through faith, that not of yourself is the gift of God.
It's not of works, lest any man should boast. We have obtained,
like precious faith. But here's the second word. We
have obtained thy precious faith. There's only one kind of faith.
I hear people say, well, we're not of the same faith. We better
be. There's just one Lord. There's
one faith. There's one baptism. There's
one God and Father. There's one body. There's one
spirit. There's one hope of your calling.
So we have obtained God has given it to us like, like precious
faith. We all have the same faith. That
is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all have the same
faith. Well, what is faith? Well, he
says here, it's precious. It's precious. It's called precious
faith. It's precious wine. It's precious
because it was bought with precious blood. It's precious, and Peter
said it's more precious than gold. And it's precious because
we're chosen of God and precious. And the precious cornerstone
is our Redeemer. And unto you that believe, He's
precious. To you that have obtained like
precious pegs What's this now? Through the righteousness of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where we obtained it,
in Him. Through Him. Oh, to grace, how
great a debtor I am constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like
a fetter, bind my wandering heart. We have obtained. Who are you
writing to, Peter? I'm just a servant, but I am
an apostle. And I'm writing to these folks
that have obtained, not merited, not earned, have obtained like,
same faith, precious faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. All right, look at verse two.
Grace and peace be multiplied through the knowledge of God. and of Jesus our Lord. Usually when Paul writes his
salutation, now this is Peter, but usually when Paul writes
his salutation, he uses three words, grace, mercy, and peace. And here Peter says the same
thing, grace, mercy, and peace be, what is that? Multiplied. Multiplied? Multiplied, yeah. be multiplied, because His grace
has no limit, His power has no boundary, and His love is infinite. No boundaries known to man. So
God's grace and God's mercy and God's peace is infinite. His is, it's infinite. God's mercy, God's grace, and
God's peace has no degree. God's mercy, His grace, and His
peace is perfect. It has no degree. It's infinite.
And yet when Peter is writing to us, he says, may the grace,
mercy, and peace of our Lord be what? Multiplied. Multiplied to you. Multiplied
unto you. Unto you. Yes, multiplied. We grow in the grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ. In 2 Thessalonians, I want you
to turn to this, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter
1. I want to read this one. We talk
about growing in grace. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse
3. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3. Listen to it. We are bound to
thank God always for you, brethren, as it is me, because your faith
groweth exceedingly. Exceedingly. And the charity,
the love of every one of you towards each other abounded. It's growing. It's not hung up
in one place. It grows as you grow. It grows. The disciples asked the Lord,
Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. Peter wrote
this, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow. That you may grow. How does one
grow in grace? We know it does. We do. You have
to. Anything that's alive grows.
He doesn't sit still. And Peter says here, he says,
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father be multiplied. Multiplied. So how does one grow
in grace? I'll tell you. Look at it right
here in my text. In 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 1. Listen. Verse 2. Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied unto
you through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through
the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. The more I
look to Christ, the more I grow. The more I lean on Christ, the
more I grow. The more I learn of Him, Not
from Him. I learn from Him. I learn of
Him. The more I grow. The more I study
His Word, the more I grow in grace and truth. Let me show
you a scripture. Turn to Matthew Chapter 11. Chapter
11. Matthew Chapter 11, verses 28 and 29. Listen to this. You're so familiar with this,
and some of the things we're most familiar with, we kind of
read over. We kind of, we know that, we've
learned that. But did you ever, did you learn
it? Listen. Come unto me, all of you that
labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Right now. I'll
give you rest, mercy, grace, and peace. God's mercy, grace,
and peace is infinite, has no degree, it's perfect. Read on. Now take my yoke upon you. And
learn. He didn't say learn from me. He said learn of me. Watch me. Listen to me. Learn of me. Of me. And you'll find. Learn of me. And for I'm meek
and lonely in heart and you shall find rest. You're going to keep
finding, going to keep growing in peace, love, and grace. Turn to Ephesians 4. Let me point
this out to you here. In Ephesians chapter 4, the more
I look to Christ, the more I learn of Christ, The more I lean upon
Christ, the more I study His Word, the more I grow in grace
and peace. But you know something? I'll
read this scripture in a minute. But the opposite is true also. If I don't learn of Him, lean
upon Him, look to Him, what do I do? Well, the more I associate
with the weak and the worldly, and the central people of this
world, the more like them I'm going to be. The more I learn
of him, the more like him I'm going to be. The scripture says
evil companions corrupt good manners. It's the folks you run
with. They'll take you down. They won't
let you up. If you run with the apostles,
you run with God's people, you live with them and fellowship
with them, you're going to grow in grace. If you run around with
folks that's got the flu, you're going to catch it. Now look at
Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11. Now here's these apostles, these
teachers God's given us. Ephesians 4 verse 11. And He gave some apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. for the
perfecting, for the maturing, for the growth of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of that one faith,
that one precious faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God unto a mature man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ, that we be, that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the folks we run around with, by the sleight of
men, the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive,
but speak the truth in love that you may grow up. You ever say to your child, I
wish you'd grow up. That's what Peter's saying. I
want you to grow up. I want you to listen and grow
up into Him in all things. He's the head, even Christ. All right, let's look back at
our text. 2 Peter chapter 1. The third
verse here. The third verse, listen to it.
And there are three things here that I want you to see. According
as His divine power. His divine power. Salvation is
of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord in its origination. It's of the Lord
in its execution. It's of the Lord in its application.
It's of the Lord in His sustaining power. It's of the Lord in His
ultimate perfection. It's of the Lord. Salvation.
His divine power has saved us. His divine power, now watch this,
has given unto us all things. Everything. We have everything
that Christ purchased for us on the cross. It's ours now.
Let me show you that in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Hold this. 2 Peter
here, and turn to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. According to his divine power,
he hath given unto us all things. Look at 1 Corinthians 3, verse
21. 2 Peter 3, 21. Therefore, let no man glory in
me, for all things are You're the children of God. You're
the people of God. You're the Israel of God. Everything's
yours. Everything God Almighty performed
for you, promised to you, and purchased for you is yours. Read
on. Whether it's Paul, or Apostle,
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, they're all yours. And you're Christ. Christ is God. It's yours. Now back to my text. According
as His divine power hath given to us all things. All things is what? That pertain
to life and godliness. Not only salvation, but sanctification. All things that pertain to life
and godliness. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenly, in Christ, according as He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. When you were born
of God, you were born with everything you're going to have in eternity. That's right. He has given us
all things that pertain to life and Godness. It's yours. We're looking for a couple of
babies in our family. Carrie's expecting, and so is
Hannah. We're waiting. When are they
going to be born? One of them's going to be a little girl. We
don't know what the others are going to be. You've already looked at
a picture of Leah's, and you saw the spine and all. Everything
that baby is born with, you have eternity. That's right. He'll never grow another arm,
another leg, another ear, another nose, another eye. Everything
He's got. Life! It's yours right now in
Christ Jesus. You grow. You grow. You mature. I pray we will. We have it in Christ. He, according to His divine power,
He has given us all things that pertain Life and Godliness, Wisdom,
Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption. They're yours
in Christ Jesus. The thief on the cross. Pretty good illustration here,
isn't it? The thief on the cross said,
Lord, you're not going to stay there. You're coming into a kingdom. Remember me. Be mindful of me. And the Lord said, today you'll
be with me. Perfectly holy. Perfectly like
Christ Jesus. The preacher can't do it. The church can't do it. The Pope
can't do it. Nobody can do it but my Lord.
And by His divine power He has given to us all things in Christ. All things that pertain to life
and godliness. And that's all I'm interested
in. I'm not interested in anything down here. Too much anymore.
We're going home. We're going home. Alright, here's
the next thing here. It says here, according to His
divine power, has given unto us all things that pertain to
life and godliness. How? Through the knowledge of
Him. He knows us. We know Him. Through the knowledge
of Him. Let me show you a scripture.
Galatians 4, verse 9. Galatians 4, verse 9. Galatians
4 verse 9. Now watch this. Watch it carefully.
Galatians 4 and 9. But now, after you have known
God. We know Him, don't we? I know
whom I have believed. You know God. Now let's listen
to the next line. Or rather, are known of God. Both are true. We know Him. He knows us. That's right. We're known of God and God knows
us. And that's how that we have this
life, godliness, and all things that pertain thereto because
He knows us and we know Him. Now then, verse 4. I want you
to listen to something here now in verse 4. Back when I was in
the Navy and on board a ship, we had 120 crew members. And
we carried Marines or Army into different invasions. But there
was a voice that comes over the loudspeaker when something important
was to be said. Something mighty important was
to be said. And this is the way it starts. Now hear this. Now
hear this. You better hear this. That's what he always said. Now
hear this. And everybody just stops. Hear this. Now you hear this. Chapter 1,
verse 4. Whereby are given unto us great
and precious promises. Brother Jeff Thornberry and H.B. will remember this. Brother Jeff
Thornberry had a word regarding these great and precious promises
and warnings in Hebrews. He said Hebrews is a book of
promises and a book of warnings. And he said this, he always said
this, we're hedged about with his promises so that we'll not
despair and we're hedged about with his warnings so we won't
pursue. You've heard that. Hedged about
with his promises So we won't despair. We'd despair if we didn't
have those promises. We've got some warnings and we're
not going to presume on God. And this is what he said. Whereby
are given to us great and precious promises that you might be partakers
of the divine nature. What's that mean, preacher? Just
what it says. We're partakers of the divine
nature. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me. We are partakers of the
divine nature. We have an old nature, I know
that, everybody's got problems with that, but we have a new
nature. And greater is he that's in you
than he that's in the world. So we're going to come to something
now really important. Listen. Whereby are given unto
us great and precious promises that by these you might be a
partaker of a divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that's in this world through lust. Heard a fellow say one
time to me, he said, well, the only difference between you and
me is I believe and you don't. There's a whole lot more difference
in a believer and an unbeliever than that. There's a big difference. God puts a difference between
His people and unbelievers. And this is what He's saying
right here. He has given us a divine nature and thereby we are escaping
the corruption that's in this world through lust. There is
a difference in the children of God and the people of this
corrupt world. And we'll show you a verse of
Scripture. Now turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. There
is a big difference between God's true people and the unbeliever,
the unbelieving world. There's a big difference. Look
at 1 Corinthians 6. Now listen, 1 Corinthians 6,
verse 9. Now stay with me. Know ye not that the ungodly
and the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't
be deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters. God's people aren't idolaters.
They're not fornicators. They're not adulterers. Nor effeminate,
you know what that word means? It's in the, look it up in concordance,
a catamite. A catamite. That's people who
prey on young boys' sodomy. That's what that is, effeminate.
Look it up. I took the trouble to do that.
You look it up. I'm not effeminate, believe me. And don't run around with those
that are. Believe me, because that's a catamite. You look it
up. And an abuser of themselves with
mankind? No thieves? You folks stealing? Covetous? You covet your neighbor's
property? His wife? His children? We don't covet. We want them
the best in the world for them. You do, don't you? No covetous? No revilers? Nor extortioners. They're not going to inherit
the kingdom of God. They're unbelievers. They don't know God. There's
a difference. Now here's the difference. Verse
11. Such were some of you, but you're
different now. Huh? You're washed in the blood. Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
That makes a difference, doesn't it? Come in from play, little
kid, he's got mud all over him. Mother washes him. She don't
touch him unless she washes him. Don't walk on my floor. Wash
him. He's washed you. Who did it? God washed you in the blood of
the Lamb. He washed you. And you sanctify. You're different. You have that
new nature. Child of God. You justify. Your
sins are forgiven. You're a child of God in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a new nature. There's
a new walk. There's a new talk. There's a
new attitude. There's a new direction. Greater is he that's in you than
he that's out there down there. Alright, number five. Alright,
watch this now for the first time. And besides this, is it
more? Is it more? Listen. He's given
to us like precious faith. He's multiplied His grace, mercy,
and peace. He's revealed to us the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given to us all things pertaining
to life and godliness. He's given us the great and precious
promises And He's given us His divine nature. Now then, verse
5, and besides this, giving all diligence, add
to your faith virtue. What's virtue? Honesty. Truthfulness. God's people don't lie. God's
people are not dishonest. That's virtue. Add to your virtue,
knowledge. Knowledge, know Him. Grow in
the grace and knowledge of Him. Add to your faith, temperance. What is temperance?
Self-control. Self-control. Avoid excesses. Excessiveness. Just cool it. That's how we use it. Man, that's
cool. Brother Ed Wallen was a sergeant
in the Army. And he got his platoon together
one day, HB, and there was a black boy standing there with dark
glasses on. And Ed said, get those glasses
off. Sun's not shining. He said, Sergeant,
when you're cool, the sun always shines. That's what temperance is. The sun always shines. Add to your temperance patience. Patience with yourself and with
everybody else. Add to your patience godliness. What's godliness? That's just
worshiping God. That's fearing God. That's walking
with God. That's praying before God. That's just godliness. and brotherly
kindness. You know, I think through the
years, and I look out over this congregation, and I tell you,
I love some folks, don't you? I'm not playing games. I do love
God's people. You do too, don't you? Godliness
and brotherly kindness. Be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one another. As God,
for Christ's sake, forgave you. Charity. Generosity. That's what charity is. Generosity.
Now then, down here at verse 8. If these things, we've just gone
through all these things. He's given us these things. If
these things be in you, and they are bound, And they grow. They'll make you that you shall
not be barren, useless, unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If these sayings be in you, and
if they grow, cultivate these sayings, these eight things we
just talked about. If they be in you and abound,
then you're not going to be unfruitful. You're not going to be barren,
useless. But verse 9, but he that lacketh
these things, he's blind. He's blind. He's just worshipping
a doctrine. Hanging on to a doctrine. Not
worshipping a person. Clinging to a person. He's blind. And he can't see afar off. And
he's forgotten that he's purged with his old sins. You know, turn to Matthew 21. Let me show you here. Matthew
21. If these things be in you and
abound, you'll not be unfruitful and barren. Matthew 21. Matthew
21, verse 7. Verse 18. Matthew 21, verse 18. Matthew 21. I want
you to read this. Verse 18, Now in the morning,
as he returned into the city, the Lord Jesus, he hungered. When he saw a fig tree in the
way, he came to it and found nothing thereof, nothing but
leaves, no fruit. And he said unto that fig tree,
Let no fruit grow on you henceforth forever, forward forever. And presently the fig tree withered
away." That's what Peter's saying here. If these things be in you
and about you, you're not going to be nothing but leaves. You're
going to have fruit. All right, give me two minutes
and let me close with this what Frank read, this 10th and 11th
verse, and I want to read it again. give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. But if you do these things, you'll
never fall. And an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now then, the primary concern
of me and you and everyone here is to make our calling and election
sure. I can't look into God's book.
I can't look into the book of life, and I can't see God's eternal
decree. But I can look into this Word.
I can look into this Word, and I can receive His Word, believe
His Word, trust His Word, and rest in the divine promises and
power of this Word, and look to Christ my Lord to save my
soul. I believe. I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God and I believe He's able to keep that
which I've committed to Him against that day. I believe. Our Father, thank You sincerely
for Your Word. Thank You for this Scripture
that we've just looked at. and read and studied. And Lord,
we pray that You would make it effectual to our hearts, not
just to our heads and our minds and our doctrine, but reveal
Christ in us. I prevail, Paul said, to Christ
be formed in you. I pray that You would make Your
Word to be most effectual tonight. This message, use it for your
glory. Pray for the pastor. You minister to him when he visits
the doctor tomorrow. We pray for all of our people
here that are going through trials and troubles and heartaches and
division. We pray for one another. Lord,
help us. Leave us not alone. Help us. In Christ's name we pray for
his sake. Amen.