Are you a partaker? That's my
subject this morning. Are you a partaker? There are
some things specifically named in the Word of God of which all
who are born of God are partakers. If you know the Lord, you are
a partaker of these things. If you are not a partaker of
these things, you do not know God. Now, there are many, many
things concerning this that could be pointed to and addressed. This morning, I want us to look
at nine things of which all believers are partakers. And we will look
at them briefly, obviously, but these nine things describe the
experience and the life and the salvation of God's elect. Turn with me, if you will, to
Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Now the words
that are translated partaker or partakers in the New Testament,
sometimes translated took part, those words are two basic words
of various forms of those two words. But this is what they
mean. They mean to cooperate, to be
united in, or to possess, in common. Principally, the words
translated partaker mean to possess in common. Here are nine things
that all believers possess in common. Hebrews chapter 2 verse
1. Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, the gospel
of God's grace. lest at any time we should let
them slip, lest we let the word of God slip through our fingers,
slip through our hearts. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape? That is, how shall
we escape the judgment of God if we neglect so great salvation? which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. This gospel that Christ Jesus
came preaching and was confirmed by his apostles, God also bearing
them witness with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and
gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his will. The apostles of
our Lord Jesus were identified as his apostles, men inspired
of God the Holy Spirit to give us the proper understanding of
the message and doctrine of Jesus Christ in the written Word of
God. And they were demonstrated as
God's apostles, as the messengers of Jesus Christ in that early
age by the miraculous gifts bestowed upon them. But those gifts ceased
with the death of the apostles. Those gifts were not communicated
to any beyond the apostles. Paul tells us plainly in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 that the sure evidence of men being messengers of Antichrist
in this last day is that they will pretend to be the apostles
of Christ having apostolic gifts. So they'll come and they'll talk
about speaking in tongues and performing miracles and having
a vision of God and a word from God, a word of revelation and
all that nonsense. Understand what I said. Understand
what this book declares. This day of Pentecostal charismatic
foolishness and nonsense, which seems to have engulfed the whole
world, particularly, particularly influential in our part of the
world is nothing on this earth but the manifest display of Antichrist. Brother Don, surely you're not
saying that all charismatic religion is Antichrist. How many ways
can I say it? That's exactly what I'm telling
you. All free will works religion is Antichrist and it is particularly
displayed in charismatic tomfoolery. The apostles, God's messengers,
those men inspired of God to write out the New Testament,
they were confirmed as God's messengers by these signs and
wonders. Verse 5, For unto the angels
hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we
speak? But one in a certain place testified,
saying, What is man? You can read it in Psalm 8. What
is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that
thou visitest him? The Lord God never intended the
world to be ruled by angels, but He created man to rule the
world. He created the world to be ruled
by a human being, and by a race of human beings in that human
being. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest
him, man, a little lower than the angels. We don't have the
power, the wisdom, the spiritual capabilities of angels. Thou
crownest him, however, this one that you made lower than the
angels, with glory and honor, and did set him over the works
of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. God created Adam in the garden,
put everything under his feet. For him that he put all in subjection
under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But man,
it doesn't look like that now, does it? Since the fall, everything's
in chaos. But now we see not yet all things
put under him. We don't see God's purpose being
fulfilled. But we see Jesus. Oh, yes. Here is a man. for whom God created
the universe, in and by whom a race of men will rule God's
creation. We see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels. He came into this world as a
man in human flesh, made a little lower than the angels for the
purpose of suffering death. We see Jesus now, this one who
suffered and died in human flesh for us. He's crowned with glory
and honor. He was made a little lower than
the angels, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man. A horrible translation in the
English. Jesus Christ did not taste death
for every man. He did not. And the text does
not say that. Our translators simply filled
in the last word, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every. And it's almost as though it's
every period, period, period, and you're going to give us a
list. That's the sense in which the apostle writes. That he,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every one of whom he
is here speaking. Every son, verse 10. Every brother,
verse 11. Every member of his church, verse
12. Every one of his children that he'll bring to glory, verse
13. He tasted death for every one of them, for it became him,
verse 10. for whom are all things, and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make
the captain of their salvation perfect, complete, entire, and
perfect as the captain through sufferings. For both he that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one." What
a statement. We're all one with Him. The one
who sanctifies and those who are sanctified. The one who saves
and those who are saved. The one who redeems and those
who are redeemed. We're all one. For which cause? He is not ashamed to call them
brethren. Say, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. Now, let's look at what it
says about things of which we are partakers. Verse 14. We're partakers of flesh and
blood. We'll start with that which is
obvious. For as much then as the children are partakers of
flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part, or partook,
of the same. Now, circle or underscore the
next word. He also took part in flesh and
blood. He was a co-possessor of flesh
and blood. He possessed in common with his
chosen people, flesh and blood, for this purpose, that he, through
death, might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the The reason he took part of flesh and blood is that he
is the savior of men and women and they are partakers of flesh
and blood. And the only way he could save
those men and women given to him as his covenant children
before the world was is if he became what they are. He must become what we are before
he can make us what he is. He took part of flesh and blood.
Verse 15, and deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, now, now he's
able to succor. He's able to help with healing. Them that are tempted. Flesh
and blood is what we all are by nature. This God's elect have
in common with all the sons and daughters of Adam. Flesh and
blood. But flesh and blood can never
inherit the kingdom of God. Read it for yourself, 1 Corinthians
15 50. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Mortality
cannot become immortality. Corruption cannot enter into
and become incorruption. Death can never become life. That which is carnal cannot become
spiritual. That which is earthly cannot
be heavenly. And that which is terrestrial
cannot be celestial. Therefore, in order to redeem
and save his people, in order to bring his many children under
glory, the Lord Jesus, God's darling son, became what we are,
flesh and blood. The word was made flesh. Made flesh. This morning when
I met Brother Larry at the door, I gave him a post-it note. You
folks are familiar with post-it notes, aren't you? Got a little
paste on it and you stick it on there. That's not how the
Word was made flesh. Flesh wasn't pasted onto the
Son of God. The Word was made flesh. God
the Son, the eternal incomprehensible Jehovah became a man. And he pitched his tent in human
flesh for 33 years on this earth. And his flesh went to the grave. But God declared long before
he ever came in human flesh, thou wilt not leave his soul
in hell, neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption. So on the third day, before corruption
had begun to set in, he's fresh, is raised in immortality and
glory. And now yonder on the throne
of heaven sits God in human flesh. God in our nature. God in humanity. The God-man. The God-man. The man-God. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ? How that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. For as much then as children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took
part of the same. Read on. Here's the reason. Christ
became partaker of flesh and blood. He did it so that he might
become one of us that through death he might destroy him that
had power of the death. He came here because back in
the beginning, in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, he said to the woman,
I'm going to come into this world the seated woman. And when I
come into this world, I'm going to come in such a way that the
serpent can crush my heel. But as he crushes my heel, I'll
crush him to death. I'll smash his head. I will redeem
my people from this ruin and this fall by the crushing of
the serpent's head. And so the Lord Jesus came here
to destroy the devil. To destroy his power and his
influence. To destroy everything that he
has done. To destroy every consequence
of his fall. To destroy everything that's
involved in the entrance of sin into this world. And crushing
the serpent's head to deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. the son of God, became what we
are, that he might destroy the influence of Satan, destroy Satan
and his power, and he became what we are, that he might deliver
us from death and the fear of it. Deliver us from spiritual
death and the fear of physical death and physical death. Oh,
these bodies, these bodies will soon go back to the earth, because
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This body,
this physical flesh cannot go to heaven. It won't happen. This
is just part of the earth. But when he comes to make all
things new, he's going to raise this body up, a new body. And
we shall put on immortality. corruption, this terrestrial
body shall be transformed into a celestial body by him who came
here and took on himself a terrestrial body and now sits in glory in
a celestial body. I can't explain that. I can't
begin to explain that. I wouldn't think about trying
to explain that. No, no, but I know it's so. He's going to
deliver us from everlasting death, every one of his own. And he
did it by the shedding of his blood at Calvary. All right,
look in chapter three of Hebrews. Let's just stay right here in
the book of Hebrews. Here's the second thing. Wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, everyone who is saved
by the grace of God, Every sinner redeemed by Jesus Christ, everyone
chosen of God in everlasting love at God's appointed time
is made to be a partaker of this which the Spirit of God calls
the heavenly calling. The heavenly calling. Here the
Holy Spirit tells us three things about every child of God. They are all holy, made holy
by grace, made holy by righteousness being imputed to them in free
justification and imparted to them in sovereign regeneration.
They are all brethren, holy brethren. All who are born of God are brethren. That's a sweet word, isn't it?
Brethren, brethren. And all true believers are partakers
of this heavenly calling. There are some people in this
world described in the book of God by the Holy Spirit as the
called. The called. Have you ever noticed
how the Word of God speaks of God's elect with distinctive
terms? More than anything else, The
most common word used in the Bible to describe God's people
in this world. You know what it is? It's elect. Elect. Oh, y'all just think you're
something special, don't you? To God I am. To God we are. We're elect. He said he loved
us above all people in the world. He said he chose us, not the
other folks. He said he came to save us, not the other folks.
Elect. Elect. Oh. Well, that makes it
kind of special. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? He
said, I will be their God. They should be my people. God's
elect are spoken of most commonly as his elect. They're also spoken
of as saints. Saints. Do you know what a saint
is? I just got back from Alaska.
I think about it frequently, but I can't help but think about
it when I'm Going through Anchorage. I didn't haven't seen the sign
but once I told you a while back from brother Larry and I were
there several years ago First time came in an anchorage and
saw a sign. I came back and preached a sermon
titled by the side. I Think it was hanging over a
bar said if you wear your halo too tight, you give the rest
of us a headache That's not a saint that's not a saint that's just
religious food I Folks who think there's something else. No, no.
Saints are sanctified people. Sanctified. Somebody says, are
you sanctified? If I'm sanctified, I am. Sanctified. Set apart by God. Made holy by
God. God's elect are called saints. The elect. And they're called
the called. Some of you here today rejoice
in the gospel. You meet with God's people and
you are anxious for God to come amongst us. Last week after conference,
we hadn't met since Sunday morning, to the next Sunday morning. And
you, man, it's been a long time. Man, it's been a long time since
we gathered here. How come? Because God's called you. And you can't do without the
worship of God. You can't do without Christ.
You can't survive without Him visiting you and giving you grace
to visit Him. You love the sweet sound of free
grace. You love to sing His praise and
to hear His praise proclaimed. You love one another, and you
love him. Don't talk much about those things,
because you recognize how little he is loved, but loving
we do. Yeah. How come? Because you're
the called. How do you know you're one of
God's that cause I've been called? How do you know you're born of
God because I've been called? Well, how do you know you've
been called? Because I believe. How do you know you believe?
Well, I just do. That's all. I just do. And you
do, too, if you believe. Don't believe like I ought to.
Don't believe like I want to. But believe. Rock of ages cleft
for me. I will hide myself in thee. Nowhere
else. Nowhere else. The call. This
is what David spoke of when he said, Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest. and calls us to approach unto
thee. We are partakers of the heavenly
calling, a calling of God that's internal. It comes to us by the
external preaching of the word, but it's an internal call. It's
a call that can't be resisted. It's a call by which God sweetly,
graciously forces you to come to Christ. forces you to. And when he does, you want to. You want to. I spent my life,
like you, living my fist in God's face. If I could have done so,
I'd have killed him. I hated him. Like you. Like you. The evidence of the hatred was
the rebellion of my heart against everything that spoke of authority. Fuck you. You may hide it better
than I did, but you got the same rebellion. Same rebellion. And one day, I wanted him more than life itself. What happened? I was called. All right, here's the third thing.
Look at verse 14, chapter 3. So we are made partakers of Christ. Wow. We possess Christ in common. All of it. Partakers of Christ. If we hold
the beginning of our confidence, stand fast unto the end. You who go on believing are made
partakers of Christ. What on earth does that mean?
This particular thing, though it is taught throughout the scriptures,
it's stated nowhere else. We're made partakers of Christ.
The text does not say we are made partakers with Christ, though
we are. All that He possesses, we possess.
All things that He has are ours, for we are heirs of God and joint
heirs of Christ. The text does not say we are
made partakers of the rich benefits of God's grace in Christ, though
certainly we are. Every blessing of grace is ours
in Him. The text says more. It includes
all that and much, much more. We are made partakers of Christ
himself. Now, if you can get hold of this,
I promise you, oh, I promise you it'll do you good when the
world's on fire. Get hold of it. You who believe are full possessors of Jesus
Christ in all his fullness. You who believe are full possessors
of Jesus Christ in all his fullness. To be partaker of Christ means
that His merit is my merit. What does he deserve? What does he deserve? Our brother
Don, he deserves all things, all glory, and all honor. He does, doesn't he? He does. He deserves God's smile and God's
approval. He does, doesn't he? David Peterson,
if you're partaking with Christ, you too. His merit, my merit. His obedience
is my obedience. When he obeyed God as a man for
33 years, I obeyed God in him. When he Brought in everlasting
righteousness by His obedience. I brought in everlasting righteousness. I'm partaker of Christ. Partaker of Christ. I possess
Him fully in common with my brethren. His satisfaction is my satisfaction. Did He bear my sins in His own
body on the tree? Did He bear them away? Did he
pay the debt owed to God by me? Then my sins are gone. The debt
is paid and God cannot and will not require more. Partakers of
Christ. To be partaker of Christ is to
have Christ Jesus the Lord our righteousness and to be made
the righteousness of God in him. to be partaker of Christ is to be accepted in the beloved. God Almighty looks down on His
children from His lofty throne in all the fullness of His holy
being. And He looks at you and me. And he says, these are my beloved
sons in whom I'm well pleased. Accepted in the beloved. Near,
so very near to God. Nearer I cannot be, for in the
person of his Son I am as dear as he. Dear, oh so very dear
to God, dearer I cannot be, for in the person of his Son I am
as dear as he. To be partaker of Christ means that his destiny, is our
destiny. What will God do with His Son?
He's going to judge the world by His Son. What will God do
with His Son? He's going to create all things
new by His Son. What will God do with His Son?
He's going to put all things under the feet of His Son. What
will God do with His Son? He's going to show the beauty
and glory of His Son to all creation, to the raging demons of hell,
to Satan and all the damned forever. His Son will be praised and glorified. What will God do with His Son?
He'll destroy all His enemies by His Son. Now listen to me,
listen to me. We shall sit in judgment with
the Son of God. in the destruction of all his
foes. He will call us up to himself
to meet the Lord in the air, and we will come with him as
he comes to destroy this earth and make all things new. And
he, as he is displayed in all the regalia of his majesty and
glory as the God-man, our mediator, will set his bride before all
creation. when the marriage supper of the
Lamb is set and the celebration will go on forever as he shows
forth the perfection of his virgin bride to the universe. We're partakers of Christ. Number
four, again chapter six, verse four. For it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened and had tasted of the heavenly
gift Like He tasted death. If you taste death, that means
death is yours. You can't taste death and not
die. He tasted death for us. And we've tasted the heavenly
gift. If you've tasted the heavenly gift, that means the heavenly
gift is yours. We've tasted the heavenly gift. What does that
mean? And we're made partakers of the Holy Ghost. And I have to confess, I had
been studying this passage with constant confusion in one part
or another for 42 years, 43 years. And I still don't know what it
means. Still don't know what it means to be partaker of the
Holy Ghost. But I do know this. I do know
this. If you've tasted the heavenly
gift, and I have, then you are co-possessor with me and with
all God's elect of the Holy Ghost. Did he inspire this book called the
Word of God? Well, that means he's mine. I'm
protective of him because this word from God is that by which
God speaks to me. Is he the revealer of Christ,
then he's mine because he revealed Christ in me. Is he the spirit
of adoption that causes sinful men and women on the earth to
lift their eyes to God in heaven looking on Christ and cry, Abba
Father? Then he's mine because he causes
me to lift my heart to God in heaven and trusting Christ Jesus
the Lord to speak confidently of God my Father. Is God the
Holy Spirit, the comforter of God's elect? Does he take the
things of Christ and show them to his people? Then I'm partaker
of the Holy Ghost because he takes the things of Christ and
shows them to me. Look at chapter 12, Hebrews. Paul talks to us about chastisement. And he says in verse 10, Our
fathers barely for a few days chastened us after their own
pleasure. Now, you mamas and daddies, boy, I wish I could
get the ear of this generation. Don't be afraid to chasten your
children. We were sitting in the airport the other day and
I thought, man, it's going to be a long ride home. Some wild Indians. run around the airport, and mama
and daddy didn't have enough sense to smack the fool out of
them. Oh, you can't do that. It'd help them a lot. It'd help
them a lot. Bend them over your knee and
wear them out, but not because you're embarrassed by their behavior.
Not to satisfy your own lust, but for their good. That's how
God chastens his own, for their good. He, for our profit, that
we might be partakers of his holiness. Christ is that holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. And God Almighty deals with his
people, his chosen, in such a way that he graciously, sweetly makes
us partakers of Christ, God's holiness. made partakers of His
holiness. Not that our chastening makes
us partakers. Not a chance of that happening.
We are made partakers of His holiness experimentally as He
convinces us of our sin, crushes our hearts, and brings us to
faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Look at Ephesians chapter 3,
verse 6. Here we're told that all who
believe, the Gentiles he's talking about here, that's you and me,
should be fellow heirs in the same body with God's elect among
the Jews and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. What promise? The promise of
eternal life and God who cannot lie gave in Christ before the
world was. What promise? The promise of
grace in Christ. The promise of the covenant.
The promise of the gospel. The promise of His Spirit. We're
told in Galatians chapter 3 verse 14. Here's the seventh day. Look at chapter 4 of 1 Peter.
Chapter 4 of 1 Peter. I'm going to hurry through until
I get to the end. But I want to show you this last thing. Verse 12. Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as
though some strange thing had happened to you. Sooner or later, you're going
to need that admonition. Some difficulty comes, some trouble,
some heartache. I'm not talking about you stumped
your toe. I'm talking about some trouble. Trouble. Got to go get your boy out of
jail. Wife left you, another man. Your
husband left you for another woman. Your baby fell out of
your arms and dropped dead. Trouble. Heartache. And this
is how we all respond immediately. Why me? Why not me? Why not you? There's no strange
things. These things happen to everybody,
particularly to God's elect. Read on. But rejoice in as much
as you are partakers of Christ's suffering. Now, what's that mean? We were
partakers Christ's suffering as our substitute. We're partakers
of that because he died for us, but that's not what he's talking
about here. We all had the benefits and blessings of grace by the
sufferings of Christ for us, but that's not what Peter's talking
about here. We're made partakers of Christ's suffering when we
are given grace to know him and the fellowship of his sufferings. But here, Peter's talking about
something else. He's telling us that When we
who are members of Christ, when we who are joined to the head
of the body suffer, it's not just Bob Duff suffering, it's
Christ suffering. There's co-passion in Him with
us. Because He's been where we are.
And He's experienced what we've experienced. And He knows what
we feel. And we're one with Him. Now,
I cannot begin to explain what I'm telling you. I realize there
are all kinds of contradictory things about what I'm saying.
But I know what I'm saying is so, and I rejoice in it. Turn
to Isaiah 63 and I'll show you. He's touched. with the feeling
of our infirmities. Now that he wears human flesh,
now that he partook of what we are, he is able to succor. What a great old word that is. That means help. No, no, it means
more than that. It means more than that. No,
no. When that baby hurt himself,
and you bent down and picked him up, I respect you with the
word bent down and picked him up. You pick him up with a breaking
heart, cause he's hurting. That's what it is to sucker.
It is to help with feeling. It is to help with care. It is
to help with passion. It is to help because you love. He's able to sucker. them that
are tempted Isaiah 63 verse 7 I will mention the loving kindness of
the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the
Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness oh the great
goodness toward the house of Israel which he hath bestowed
on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude
of his loving kindnesses For surely, he said, they are my
people, the children that will not lie. So he was their savior,
verse 9. In all their affliction, he was
afflicted. And the angel of his presence
saved them. In his love and in his pity, he redeemed them and
he bared them. and he carried them all the days
of old. First Peter chapter 5, verse
what? Like the elder here described,
God's elect are partakers of the glory that shall be revealed. That's the same thing Paul tells
us in Colossians 1.12. He said, by God our Father made
meat to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Our fitness
for heavenly glory is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The
basis on which we are accepted is Christ's obedience unto death
as our substitute. We are accepted because of his
obedience, because of his blood and his righteousness. But we're
made fit to possess glory. when we're given a new nature
and Christ is formed in us in the new birth. Now, one more
thing. Let's look at that. 2 Peter chapter
1 verse 4. How can it be that we who are
partakers of flesh and blood are made partakers of this heavenly
partakers of Christ, partakers of the Holy Ghost, partakers
of His holiness, of the promise of God, partakers of Christ's
suffering, and finally partakers of the glory that's yet to be
revealed. There's only one possible way. You've got to be made partakers
of the divine nature, whereby are given to us exceeding great
and precious promises, that by these things you might be partakers
of the divine nature. By God's grace, by the power
of God given to us in Christ Jesus, by the new birth, being
made new creatures in Christ, every saved sinner is made to
possess in common the divine nature. Made to hold it together. Made to be in union with it. For we have Christ formed in
us. The hope of glory. Oh may God
make you a partaker. Amen.