Every now and then, God so blesses
his word to parts of his people that someone sees such wondrous things
revealed in the gospel that they'll say to me, I feel like God has
just saved me all over again. And would to God that every time
I stand and speak to you in the name of Christ, you'd leave here
with just that blessed experience of His grace. We've come to worship
our God, seeking to hear a word of grace from His Spirit, that
He might take the things of Christ and show us the glorious grace
and goodness of God. in the face of Jesus Christ,
our crucified Redeemer. To that end, I ask that you pray
for me now and every time I stand to preach the gospel, that utterance
may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, confidently,
to make known the mystery of the gospel. I love the way the
Holy Spirit describes it, the mystery of the gospel. What a great, wondrous, glorious
mystery the gospel is. God was manifest in the flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ, God himself,
God's eternal, incomprehensible Son, was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He became one of us, lived, acted,
obeyed, suffered, and died, and rose again for us, his people. He came down to the earth that
we might go up to heaven. He suffered that we might reign. He became a servant that we might
be made kings and priests unto God. He died that we might live. He bore the cross so that our
enmity might be slain and our sins put away. He loved us so
that He might make us to love God. He was rich, yet He became
poor for us who were so poor that we were poverty itself,
that we might be made rich, having all the richness of God Himself. He descended into the grave.
that we might be quickened together and sit with him in heavenly
places. He emptied himself that we might
be filled, filled with all the fullness of God. He made himself
of no reputation that he might make us honorable before God. He became a worm so that we who
are worms might be numbered among the sons of God. He was made
a curse that we might be made the blessing of God. Though He
is heir of all things, He was willingly despised of the people
and rejected of men, so that we who were justly condemned
might obtain an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. His death was the satisfaction
of God's infinite justice for our sins. a propitiation for
sin, a ransom, a sweet-smelling savor to God, that we who are
in ourselves nothing but an offense to God might be forever freed
from sin. He was made sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He took the form
of a servant, that we who were the servants of sin might be
made princes with God. He was forsaken, utterly forsaken
of God that we might never be forsaken. He drank the bitter
cup of God's wrath that we might drink of the waters of life forever. He hungered that we might eat
forever at the bread of life. He wore the crown of thorns that
we might wear the crown of glory. He was numbered with transgressions. that we might be numbered among
the precious sons of Zion. But of all the wondrous mysteries
of the gospel, none is more wondrous than this. The Son of God took
our nature that we might be made partakers of the divine nature. What a word! He assumed our nature that He
might give us His nature. That's the message of 2 Peter
1 verse 4. The Holy Spirit tells us in this
fourth verse that the Lord God Almighty has made us partakers
of the divine nature. Last week I listened to a sermon
by Brother Gary Shepherd, and he made this statement. Rather
than debating the mysterious, we ought to delight in the obvious. Now that's what I want us to
do today, just delight in the obvious. Partakers of the divine
nature, delighting in the obvious. The fact is, everything Peter
tells us here is so obvious that it is something he speaks of
as that which he simply calls to remembrance. In verses 12,
13, and 15, he tells us three times in this one chapter that
he is simply calling to remembrance Those things that you know. If
you are born of God, if you have been taught of God, if you've
experienced His free grace, Peter says, I'm not telling you something
now that's new. I'm not giving you some new revelation
of grace. I'm telling you that which you
know. And I call it to your remembrance
so that you may be established in this present truth. He has made us partakers. of the divine nature. Now let's
begin in verse one. I've quoted those words in 2
Peter 1 for hundreds and hundreds of times. Declaring that the
Holy Spirit, in regeneration, has put a new nature in us. He has put Christ in us. making us partakers of the divine
nature. Now let's look at these words
in their context and just delight in them. I don't have any hope,
no desire, no foolish notion that somehow I'm going to expound
this passage. I simply want to remind you of
that which is obvious. And may God the Holy Spirit let
us delight in it this day. In the very opening words of
this epistle, Peter tells us that he is addressing himself
to God's elect, to people who are saved by the grace of God.
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them
that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now, when Peter tells us that
he is addressing himself to God's saints, That does not mean that
what I had to say here this morning is not for you who are without
Christ. Oh, to the contrary. As I declare in your hearing
the wondrous privileges, the marvelous works of God's grace
for us and in us, it is my prayer that God the Holy Spirit will
graciously irresistibly, powerfully persuade you to believe on the
Son of God and believe in Him, make you partakers of the divine
nature. First Peter describes himself
as a servant, not the servant, a servant, one among many, and
an apostle, a messenger, not the apostle, an apostle, one
among eleven others, of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a privilege! What a high, high honor! Unto
me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace
given, that I should preach to you the unsearchable riches of
Christ. I hope never to get over the
wonder of God's grace in saving me. and the wonder of God's marvelous
condescending goodness in using such a piece of flesh to proclaim
the gospel of his grace. What a privilege, what an honor,
what an awesome responsibility. It is my privilege and my awesome
responsibility to speak to you, eternity bound men and women,
the wonders of God's grace. O Spirit of God, speak. I speak to your heart, I cannot. Here he speaks of God's saints
as a people who have obtained like precious faith. You see,
the faith of God's elect is one faith. It doesn't matter whether
you're talking about the faith that God gave Abel, the faith
he gave Noah, the faith he gave Enoch, the faith he gave Abraham,
or the faith he gives you. The faith of God's elect is always
the same. There is one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. We confess Jesus Christ alone,
the Lord. We trust Jesus Christ, our Lord,
alone for the whole of our salvation. We confess Him in the waters
of baptism as Him who is alone, our substitute and our Savior. This faith is called precious
faith. Because it brings us into a living
union with our precious Savior. Unto you, therefore, which believe
He is precious. And this is a faith that we have
obtained. It is not a faith we have attained. It is a faith we have obtained.
It's not something we mustered within ourselves, something that
we lifted ourselves up to, something which we have elevated ourselves
to. It is not something that we kept working at until finally
we got it. No, no, no. It is that which
God the Holy Ghost has wrought in us by regeneration, by the
new birth, by the effectual, irresistible, almighty, omnipotent
call of His grace. We have obtained this faith by
the gift of God, now watch this, through the righteousness of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the righteousness of
God and or even our Savior, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, by His
obedience unto God as our substitute, has obtained for us by the merit
of His blood and righteousness. all the blessings of God's grace. They were obtained for us and
given to us in Him, the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, and they flow out to us in the experience of God's
grace in Him by the merit of His blood and the mediation of
His righteousness as our High Priest and our Intercessor. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of
thine only. Our only hope before God is the
righteousness of Jesus Christ, by which we have all things from
God. Now look at verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied
to you. through the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord. Now, this is not just a desire. It is not just the expression
of an affectionate, ardent wish in Peter's heart for God's people. I often express my desire for
God's blessings upon you. I often write to men who are
preparing to preach. At various times on weekends
I'll drop him a note that God be with you. May the manifest
presence of God be yours, be upon his people as you preach
the gospel tomorrow. But with me, that's a prayer. With me, that's an ardent desire. It is a passionate ambition I
have for you and for God's people. But that's not what Peter's expressing.
Remember, he is writing by divine inspiration. to God's people
who have obtained like precious faith. And it gives this word
of assurance. Grace and peace are multiplied
to you. They have been, they are being,
and they shall be multiplied to you. Multiply. Where grace
comes, peace comes. And the more fully grace is discovered
in our hearts, the more fully peace reigns in our hearts. The
more confident we are of God's grace, the more blessedly we
enjoy the peace that flows to us from grace. Well, how is it
that grace and peace are multiplied to us? Look at it. Through the
knowledge of God, this is life eternal. that they might know
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent,
through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." Everything
in the kingdom of God, everything in this thing called salvation,
everything in the experience of grace, everything in the blessedness
of peace, all the blessings of grace, flow to us experimentally
in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. Four times in the first eight
verses of this chapter, look at verses 2, 3, 5, and 8, Peter
tells us everything is wrapped up in the knowledge of Christ.
And every enlargement of the knowledge of Christ brings with
it peace, or grace and peace. And then in verse 9, he said,
But he that lacketh these things is blind. If you don't have this grace
and peace, if you don't have this blessed knowledge of Christ,
this blessed gift of faith, you're blind. You're blind. And the reason you can't see
these things is because you're blind. And I'm not angry with
you because you're blind. I pity you. I'm not bad at you
because you're blind, I hurt for you. He that lacketh these
things is blind. Now, in verse 3, we discover
the source and the cause of this blessed saving knowledge that
we have of Christ. It is not a knowledge that is
attained by disciplined study, by learning, or by human exercise
of any kind. This blessed saving interest
in Christ, this blessed increasing knowledge of Christ, is bestowed
upon chosen redeemed sinners by the omnipotent power and grace
of God the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Now, sometimes we
talk about effectual calling, we talk about the call of the
Spirit. In reality, while these things may be separated doctrinally
for our consideration, There is no separating God giving us
life from Him calling us to life. No separating God calling us
to faith from Him giving us faith. Look at verse 3. According as,
be sure you note those opening words, the faith we possess,
the grace and peace we experience, the knowledge we have of Christ,
all are according as his divine power hath given us all things,
what a word, all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. What's included? in this unspeakable
gift of God. What's included? Let me ask a
question that's easier to answer. What's not included? What's not
included? He's given us all things that
have anything at all to do with life and knowledge. All things
that have anything to do with life and Godliness. All things
that have anything at all to do with God's salvation, he has
given us in the knowledge of Christ. What a vast, vast, incomprehensible,
all-comprehending gift grace is. The call that's spoken of
here, by which we are called to glory and virtue, is not the
call that you hear this preacher give. We preach the gospel, and
in doing so, we persuade men. We earnestly beseech you, as
the ambassadors of God, to believe on Christ. We urge you to believe
on Him. We pray you in Christ's head,
be you reconciled to God. But if all you hear is the passionate,
earnest pleading of a preacher, you'll walk out that door just
as dead as you were when you came in. Oh, but if you hear
God speak to you from the inside, if you hear God the Holy Spirit
call you by His grace, if He calls you to glory and virtue,
with that call He brings all things that pertain to life and
godliness. This is the call by which people
are raised up from the dead. Would to God this generation
would learn this? Would to God we would remember
this thing that's obvious, this thing that we ought always to
delight in as being most obvious? The new birth is resurrection
from the dead. Our Lord Jesus said, Lazarus,
come forth. And you know what that dead man
did? He came out of the grave. Well, that's impossible, it is,
with me. But with God, nothing's impossible. You mean preacher? There's hope
that I might live? If he calls you, you're going
to live. You mean there's hope for my son? If he calls him, he'll live. You mean there's hope for my
daughter? If he calls, he'll live. You mean there's hope for
my wife, my husband, my mom, my dad? If he calls, the dead
hear his voice, and they that hear, heal. He gives you all things that
pertain to life and godliness. As he has called us to glory
in the world to come, He's called us to virtue here. Now, I took a little time to
look up that word virtue. I try to do that occasionally,
find out what words mean. The word means right doing. You mean He called us to glory
and the world to come? And He called us to doing right
down here? That's exactly what He said.
That's exactly what he said, to doing righteousness. Now,
Darwin, we have no virtue. That's not within us. That's
not a possibility with any fallen son of Adam. It can't be done.
You can't do right. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. But he who has called us to glory
has called us to doing righteousness. Now, before anybody screams,
heresy, damning heresy! Fortner's Golden Dutch is preaching
words. Read the Scriptures. Turn to
1 John 3. Let's see. 1 John 3. So that
just doesn't fit. I don't care whether it busts
your system all to pieces or not. This is what God says. 1 John 3, verse 7. Little children,
let no man deceive you. He that What does that word say? Doeth righteousness. Well, you can't do that. He says,
he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that commiteth sin, that is,
he that doeth 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, look at this, doth not commit sin. Not ever. Not ever. Not ever. Are you preaching
sinless perfection? No. Yes, I am. Yes, I am. No, I'm not. I'm not. No, sir. Well, what on earth are you saying,
Brother Doc? Okay. He doth not commit sin,
how come? For his seed. His seed. His seed. His seed? The word is sperm. That's the word. A woman's impregnated
by her husband's sperm. He puts his seed in her. His seed remaineth in you, or
in him. And he, look at it, cannot sin. He cannot sin. Not possible. Why? For his seed to sin. Not
possible for that which is born of God to sin. Not possible for
this new nature, this new life that God has put in us to sin. Regeneration, the new birth.
Is not God coming to us in grace and revising our own nature? Or re-equipping our own nature? Fallen Adam can do nothing but
sin. And that's what Maurice Montgomery
is by nature. Just sin. But bless God he put
somebody else in you who can't sin. And that somebody else is
Jesus Christ himself. Born of God. Read on. Because
he's born of God. You can't say it. Verse 10. In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of
the devil. You know what Don Fortner is?
You know what Don Fortner is? He is the child of Satan by nature. Everything that I am by nature
is born of Satan. I got it all as a result of Satan's
influence through my daddy Adam back yonder in the garden. That's
how come I came forth from the womb speaking lies, because my
father was a liar from the beginning. And the same is true of you.
That's what humanity is. Oh, but God, the Holy Spirit,
comes in omnipotent grace, and He puts something new in me.
He puts something in me that wasn't there before. It's called
everlasting life. That's not just He came to me
and He fixed it up so that it's not important to never die. The
fact is, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. Bless God,
I'm going to die. Oh, thank God I'm gonna die!
But I ain't never gonna die. Because I'm no longer Don Fortner. That's exactly right. Well, who
are you then? The Lord Jesus, the Son of God,
has put his new name on me, and calls me one with himself. And that which is born of God
can no more die than it can sin. He that believeth on me shall
never die. What did Paul say? I'm crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. In 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." All right, now back here to 2
Peter. Perhaps you ask, well, Brother
Don, how can any of us do righteousness? Sin's mixed with everything we
do. You're exactly right. Sin is not just mixed with everything
we do. We can't do anything but sin. That's our nature. But God,
by the wondrous work of His grace, has put a new nature in us. A
new man. A new man created in righteousness
and true holiness. A new man that cannot sin. A
new man that can do nothing but righteousness. That's what we
saw in 1 John 3.9. Look at verse 4 now, 2 Peter
1. whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be." Now,
he made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. The word might be is not suggesting that maybe
somewhere down the road it might happen, but rather it is declaring
that on this basis it shall assuredly occur. that ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. Read the scriptures carefully.
Always read this book carefully. Don't scan it like you would
the newspaper. Read it. Don't just read the headlines
and skip down to the next chapter break. Read this book carefully.
The first four verses of this chapter Did you notice all together
is one sentence? One sentence. Now, I'm not a
great grammarian. I'm not a real smart fellow.
But I'll tell you what I know about sentence structure. One
sentence means one subject. You got that? He's not talking
to us about many things. He's talking to us about one
thing. These four verses are all dealing with this one wonder
of grace called the new birth, regeneration. The first word
of verse four, whereby, refers back to the call of God the Holy
Spirit, by which we have that faith and knowledge of God in
Jesus Christ, which gives us grace and peace. He says, whereby,
by this call of God the Holy Spirit, this call that bestows
upon us, that brings to us, that brings in the fulfillment of
the precious promises of grace, has made us partakers of the
divine nature. It is God the Holy Spirit who
in regenerating grace brings to light in the soul. Everything
God has done for us in eternity and in time that we could not
know, we could not apprehend, we could not be aware of until
He comes and gives us life and faith in Christ. People these
days, they say, well, faith is just claiming God's promises. You can't claim what you're ignorant
of. And if you knew about it, you have no right to claim it
until it's made yours. And it's not made yours by the
apprehension of faith until it is made yours by the operation
of grace. And when God the Holy Spirit
comes, giving the sinner life, causing the sinner to look to
Christ, if right now, oh God make it If right now you can,
out of your darkness and emptiness and corruption and sin and vileness
and nothingness and poverty, look away to Christ for everything,
God Almighty has fulfilled in you His precious promises. What promises? Well, let's let
the book speak for itself. Turn to Titus chapter 1. Brother
Ron preached to you Sunday night, I believe, about God's everlasting
covenant. The promises he's talking about
are the promises declared and revealed in the gospel. Now,
we know that all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ
Jesus, but this is talking about the fulfillment of specific promises
made to Jesus Christ, our covenant head. made through His obedience
as God looked on Him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, made to us for His sake before we ever had anything.
Titus chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and
the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in
hope of eternal life, look at it, which God that cannot lie
promised before the world began, but hath in due time manifested
his word through preaching which is committed to me according
to the commandment of God our Savior." Look at 1 Peter 1, verse
18. You know that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation,
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do
believe in God. Let's look at the promises a
little more fully. Jeremiah chapter 31. These covenant promises, by which
God promised He would make you new. By which God promised He'd
make you a new creature. By which God promised He would
put something in you that wasn't in you before. Jeremiah 31, verse
31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in
their inward parts and write it in their hearts. And I will
be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach
no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord. Oh, know the Lord, know the Lord. How come? For
every one of them in whom I put this grace, they shall all know
me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the
Lord. And this is how they'll know me, for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. When he comes,
David, in grace, and speaks forgiveness to your soul by the blood of
His Son, you know Him. You know Him. Turn to Ezekiel
36, verse 25. Then, when He fulfills His covenant,
then, verse 25 of Ezekiel 36, will I sprinkle clean water upon
you, and you shall be clean. Now, we were cleansed from all
sin in the record of heaven when Christ put away our sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. But we were born in this world
under the curse of God's law, condemned in our conscience,
children of wrath, even as others, knowing all about our guilt and
our sin, until God the Holy Spirit sprinkles on our hearts clean
water of His Word, the washing of regeneration by the Word,
sprinkling to our hearts the blood of Jesus Christ. Make yours
clean. Look here. Look here. Look at
this man. This man you know too well and
know to be utter sin. This man before God, in my conscience,
is clean. Clean! My conscience, answering
to God's declaration, says concerning the blood of Christ, clean! And blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Look at this. You shall be clean
from all your filthiness. From all your idols will I cleanse
you. Hell, what's he talking about?
Verse 26. A new heart. He didn't say I'm going to repair
the old one, did he? He said a new heart also will I give
you. And a new spirit. A new spirit. You were born dead
because your father Adam died. You died in him. But he comes
and puts a new spirit in you, a new life. What will I put within
you? And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh. And I'll give you a heart of
flesh. Chapter 37 of Ezekiel, verse 12. Therefore prophesy
and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people,
I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves
and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that
I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and
brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you,
and you shall live." What happened when God saved
your soul? He brought you up out of your
grave, put His Spirit in you, caused
you to live, and brought you into the land of plenty, into
Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Now back here in 2 Peter 1, Peter's
telling us that when God raises a sinner from death to life,
by the power and grace of his spirit, when he sprinkles our
hearts with clean water of grace and puts a new spirit in us,
when he makes us new creatures in Christ. When the sinner is
born again by omnipotent grace, we are made partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped, having been delivered from the
corruption that is in the world through lust. God made His covenant
promises to us in Christ, our covenant head, before the world
began, so that we might, at the appointed
time of His love, be made partakers of the divine nature. Wow. That's grace. That's grace. Astonishing as it is, it's just
like it. just what I would have expected
from him. Until this great work is wrought in us, we cannot claim
or even know anything about his mercy, love, and grace, though
all these things pertaining to life and godliness were given
to us in Christ before the world began, when he accepted us into
the Lord. Now, what does God the Holy Spirit
mean? when he says we are made partakers
of the divine nature. Does it mean that we're made
gods? No. Does it mean that we partake
of the essence of God so that we become as God? No. No. Does it mean that somehow
the finite has become infinite? That the mutable had become immutable? No, no. Well, what does he mean? Let's let the Scriptures answer
how that do. I can't think of a poorer way,
now listen carefully, I can't think of a poorer way to interpret
Scripture than by what men call word studies. It's the poorest
method of interpretation there is. Folks get a word, like this
word protectors, and they'll find a concordance, find out
what this word means, and then they'll go see how it's used in this
verse. Now, this is what it means there, it's what it means there,
it's what it means everywhere it's used. Oh, no. Oh, no. The context always determines
the meaning of a word. There are numerous words translating
partakers in the scriptures. This particular word is found
many, many times in various forms. Let's look at three places. Let
me show you the meaning of it. First, we'll look at 2 Corinthians
1. This word partakers is the word that's commonly translated
fellowship, from which we get our word fellowship. It basically
and most commonly means fellowshippers. partners, participants, companions. That's the most common way the
word is translated in the Scriptures, the most common way that it's
used in the Scriptures. But to limit it to such a use
is to do violence to the Scriptures. Here in 2 Corinthians 1, We are
told that we are made partakers both of the sufferings of Christ
and of the consolation that comes to chosen sinners by the knowledge
of Christ's sufferings in the accomplishment of redemption.
Look at verse 5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our
consolation also aboundeth. And whether we be afflicted,
it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual
in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, whether
we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation." Now
look at verse 7, "...and our hope of you is steadfast, knowing
that as ye are partakers of the sufferings of Christ." What does
that mean? Well, what my friends up in New
Jersey are going through right now, that partaking of the sufferings
of Christ. Suffering by faith in Him, in
union with Him, partaking in the sufferings of Christ. That
means they are partners with, they are made to be in fellowship
with the sufferings of Christ. Now look at the next word. As you are partakers of the sufferings
of Christ, in fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, so
shall you be also of the consolation. Now that same word, when referring
to the consolation, is not talking about a partnership, it's not
talking about a fellowship, it's not talking about a companionship,
it's talking about a possession. Consolation is what you possess,
isn't it? It's something that's in you. It's not just a, well,
we're walking together holding hands, you hold hands with consolation
here, and I'll hold hands over here with consolation. It's a
possession. Look in Philippians chapter one.
Paul assured the believers at Philippi that they were partakers
with him in the grace of God. And the word partaker clearly
means possessors. Philippians 1 verse 6, being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Even
as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have
you in my heart in as much as both in my bonds and in my defense,
or in the defense in confirmation of the gospel. Ye are all partakers
of my grace. A better translation as you have
in the marginal reference is, ye are all partakers with me
of grace. I possess all God's grace, you
too. We are possessors of grace. Now
look at Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. The word again
is used to speak not merely of fellowship or partnership, but
of an actual possession. Just as we actually possess flesh
and blood. Now, do you really possess flesh
and blood? Or is it just something you sort of touch? I possess
flesh and blood. This is what I am, possessors
of flesh and blood. Jesus Christ also partook of
the same. He possesses the same. Hebrews
2.14, For as much then as children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is,
the devil. What's the meaning of this word,
partakers? of the divine nature. The meaning is Christ in you. Christ in you. By the blessed
violence of His grace, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to the home
of a strong man armed, and He binds the strong man and casts
him out. and enters into the house of
the strolled man and sets up his throne and spoils his goods. That's how sinners are made partakers
of the divine nature. He doesn't knock at your door
and say, pretty please, pretty please let me into your heart.
Oh, no. He doesn't get into your heart
by you receiving him, though you gladly receive him once he's
there. He doesn't get into your heart by you inviting Him in. Preachers tell people everywhere,
Jesus is a gentleman. He won't come in unless He's
invited. But if He waits on you to invite Him in, He ain't coming,
I'll tell you that. He ain't coming. Well, how does
He come in? Here you are with your heart's
door bolted and barred against Him, holding your house with
all your might. And the first time you find out
he's there, it's because he knocked the hearts door down bolt and
bar, came in and brought his welcome with him. And you say,
come Lord Jesus. And gladly receive him. Gladly so. This is that new man
created in you in righteousness and in true holiness. This is
that new man of whom Paul speaks when he says, it is Christ that
lives in me. The Lord Jesus says, he that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. That doesn't just mean,
James, you're going to live a long time. That means he put another
life in you. He put a life in you you didn't
have before. He put himself in you. Judas, not as scary, said,
Lord, how will you Show yourself to us, not to the world. And
the Lord Jesus said, I will come to you. I and my Father will
take up our abode with you. Christ is near. Christ is near. And then Peter tells us to add
to our knowledge, temperance, and patience, and godliness,
and brotherly kindness, and brotherly love, It tells us that these
things must be added to us. We must be diligent to add these
things to our faith. But be clear that you understand
this. We've already seen the faith
that we have. The life that we have is that
which we have obtained by the call of God the Holy Spirit,
giving us all things that pertain to life and to godliness. I take
that to mean that these things we must add to our faith. He
has already given to us as the fruit of faith. And that means
that wherever there's a man, wherever there's a woman who
is born of God, these things are continually added to his
faith. A person's first born again,
you think, boy, I'm so full of love. And then you want to knock
somebody flat down. One of your brothers gets a bad
enemy to punch his eyes out. What's happening? What's happening? Peter says, grow in the grace
and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Growing in the
grace and knowledge of Christ. God graciously, as he more fully
reveals Christ to us and in us, somehow causes us to grow kindness and
gentleness and brotherly love and temperance and patience as
we walk in this world believing Him. And then He tells us, now
make your calling and election sure. Make your calling and election
sure. If you can make your calling
sure, you can make your election sure. If you can make your election
sure, you can make your religion sure. Well, Christian, how can
we know we're elect? How can we know we've been redeemed
by Jesus Christ? How can we know He who died just
for His elect died for me? Believe Him. Believe Him. Believe Him. Do you find yourself now believing
Him? Merle, do you find yourself believing
Him? It's because He chose you, and
He redeemed you, and He made you partaker of the divine nature. And this, verse eleven, will
minister to you an abundant entrance into the kingdom of His glory. Bo, shall I stand in that great
day? For who, Lord, to my charge shall
lay? For through Christ's blood absolved
I am from sin and fear and guilt and blame. With his spotless
garments on, I am as holy as God's own Son. And I know I have
his spotless garments on because the Holy One has taken up residence
right here. causing me to believe God. Lord, may He do that for you.
Amen.