What a wondrous, glorious, great
mystery the gospel of our God is. God was manifest in the flesh. Let me tell you just exactly
what that means. God Almighty, in all the fullness
of his glorious being, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in all his
infinity, in all that he is, stepped into human flesh, obeyed
his own law, fulfilled righteousness, was obedient to every commandment,
brought in everlasting righteousness by his obedience, fulfilled every
prophet, accomplished redemption by the sacrifice of himself upon
the cursed tree in our stead, was buried. Three days later,
he arose from the dead according to the scriptures and took his
seat at the right hand of the majesty on high and said, look
here, this is what God is. He is the word made flesh who
dropped among us in whom we behold the very glory of God, that one
who is full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ is God, manifest
in the totality of his being in human flesh. God's own son
came down here 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 endured the death of the cross
that our enmity might be slain and our sins put away. He loved
us to make it possible for us to love God. He who was rich
became poor that we through his poverty might be made rich. He
descended into the grave that we might sit together with him
in heavenly places. He emptied himself that we might
be made possessors of all the fullness of God. He made himself
of no reputation that he might make us honorable. He became
a worm and no man. that we who are just sinful worms
might be made princes with God and exalted to the highest glory. He was made a curse for us that
we might receive the blessings of his salvation. All the blessings
of everything God can give to sinners given to us in him in
the everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. Though
an heir, the heir of all things, he was willingly despised of
the people that we who are justly condemned might obtain an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled that can never fade away. His death
was the satisfaction of divine justice, the ransom for us, the
propitiation for our sins, the sweet-smelling savor unto God,
that we who were an offense to God might be freed from sin and
made a sweet-smelling savor to God. He was made sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Though Lord of all,
he took the form of a servant, that we who are the servants
of sin might be made the servants of God and the servants of righteousness. He drank the bitter cup of the
wrath of God to its utter dregs that you and I might drink of
the water of life. He hungered that we might eat
the bread of life. He was numbered with the transgressors
that we might be numbered with saints, though he is eternal. from everlasting to everlasting,
that one who is from the beginning, before ever the earth was. Yet
he became the helpless infant, Jesus of Nazareth, the helpless
infant. I mean just as helpless as any
other infant ever born in this world. He had to have the milk
of his mother's breast to survive, just like any other baby. He
became a helpless infant, the you and I who were his. might
be forever his in eternal life. He wore the crown of thorns that
we might wear the crown of glory. He wept the anguish and tears
of the garden until his sweat broke out in blood that we might
ourselves have all tears wiped from our eyes forever. He took
the yoke of obedience that we might bear the easy yoke of his
grace. He poured out his soul unto death
laid in the earth for three days and three nights, and then burst
the bars of death asunder, arose to God that we who through fear
of death were all our lifetime subject to bondage might be forever
free and obtain victory over death, hell, and the grave, be
made partakers of his resurrection. Our Lord Jesus, God in the flesh,
exhausted the penalty of divine justice. He wore out the sword
of God's wrath. He exhausted the fury of God
that we might obtain the inexhaustible riches and treasures of his grace
forever. He who is the Son of God, was
forsaken of God, that we might never be forsaken. He was hung
up naked upon the cursed tree, that we might forever be clothed
with the garments of salvation. Wonderful mystery. God was manifest
in the flesh. But of all the wonders of this
mystery, the mystery 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. That's
what Peter tells us in my text in 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter
chapter 1. Yesterday before lunch, I was
wrapping up preparations for my message in Danville last night. Nybert called, and we talked
for a little bit about this passage of scripture. He didn't know
I'd been waddling around in it for weeks. And I immediately
picked up, and I finished my preparations last night, my Bible,
and started again here in 2 Peter 1, and been working on this all
day. I believe God's giving me a message
for you. 2 Peter 1, verse 4, God the Holy Ghost tells us,
that we are made partakers of the divine nature. What an astounding
statement. Partakers of the divine nature. Now that's a statement that I
would never dream of making, let alone declare it. statement
I would never think of in private, let alone proclaim in public,
if it were not written right here in the book of God. You who are gods, you who are
born of God, you who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, being
born again are by the omnipotent grace of God made partakers of
the divine nature. What a statement, what a statement.
Now I want you to see and see clearly that everything stated
in these first 12 verses of 2 Peter chapter 1, everything stated
here, is so obvious that Peter tells us three times in these
12 verses that he's not talking to us about anything new. He's not talking to us about
anything strange, but rather he is talking to us about things
commonly known by God's people. Three times he says, I'm just
putting you in remembrance of the present truth that you know.
I'm just putting you in remembrance of things that you know. These
are things you may not be able to understand. Indeed, I'm certain
you don't. let alone put into words and
explain. And I certainly don't intend
to pretend that I'm going to expound to you this statement.
I can't begin to do so. I can't begin to do so. There
are things revealed in this book that I just declare. I just declare. I can't explain
to you how the sun stood still one day, but I know it did. How
do you know? Because the book says so. And
I can't begin to explain to you how Christ was made sin for us.
I know he was, because the book says so. I can't begin to explain
to you how God, who is life and cannot change, died. But he did. The book tells us in Acts 20,
28, that God loved his church and purchased it with his own
blood. The scriptures declare many wondrous things in the gospel,
commonly known to every believer, commonly known that we can't
begin to explain. But as you hear them, you say,
well, that's just right. That's just right. That's just
the way I always thought it was. Now let's see what God says to
us here by his spirit. Let's begin in verse one. 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. In the very opening words of
this epistle, Peter tells us that his inspired letter is addressed
to God's elect. It is addressed to you who are
born of God, to you who are saved by the grace of God. The things
he speaks of here are things that are true of every heaven-born
soul. No matter how recently God saved
you, no matter how long ago God saved you, these things are equally
true of every heaven-born soul. I'm not by any means pretending
to simply be preaching to believers. Oh, not at all. You are yet without
Christ. As I described to you, what God
has done is doing and shall do for his people. I pray that God
will be pleased this very hour to make you a partaker of the
divine nature. Oh, wondrous miracle of grace.
that God makes sinful worms like you and me, partakers of the
divine nature. Peter describes himself here
as a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. There are no apostles
in our day. That needs to be stressed over
and over and over again. Because there are a lot of fellows
who are messengers of Satan who pretend to be apostles and pretend
to have apostolic gifts and all that nonsense. The apostles ended
with the death of John. There are no apostles today.
But there are many like the apostles in that they are messengers of
Jesus Christ. the servants of God and the messenger
of Jesus Christ. What a privilege. What a high
honor. What a great calling. I was speaking
to Evan last week before the services before anybody else
got here about this thing of preaching and pastoring. Don't
dare. You men don't dare. Don't dare
presume. to take it upon yourselves to
make yourself a preacher. Don't dare presume to do so.
But this is a calling, a work that's desirable and one that's
honorable and one of tremendous responsibility. Pray that God
will be pleased to continue from this assembly and from ours and
around the world to raise up from our midst men to preach
the gospel of his grace. It is a work that is a great,
high, honorable calling. I sometimes hear preachers, I
wouldn't wish this on anybody. Well, I would to God he'd make
every one of you prophets. I wouldn't have thought he'd
give this work to multitudes of men. I've been praying for
my grandson since before he came into this world. God might be
pleased to save him by his grace and make of him a preacher of
the gospel. If it meant he packed up tomorrow
and went to New Guinea, I'd never see him again on this earth.
I'd be delighted. I'd be delighted. Nothing more
honorable, nothing more honorable to a man than to be sent of God
as his servant to proclaim the gospel of his grace, to be made
of God an instrument, by which dead sinners are made partakers
of the divine nature. Ooh, I wouldn't trade place with
anybody. I wouldn't trade place with anybody.
This is a work that requires all of a man, that no man pretend
to do it who doesn't give himself to it. Here, Peter speaks of
God's saints as people who have obtained like precious faith. The faith of God's elect is one. It is always the same. Now, if
you go down to the gym or to the grocery store or to the bar
and start to talk to somebody about religion, you'll find out
there are lots of folks who have all kinds of faith. And they'll
argue with you about their faith and your faith. And you'll see
immediately there are differences in our faith, not among God's
people. The faith of God's people is
the same. God's servants all see eye to
eye. Their faith is the same. It is
the faith of God's elect. It is that faith that comes to
us. It's not being taught of a man,
but being taught of God. It's a faith given to us by the
gift of God's grace. Yes, through the instrumentality
of the faithful preaching of the gospel. But the faith given
us is given us by God. The faith taught us is taught
us by God. We possess faith. We've obtained
it as the gift of God's grace by the special operation of his
grace in us. And all who've obtained this
blessed gift fully agree with Peter. The faith God's given
us is precious faith. It brings to us all the precious
promises, takes us to the fountain of Christ's precious blood, makes
us heirs of the precious things of heaven. It causes even our
trials to be precious trials. It's precious faith because it
makes Christ Jesus precious to our souls. Unto you, therefore,
which believe, he is precious. It makes us to be numbered among
the precious sons of Zion. Gives us precious righteousness
and precious life. Read on. We have obtained this
precious faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Faith has been freely bestowed
upon us because of the doing and dying of the Son of God.
Faith does not produce righteousness, it experiences it. Faith does
not produce righteousness, it takes it by the hand from the
God who gives it. Faith does not perform righteousness,
it experiences righteousness. We have been made to have the
righteousness of God our Savior. That is, the righteousness accomplished
for us by the doing and dying of the Son of God by the gift
of faith. Faith, God's gift, takes the
righteousness of God as his free gift. It is ours in experience
as we believe God. We have for us this glorious
faith because Christ is the object of faith. His righteousness is
the thing faith depends upon. What a glorious righteousness
we have in and with our Lord Jesus by the gift of grace and
faith in him. Look at verse two. Grace and
peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God
and Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, this is not a wish. This is not even a prayer. When
you read the blessed benedictions in this word, These are benedictions
given by God the Holy Ghost to give to his servants who wrote
by divine inspiration to give us the certain world of God.
Peter is not giving us something he hopes we will have. He's telling
us as God gives you faith, as God gives you faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, grace and peace shall be multiplied to you through
the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now read through
the chapter and you'll discover that everything connected with
the kingdom of God, everything connected with the kingdom of
God is connected with the knowledge of Christ, the knowledge of Christ. So that As you know him and as
you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ the Lord, grace
and peace are multiplied. As you grow in grace, grace and
peace are multiplied, multiplied to you as you know the Savior. God's people grow in grace. And God's people possess greater
peace as the days progress, as God our Savior takes us by the
hand and leads us along the way he's ordained for us in peace. I hope Lynn won't mind me referring
to a painful experience. I remember a long time ago sitting
by the bed of a UK and we expected your husband to die. And you
were right there, just torn to pieces. I remember it well. Me too, me too. I remember it
well. And you've been through a lot
since then. And the pain is just as real
as it ever was. But all the peace, all the peace. Oh, the blessedness of peace
that comes through the continued increasing knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You remember, Brother Clare,
when you and Annie were dating and how jealous you were of every
fellow that looked crossways at her? You might not have been,
I was. I was. I recall when Shelby and
I were dating, I hadn't been saved long enough to know you
weren't supposed to hit fellas. And I was in high school, and there was
a fella who was trying to nudge between me and her, and I found
out who it was, and I walked up to the dormitory room one
day and said, if you speak to her again, I'll throw you out
that window. Because I was, and he's not going to get in my way.
These days, fellas flirt with her, right? They just presume
she's not connected with me. And they flirt with her right
in front of me, and I just smile. How come? because I know her. I got
her in my hip pocket. You can't get her. You can't
get her. And as you Come to know the Savior,
you find peace and grace, and you rejoice in it. But as you
come to know him, you find greater peace and satisfaction in him,
just knowing him. Because he does everything just
right, just right. Tomorrow morning, Ricky Dale's
going to go in and have a hole in his heart repaired, he's born
with. and we'll leave that in God's hands with peace, with
peace. How come He is our God and our
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior? This grace and peace is never
subtracted, but only multiplied in the knowledge of Him. Every
enlargement of the knowledge of Christ brings multiplied grace
and peace. Then in verse 2, he tells us,
but he, or verse 9 rather, he tells us, he that lacketh these
things is blind. The fellow who lacks these things,
this faith, this grace, this peace, this knowledge of Christ,
he's blind. The third verse discovers to
us the source and cause of this blessedness. the saving knowledge
we have of our Lord Jesus. It's not knowledge that comes
by discipline study, by learning or by the exercise of human powers
of any kind. Oh no, a thousand times no. This
saving knowledge, this knowledge of Christ is bestowed upon chosen
sinners, redeemed sinners by the omnipotent power of God's
grace. Look at it, according as. According
as this is how you got it. According as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. How's that? Through the knowledge
of him that called us to grace and to glory. Oh, what a gift. All things that pertain to life
and godliness. What all does that include? But
let me ask another question to be easy to answer. What does
it not include? He's given us everything that
has any connection with life and Godliness. Everything. Oh, what a vast, vast, incomprehensible,
all comprehensive gift. This is given to us by the call
of God. When God calls a sinner by the
power of his grace, he calls the sinner with irresistible
power, with omnipotent mercy, and sweetly forces the sinner
to believe on Christ. He forces him to believe on Christ. You fellas believe God forces
a man to be saved. Yeah, that's what we believe.
I couldn't serve a God like that. No, you never will unless he
forces you to. But if he forces you to, you'll be willing in
the day of his power. And he's called us, watch this
now, to virtue. What? To virtue? We had none when he called us.
We had no ability to produce any. But those who are called
of God are called to a life of doing right, of being virtuous. Now before you cry heresy, damning
heresy, turn over a few pages to the third chapter of 1 John. 1 John chapter 3. If you can get hold of John's
message here and forget all the gobbledygook commentaries right
about it, you'll find this one of the most blessed portions
of scripture, the most comforting, most delightful, most instructive
portions in the word of God with regard to the nature of the believer. First John chapter three, verse
seven. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth
righteousness is righteous. Notice the ETH ending, good Elizabethan
word, doeth, doeth. That's present tense with no
end. He that doeth righteousness all
the time, he doesn't ever do anything else. He's righteous,
even as God is righteous, verse eight. He that commiteth sin,
has that same Elizabethan English, E-T-H-N-D. It's a linear tense. He that commiteth with no end. all the time, nothing but sin. He that committed 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. Watch verse nine. Whosoever is
born of God, what does it say? Doth not commit sin. does not ever, at any time, for
any reason, under any circumstances, commit sin. He doesn't do it.
Now, the commentators say, well, he doesn't practice it. That's
not what it says. It says he doesn't sin. He does not sin.
How's that? How's that? For his seed remaineth
in him, and he cannot sin. It's impossible, because he's
born of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. What on earth is that talking about? Is that talking
about Claire and Don? No, it's talking about Don and
Don. It's talking about Claire and
Claire. Inside every believer, is that man who cannot see it,
and that man who can't do anything but see it. And so there's a
constant warfare. That man who cannot see it is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is that which is born of God,
that natural man. That's of the devil. You say,
well, which one am I? That's what you are. I really
am that new man, and I really am that old man. so that the
things we do, whatever we do, if I touch it, I have kind of
oily skin. I can't touch that ice cold glass
without leaving something on it. If I touch something white,
you can see my finger on it right now because I have oily skin. I just touch it. Everything we
do, whether you're talking about prayer or praise or thanksgiving
or faith Our love, our kindness, our forgiveness, our generosity,
our reading the word of God, our worship, everything we do,
we do in this body of flesh, and sin is mixed with it. It's
marred by sin. But that new man delights in
the law of God after the inward man, and he cannot sin, he's
born of God. And the old man can't do anything
else. All right, back to 1 Peter, or
2 Peter, chapter one. You might be asking, Brother
Don, how can any of us be said to do righteous? Sin is mixed
with everything we do. You're exactly right, exactly
right. Sin is in all of us. In fact,
we can't do anything but sin. But God, by wondrous work of
his grace, has put this new man in us. Now listen to how he's
described in Ephesians chapter four and verse 24. Created Not to be righteous and holy. That's not what it says. Created
in righteousness and true holiness. Created by God in righteousness
and true holiness. The new man is that man that
is in you, the hope of glory, Christ Jesus. Look at verse four.
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. that by these, that is by the
fulfilling of these promises, God who cannot lie, promised
us eternal life in Christ before the world began. That by these,
these promises of God, you who are born of God might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. Partakers of the divine nature. Now those are bold words. But bold and startling as they
are, they stand right here before you in the book of God. You've
got two choices. You can say, well, God's right.
And everybody who speaks contrary to that's wrong, or they're right
and God's wrong. Those are your two choices. Those are your two choices. Nothing
in between. God says we're made partakers
of the divine nature. Why does that seem so strange
to us? Why is it so shocking to us?
Sinners saved by the grace of God throughout the New Testament
are spoken of as sinners made new in Christ. Back in the 1600s,
a fellow by the name of Henry Scroggill, who lived but just
a few short years, The only thing that historically is remembered
by folks who lived in his day is a brief letter. Actually,
there's a long letter, a brief booklet. He was later persuaded
to publish it as a booklet. I found out about it reading
George Whitfield's biography, and I went to one of those things
online, looked up an ancient copy of it that had been scanned
in the computer and got a copy of it. I suggest you get it and
read it. He wrote a little booklet called The Life of God in the
Soul of Man. What a strange title. The Life
of God in the Soul of Man. George Whitefield, when he was
in what they called the Holy Club at Oxford, a bunch of religious
folks acting like they were holy, before God saved him, got hold
of that booklet and read it. And he attributed that to be
the means by which God taught him the gospel. The life of God
in the soul of a man. What happened when God saved
you, Rich? God stepped into you. That's what happened. God sticked
to you. How can a man spoil the goods
of another? He must bind the strong man,
knock down the door of his house, go in, throw him out, and spoil
him of all his goods. That's exactly what God does
in saving the sinner. The scriptures tell us that we
are the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. The Scriptures
tell us that we are born of God, that his seed remains in us.
The Scriptures tell us plainly that Christ dwells in us, and
we dwell in him. That's the common language of
Scripture. That's the common language of Scripture. Our Savior
said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. I'll tell you what you do. You
go find me a branch that's severed from the vine, and I'll show
you a branch that's dead. Because I'm the vine. You're
the branches. And we are just as really one
with Christ as branches one with the vine. Our Savior espoused
us to himself in eternity, and I know this question about it
in our crazy society, but if two people are married, they've
got to have the same nature. I'm sorry, you just can't marry
a dog. You just can't do it. Got to
have the same nature. And we being married to Christ
are married into Christ. He says, I'll come into you and
you'll come into me so that we are one with Jesus Christ. Brother Don, how can you talk
about that? He that is joined to the Lord
is one spirit. Is that the language of the book? He said, Father, are you ready?
Just a little bit ago. I'm praying that when I get done
with everything that you've given me to do, the world may know
that they are one. I'm one with them, one with Him. Everybody's going to see the
wonder of this mystery. We are one with our Savior, as
really and truly one with Him as He is one with the Father. One being. You remember what
Paul said in Ephesians chapter 5? He said, Husbands love your wives, as
Christ loved the church. Now you can go most anywhere
in Lexington and hear fellas preaching from Ephesians 5 or
lecturing about it, and they'll have weeks of studies about marriage
counsel, marriage services, and what y'all are doing, how y'all
ought to behave, and all that stuff, and fellas get all excited
about it. And a cleric will come and listen, he and Ann will be
listening to that session. Oh boy, I needed that. And then
after a few weeks, they get all, he puts fuss, and she does, and
everything going good. And Brother Todd brings another
message on what husbands ought to be. And he said, boy, I sure
wish Matt and Andrew had been here. They need a dad. That's not occasionally what
happens. That's always what happens. That's always what happens with
such tomfoolery. That's always what happens. It
makes men self-righteous. Paul said, I'm not talking about
a husband and his wife. He said, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and his mother, and they too shall become
one flesh. Now for those of you, and most
of you do, know my wife and me. If you ever confuse the two of
us and think that she's me and I'm her, we'll check you into
a padded cell somewhere. Now she's devoted to me, and
I'm devoted to her, but we're not one flesh. and never can
be. And if I drop dead before I get
home and she gets married tomorrow, that's perfectly all right. That
relationship is ended. That's over with. But what's
he talking about? He said, I'm talking about Christ
and his church. We are one with him. Now that
doesn't excite the religious world, but it ought to excite
you. Oh my soul, what can that mean? As he is accepted of God,
I'm accepted of God. As he is safe in heaven's glory,
I am safe in heaven's glory. As all things are for him, all
things are for me. It is by the call of God, by
the great precious promises of God, that we are made to be partakers
of the divine nature, making us one with Jesus Christ, our
Lord, so that we are made new creatures in him, and thereby
have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now, what does God the Holy Spirit
mean? when he tells us we're made partakers
of the divine nature. I know if you pay attention to
what folks write on the internet, I don't read it. I have some
friends who apparently tell Brother Daniel Parks everything somebody
writes about me. So once in a while, he'll tell me what somebody said.
One of our ladies came up to me after the services one morning
and said, Brother Don, do you ever read what folks say about
you on the internet? I said, no, I don't pay attention to
it. I don't pay attention to it. I'll tell you, if Fortner's
popped a corker, he's gonna cede on this, gonna cede on that,
and he doesn't know what he's talking about. Well, when I read this,
I say, wow, what grace. We're made partakers of the divine
nature. That doesn't mean we become little
gods. That doesn't mean that we are
made partakers of the divine essence. That doesn't mean that
we have the attributes of God. None of those things are so.
So what does it mean? Let the scriptures answer for
themselves. It means that we're fellowshipers
with God. No, no. It means that we are possessors
of the divine nature. Possessors of the nature of that
man who is himself God in the new birth by the power of his
spirit. Jesus Christ, Delphi's God, came
and took up residence in you. Christ in you! That's the hope
of glory. Christ in you. Now the hope was
settled a long time ago. It was settled before the world
began, but it's like a river flowing from eternity, but it
runs underground. Until at the appointed time of
love, God gives you life and faith in Christ, and you drink
from the gushing fountain of eternal life, given you with
Christ and in Christ before the world began. As he was made partaker
of flesh and blood, We are made partakers of the divine nature. B.B. Caldwell put it this way.
He said, without this divine nature, heaven would be hell. If an unregenerated person should
go to heaven without being born again, without this divine nature,
heaven would be hell to him. And not only that, but he would
make heaven hell for everybody else. How do you think an ungodly
person would feel in a holy heaven, in the presence of the holy God,
and in the presence of the holy angels, with all the saints and
angelic hosts singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. To be made partakers of the divine
nature is to be one with Christ by wondrous mystery of God's
free grace. Who can understand it? Nobody
can. Nobody can. Who can explain it?
Nobody can. Who can know it? Everybody who's
born of God. Now, after telling us this, what
God has done for us in the new birth, making us partakers of
the divine nature, Peter admonishes us to add to our faith virtue,
and knowledge, and temperance, and patience, and godliness,
and brotherly kindness, or kindness and brotherly love, and tells
us in verses five through nine that those who lack these things
are blind. Those who lack these things are
blind. Their religion is just lip service. It's just lip service. They talk it. They talk a good
game, but it's all just lip service. They say, well, no, no, no, no,
we're not partakers of the divine nature. No, we don't have a new
nature. They're blind. It's all just lip service. These
things are the fruit of grace, not the cause of grace. We have
already told that it's by the gift of God that we're made partakers
of the divine nature. And it is by that gift that all
things pertaining to life and godliness are ours. These additions
to faith are things that flow from faith. Our Lord said, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you. And ordained you that you
should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
And whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he'll
give it you. Now look at verses 10 and 11.
I'll wrap this up. This ought to stir up your remembrance
one more time of the obvious things which we ought to delight
in as those have been made partakers of the divine nature. Wherefore,
the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. Make your calling and election
sure. How can you be sure? How can you be sure? He that
believeth. that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. See what the book says, Rick?
He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
Now that doesn't mean everybody who says I believe Jesus is the
Christ is born of God. That's not what it means. He
who believes that that man of Nazareth called Jesus is indeed
the Christ who has fulfilled everything written in the Old
Testament scriptures concerning the Christ. He brought in everlasting
righteousness. He satisfied divine justice.
He put away sin. He redeemed his people. He saved
his people from their sin. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. He's born of God. How do you
know you've been called? How do you know that you're one
of God's elect? How do you know that you're redeemed? Faith is
the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things
not seen. Now, I'm not just talking to
you and trying to impress you. I'm telling you what is absolutely
so. Paul Harry's most of the time,
I feel, like one who's not born of God. I wish that weren't true, but
it is. Most of the time, I can hardly even think of calling
my faith faith, or my love for you love. That's just fact. That's just fact. But I believe
that Jesus is the Christ. and I hang all the weight of
my immortal soul on him. That means I'm one of God's elect.
That means I've been redeemed by the blood of Christ. That
means God's called me. If he hadn't, I couldn't hang
my soul on God's son. That's the teaching of Holy Scripture.
But pastor, what about all of our evidences? I tell you what, the only time
I ever have a problem, the only time I ever have a problem with
confidence and assurance before God is when I start looking in
here for something to give me some peace. That's the only time
I ever have trouble. Evidences? Those things that
men call evidences are a delusion. If you can find something in
you, if you can find something in you that, well, now that,
Boy, I really do love my brethren. I'm really faithful. If you find
something in you that gives you peace before God, you don't know
God. That's just fact. That's just
fact. Our evidence is yonder in glory, Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the acre of our soul. Now
watch this. Verse 10 again. If you do these
things, you shall never fall. Never thought. I probably told you this. I have
a friend. I've never met with Jim Jim sick, lives out in Arizona. He used to be a professional
golfer. He's in a car with a little accident, lost one of his arms
and no longer a golfer. But I've been hearing from him
for years. I hear from him just every few
days, most of the time. And he almost signs his notes
this way in his crib. That's where we are! In His grip! And being in His grip, the grip
of omnipotent grace, you shall never fall. For so, now watch
this, so shall be ministered unto you abundantly into everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What's that mean? That means you who believe God
shall be ushered into glory with no trembling, no fear, no hesitancy. Triumphant, victorious, all together
in, by, and with Christ Jesus. Wherefore, I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know
them. be established in the present
truth. Oh, God establish our hearts
in this present truth. You who believe are made by the
grace of God partakers of the divine nature. If that doesn't float your boat,
I don't know what will. Partakers of of the divine nature. Amen.