Second Peter chapter one. Second Peter chapter one. Peter
opens this letter the same way he wrote the first one. He declares
to whom he is writing it to and he calls them those that have
attained like precious faith. I would remind us of the persecution
by Nero, the emperor of Rome at this time, the persecution
of the church that's taking place. He wrote the first letter to
encourage them to stand fast in faith. We know that they were
persecuted unto death. They would kill them in many
different terrible ways. He wrote to encourage them, and
what did he write to them in the first letter? Christ is all. Rest. Stand firm on Christ. That's our only hope. That's
our only hope. And what did he write in this
letter? Did it change? No. No, it's the same thing.
He encouraged them to stand fast in the Lord Jesus Christ, to
look to him. I would tell us this evening
something I learned by studying this. Peter's on his deathbed. He's been condemned to death.
They're going to put him to death here before he wrote this letter.
This is one of the last things he did. They crucified him upside
down. He said, I want to be crucified right side up like my Lord was.
And he wrote this letter. Think about what you and I would
have done in that situation have, unless the Lord gives grace,
what would we, we wouldn't write a letter of encouragement to
our brethren, would we? No, but the Lord gave grace to
do so. See, the Lord causes his people to do that, which is good
in his side. And it's looking to Christ. That's
the good, that's the good that he looks for, isn't it? Looking
to Christ. If there's going to be any good in me, I need to substitute.
It's going to have to be the Lord Jesus Christ. calls Peter
to write this letter for the encouragement to everyone who
receives this like precious faith. Now, Sunday, I hope to look at
that thought like precious faith, but for tonight, I've titled
the message Precious Promises. Precious Promises. Peter reminds these persecuted
brethren of the greatest news. I was talking to Levi yesterday
on the phone and told him, one of us made the statement, it's
the best news. And the next one, the other one made the statement,
well, it's the greatest news. It's the most wonderful news.
And it just kept escalating a little bit because it is. To the believer,
it's all our hope. It's all our righteousness. It's
all our desire. It's the Lord Jesus Christ and
his glorious gospel. This is what Peter is telling
these people on death row, the best news. The only hope a person
can have in this life and in the life to come is the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read our text here in 2
Peter 1 again. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us through the righteousness of God in our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our
Lord. according as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lusts. Peter tells us who he is and
who he's writing to. I love the thought that when
we write a letter we write to a particular person and we always
put dear at the top and that's kind of just how our formal letters
are for the most part. When I was writing to my wife
dear meant I loved her. I was writing a letter. We weren't
married, of course, at the time, but I would put, dear Bobby,
specifically for her. I didn't have to put for your
eyes only. It was addressed to her. She knew it was to her.
And that's what this beautiful, this wonderful book that we have
right here. It's a letter addressed to the
Lord's people. And Peter confirms that by him
saying to those who have received like precious faith. tells us
who he is and who he is writing to, and he tells us grace and
peace unto you, and he tells us why grace and peace can be
unto them that he is writing to in verse three. According
as God's divine power hath given unto us all things pertaining
unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue. Because of the Lord's divine
power in giving his elect all things, He's giving not just
all things, physically speaking, as in our need, but yes, He meets
our need, doesn't He? Whatever we need. David said,
I was a young man, now am I old. Never have I seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. And we know the bread
that the believer begs for is not the physical bread so much
as the spiritual bread, isn't it? The Lord gives us the one
thing needful, the Lord Jesus Christ. But Peter says here,
He's given us all things pertaining to life and godliness, both. That's the physical and the spiritual.
Everything needed is in the Lord Jesus Christ, everything. All
things required for us, for you and I to live. All that God requires
for righteousness and holiness. All that God demands for justification. It's all found in one person
and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Peter is reminding
these believers are about. And that's what I hope the Lord
reminds us about tonight. Everything needful is in one
person and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Sound doctrine is necessary to
proclaim, but we preach Christ Jesus and therefore we preach
sound doctrine. You can preach a doctrine without
preaching the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And our hope is
that the Lord would reveal his face. I don't need a head knowledge. I need a heart transplant. I
need the Lord to take out the heart of stone and give a heart
of flesh that I may worship him. Peter's reminding us that all
things, all things pertaining to this, the Lord's given in
the Lord Jesus Christ. All that God requires, all righteousness
and holiness has been given. And notice that it's written
in past tense, hath given, according in verse three, according as
his divine power hath given unto us all things. That's past tense. You mean there's not something
I have to do in order to obtain that? No, he's already given
it. He's already given it in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All that we need is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, given to God's people by his own free grace. All we need to live before God
forever. is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
All that we need to live in this life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul said, if I had hope, if we had hope in this world only,
we'd be of all men most miserable. The Lord's made you a sinner. You understand something about
that, don't you? I'd be miserable. We'd be miserable if we had hope
in this world only. There's no hope in this world,
except one thing, the hope of eternal life found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Is that not true? That's our hope. That's our only
hope. All that we need to live in this
world is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that we need
to live before God forever is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's in him we live, it's in him we move, it's in him we have
our being. And in the fullness of time, see this was given to
us in Christ before the foundation of the world ever happened. But
in time the Lord reveals this knowledge. He causes us to come
to this knowledge, reveals the knowledge of him that's called
us. Reveals the Lord Jesus Christ is all. Wouldn't do you any good
to say the Lord Jesus Christ is all unless you were made to
believe it. Wouldn't do me any good to say it unless I was made
to believe it. But the Lord makes us really
say Christ is all and believe it. We really believe that. It's the Lord that called us
unto his glory and his virtue. And I love the wording. He says glory and virtue. I'd
remind you what the Lord said In John 17, the glory that the
Father has given to me, I've given unto them. The same glory
that the Lord Jesus Christ has, the same glory that the Father
has, that's the glory that he's given to his people. And what
did he say in 1 John 3? We don't know what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is. There's the glory that's
gonna be revealed, it's him, Christ in you. Christ in you
the hope of glory, there it is. That's our hope, he called us
to his glory, not our glory. If we say anything about our
glory, it would be our glory's in him. He that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord. Isn't that what Paul said? I've
got no other place to glory. Can't glory in myself, can't
glory in my circumstances, can't glory in the world. I can glory
in him, his finished work. Yes, I can glory in that. That's
my hope. That's my hope. David on his
deathbed said, although it be not so with my house, yet the
Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant. He said, this is all
my hope. This is all my peace. This is
all my salvation. Though the Lord maketh it not
to grow. This was David's hope. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. And this is Peter's hope as he's about to die, the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. Now, I would ask us tonight,
do you notice anything about these four verses that tells
us what we did or what we do in any way? No. No, it's not what we did, and
it's not what we're going to do, and it's not what we're doing.
It's what he has done. See, everything God requires,
he must provide. Peter didn't say, if you do,
then God will do this. See, that's, I can obligate God
then, can't I? No, this is found by the Lord's
free and sovereign grace. This is, that's the only way
it can be. It's his salvation. It's his glory. Do you know why
we can't find anything about us doing here? Because it's finished. He did it all and he gets all
the glory for it. Matter of fact, Peter says how
it's done is by his divine power. It's by his power. That's how
it's all been done. That's how it was finished. God
elected a people according to his choice in the covenant of
grace before time ever began. Where were you and I? We weren't
even created at that time. And yet he chose to elect some
unto salvation. He chose to elect them. And in the Lamb's book of life,
And the Son agreed to redeem them in the covenant of grace. He became a man to do so and
fulfilled all the law's demands and satisfied God's justice,
pleasing the Father in every way, shedding His innocent blood
that He might redeem us back to God. And the Spirit regenerates
those who the Father elected and the Son redeemed in the time.
This is His power. This is what He has done for
His people. This is the good news that Peter
He's reminding us of they that have obtained like precious faith. Because unless God gives that
faith, we won't believe it. Unless God gives faith to believe,
we won't believe it. But God's people has been given
this precious faith. As soon as the Lord says live,
he gives them the faith to believe. And they just believe. A believer
can not believe. You have to believe. I don't
know how to explain it. You ask Peter whenever he was, warming
himself by the fire. They said, you're associated
with Jesus of Nazareth. He said, no, I don't know what
you're talking about. He was afraid to die. But if you'd asked Peter at that
moment, Peter, do you believe that he's Christ, the son of
the living God? Peter would have said, yes. How do we know? Because
Christ said, I prayed for you that your faith fail not. If
Peter would not have made that confession at that moment, his
faith would have failed. We see that. Peter believed God was
God at that time. He was just scared for Peter.
And that's you and I, isn't it? That's so many times we're afraid
of our circumstances or, but you ask a believer at any time,
do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God that put away
the sin of his people successfully on the cross of Calvary? Truth,
Lord. And that is my only hope. That is my only hope. See, faith just believes him
doesn't look to ourself. It's his salvation. We believe
that it's all him. It's not contingent upon what
we do. It's not contingent upon what
anyone does. It was contingent upon what the
Lord Jesus Christ did, and he could not have failed. Therefore,
it's unbelief to say it was even contingent, isn't it? That's
that's that's not right. It was finished before what the
scripture says work was finished before the world before from
the foundation of the world. That's how sure it is. David said it like this in Psalm
three salvation belongeth to the Lord. It's his salvation
wrought by his blood according to his purpose according to his
will. And aren't you glad it's all by grace, all by his grace
that you're saved. Well, I guess you can kind of
call that the introduction, but also the summary of the first
few verses. And I do that all the time. I
know I do, but can't help it. I don't want to just skip over
these precious words that are written here, but how do we know
all of this to be true because of his precious promises? That's
what the title is. How do we know everything is
true that I've said thus far because of his precious promises,
because of the witness we have of Christ's resurrection, we
know that all of these things that I've said thus far is true.
It's all because it's exceeding great and precious promises.
And I preached a couple Wednesdays ago, God cannot lie. God promised
it, it's done. It's not like you and I. Now
you and I can, I know I've made promises to my children before
that I was gonna do something and not on purpose, but sometimes
I might forget. Sometimes I might, it slips my
mind and you know what that's like. You say you're gonna do
something and then you don't do it. That's why my honeydew
list is so long. I keep forgetting to do it. Thankfully,
I haven't promised her I'm going to do it. I said, I'll get around
to it. That's not a lie. My intention is I'll get around. Lord be willing.
I can't count on my promises, can I? Not before God. Can you
count on your promises before God? No. Well, I can count on
the promise the Lord Jesus Christ made to his father. I can count
on the promise that the father made to the son to resurrect
him. I can count on the promise the spirit made when he said,
I will quicken them. I'll make them alive. I can count
on those promises, can't you? That's why Peter calls them exceeding
great, because of the source of the promise. We have an exceeding
great God that made exceeding great promises to his people.
He calls them precious as well. Look at verse four with me. whereby are given, now everything
that he said thus far, whereby those are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lusts. Because of what he's given, we
have exceeding great and precious promises. When he swore, he gave
his oath, he swore by himself that he would do it, and he did.
We have these exceeding great and precious promises from the
God that cannot lie. Not fulfilled by what we do,
but aren't you glad that it's the fulfillment of salvation
is totally not dependent on you and I in any way, shape or form. But it's totally dependent upon
the God that cannot lie. And he says, I will redeem you
and you shall be redeemed. Fear not Jacob. Fear not, Jacob,
I've elected you. I've bought you with my own blood.
You're mine, I've bought you. And he cannot lie. See, the Lord's
people are his purchased possession, not by what they've done, but
by what he has done. Peter doesn't just call these
promises good or just great, he calls them exceeding great.
And you that have tasted of the fountain of living water, if
you've ever taken a drink from that fountain, or if you've ever
tasted of the manna from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, you know
what that word exceeding means. Exceeding great. To see him seated
upon his throne as Isaiah did, I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. I saw him seated on his throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. There was no other room for any
other glory besides his in the temple. He's exceeding great.
Just like his promises are to his people, He can never break
his exceeding great promises. There's rest in that, isn't there?
You mean whatever God says is going to happen? Yes. What about
me? I've done this and I've done
that. It doesn't amount to a hill of beans. That's an East Tennessee
saying, but you understand what I'm talking about. It doesn't
amount to anything. My promises doesn't mean anything. It's useless.
Everything about his promises is sure, it's certain, it's steadfast,
it's unmovable, it's unchangeable because of the source of the
promise. We make a promise, our source
is messed up. We're so easily tossed about
with the wind and the weight of the sin that it does so easily
beset us with unbelief, but not him. Not the Lord Jesus Christ,
whenever he was on this earth, everything that he did, he did
not waver in any way, shape, or form, even when the terrors
of the cross come past him about, as it's described in Psalm. No,
he said, as I like a flint to the cross of Calvary, to honor
his father and to redeem his people. And do you think he was
gonna fail? No, he could not fail. Well, how do you know he
was successful? Number one, he said so. He said,
it is finished. That's his promise kept to his
father and his people. And we also have the assurance
of that by his resurrection. You've been justified. Lord Jesus
Christ was resurrected because of our justification on the cross
of Calvary. That's our assurance. That's
our hope. That's why all these promises are so precious. And
that's the second thing he calls them. He calls them exceeding
great and then calls them precious. And I love the wording here.
It's not that he's saying that they're precious promises because
they're few in number. You know, they say gold is precious
because of the quantity that's on the face of the earth. Or
they call them precious gems. They call them precious metals.
And it's determined by how much is there. And the less of something,
the more value that it has. That's not the case with our
God. He's infinite. And his promises are infinite.
They're innumerable to his people. They're precious because of the
source of them. They're precious because they're
from him. He's saying they are valued beyond measure because
nothing can compare to the promises of God. No matter how many they
are, nothing can compare to that. They're going to be kept. They're
going to be kept. God cannot lie. He alone is the
one that finished this glorious hope. He's the one alone. He
accomplished his word, didn't he? We talked recently about
having a written will whenever we die that states what we want
to happen after we die. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ was
the one that wrote the will, but yet he's been resurrected
to fulfill the will. Do we see that? And that's the
glorious hope that the Lord's people has is it's going to come
to pass. How many times do we read in
scripture, and it came to pass, and it came to pass? Why? Because
the Lord wrote the book. The Lord wrote time for His glory,
created time for His glory. He alone is the finisher of this
glorious hope. Now it's with this thought, Him
being the finisher, that for the remainder of the time, I
want to look at two. And I could have looked at a lot of promises
tonight. I was just in the Lord's words alone, and John, how many
times he said, I will. How many times in Isaiah did
the Lord say, I will? So these are all promises of
the Lord. It's all throughout his book. But for tonight, I
wanna look at two promises, and they're both found in this letter
from Peter. The first one's found in 2 Peter
3 9. The first one, 2 Peter 3 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise as some men count slackness, but as long suffering
to us were not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance." Now this perhaps is probably one of the
verses that's used the most in false religion to tell men that
God is willing to save anybody. But that's not the case. If we were to omit the first
part, If we just said, not willing that any should perish, like
they quote it, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance, we have to ask the question, any what?
Any dogs, any cats, any giraffes, any people, any what? Well, he gives us the context
of that right before that. He's not willing to usward. He's long suffering to usward.
In the very first verse that we read in this book is those
that have received like precious faith. Look in the same chapter
we're in, chapter three, verse one. This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you. Beloved, beloved of who? Beloved
of God. He's not willing that any of
his beloved perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God said that. And if the Lord said not any
should perish, but all should come to repentance, who's gonna
stop him? Nobody, nobody's going to stop
him. Nobody can say unto the Lord,
what doest thou? Nobody can stay his hand. No, whatever he has purposed
is going to come to pass. He cannot lie or he's not God.
Usward denotes the audience that Peter's writing to. Usward is
the elect of God. Usward is the ones that the Lord
Jesus Christ shed his precious blood for. He's not willing that
any of them should perish. Every one of them is going to
come to the knowledge of the truth. Every one of them is going
to be given repentance, that sees God as God, and we see ourself
as the sinner, and give us faith that we flee to Christ. He's
gonna do that for his people, he promised. He promised. Those that are written in the
Lamb's book of life before time, God's not willing for them to
perish. Does that give you hope? That if you're his, you cannot,
what do I mean cannot? Well, it's that simple, isn't
it? Cannot, it's an impossibility. What does the scripture say about
cannot? God cannot lie. And he just said he's not willing
that any should perish. Any of his people, but all of
them should come to repentance. Well, I can rest in that. If
he's not willing, who's gonna stop him? Who's gonna threaten
him? Who's gonna come into him and
snatch one of his sheep? It's not gonna happen as it can't
happen. He's gotten every one of his people exactly where he
wants them in Christ Jesus. That's where we are. That's our
hope. Scripture tells us, you hath
he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and in sins. See,
that's the state that we were in, unable to help ourself, unable
to do anything for ourself. We were willing for ourself to
perish because we couldn't have done nothing about it. Whether
we were willing or not, it didn't change anything, did it? But
oh, the Lord, he's not slack concerning his promises. As some
men count slackness, he's long suffering to us. When we were
dead in trespasses and sin, you hath he quickened. When you were
sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. That's what the scripture
tells us. He gives that repentance to believe
him. Now we see that the law's demands are satisfied. We see
that the law said justice for any transgressor, but we see
that we're the transgressor. That's the repentance he's talking
about here. And we see that justice is satisfied by the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what faith does. It looks to Christ. Looks to
Christ. I've said this a lot lately,
but I find great comfort in this statement. Everything God requires,
he must provide. Every time I start studying and
I see something that makes my brain go, well, is that a work
that we're supposed to do? I go back to that simple statement.
Everything God requires, he must provide because he's only pleased
with what he provides. I get comfort from that. Now
this repentance is not something that you and I do. This is not
something that we have a broken heart. Now don't misunderstand
when the Lord gives repentance, you're gonna have a broken heart.
But having a broken heart doesn't mean that you have repentance. What does the Lord say? He that
haveth a broken heart and a contrite spirit, I will in no wise cast
out. That's a gift. That's a gift of God by grace.
David didn't have a broken heart and a contrite spirit until Nathan
came to David and said, David, you're the man. You're the one
that's done this against your God. You've sinned. And what
did David say? Well, there was no justification
of David any longer, was there? Over the sin of Bathsheba, he
said, I've sinned against the Lord. He confessed that. What
is that? Repentance. That's what God gives. The Lord breaks the heart of
a man, draws that confession out. But us confessing is not
in order to have repentance. It's the result of repentance
given of God. See the difference? It's not
something we do to obligate God. If I can obligate God by being
sorrowful enough, if I can obligate God by praying enough, if I can
obligate God. No, we don't obligate God at
all. Repentance is the gift of God given to his people according
to his purpose. And he's promised, he's promised
all his beloved will come to that knowledge, will be given
that repentance and also given the faith that just runs to Christ. How many times? All the time,
always, continually, forever and ever and ever. And then one
day our faith will end in sight. We won't have to flee to him
anymore. We'll be one with him forever
and ever. While we're here on this earth, we're constantly
fleeing to him, aren't we? Through the eyes of faith, Lord,
I believe, help thou my unbelief. If you believe that, then here
is promise. God's not willing for his beloved
to perish. Do you know why? Because their salvation's finished.
Their salvation's finished. On the cross of Calvary, the
Lord Jesus Christ really Successfully did everything necessary for
the salvation of his people. He produced everything that the
father is pleased with. He gives it all to his people.
So now the father sees his people in Christ Jesus and he says,
well pleased, perfectly righteous. That's the declaration of his
people. All because his own blood purged our sin. It's not that he was just willing
we shouldn't perish. You and I can be willing that
our children don't perish, but what we lack is the sovereign
power to make it certain. No, the Lord made it certain.
The Lord made it certain. Number one, he can't lie and
he promised, he promised not any of them should perish. Lord
Jesus Christ, I quoted this Wednesday, but he said, my sheep hear my
voice and I know them and they follow me, John chapter 10. and
I give unto them eternal life. This is a promise. Think about
this. I give unto them, my sheep, eternal life, and they shall
never perish. Do you believe that? The Lord
said it. The Lord said not one sheep will
perish. I give them eternal life and
they shall never perish, and no man shall pluck them from
my hand. There's another promise. See, that's what the Lord does
is he makes promises unto you and I, and faith just rests in
those promises. We don't need evidence. We don't
need evidence in our life to say, okay, I believe because
of this. If we say because of anything
other than the finished work of Christ, it's not faith. Faith
believes Christ and his finished work and all of his promises,
all of his promises made to us were his people. Chapter one, where our text was
found, he says he called us to his glory. This glory that I'm
speaking of, of the salvation that he wrought on the cross
of Calvary for his people, that's the glory that he called his
people to. In John 17, I said this earlier,
but I don't want to misquote it. He said, the glory which
thou gavest me, I have given them that they may be one, even
as we are one. How certain, how certain is the
Lord's salvation of his people? Well, they're one in Christ.
were one in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, then he did foreknow.
Then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son. And whom he did predestinate, he called. And whom he called,
he justified. And whom he justified, he glorified.
That's all past tense. That's all past tense. That means
you and I, right now, are glorified in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
I can't explain that. And you can either, but faith
says truth, Lord. I believe that he was that successful
on the cross of Calvary. I believe that we've been given
the same glory in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's my only hope. Lord, I believe that you will
not let one of your sheep perish because they've already been
glorified in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we can get ahold of that,
there's rest, isn't there? There's rest in that. what exceeding great and precious
promises he's given his people, and he's kept them. He's kept
them. He said, all that the Father
giveth me, they shall come to me, John chapter six. And all
that cometh to me, I won't lose one of them. I promise. I promise,
and he kept that promise. He's not lost one of them, he
never will. He never will, he promised. Is that your hope? It's the only one I got. It's
the only one I got. It's the only hope I've got.
Last promise I want to show us in closing. 2 Peter, you're in
2 Peter 3, look in verse 13. Because of everything else, we
have this glorious promise now. We have the past tense promise
and the present tense promise that we've just heard, that the
Lord saved his people, redeemed his people, glorified his people
as the future, but we have the promise even more so in verse
13. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. What is the promise that he made
that gave us the ability by faith to believe and look for new heavens
and a new earth? He said, I go to prepare a place
for you, for you. Who is he talking to? Who is
he talking to? I got to know if I'm a you. And
I say this sometimes in jest, but I want to be one of the yous,
one of the yous, the yous guys, as y'all say. You know what I
mean? I put yous in y'alls. Anyways, one of the yous, don't you? What's
a you? I got to know. Am I a you? Because if I'm not, I've got
no hope. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. It's the beloved
of the Lord. It's the ones that Christ died
for. It's the ones that we love. How
do I know if I'm a you? Well, what's your hope? Is your
hope in your promise you made to God or is your hope in the
promise he made to the father and the father made to the son
and the spirit made unto them both? Is your righteousness found
in yourself or is it only found in the Lord Jesus Christ and
what he accomplished on Calvary? Is your hope in the blood that
flows in your veins and what you do in your life and what
I do in my life or is it his blood alone? If it's his alone,
if it's him alone and it's all by him and you're completely
hanging the eternal hope of your soul on the promise of the Lord
Jesus Christ alone, you're a you. You're a you. You believe. And it's true, isn't it? Lord,
help thou mine unbelief. I believe. I go to prepare a
place for you. You know how he starts that out
with, let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. It's all kinds of songs and folly and false religion
that talks about I've got a mansion just over the hilltop. Believer
ain't looking for no mansion, are we? No, I'm looking for one
face. Just one. I just want to see
him face to face because if I see him face to face being clothed
in his righteousness, everything's all right forever. Everything's
all right. I just want to see his face.
I just want to be a doormat as long as I'm there. But he said,
you're not going to be a doormat. You're going to be conformed
to the image of his son. That's what he did on the cross of Calvary. I go to prepare a place for you.
That's a promise. I promised I'm coming back. Coming
back for my people. Rest in his word. Don't rest
in your promises towards him. Rest in his exceeding great and
precious promises. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord gave us a promise. He said, come unto me. If you're
laboring, heavy laden, I'll give you rest. That's a promise. That's
a promise. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you shall find rest
to your soul. That's a promise. And he tells you the reason why
my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You won't find a lighter
burden than the Lord's. Why? Because it is finished. Salvation is accomplished. There's
no work for you to do to be saved. He did it all. Rest in that. Rest in the promises of the Lord. Therein is found grace and peace.
Look back in our text, 2 Peter chapter one. verse 1, Simon Peter, a servant
and apostle of Jesus Christ, them who obtained like precious
faith, which us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. See, the only place we can find
grace and peace is resting because he hath wrought all this by his
own power and his own will. And that's what the next verse
says. According as his divine power hath given unto us all
things. How did you receive all things?
His power, not mine, not mine. All things pertaining into life
and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to
glory and virtue. whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises. It's the only way we can have
grace and peace. The only place that that's found
is resting in the power of the Lord and His grace, by His grace. That's the only way that we can
have grace and peace is resting in what He wrought according
to His will, all by His power, all by His work. When we rest,
we see that we've been given all things pertaining all things
pertaining to life and godliness, all things in Christ. The Lord never gave us a single
promise he would be just in doing so unless, unless he promised
to redeem us. See, there's nothing in us is
my point. No obligation in ourself that
demands that God promise me anything in my flesh. There's nothing.
I can't demand God promise me something. But in the covenant
of grace, in the covenant of grace, the promises of God are
to his people. They are really to his people.
They promised one another in the covenant of grace and to
his people. And in that, he has brought us,
called us, he says, into glory and virtue, all by giving us
his glorious and great, exceeding, his exceeding great and precious
promises. The last thing I want to remind
you of is this. He's kept every single one of them already. It's already finished. Time is
just ticking as he's ordained it to tick. Nothing can stop
it. Everything is finished. How do we know he's seated right
now? He's seated on his throne right now. There's no more work
to be done. I'm so thankful for his exceeding great and precious
promises. I wish I could. Get ahold of it the way I want
to it. We can't enter into these things, but the Lord gives faith
just says thank you Lord. I believe it's my only hope your
promises, not my promises, but yours. Let's pray. Lord calls
us to rest and you're exceeding great and precious promises looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Lord, there's our only
hope. And our only peace. It's in Christ
and we pray a man. In closing, let's turn to number.