Let's open our Bibles to 2 Peter
again this evening. Chapter 1, 2 Peter. We talked this morning in the
closing part of the message about his divine power. Let's read
verse 3. according as his divine power,
his divine power hath given unto us all things, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption, all spiritual blessings in Christ
Jesus, all that we need to make us qualified
and fit and sufficient to inherit the very glory of God, all things
that pertain to life, spiritual life, eternal life, and godliness,
all these things through the knowledge of him that have called
us to glory and virtue. This is not something that we
did. It's what he did by his divine power, all things. His divine power. What is this
divine power? Well, it's His divine power which
designed and created and sustains all things in this universe.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It's
His divine power that will one day destroy this old heaven and
old earth, and make a new one wherein dwelleth righteousness."
That's his divine power. His divine power is that divine
power which purposed before the foundation of the world and decreed
the everlasting covenant of grace, a kingdom of righteousness called
the kingdom of his dear son, and chose a people and gave them
to Christ and made him their surety and Redeemer and Savior. This divine power is the power
which put life in a virgin's womb and gave a body in that
virgin's womb and incarnated himself in that body. and came forth, the God-man,
a mystery. Paul said, God was manifest in
the flesh, his power. His divine power, which lived
a perfect life, he said, I have glorified thee on this earth. Honored, exalted, and magnified
the perfect law of the Heavenly Father on behalf of a his divine
power. His divine power, which by his
own death and the shedding of his own blood, satisfied his
own justice and his own law for all of his chosen redeemed people,
and enabled himself to be both just and justifier of all who
believe. His divine power by which he
conquered death, hell, and the grave, and raised himself from
the tombs, and ascended, and sat at the right hand of the
majesty on high, expecting to, by his divine power, all his
enemies become his footstool. And his divine power that called
us one day out of spiritual darkness and gave us life which we lost
in Adam, and gave us all things that pertain to life and glory,
life here and life eternally, resurrection of our bodies and
eternal glory with him. That's divine power. Paul wrote about it in Colossians
1, in chapter 1 of Colossians, when he said in verse 12, giving thanks unto God the Father,
which hath made us qualified, fit, meet, sufficient to be a
partaker of the inheritance of saints in light, who have delivered
us from the power of darkness, who have translated us, literally
transferred us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have
already redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
all our sins. who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him, and he's before
all things, and by him all things are held together. Now chapter
2 of Colossians, verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body." All the fullness of the Godhead in
a body, bodily. Like the Shekinah glory of God
came down and dwelt in that old tabernacle. The very glory and
fullness of God Almighty dwelt in the Lord Jesus Christ who
tabernacled among us. by his power, by his love, by
his grace, are already complete in him, who is the head of all
principality and power. My, what a promise, what a promise. And verse 4, but we live a life
of years in a corrupt world, we live still in a corrupt world. So, verse 4, he has given to
us exceeding great and precious promises. A promise of God is
as good as the reality and the fulfillment of the promise if
it's from God. That's what the basis of Abraham's
faith turned Romans chapter 4. He has given us a promise. Promises. Great promises. Indescribable. Unspeakable. Unsearchable. Precious
promises. And these promises, if God promises
it, it's done. And Abraham, that was the basis
of his faith in chapter 4 of Romans. He staggered not at the
promise of God. through unbelief, that he was
strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what God had promised, everything God promised, all things that
God promised, he was able to perform. And therefore it was
imputed to Abraham for righteousness. Now, it is not written for his
sake alone that righteousness was imputed to him. through faith,
but for us also to whom that righteousness, that glory, that
life shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and raised for our justification. In this world, walking through
this corrupt world, God has given us great and precious promises,
just like he did Abraham. What are they? Well, turn to
John 14. I thought, well, I'd like to
get just one scripture where many of these precious promises
are delivered to God's people. And here in John 14, I found
them just summed up in this message our Lord delivered to his despondent. fearful, troubled, depressed
disciples. He was going to the cross. He
was going to leave them. He told them, I'm going to leave
you. And before he left, he gave them these promises. Now listen,
John 14. He said, verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. You
believe in God, you do believe in God, or believe in me also. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. If that were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
That's a promise. And when I go and prepare that
place, I will come again. That's a promise. And I receive
you unto myself, and where I am, there you may be also. That's
a promise. Great and precious promise. Look at verse 13. And whatsoever you ask, In my
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. That's a promise. Verse 16. And I'll pray the Father,
and he'll give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
It's the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But you know him. He dwells
in you. That's a promise. He shall be
in you. That's a promise. I will not
leave you comfortless, I'll come to you. That's a promise. Yet
a little while, the world seeth me no more, but you see me. Because
I live, you live. That's a promise. These are exceeding
great precious promises. Look at verse 23. Jesus answered
and said unto them, If a man love me, You keep my words, and
my Father will love him, and we, Father and Son, will come
to him and make our bow with him. That's a promise. A great and precious promise.
We'll make our bow with him. And verse 26, And the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, which the Father has sent in my name,
He's going to teach you. He's going to take the things
of mine and show them to you. The Holy Spirit of God is going
to teach you and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever
I've said unto you. Now that's a promise. I go back to my text. 2 Peter
1, verse 4. We've got a glorious future,
we've got a glorious present. And while we're in this present
world, whereby are given to us great and exceeding promises,
that by these promises, by the word of God, by the power of
God, you might be partakers of the divine nature. Now you stop
and think about this a minute. You do that, I did. of the divine nature, me and
you, partakers. Now, we're not God's. We're not partakers of the essence
of God's divine nature. I know that. But we're sons of
God. We're sons of God, the children
of God. And by the new birth, God infuses
into us those divine qualities and character of God. The divine qualities and character
of the Spirit and of spiritual life. And what are these divine
qualities and character of spiritual life? Now think with me. The
natural man will not. His will is in bondage. He will not. Christ said, you
will not come to me. These natural men will not receive
the things of God. They're foolishness to us. He
will not seek God. His will is in bondage. Your
will has been set free. Thy people shall be willing.
Have a new will. The will to do the will of God. A new will. I'm a partaker of
a divine nature, or only God, wills to do good. And as a son
of God, I will to do the will of God. What's another characteristic
of a divine nature? Knowledge. Knowledge. Turn to Colossians 3. The natural
man doesn't know. He doesn't. If they had known who Christ
was, they wouldn't have crucified him. But eye hath not seen, ear
hath not heard, neither hath the ear of the heart of man the
things God has prepared for them that love him. But it's in a
Jew. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding, knowledge, that we may know him, know God. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal him." He's revealed him
to you. You know him. You know God. The Son of God
has come and given us an understanding that we may know God and that
we're in him. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. This is understanding. Look at
Colossians 3, verse 10. and put on the new man, which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him." Adam lost three things in the garden. He lost the way
to God, the truth of God, and the life of God. In Christ we
have all three of them restored. We've been brought to God by
Christ We have the truth, this is eternal life, that they might
know thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ whom thou sent,
and the life of God. First Corinthians chapter 2,
watch this. What is this divine nature? It's
to be made willing. It's to have knowledge of God.
First Corinthians 2 verse 9. But as it is written, I have
not seen, neither hath ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. They don't know, but God hath
revealed them to us by Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. Verse 12 says, We have
received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God,
that we may know the things of God. that God's freely given us. That's
divine nature. Will? I will. Made willing in
the day of his power. Will to do good. Will to know
God. Know God? That's eternal life,
to know God. Eternal death is not to know
God. All right, what's the third? Turn to Ephesians 4, the third
quality. of spiritual life. In Ephesians
4, verse 24, it's true holiness. The world of religion wants to
produce a false holiness, a holiness that has to do with the outward
only, but true holiness has to do with the inward. Our Lord
said to you, you are like whited sepulchres, on the outside you
appear beautiful, but on the inside you are full of dead men's
bones. First, cleanse that which is within, that the outside might
be clean. And this is what he does in giving
us a divine nature in Ephesians 4.24. Put on the new man. What is this new man? It's after
God. And it's created in righteousness
and true holiness. We're not perfect, no, but we
want to be. We're not perfect in word, thought,
or deed, but we want to be. We desire to be. We long to be. We expect to be. And that's the
nature that's in us. And when we do things that we
shouldn't do, we're grieved over it. The natural man's not, but
you are. Qualities of a divine nature,
a will that's been set free. will to do the will of God. Thy
people shall be willing. Knowledge, to know God. Don't
know him like I want to, but Paul kept saying, oh, that I
may know him, that's what I want to know is him. It's that true
holiness, true holiness, true godliness, true sanctification,
a heart that's been renewed. And here's the fourth one. to
have the divine nature, qualities of the divine nature, is to have
his Spirit. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 3. Act sure to have the Spirit
of God. Now you think about that, the
Spirit of God. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5. Now we're sufficient, not that
we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything. as of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God, who also have made us able ministers
of the new covenant, not of the letter. People by nature can understand
letters, but only spiritual people can understand the Spirit. These
things that we're talking about now are spiritual revelations,
not of the letter. The letter kills. But the Spirit
gives life. Now look down at verse 17. Now
the Lord is that Spirit who gives life, who gives a will, who gives
desire, who gives holiness, who gives knowledge. The Lord is
that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty.
But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into that same image from glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord. Dr. 2 Peter, that's as clear
as I can make what he's saying here. By his power, verse 3, he's already
given us Everything that pertains to life and godliness, we have
it in Christ like the thief on the cross who left this life
immediately, taken the glory. And by these, but we're still
in this world, and through these exceeding great and precious
promises, he has infused in us the divine nature, partakers
of the divine nature that I've given you. knowledge, true holiness, and
the indwelling Spirit of God. In order that, the Amplified
Version says, so that, the last part of verse 4, so that through
these promises we may escape, we may escape from the moral
decay and the rottenness and corruption that's in this world
because of covetousness. lust and greed. Now verse 5, and for this reason,
besides this, for this reason, because our blessed Lord has
in Christ given us all things that pertain to life, because
our blessed Lord has given us such great and precious promises,
because our blessed Lord has infused within us that divine
qualities of the divine nature. Let us give all diligence, giving
all diligence, beside this, beside all that I've told you, he said,
giving all diligence, add something to your faith. Add something to your faith.
Add virtue. That's moral excellence. Excellence
of character. Honesty. Justice. Righteousness of life. Add that
to this faith. And to your virtue, knowledge.
Knowledge of the scriptures. Study the scriptures. Paul said
study to show yourself approved unto God. The workman that needeth
not to be ashamed. Obey yourself of every opportunity
to learn. what the scripture teaches. Knowledge
of the will of God to perform it. Wisdom and intelligence in
reference to conduct and conversation. Knowledge and add to knowledge
temperance. Self-control. Somebody wrote
one time, anything carried to excess will hinder spiritual
growth. and spiritual fellowship. Anything
carried to excess will hinder spiritual growth. So it's temperance. And the temperance, patience.
Patience is necessary for a godly walk. Because we are always faced
with confrontations and we need patience. What kind of confrontations,
Pastor? Well, dealings with people, number
one. You've got to deal with people,
human beings, all your life on this earth. And in order to deal
with people, you've got to have patience. Secondly, trials from
God. They come and they're coming.
We need patience. Difficulties with ourselves,
conflicts within ourselves, we need patience. An aging body. We need patience and approaching
death. We need patience to learn to
wait on the Lord. Add to your patience godliness,
true reverence, true reverence, true fear and worship of God,
an inward-outward worship, not just confined to church services,
but a daily walk with God. Turn to Genesis 5. I want to
read you about a man over here in Genesis 5. A family man, a
public man, a busy man, a working man, all these things having
to do with family and life on this earth. His name was Enoch. And it says in Genesis 5.21,
Enoch lived 65 years in Begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked
with God. And after he begat Methuselah
300 years, he begat sons and daughters. He had a lot of children,
so he had to do a lot of work. He had to provide a lot of food.
He had to provide shelter. He had to provide clothes. He
had to provide instructions and education. He had to provide
all these things. He was a family man, a busy man. And yet he walked
with God. Godliness, reverence, worship. Fear the Lord, he walked with
God and he was not God took him, he had this testimony though,
he pleased God by faith. I want to walk with God. Godliness. And now back to the text, 2 Peter
chapter 1 verse 7. And add to godliness brotherly
kindness, compassion, consideration. Paul said be you kind one to
another. Be tender-hearted, forgiving
one another as God, for Christ's sake, forgave you. Work on it,
brotherly kindness. Add to your faith. And add to
your faith love. That's cement that holds it all
together. The bricks out here on this building,
each one's an individual brick. Each one was made separately.
Each one was brought here and put up one at a time. And yet
they stand together. They stand together because they're
cemented together. That's the case, by love. By
cement, I tell you, we're cemented. I've never been in a congregation
that had such unity and spirit of cooperation and love. But
that's what holds it together, love. That's what holds it together,
love one another. Now verse 8 said, if these qualities
are ours, they're God-given, but these qualities are ours,
if they're in us, and if they grow, if they grow. I read one time it said something
like this, if we didn't need to grow in these things, we wouldn't
be told to grow in them. If grace and love and faith and
patience and meekness, if these things were perfected in us,
we wouldn't need to grow, but I need growth in those things.
Oh, if these things be in you and abound, abound, they grow,
they abound, they'll keep you from being barren. What's the
word barren? Idle or empty, unfruitful. unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And if a person lacks these things
that we've just read about here, if he lacks these things, verse
9, he's blind. He's just blind because
there they are right there that we exhorted in the Word of God
to consider these things and grow in them. He's blind and
he cannot see. He's forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins. He's forgotten what God's done
for him. And then verse 10, I want to give you this and close. How can a man know his election? I preached on that this morning
on television, the first Thessalonians, and that first chapter is a good
chapter. evidences of grace. But how can a person know his
election? It says here in verse 10, wherefore
the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. Which is first with God? He elected
us and then he called us. Which is first with me? He called
me and I found out I was elected. You see what I'm saying? He called
me. So if I can find evidence that God's calling me, and if
these things dwell in me which are qualities of the divine nature,
then I can have some confidence that I am elected. And I've jotted
down about six things here that I want to share with you that
give me assurance as far as evidence is a concern. that I'm one of
God's elect and that you are. Now you give diligence to make
your calling and election sure. Examine yourself whether you
be in the faith. If you do these things, you'll
never fall. All right, here are the six things that give me comfort
and confidence that I'm one of God's elect. Number one, like
David of old, I am so pleased with and rejoiced in the covenant
of God's grace, that in his eternal purpose he did make Christ my
charity and my shepherd and my substitute. And like David, I
can say, although it be not so with my house, God hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure,
and this is all my salvation and all my desire. I believe that, don't you? I
rejoice in it. Give God all the glory. Secondly,
I believe sincerely, honestly, before God is my witness, Paul
said. He tells us not to swear by anything,
but Paul used that term often. He said, God's my witness, I'm
telling the truth. Over in Romans, he said, brethren,
I lie not. Before Christ, I call Christ
as my witness, I call him a conscience. Somebody said one time, conscience
is worth a thousand witnesses. And I call the Holy Ghost a witness,
that I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Not a doubt flickers through
my mind that he is who he said he is, the Son of God, God Almighty
incarnate in human flesh. With all power, we're in heaven
and earth, he's the second Adam from above. I believe that. And scripture says, he that believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Or he wouldn't believe
it. Thirdly, I believe Jesus Christ
the Lord to be all that the Old Testament scriptures prophesied
of the Messiah. I've read that Old Testament,
and you have too. Many times, haven't you? And
he is the seed of woman. I'm totally convinced, beyond
a shadow of a doubt, he's the seed of woman, only one. He is
the priest after the Order of Melchizedek. He is the Passover
lamb slain. He is that prophet, priest, and
king. He is the desire of all nations.
He is the city of refuge. He is the serpent lifted up.
Christ is. He died for our sins according
to the scriptures. He was buried and rose again
according to the scriptures. I believe it. Fourthly, I believe
him to be The Messiah promised in Isaiah 61, in which the Word
of God says, the Spirit of God is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel, he's my prophet, to preach good tidings
to the meek. Secondly, to bind up the brokenhearted,
he's my priest. to proclaim liberty to the captives
and opening a prison to the bound. He's my king, prophet, priest,
and king. And to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God and to
comfort those that mourn and appoint for them that mourn in
Zion, to give them beauty for their ashes, joy for their mourning,
praise for their heaviness, that they might be called the trees
of righteousness the planning of the Lord that he may be glorified.
That's Christ. He said to that group at Nazareth,
this day, that's fulfilled in your ears. I believe it. Fifthly, I do hereby, if I haven't
before, I do now, cease from all my works, religious and otherwise,
all my labors, all my duties, all my doings, All my, whatever
accomplishments, I, like Paul, count them but dumb, garbage
in themselves as far as acceptance with God is concerned. And I
do hereby receive, believe, and rest only in the precious blood
and the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ my Lord. I don't
believe a man can do that, not to say. It's an impossibility,
isn't it Cecil? It's an impossibility. You can't
forsake everything you've traditionally held to all your life and cast
your lot upon the mercy and grace of another without being totally
persuaded who he said he is. Before God, I deny all earthly
works and confess Christ. Sixth place. Therefore, I conclude,
I have and I do receive Christ Jesus and I declare unto all
who receive him that God has given us the right and the privilege
to be the Son of God. Praise God. But so if you give diligence
to make your calling and election sure, if you do these things,
I promise you, you'll never fall. And so an infant shall be ministered
to you, not barely, I said this more, not by the skin of your
teeth, but abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says. May
God bless you to our hearts.