Let's open our Bibles to 2 Peter,
the first chapter. I'm going to call this message
tonight a sermon for me. I started studying this scripture
to bring you a message tonight. And it was such a blessing to
me that I thought, well, I'll just preach this sermon to me
and let you listen in. A sermon for me. And the verse with which I want
to begin is verse 10, one of great interest to me. I'm sure it will be to you. This is a question that I'm deeply
interested in. I'm sure you are. How are we
to know that we are of that chosen generation? He said you're a
chosen generation, am I? You're a royal priesthood, am
I? You're a holy nation, am I? He says in verse 10, wherefore
the rather brethren preacher, elder, brethren, sisters, give
diligence to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. I believe the primary concern,
my primary concern and yours too, is to make sure of our election
of God. I cannot look into God's book
of life. I know that in the book of the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world are written the
names of his elect. Our Lord said one day to his
disciples, they came back rejoicing in their success, and they said
to the master, even the devil was subject unto us. Ah, he said rejoice not that
the demons are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your
names are written in the book of life. Well, I can't see the
book of life, and I can't look into God's eternal decrees, then
how am I to know? Evidently, we can know our election
because he commands us to know it. Wouldn't you say something?
He says give diligence, extreme attention and care to determining
your election. So if Christ tells us to know
our election, then we must, can know it. Well how can we know
that we're God's elect? How can I know that I'm God's Well, there are three major things
mentioned here. First of all, I can know that
I'm God's elect by my calling. Now, in the Lord's order, our
election precedes our calling. It says in Romans 8, let's look
over there a moment, in Romans chapter 8, it says in Verse 29
of Romans 8, For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he called. So calling is way down the line
there, wasn't it? He foreknew his people in his
will and covenant. He predestinated or elected,
predestinated them to be like Christ, and then later on he
called them. So in God's order and in God's
purpose, our election preceded our calling. But with us, the calling's first. We know our election by our calling. If I can determine that I have
been called of God, then I am one of God's elect, because whom
he predestinated, he called. Whom he called, he predestinated,
one and the same. So I have to find out my calling. Well, I looked up the word calling.
The word calling is mentioned several times in the scriptures.
Here, first of all, I found it in, and this is something we
need to do, because Let's look at 2 Corinthians 1, chapter 13. This is an examination, and that's
what he tells us to do here in 2 Corinthians 13, 5. He said,
examine yourselves. He doesn't give us the liberty
and right to examine others. We can't do that. Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Prove
your own selves. Not your own self? Don't I know
myself? I can speak for no one but myself. What man knoweth the things of
a man save the spirit of man that is in him? So really, I'm
the only one I can preach this sermon to tonight, because I'm
the one that knows myself. Examine yourself, whether you
be in the faith. Prove yourself. Know you're not
your own self? How that Jesus Christ is in you,
except you be a reprobate? Make my calling, 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, verse 26. Listen to this. This is so clear,
verse 26. For you see your calling. You
see your calling. Make your calling and election
sure. If I'm called, I'm God's elect. Whom he predestinated, he called.
So you see your calling, brethren. How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Here to
call, God had chosen the foolish things of the world. Can I put
myself in, am I, do I fit this description? Foolish? Foolish things of the world to
confound the wise. God had chosen the weak things to confound the things which
are mighty. God had chosen the things, things which are despised
as God chosen, things which are not, nothing, nothing in themselves, to bring to naught the things
that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. So this
calling, it centers the Lord's cause, it's the foolish, it's
the weak, it's the It's the despised, it's the nobodies that God has
chosen. Well, I can fit that. Spiritually I'm base, weak, nothing,
nobody. I didn't come to Him, He came
to me. I didn't love Him, He loved me. I didn't seek Him,
He sought me. I didn't call on Him, He called
on me. I didn't contribute one thing to the redemption of my
soul, I'm a sinner. So this calling, first of all,
make your calling sure. Well, he called sinners, he came
to seek and to save the lost, he came into the world to save
sinners. We just sang it a moment ago, in my hands no price I bring,
simply to the cross of Christ I cling. Alright, I found this
word calling again, 2nd Timothy. Make your calling sure, 2nd Timothy,
chapter 1. Chapter 1, 2 Timothy 1, verse
8. Paul says to young Timothy, Be
not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Now listen. Who has saved us? and called us with a holy calling,
a heavenly calling, not according to our works. This salvation,
this calling is in no wise according to our works. Because of our
works, based on our works, or depending on our works to come,
works, the works of the flesh, the deeds of the law have absolutely
nothing to do with the calling of God, nothing whatsoever. not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his own mercy and grace in Christ. Can you fit that? I can't. Not according to our works, but
he, and this is, I rejoice in this, but according to his own
purpose, his own purpose. Does a man have to believe in
sovereign grace to be saved? Yes, sir, that's the only kind
it is. Does a man have to believe in
God's eternal grace to be saved, that's all it counted in. That's
what he says here. He saved us, he called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works. We dismiss our
works. Paul said, he looked back and
saw all of his ancestry and his heritage and his religious works
and he said, I count it but dumb, that I may win Christ and be
found in him. That which was gained to me I
count lost. He called me not according to
any works he saw in me or from me or of me or of my future or
depending. He called me based on one foundation. He purposed to do it. He willed
to do it. He chose to do it. It was his
own Purpose and grace, watch it now, which was given me in
Jesus Christ before this world ever began. Can you come in there? I can. I don't only believe the doctrine
of sovereign love and sovereign mercy and sovereign grace given
us in Christ before the world began. I don't only believe it,
I flat love it. I rejoice in it. I thank God
for it. The God of heaven and earth never
does anything in time he didn't purpose to do in eternity. Known
under God are all his works from the beginning. That's the God
of the Bible. And I'm just glad, wouldn't take a dollar and a
half and a cow and a calf or a ranch in Texas for what he's
taught me by grace, would you? I'm glad. I don't try to defend the sovereignty
of God, I just preach it. You don't have to defend the
lion, just turn him loose. Make your calling. Make your
calling. What kind of calling? Call sinners,
bonafide, foolish, base, weak, despised, nothing. I can come
in there. I can come in there. dust to the balance, drop in
the bucket. Inhabitants of this earth, grasshoppers
in his sight. And then, it was a holy calling,
a sovereign calling, an eternal calling, given us freely in Jesus
Christ before we've ever thought of, before the world began. Thirdly, Philippians 3, Philippians chapter
3, those who are called, those who
are called, they come to Christ. They leave their traditions and
their ceremonies and their religion and their works and all these
things and they look to Christ, they come to Christ, they believe
on Christ, They receive Christ, they cling to Christ, they keep
coming to Christ. Listen to this famous religious
fellow whom the Lord saved, the Apostle Paul. Verse 7 of Philippians
3, But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things. but lost for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, I do count them but done, that I may
win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the obedience of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God, by faith, or that I may know Him. Paul knew Him. He wants to know Him better.
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death, if
by any means, any means, I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Not as though I had already attained. I haven't already
arrived. I'm not already perfect. far
peace from it, that I follow after, if that I may lay hold
upon that for which I have been laid hold of by Jesus Christ. Brethren, listen now, I count
not myself to have apprehended, I haven't arrived, but this one
thing I do, I forget those things which are behind, and I reach
forth unto those things which are before. And I press, and
I seek, and I look, and I keep coming towards the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I come in
there. I haven't arrived. I'm not perfect. Far short of it. But I'll tell
you this. I'm looking to Him. Trusting
Him. coming to Him over and over every
day and pressing towards the mark of the prize of the high
calling, it's a high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This calling is of God and it's
in Christ. That woman with the issue of
blood, she said if I can get to Him, If I can get to Him,
if I can just touch the hymn of His armor, I'll be whole. And that's this calling. And
that's how we can know we're God's elect. And here's the fourth
one. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4. This calling of God is in Christ
Jesus and we press, look, keep coming to Christ. To whom? to
whom coming. Ephesians 4, verse 1 through
6, now listen to this. I therefore, Paul said, the prison
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness
and with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. Endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, because
there's one body and one Spirit, even as you're called in one
hope of your calling. What is that
hope? It's to be in that one body. It's to be possessed and
filled with that one Spirit. It is to know, verse 5, that
one Lord. It is to have, by God's grace,
that one faith, and one baptism, and one God and Father of all,
who is above all, through all, and in you all. That's the hope
of His calling. Christ in you, the hope of His
calling. The hope of eternal glory is
Christ in you. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. And the life which I now live in this flesh, I live by
the presence and by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
loved me and gave himself for me. One hope, one body, one spirit,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who's
above all and through all and in you all. All right. The fifth way this word is used
in 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7, make my calling sure. He calls
sinners. I can come in there with his
sovereign, eternal mercy and grace, not my works. I rest in that. Those who are
called are still coming to Christ. They never stop coming to Christ.
They never stop pressing. into the kingdom of God. Because
they have one hope, that's it. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one body, one hope, that's Christ. And then in 1 Corinthians 7 verse
20, it says this, that every man abide in the same calling
wherein he was called. Go back to verse 18. Let's see
what this is. Is any man called being circumcised?
Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any man called in uncircumcision? He doesn't have to be circumcised.
He doesn't have to do anything. He doesn't have to change his
occupation. He doesn't have to change his life, his worship. He abides in the calling wherewith
God called him. Unless it's contrary to God's
grace, unless it's contrary to God's kingdom, But circumcision
is nothing. Uncircumcision is nothing. It's
keeping of the commandments of God so that if a man's a Jew
and God saves him, he's not going to just around and become a Gentile.
He's a Jew, saved Jew. A man's a Gentile when God calls
him. He's not going to turn around
and become a Jew and get under the law. He remains a Gentile. So however God calls him, he
remains in that, he continues in Christ. look into him, believe
in him. Salvation is Christ. Not keeping the law, not doing
these things, it's looking to Christ. All right, that's the first one
now. Let's look back at our text. How do I know I'm one of God's
elect? By my calling. By my calling. And those five things I just
gave you are the calling he talks about throughout the New Testament.
He calls sinners. It's a call by grace, not works. Those who are called keep coming
to Christ. Those who are called have one
hope of their calling. Those who are called abide as
God called them, in the faith of Christ, in love for Christ,
in the way of Christ. The second thing is this, is
the presence of the graces mentioned above. Now let's look back at
verse Verse 1 of 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. It's the presence of
the graces mentioned here. Let's look at a few of them.
Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ to them that
have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, according
as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
to life and godliness." He's given us. This is the way we
know we're God's elect, because God's given us some things. He's
given us some things. He's given us, he says, all things. All things that pertain unto
life, unto eternal life, spiritual life, and godliness. And he gives
us all things to us through the knowledge of Christ. Of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue. Alright, here's some of the things
he's given us. Now back here in verse 1 he says we've obtained
faith. He gave us that faith. By grace
are you saved through faith, that knowledge he says is the
gift of God. I believe God. You believe God. I have faith. And this is one of the things
that pertain to life. Without faith no man can please
God, without faith no man is saved. We're saved through faith. And he's given us that faith.
It pertains to life and godliness. He's given us that faith, alright?
Secondly, verse four. Whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises. The Lord has given us great and
precious promises. We have the promise of perseverance. We have the promise of forgiveness. We have the promise of righteousness. We have precious promises. We
believe. I believe God's promise. Abraham
believed in what God had promised he could do. He could do what he promised.
All right, read on. Whereby are given to us exceeding
great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers
of a divine nature. Faith, believe in God, gives us a divine nature, a new
nature. He's given us a new nature. And we have escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. We don't love the world,
we love Christ. We don't love the ways of the
world, we love the ways of God. You see what he's given us? All
things that pertain to life. Faith, precious promises, and
a new nature. A divine nature. If any man have
not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. If any man be in
Christ, he's a new creature. No man can call Jesus Lord but
by the Holy Spirit, so he's given us a divine nature. And besides
this, giving all diligence after your
faith, do you add it or does he add it? The disciples said,
Lord increase our faith. I know we use the word, we read
the word, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby, but it's by God's grace that we grow. It's by God
dealing with us through trials and discipline and chastisement
and all kind of things that we grow. And this faith he's given us,
these precious promises, we don't grow in them, they're perfect.
But this divine nature, that's perfect too. But these things
grow. Now come on, listen to this.
Add to your faith virtue. That's Christian virtue. That's
the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, gentleness,
faith, meekness, long-suffering, patience, humility. That's Christian
virtue. One writer said that The virtue
here is the presence of God's Spirit producing the fruit of
the vine. And add to your virtue knowledge
to know Christ. Paul said, O that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection. As I study his word, I grow in
grace and the knowledge of Christ. But God gives me the revelation
of the knowledge of Christ. And add to your knowledge Temperance,
self-control. Self-control. Look not on your
own things, but on the things of others we read a while ago.
Self-control. Temperance is self-control. Patience,
waiting on God. Are we learning these things?
This is making our election sure. Our calling and these things. We're seeing in a moment how
important these things are. He gives us faith. He gives us promises, he gives us a divine
nature, and he enables us to grow in knowledge, in self-control,
in patience, in godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness,
a special family relationship. I sense and feel among you that
growth in brotherly kindness. And then he says, add the brotherly
kindness, charity. The word charity is used in the
New Testament 27 times. 27 times. Take your concordance
and look it up and read it. Every single time it's used has
the same meaning. Number 26 in the back of your
strong concordance. Great lexicon. And the Greek
word for charity is agape. And it's taken from number 25,
which is agapeo. And it has one meaning. Charity. One meaning in several words,
but it's always the same meaning. To love. For you to love. For you to love in a moral sense,
and in a social sense, for you to love with affection and benevolence. And it uses the word dearly and
well beloved. So anytime you see the word charity
in the New Testament, in instructing believers, the word is not Christ,
it's love. That's right. You read that. And that's what
he's telling us here. And that's what he's saying over
here in 1 John chapter 4. Chapter 4. You can't love without
Christ. I know that. But this word is
not Christ. It's love. And I know the love of Christ
is shed abroad in our hearts. I know that. I know we can't
live without Christ. We can't have faith without Christ.
But we have faith. We can't have patience without
Christ. But we have patience. It's not his patience, it's your
patience. He gives it to you. The Holy Spirit doesn't believe
for you, you believe. But the Holy Spirit gives you
faith. Now you look here at 1 John 4 verse 7. Beloved, let us love
one another. Love is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God and knows God. And he that loveth
not knoweth not God. That's charity. He that does
not have charity, benevolence, Affection. Love. Knows not God. That's what that says. For God
is love. So as I study this, go back to
my text, as I study this scripture here. Make my election. How do I know I'm God's elect?
He called me. He called a sinner. That's who
he called. A sinner. Weak. Base. Nothing. Vow, despise. He called me by His purpose,
His everlasting, sovereign purpose, determined in Christ before the
world began, sent His affection on me. And on you and called
us. Called us to Christ. And we,
we keep on coming to Christ. Don't come to, don't come to
an altar, we have an altar to Christ. Don't come to a preacher,
we come to Christ. We keep pressing towards America,
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And it's
one hope to be like Him. When we see Him, when He comes,
we'll be like Him. And He does have this hope in
Him. Purifies Himself. And then He
continues in that calling. He doesn't get dissatisfied. He doesn't run over Him. taste
this religion a little bit, well, taste that, go over here and
find something else, and get tired and find... When God called
him, He called him to stay. He's weak, but he'll grow in
Christ. And these things here, He gives
us faith. He gives us precious promises.
He gives us a divine nature. He gives us His Spirit. He gives
us a knowledge of Christ. He conquers us. There's a self-control. He gives us patience to wait
on Him. He gives us brotherly kindness.
And He gives us love. He gives us love. Now, verse
8, look at this. See, this is not what Peter said.
Now, if these things be in you, what things? Go back there in
verse 3, according to His divine power, He has given us all things
that pertain to life and godliness. There's some things that pertain
to life and godliness. They pertain to life. If life
is there, these things are there. If these things are not there,
life is not there. These things pertain to life
and godliness. He gives them to us. Now if we
do, if these things be in you, And I'm not, you're not, and
I'm not, and we'll never be in this life perfected in these
things. But they're there, and these
things, and they abound. They abound. They manifest themselves. They control us. They're lived
out. They abound. These things being
you and abound, they make you, you'll not be barren. What's
barren? no fruit, idle, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and he that lacks these things that pertain to
life and godliness." He's blind. He may be a Calvinist but he's
a blind Calvinist. He may be a Baptist but he's
a blind Baptist. And he can't say And yet forgotten
that he claims to be purged from his old sins. He claims to be
a new creature. He claims to be bought by Christ. He claims to be a servant of
Christ, but he's not. God's servants aren't blind.
They were, but now they see. They're not dead. They were,
but now they're here. They're not dead. They were,
but now they live. So that's the second thing. And
then the third thing is this. The third thing is this, how
can I know my election of God? By my calling. I digested that,
my calling. This calling, this divine calling,
and you heard it. By these things that are contrary
to the flesh, that are only by the grace of God. On one place
these things can be found, faith, promises, divine nature, spirit
of God, love, that's in those who are called, those who are
called. And the third thing is this,
he says in verse 10, wherefore the rather brethren give diligence
to make your calling and election sure, if you do these things,
If you do these things, what things? But if you're seeking
Christ, pressing on to Christ, looking to Christ, determined
to win Christ and be found in Him, growing in grace and the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, our main concern, if we believe
His word and rest in His blood and righteousness, you'll never
fall. He didn't say you'd never sin,
you'll never fall. He didn't say you'll never stray,
you'll never fall. For an entrance, listen to this,
for an entrance, an entrance shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. An abundant entrance. First of
all, an abundant supply of grace and strength will be given you
through this life, through all the trials and experiences of
this life, an abundant, an abundant supply. And when this life is
over, and we're called to depart out of this world, there will
be given to us an abundant influence. You know how that word abundant,
it means richly. It means triumphantly. It means
largely. You depart from this world when
it comes time for us to die, believers. We'll depart from
this world in joy and comfort. We'll triumph over sickness and
death when that time comes. We shall die free from sin and
free from judgment. and clothed in his beauty. And
we shall enter heaven, he says, abundantly, welcomed, richly,
largely, triumphantly in Christ our Lord. You do these things, you'll never
fall. For so an entrance shall be administered,
ministered unto you abundantly, largely, triumphantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now
listen to what Peter says here and I'll let you go. Wherefore I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things. You know them,
though you know everything I've said tonight you already know. Isn't that right? I already knew
it. Everything I studied and read
and wrote down, he already knew that. But I need to be reminded. I need to be reminded. He said,
I'll put you in remembrance that you, because you already know
them, and be established in the present truth. Be more established. Now here are four reasons, four
or five reasons, why we preachers. need to apply these things to
our own hearts and then not to be negligent in reminding our
people here that first of all because God's people are beset
with trials and infirmities which literally shake this old tabernacle
of clay. Some of you have come here tonight
and today has been a day when you've been shaken. This old
tabernacle of clay, it gets shaken by our thoughts, it gets shaken
by our experiences, it gets shaken by our pains, it gets shaken
by our old age and fears. So we need to get in here, don't
we? Because it gets shaken. It is a tabernacle. We have this treasure, an earthen
vessel, and we need, I need to I'll not be negligent to put
you in remembrance of these things, though you already know them,
that you might be established, because this old house is an
old house, and it's frail and feeble. Secondly, because we
live in a land of forgetfulness, and we need to be reminded of
his promises. Brother Woody Thompson called
me yesterday evening. I was out at the time. I came
in and Darcy said, Woody called you. He wants you to call him.
I said, I'll do that. First of all, I'm going to do something
else and then I'll call him. This morning, 7 o'clock this morning,
I was lying there thinking, I didn't call Woody. I hate that. But I forgot. About 9 o'clock
when I knew he'd be up, I said, I'm sorry. He said, that's all
right. I'm awful sorry. Tell me the
old, old story I forget so soon. Isn't that right? You spend about two weeks away
from the house of God, fellowship with the saints and the Word
of God, see what kind of shape you get in. That's right. Thirdly, we are beset with false
preachers. False winds of doctrine are blowing
all around me. Powerful forces of evil wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers,
rulers of the darkness. Do you believe that? And I'll
tell you this, he said, they'll arise false Christs with signs
and wonders and they'll deceive the elect if it were possible.
That's right. But for the elect's sake, those
days will be shortened. I hope how soon he shortens them,
because it's sure getting shaky for a lot of people. False preachers, false winds
of doctrine, powerful forces of evil, and they are successful. Don't kid yourself. They're successful in their realm,
and it shakes God's people. Fourthly, we need to be reminded
of these things because every time we are reminded we get hold
of something new, something precious, and something wonderful. Because
you see, we know in part, and we keep having to add parts,
every time we read the word there is another part, another piece. It's like, you know, we used
to work those jigsaw puzzles and keep putting pieces in after
a while. Oh my, isn't that wonderful?
Keep putting in things that God reveals to you. We see through
a glass dimly, we need to keep rubbing that glass, getting a
better view, you know, that's how you do with the Word. And
then, glass. We just flat need to be encouraged. Exhort one another daily while
it's called today. We need to be encouraged. There's so few that believe this
gospel. When you're out there, I don't
have the problem you have, where you work and associate with large
families. A lot of people don't believe
the gospel. They don't believe the gospel
of God. They're religious now, very, very religious, but they
don't believe God. And we need to encourage one
another. I received a letter, Ronnie will probably remember
it, but this lady, she picked up our broadcast out of Washington
on that DC station. She lives in North Carolina. And she said, she wrote to Brother
Ronnie and she said, when I first started listening to your program,
she said, I thought I could be selective and just order a tape
once in a while. But she said, the longer I listened,
I realized all the messages are true to the gospel. All of them. You remember this letter, true
to Christ. I've got to have all of them, she said. Because there
are glorifying to God. And she said, it's so amazing
to find somebody telling the truth about God on television. I wrote her back yesterday. And
I said, it may be amazing to you to find somebody telling
the truth about God on television. It's amazing to me to find somebody
who believes it. That's right. I said, you're
as amazing to me as I am to you. And that's true. Amazing grace. You believe this gospel? I'll
tell you the only reason you do is God, before the world began,
chose you, set His love on you, elected you, and He said, I'm
going to make you my own. And He called you and revealed
the gospel to you and gave you all these things that pertain
to life and godliness. faith, promises, divine nature,
His Spirit, and all these other things. He gave them to you. And old Peter said here in verse
13, Yes, and I think it means as long as I'm in this tabernacle.
I'm going to tell you the same thing. Oh, just as long as I'm
in this tabernacle. I'm going to tell it to you because
shortly, verse 14, I expect he's about my age. This
was 30 years after Christ arose. Knowing shortly, I've got to
put off this tabernacle as my Lord showed me. Moreover, I will
endeavor that you may be able, after my decease, to have somebody
else stand up here and tell you these things.