Bootstrap
Henry Mahan

The Knowledge of Jesus Christ

2 Peter 1:1-8
Henry Mahan • March, 27 1991 • Audio
1,528 Articles 3,940 Sermons 760 Books
0 Comments
Henry Mahan
Henry Mahan • March, 27 1991
1,528 articles 3,940 sermons 760 books
Message: 1005
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
What does the Bible say about the divine power of God?

The Bible teaches that God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him.

Scripture emphasizes that according to His divine power, God has granted us all things necessary for life and godliness. This divine power signifies His absolute sovereignty and authority over all creation, as exemplified in passages like Romans 1:16, which describes the gospel as the power of God unto salvation. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 1:18 affirms that the preaching of the cross represents the transformative power of God, which accomplishes our salvation through Christ's life, death, and resurrection. Therefore, believers can rest assured that all they require for spiritual sustenance and holiness is made available to them by God's unchanging and limitless power.

2 Peter 1:3, Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 1:18

How do we know that salvation is a gift from God?

The Bible clearly states that salvation is not an offer but a gift, bestowed freely by God's grace and mercy.

Salvation is described in Scripture as a gift rather than something we earn or deserve. Peter emphasizes this in 2 Peter 1:3, indicating that all that pertains to life and godliness has been given through God's divine power. Paul also points out in Ephesians 2:8-9 that it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not from ourselves; it is the gift of God. Galatians 2:21 speaks to the futility of seeking justification through the law, underscoring that salvation comes solely through Christ's sacrificial atonement. Thus, believers can confidently assert that salvation is an unmerited gift from God, not a result of human effort or merit.

2 Peter 1:3, Ephesians 2:8-9, Galatians 2:21

Why is the knowledge of Christ crucial for Christians?

Knowledge of Christ is essential for Christians as it deepens their understanding of grace and truth, fostering growth in faith.

In 2 Peter 1:2, Peter expresses a desire for grace and peace to be multiplied in believers through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. This indicates that a deepening relationship with Christ leads to a fuller experience of His grace and peace. The knowledge acquired through studying Scripture not only allows believers to understand their salvation but also encourages spiritual growth as they comprehend the depth of God's love and holiness. Moreover, growing in knowledge fosters a deeper bond with Christ, allowing for increased obedience and a more profound reflection of His attributes. Therefore, understanding who Christ is and what He has done is foundational for a fruitful Christian life.

2 Peter 1:2, Ephesians 1:17, John 17:3

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
Now let's turn back to the passage
Brother Cecil Roach read for us, 2 Peter chapter 1. It is only as it should be, but I'm always thankful to our Lord, and I'm
always pleased to look over the congregation and see all of our
church elders in all the services, worshiping the Lord and encouraging
the pastor, setting an example for the people. They are a blessing
to us. We're thankful for them. Now I'm going to look at some
of these verses tonight that Brother Cecil read, but before
we get into verse 1, let me give you some background
of this epistle. Peter wrote this epistle in his
last days. He was an old man by this time,
it's evident from John, I mean from verse 14. In 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 14,
when he said, knowing that shortly, knowing that shortly I must put
off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath
shewed We're going to turn to John in just a moment and see
what our Lord Jesus Christ showed him. But he says here, I must,
there's no escaping this experience, I must put off this tabernacle,
my tabernacle, even as our Lord must be lifted up. Even as Christ
said, other sheep I have, and them also I must bring. It's settled. It's a fact. I've got to put off this tabernacle. And he calls it a tabernacle.
He calls it a tent. In other words, you notice how
he says that knowing that shortly I must put off this tabernacle. He talks like a person who lives
in a tent. He disassociates this abode from
himself, that I must put off this tabernacle. I must put off
this tent. A tent, a tabernacle, is a temporary
affair. It's not a building. It's a temporary
thing. I've lived in this tabernacle,
he's saying, all these years, and soon I must fold it up and
lay it aside and move out. This tent, this body, is not,
it's not me. I live in it. And soon, shortly,
it's imperative, it's settled, I'm going to put it aside. And
I'm going to enter a building You know, Paul talked about that
in 2 Corinthians 5. He said, if we put off this earthly
tabernacle and lay it aside, we have a building. He doesn't
call that a tent. He calls it a permanent dwelling
place, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. So the old apostle is saying,
shortly, And he's not grumbling about it. He's not displeased
with this fact at all. He said, I just know this, that
shortly I must, I must put off my tabernacle, even as
the Lord showed me. Now let's turn for a moment,
hold that passage there and turn to John 21, even as the Lord
showed me. Now I know I hear you doing this
quite often, and I've done it, and I still do it, and I guess
I'll continue to do it. But we older people think a lot
about how we would like to die. I hear you even talking about
these things, how we would like to die, when we would like to
die. I had a man just not very long
ago. somewhere I was preaching, telling
me how he'd like for he and his wife to die at the same time
and go to be with the Lord. Well, that all sounds good, you
know, but that's not ours to decide. I remember reading a story about
a preacher who had some children who knew the Lord and some who
didn't, some relatives who were believers and some who were not.
And he always told his wife, he said, now when I die, he said,
I want to be able on my death bed to give them a good, strong
testimony to the grace of God. I want to be able as I lie there
and the angels of God are waiting to come and take me home, I'm
going to sing Amazing Grace and I'm going to sing My Faith Looks
Up to Thee. I'm going to quote the word of
God and my children are going to stand around in bed and they're
going to watch a believer die and they're going to be helped.
They're going to hear the gospel and they're going to look to
the Lord. That's not the way he died. He
had a fearsome, loathsome disease and back in those days without
morphine and drugs and he died screaming. and crying for relief
from the pain. He didn't say a word about salvation,
redemption. His mind was so addled and confused
by the awful, awful pain that he didn't give them a testimony.
See, this is not ours to decide. And this is what Peter said.
He said, knowing shortly, I must put A man wrote me, I got the
letter today. Martha read it. A young man from
Phelps, Kentucky, talking about his father was a preacher. Remember,
his father died 32 years ago. He said his father preached what
Brother Mann preached. And he said, my father stood
in the pulpit at a service and preached and told the people,
he said, I see a light. And he said, when I lean forward,
it moves away from me. When I go back, it comes toward
me. And he went on and sat down in
his chair and died. Now that's the way to die, isn't
it? But that's not always it. And
here in John 21, verse 18, the Lord told Peter how he was going
to die. He said, I must put off this
tabernacle soon. as the Lord showed me. He said,
Peter, verily, verily, verse 18, John 21, I say unto you,
when you were young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands. What's this? Crucifixion. The Lord's telling Peter that
he's going to be crucified. He was, he died crucified, not
like his Lord, but upside down. That's how Peter died. That's what Christ is telling.
They're going to carry you where you don't want to go. And he
said, you're going to stretch forth your hands, and others
shall gird thee and carry you where you would not. Crucifixion. This spake he signifying by what
death, now here's the key that he should glorify God. That's
what we really ought to be more concerned about, that when we
die and how we die should be in such a manner as to glorify
our God and just leave it there. That's what we should do, glorify
God in whatever way he's pleased for us to glorify him. You see, even when we preach
We're not always successful in bringing people to our knowledge
of the gospel, but we are always successful. That's what Paul
said. He said, thanks be unto God who
always causes us to triumph, a savor of life and delight to
some, but a fragrance of death upon death to others. So it may
be in death. You may glorify God in the salvation
of a sinner, and you may seal the condemnation of a rebel,
and give him a good excuse for his twisting of the scriptures.
God may use it. He certainly may. He has a right
to do that. He's God. But how he uses us is certainly
in accordance with his will. verse 1, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ. Peter was many things, many things. I'm an admirer of the Apostle
Peter. He was a man. He was a fisherman. He was a husband. He was a leader. He was an impulsive
man on many occasions. But he was a caring man. He was
a compassionate man. He was a spokesman for the other
apostles. But he preferred to be known
in this way. Simon Peter, he doesn't mention
any of these things. He says, I am a servant. I'm a bondservant. I'm an apostle
of Jesus Christ. That's how I want to be known.
That's how I want to be remembered, a servant. of Jesus Christ. Now, one does not have to be
a preacher to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. One does
not have to be a pastor or a missionary to be a servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I think that is true of every
believer here tonight that you wish to be known as and remembered
as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, wherever we may serve. Now, someone may ask you, what
are you? And you will reply, well, I'm
a father, I'm a husband or mother, as the case may be, I'm an artist,
I'm a carpenter, I'm a fisherman, I'm a golfer, I make my living
in the steel mill or the oil refinery or the power plant or
the store, but what am I, you ask? I'm a servant. of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what I am. I'm a servant
of Jesus Christ, and that's my profession. I'm crucified with
Christ, and nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but the life which
I now live in this flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. That's what I am. I'm
a believer. I'm a servant of Christ. And
then he goes on. Now, Peter the bondslave Like
Brother Cecil said, I may not get out of this first verse,
because most of it's here. He says he's writing to other
bond slaves. He's writing to me, he's writing
to you. That's the reason it's called a general epistle. It's
not addressed to the church at Galatia, the church at Ephesus,
or addressed to the elect ladies, it's addressed to the elect,
all believers. And he's writing, listen, to
them. I'm addressing this to them who
have obtained like precious faith with us. With us Jews, or with us Apostles,
or with us the Twelve, they have obtained like faith, as just
one faith. It's called in the book of Jude,
common, common faith. common salvation. It's called
baptism, common faith. It's Abraham's faith you read
about tonight. The faith we have is the same
faith he believed God, I believe God. Same faith. There's only
one faith. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. And these people, he says, to
whom I'm writing, have obtained like precious faith with us. It's the same, I believe, David
said, therefore have I spoken. The reason I'm speaking tonight,
I believe. And then, notice this. Though not to the same degree,
faith is not always to the same degree. The Bible talks about
great faith. Great is thy faith. And then
he turns to some and says, O ye of little faith. But faith is
not to the same degree. But let me tell you this. Faith
is the same in three ways. It's the same as to its source,
God gave it. It's the same as to its object,
Christ is the sole object. It's the same as to its results,
receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Is
that not true? May not be to the same degree.
Hold that and turn to Romans 12, and let me show you something
about this degrees of faith. He even talked about in Romans
10, from faith to faith, or Romans 1 rather, 17, 18, from faith
to faith, from one degree of faith to the other. But here
in Romans 12, Scott Richardson was talking to me on the phone
the other day and read this scripture. He said, I want you to look at
this. In Romans 12 verse 3, for I say through the grace given
unto me, to every man that's among you, every one, and when
I say every man, it means the ladies too, it means every believer.
Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think,
but think soberly, soberly. according as God hath dealt to
every man," the what? The measure of faith. There's
degrees of faith. There's some who have greater
faith than others, but it's the same source. Faith's the gift
of God, same source, and has the same object. We believe that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and faith
has the same the salvation of our souls. All right, back to
the text. I'm writing to them that have obtained like precious
things. Obtained it. We didn't produce
it. We didn't produce it. It's not
a flower that grows in the human garden. We didn't earn it. We
didn't merit it. He says, That word means received
it. Paul keeps talking about I obtained
mercy. God gave me mercy. We have obtained. What kind of faith is it? It's
precious faith. God doesn't use this word precious
too often in the scripture like the word wonderful. His name
shall be called wonderful. Something's going to have to
be mighty wonderful to be wonderful. But I tell you how precious this
faith is. The Bible talks about to you
that believe he's precious. It talks about his word promises
being precious. It talks about believers dying
being precious. It talks about his blood being
precious and grouped with that elite number is this faith that
God's given you and me. more valuable than ten million
worlds. Peter, and bondservant of Jesus
Christ to them who have obtained like precious faith with us,
not from us, with us. And what's this? They obtain
that faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now, he's not saying through
the righteousness of the Father and the Son. He's saying through
the righteousness of our God and Savior. Christ is our God
and Savior. There are a lot of folks who
want to call Christ the Savior who won't call him God. He's
our God and Savior. That's what Thomas said, my Lord
and my God. We have obtained this light,
precious faith. through the righteousness of
our God and Savior. It's all his work. It's his doing. It's his dying. It's his work.
It's his gift. It all comes from him, through
him, of him, by him, and for his glory. Let me tell you something. Listen carefully now. Listen
to me. Where the mercy and grace of God is bestowed, And it's
always bestowed on purpose, where the mercy upon whatever individual,
be it Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, be it Abraham
whom God called out from among his kindred, or be it the shepherd
boy on the hills whom God had anointed king or be it Zacchaeus
up a tree, or a thief on a cross, where the grace and mercy of
God is bestowed, and where the righteousness and blood of Christ
is imputed, faith is always given to receive it. Always. Now the blessing is bestowed
before the faith. That's right. But faith is always
given to receive whom he predestinated, he accomplished. That's right. Whom he justified, he accomplished. That's exactly right. Now, Abraham
was an object of mercy before he believed. Abraham found grace
in the eyes of the Lord before he knew the Lord. Abraham was
chosen to be God's pattern of faith, and he was accepted and
beloved. And because of that, he believed
God. Now, I can show you that if you'll
turn to Ephesians 1. Now, you won't have any trouble
with this if you'll turn to Ephesians 1 and look at it. Now, just a
moment with me. Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. Now, you know this
by memory. You could probably quote But
verse 3 said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavens
and places in Christ, according as he chose us. And nothing's
said about faith yet, before the foundation of the world,
before that we should be holy without blame before him, and
love, having predestinated us to the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ, according to good pleasure of his will. All of
that to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he made
us accept in the beloved. Now, I haven't said a thing about
me yet. Believe in him. He's doing all
this. This is God's work. In whom we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin according
to the riches of his grace. wherein he hath abounded toward
us in our wisdom and prudence, and made known unto us the mystery
of his will." He made known unto us what he's been doing, and
what he has done, and what he's going to do. He made that known
to me. You can't make something known
to a person that doesn't exist. It existed before he made it
known to me. Look at verse 14, "...and in
whom you trusted after you heard." the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also after you believed you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. See what he's saying here? We obtained like precious things. One more scripture, turn to John
10, John chapter 10. Now I'm saying, what I'm saying,
if God sets out to save a man, that man will believe. If God
sets his affection upon a man or a woman, that person will
come to faith. They will believe God. They will.
My sheep, oh, let's read. John 10, verse 22. John 10, 22. It was at Jerusalem, Feast of
the Dedication. It was winter. And Jesus walked
in the temple in Solomon's porch, and then came the Jews round
about him, these religious Jews, and they said, Now how long dost
thou make us to die? If you be the Christ, if you
be the anointed, the Messiah, tell us plainly. Jesus answered
them, I told you, I told you, and you believe not. The works
that I do in my Father's name, they tell you. They bear witness
of me. But you believe not because you're
not of my sheep. That's why you don't believe.
I told you. My sheep will hear my voice. They hear sheep before they hear
it. Isn't that right? He said my sheep will hear. And
those who are not my sheep will not hear my voice. They will
not believe. But my sheep will hear my voice. I know them. And they'll follow me. Beyond
a shadow of a doubt, they will follow me. They shall follow
me. And I'll give them eternal life,
and they'll never perish. You see that? It's very clear. Oh, verse 2. Now watch this.
Simon Peter. And to these people, he's talking
to believers, grace and peace be multiplied unto you. Be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. You know, our Lord said, this
is eternal life that they might know thee, the true and living
God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. And Peter is saying
that I want, I want a multiplication of that grace and that peace
to be upon these who have obtained like precious faith. And that
multiplication of grace and peace comes as we know him. And the
more we know him, the more grace and the more peace. Now let me
establish that. Watch this. Actually, the love,
mercy and grace and peace of God to us in Christ is infinite. And it knows no degrees. We have
perfect peace toward God in our Lord Jesus Christ. He hath made
peace through the blood of his That's not going to change. It's
not going to lessen or grow. I have perfect peace through
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. And God's never
going to love me anymore than he loves me right now. Never,
never, never. He'll never love me anymore because
he loves us infinitely. And God will never accept us
anymore than we're already accepted. Isn't this right, Charlie? That's
right. I'll never be more accepted than
I am right now. And I'll never be more holy.
than I am right now, because I have the righteousness of Christ.
And that's not in degrees. So that's not what he's talking
about when he talks about grace and peace be multiplied to you
through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's not saying
the more you know Christ, the more he's going to love you.
And the more you serve Christ, the more he's going to accept
you. And the more you walk with him, the more he's going to smile
on you. because we are accepted in the Beloved. In Christ we
are holy, unblameable, unreprovable. Isn't that right? It has to be. But what he's talking about here,
grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, he's saying, I want a
greater manifestation and revelation and understanding of that grace
and peace we have in Christ. And that understanding and that
manifestation and revelation of grace and peace is not only
capable of being increased, but it will be increased the more
I study the word of God and the more I know of what Christ has
done for me. See, every day we're going to have new discoveries
of how much he loved us. You realize more now the love of God than you did,
say, five years ago, don't you? Aren't you more thankful for
the love of God now? In the favor of God? Aren't you
more awed at his presence? Because Caesar was telling me
a while ago about this grafting, you know, in Romans 11. It's
talking about grafted into the good root, the branch, the wild
olive branch grafted into the good root. I was down in Florida
one time at Jim Gassett's. He's a nurseryman. And he was
showing me how you graft those oranges. They don't just go buy
an orange tree and stick it in the ground. They graft. It doesn't
matter about the rootstock. They get a rootstock, a citrus
rootstock, and it doesn't matter whether it's a choice tree or
not. If it's a strong rootstock, if it's capable of rapid growth,
isn't it? And they take the good branch
and they graft it in. They cut it off just real short
and graft it in. And the satin all comes through
that old, fast-growing, strong rootstock. But the juicy orange
is in what he's grafted on here. Well, we're just the opposite.
Christ is the good root, and we're the sorry branch. That's
right. And we're grafted into Christ.
And his goodness is our goodness. And the more we grow, the more
fruit we're going to buy. The more of him that we... I'm not going to be any more
holy in God's sight. or him who is loved by him, I'm
accepting the Beloved. If I drop dead five minutes after
God saved me, like the thief on the cross, I'm accepting the
Beloved through the knowledge of God and of Christ. Well, how
am I going to grow in the knowledge of Christ? That's it, the Word. Turn to
2 Peter 3. And I'll tell you, 2 Peter 3.18,
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory both now and forever." And that's
through the Word. All right, let's go back to 2
Peter again. I won't keep you much longer,
but I want you to see a few other things that I've seen here today. Verse 3, according as his divine
power, his divine power, hath given unto us all things that
pertain to life and godliness. There are two things here that
are very important. According to his or as by his
divine power, now his power and his power. First of all, his
divine power, God is absolutely sovereign in all He has given to us everything
we need pertaining to eternal life, pertaining to salvation,
pertaining to eternal glory, pertaining to the kingdom of
God. All things pertaining to life
and godliness, he's already given us by his power. Now, first of
all, there's his divine power of purpose. Is anything too hard
for God? Can I not do with my own what
I will? Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Cannot the Lord save whom he will? He has that power. He has that right. He said, I
am the Lord, I create light, I create darkness, I create good,
I create evil, I the Lord do these things. Have I not spoken,
shall I not make it good? That's the first power I'm talking
about. I'm talking about unlimited, infinite, unchangeable,
absolute authority over all flesh. Christ said, I have all authority
over all flesh. But second power I'm talking
about is this. Not just his divine power of
purpose, but his divine power of accomplishment. In other words,
God saves men not just by his will to save them, but by the
work of which accomplish their salvation. See what I'm saying?
In other words, I'll have to go to two scriptures, Romans
1 first, Romans 1, 16. Romans 1, 16. For I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, it's the power of God. The gospel
of Christ, the gospel of Christ's incarnation, righteousness, burial
and resurrection, that's the power of God unto salvation.
Now 1 Corinthians 1, listen to this, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18,
for the preaching of the cross, and we're not talking about the
block of wood, we're talking about the preaching of what Christ
did on the cross, is to them that perish foolishness, but
unto us which are being saved, the cross is the what? It's the
power of God. It's the power of God. Look down
here at verse 24. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God. So watch
this. It is by his sovereign power
that he designed and created all things, both in heaven and
in earth. And he'll make a new heaven and
a new earth by his power. It is his sovereign power that
purposed and decreed a covenant of grace and chose a people.
It was his sovereign power that put life in that virgin's womb.
Only God can do that. Only God can create life, and
only God can incarnate God in her. Now think of the power. indisputable power of God that
can put himself in human flesh. His sovereign power conquered
and defeated all the forces of evil. His sovereign power raised
Christ from the tomb. Christ was a dead man, and he
didn't seek corruption. God has the power even over corruption
of flesh. His sovereign power quickened
us to life. But his redeeming power, when
Jesus Christ walked this earth and suffered in the flesh and
obeyed the law, it was the power of his perfect life that enabled
God to be just and justify folks like us. See, that's so necessary. It's the power of his blood that
satisfied justice. It's the power of his perfect
life that honored and magnified the law. It's the power of his
intercession that puts away our transgressions. So it's the power
of purpose. That's what he's saying here
in verse Verse 2 says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you
through the knowledge of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, according
as His divine power, the power of purpose, and the power of
His ability, and the power of His Godhead, and the unmixed power of God that can
do these things. And yet that power would be held
in check by his own law and by his own justice, which we have
violated unless Christ came down here as our representative and
gave us a righteousness and a cleansing and an acceptance and holiness
before the law. And that releases all that power
to be displayed in and for us. So it's a two, God will say to
him, well don't come around with that God wants to do this and
wants to do that and you won't let him know. Oh, that's a bunch
of baloney. God, according to his divine
power. He hath what? Given unto us. He gave it. He didn't sell it
or loan it or offer it. He gave it. Salvation is not
an offer, it's a gift. And he hath given us all things
that pertain to life. In Christ we have wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Everything. I got life. That's
what Peter was talking about, I'm living in this old beat up,
patched up tent, and shortly I'm going to fold it up and put
it aside, and I'm going to his presence, because I'm already
sufficient, I'm already made me to be a partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in life. He's given me all things. Watch
this now, that pertain to life and godliness, life and holiness. I am put through the knowledge
of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." He called
us. How did he call us? By his gospel. And a man's not saved, and here's
where the hard shell is. And when you start trying to
make God's word logical, and try to make it reason out according
to your own natural mind, you're going to fall off a cliff, a
hopeless cliff. And that's the reason some fellows
say, well, if he did all that for me and Christ did that for
me, I'm saved no matter what. I'm sorry, that's not true. I
can't explain it, it's just not true. Because he said these according
to his power, he's given us all these things, but it's through
the knowledge of him who called us." You're going to know him,
you're going to believe him. I turn to 2 Thessalonians. This
is the best place in the world that I've found to show what
I'm trying to say. And what I'm saying to you, and
I read it, what Christ said a while ago, my sheep will hear my voice. It's not a question of what if
they don't hear the gospel, they're going to hear it. He's going
to sing to it. Well, what if they don't believe
it? They're going to believe it. He's going to see to it.
He's going to make them willing in the day of his power. They
know God can do what he will do. It's not left to chance. Now, what's 2 Thessalonians 2
verse 13? But we're bound. He talks about
all these people that don't believe the gospel, and then he says
in verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians 2, but we're bound to give thanks
for you. Thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. The Spirit sets you apart,
sanctifies you, regenerates you, and belief of the truth, whereunto
he calls you by the gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He called you by our gospel. Now watch this. And it called
us to glory and virtue. Cesar read that word a while
ago. We'll go over here in just a moment. I'll show you something.
Verse 4, it says, Whereby are given unto us exceeding great
and precious promises. And by these promises of God,
you might be a partaker of his divine nature and having escaped
the corruption that's in the world through lust. Now, besides
this, believe in God. Giving all diligence, add to
your faith. Grow in grace in the knowledge
of Christ. Grow in faith. Add to your faith
virtue. I worked on that word. Now, we
know morality and integrity and honesty. are marks of God's people. God's people want to walk in
holiness of life. This word virtue here is not
having to do with that at all. I know we use the word that way.
But when our Lord Jesus Christ one day was in that great crowd
of people and a woman who had an issue of blood for years slipped
through the crowd and reached out and touched his garment.
And she was made whole. And he said, who touched me?
And then what did he say? I perceive that virtue is gone
out of me. Not morality. Not his holiness. Why? Look it up in your, some of you
have Greek concordances, look it up when you get home. He was
saying that strength has gone out of me. Strength and power
and force, that's exactly the words used for that word. Strength. And when he comes along here
and he tells us, now what's this? He tells us through the knowledge
of Christ and by faith we have all these things. Now you add
to your faith. Add what? Look it up. Manliness. boldness, not wishy-washy. I tell you,
a man that's driven here and there and yonder and unsettled
and unestablished, forget it. That's exactly right. I know
whom I have to leave. That's what that word, look it
up when you get home, see if that's not what that word means. Add
this to your faith. Add this to your faith. Strength.
Be established and rooted and grounded and determined to know
nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what he's
talking about. And then add to your faith knowledge,
to your strength, knowledge. Knowledge of whom? Of Him. Knowledge
of the will of God. Study the scriptures, verse 6,
and add to your knowledge temperance, self-control. Let's get a hold
of ourselves. You know, self-control, temperance
in all things. And the temperance, patience.
We're going to be constantly faced with reproach, with trials,
with difficulties, with in and without. Let's learn to wait
on God. Patience. This man had changed a lot in
his patience. Old Peter, boy, he was impulsive. Back yonder, now he's talking
about patience. But it doesn't come in a package all wrapped up with
a ribbon on it. It's added to faith. Men believe
in Christ and be impatient. Try it. Men believe in Christ
and not have as much knowledge as he ought to have, but he ought
not stay there. And add to your patience godliness. There we
are now with this thing of walk as he walked. Walk in the spirit,
not in the flesh. Godliness and honesty and integrity
and morality. Walk in those things. And to
godliness, brotherly kindness. Be kind to your brothers. And
I think it reaches to all our brothers. If you don't get them
in the flesh, you get them in Christ. Brothers in the flesh,
too, be kind to them. And the brotherly kindness, somebody
said this, he said, this love here, charity, that's what it
is, it's love. Make it mean what you want to,
but it's love. It's honest to goodness, real, genuine love
in Christ. And this love goes a step beyond
brotherly kindness. See, he mentions that. add to
your godliness. You know, there are a lot of
people who are moral, straight-laced and strict and clean livers and
all, but they're not very kind. They're just not very kind. And
so you add to your godliness kindness. There are a lot of
religious people that that are clean livers and honest in every
way, but they ain't very nice to live with. You see, so add
to your godliness and your straight, lay, strict way of walking, add
a little kindness to it. Now you can add something to
that. Add love to that. Genuine, real love that beareth
all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. Now verse 8, and this is, Cecil read this real good. If these things be in you, these
things that accompany salvation, that's the word he used, it's
a good word. If these things be in you and they abound and
they grow and they continue to grow, they make you that you're
not going to be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Man can know the He can know the doctrines, and know
them pretty well, and be barren, be unfruitful. Because, you see, I've always said if the Lord's
going to bring, if he's going to bring Well, let me give you
an example. This nursery over here, you ladies
work on that, you're always cleaning that carpet, or having Tom do
it, or painting the walls, or getting new things, and nice
beds, and clean sheets. Why are you doing all that? You
know that these babies are the most precious commodity these
mamas have, and they ain't going to just stick them anywhere. They're glad to take them to
a nice place, to caring people, who won't abuse them. You're
not going to put your two lovely children in the hands of somebody
that might mistreat them. But you trust them with Kenna,
don't you? You know she's going to take care of them. And God is not going to bring... You say, I'd sure like to be
a witness. He ain't going to let you mess up one of his sheep. If you hadn't studied, and learn
something, and if you haven't got a little grace and kindness
and don't have a little wisdom and judgment, he's not going
to send you one of his sheep to witness to. And if we don't
have this brotherly kindness and patience and love, God's
not going to send people here to be butchered and to be mistreated
and to have the wrong example set for him, you see what I'm
saying? So you can know a whole lot, you can be as smart as Dr. Gill up here, and as hard-hearted
as whatever you want to call it down here, God's not going
to use you. He just will not do it. He said if you grow, if
these things abound in you, temperance, self-control, patience, brotherly
kindness, and love and knowledge, then he said, you're not going
to be barren. God's going to use you. You're not going to
be unfruitful. God's going to bless you. He's
going to make you a blessing. And a lot of preachers wonder,
well, I preach the same gospel so and so preachers, but God
just doesn't use it. Maybe the servant needs some
work done on him. Maybe God needs to break his
heart. Maybe God needs to put a tear in his eye. Maybe God
needs to take the starch out of his britches. Maybe God needs
to fix him where he knows where he got everything from. Maybe
God needs to do something for him so he'll realize who's going
to get the glory in this thing, not him, but God Almighty. I'm
telling the truth now. I just read it. If these things
are bound. But now what's the next verse?
I'm going to let you go. We're not going to be here till
tomorrow. But I want to show you this. 2 Peter 1, look at
it again, verse 9, but he that lacketh these things, strength,
virtue, strength of purpose, I ain't moving from that position. Temperance, kindness, love, patience. He that lacketh these things
is blind. He can't even see afar off. He's
forgotten he was purged from his old sin. He's forgotten where
God found him. He's forgotten what he was. He's
become so tough on everybody else, you know. He forgot where
God found him. That's why we need to remember
where he found us, and who found whom, and where he brought us.
Isn't that good, though, if these things abound? And I want them
to abound, don't you? I want to grow in grace, peace. rest, knowledge of Christ, that
God might be pleased to use us and make us a blessing.
Henry Mahan
About Henry Mahan

Henry T. Mahan was born in Birmingham, Alabama in August 1926. He joined the United States Navy in 1944 and served as a signalman on an L.S.T. in the Pacific during World War II. In 1946, he married his wife Doris, and the Lord blessed them with four children.

At the age of 21, he entered the pastoral ministry and gained broad experience as a pastor, teacher, conference speaker, and evangelist. In 1950, through the preaching of evangelist Rolfe Barnard, God was pleased to establish Henry in sovereign free grace teaching. At that time, he was serving as an assistant pastor at Pollard Baptist Church (off of Blackburn ave.) in Ashland, Kentucky.

In 1955, Thirteenth Street Baptist Church was formed in Ashland, Kentucky, and Henry was called to be its pastor. He faithfully served that congregation for more than 50 years, continuing in the same message throughout his ministry. His preaching was centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, in full accord with the Scriptures. He consistently proclaimed God’s sovereign purpose in salvation and the glory of Christ in redeeming sinners through His blood and righteousness.

Henry T. Mahan also traveled widely, preaching in conferences and churches across the United States and beyond. His ministry was marked by a clear and unwavering emphasis on Christ, not the preacher, but the One preached. Those who heard him recognized that his sermons honored the Savior and exalted the name of the Lord Jesus Christ above all.

Henry T. Mahan served as pastor and teacher of Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky for over half a century. His life and ministry were devoted to proclaiming the sovereign grace of God and directing sinners to the finished work of Christ. He entered into the presence of the Lord in 2019, leaving behind a lasting testimony to the gospel he faithfully preached.

Broadcaster:
Henry T. Mahan / Zebulon Grace Church
Theology:
#Eschatology #Regeneration #Justification
More from Henry Mahan

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

More from Henry Mahan

Paul's Doxology Sep 27, 2023
Great & Mighty Themes Sep 27, 2023
All Spiritual Blessings May 9, 2021 · Ephesians 1
Abraham, Friend Of God May 9, 2021 · James 2:23
How Can Man Be Just With God? May 9, 2021 · 1 Kings 18:31-37
View All 3,940 Sermons

Related Sermons

Christ Pleased Not Himself Tom Harding · Apr 26, 2026
The Lord Looks Upon His People In Mercy Tom Harding · Apr 22, 2026
Jesus Christ Is Lord Tom Harding · Apr 19, 2026
Representation, In Adam, In Christ Tom Harding · Apr 19, 2026
The House Of His Glory Tom Harding · Apr 15, 2026

Same Scripture

Sermons on 2 Peter 1

Facts, Not Fables: God's Word, Not Man's Paul Mahan · 2 Peter 1:16-21
Precious Things In The Gospel Tom Harding · 2 Peter 1:1-5
Precious Faith from God Our Saviour Paul Mahan · 2 Peter 1:1
#8. The Scriptures and the PROMISES! A. W. Pink · 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Peter 1:4
Damnable Heresies Mike McInnis · 2 Peter 1

Articles by Henry Mahan

An Article Worth Repeating Nov 16, 2025 · 3 min read
Love Is the Evidence of Salvation Nov 15, 2025 · 2 min read
Let Us Pray Nov 14, 2025 · 1 min read
The Offence of The Cross Nov 13, 2025 · 2 min read
Christ Was Manifested Nov 12, 2025 · 2 min read
View All 1,528 Articles

Books by Henry Mahan

1co 01v01-02 Christ and Him Crucified.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
1co 01v01-05 Christ, Our First Love.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
1co 01v15 By the Grace of God, I Am What I Am.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
1co 01v17 Christ Sent Me to Preach the Gospel.pdf PDF · 0.2 MB
1co 01v17-18 The Preaching of the Cross.pdf PDF · 0.1 MB
View All 760 Books
Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.

0:00 0:00