"3Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."
None of us escapes the troubles of life, including Christians. As long as we live in these sinful bodies, and on this fallen planet, we will face temptation, sin, disappointment and rejection in all of its varying forms. The issue is, where can we turn to deal with it triumphantly. We turn to the Word of God. In His Word, God provided us with the resources to deal with all of the issues of life.
I have heard a number of religious people say "Even though you may know God and though you may know Christ, you need more Jesus, some anointing from Him to really be adequate. Has God really given us a small portion of supernatural grace? Only enough to get by? Once we come to God through Christ, are we really sufficient? Or has God only given us enough grace to save us but not enough to sanctify us?
I began to study everything I was able to find on the attributes of God, and the character of God. I started looking for one particular attribute, the attribute of generosity. I was trying to find anything, and I was not able to find it in any book about God. Then, I began to look at the Scripture, allow me to read some of what I found, listen and see what conclusion you come to.
In Exodus 34:6-7, God gives a first person assessment of His character. "Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin."
Lamentations 3:22-23 says "The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."
In Psalm 42:8, the psalmist says "The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 103:8, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness." Verse 11 says "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him."
And Luke 6:38, which I believe most of you are familiar with "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."
John said in John 1:16, "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace."
John says when we received Christ we received His fullness, grace upon grace. Not in part, but in fullness.
Paul says in I Corinthians 3:21, "For all things belong to you."
There are more, but I hope that you're getting the idea. Scripture clearly says that God is very generous. God provides what we need, and for that, we had ought to praise Him.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word, Your truth fills our hearts with joy. Lord, we thank You for the fellowship we've been blessed with today. I thank You for every precious soul. May there be a sufficiency for each of them. Thank You for opening our eyes to what we have in Christ, may we rejoice in the resources You have provided to the fullest. O' Lord, thank You for providing us with all we that we need and so much more. Thank You for giving us everything we need spiritually.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray
Amen
Today's Message: Standing On The Promises Of God
I know that in the world in which we live, people can get upset about a lot of things. I just cannot get upset about things when I know that everything is in God's hands. God has always proven Himself to be faithful to those things He desires to perform. So, when I put everything into His hands, God controls all the details of my life. I must say, true faith is such a astonishing thing.
I believe God to raise up a greater ministry, I believe God to raise up greater testimony, I believe God to reach even more people and I believe God for the funds needed to run this ministry. I believe God for whatever it takes to do His work. I believe Him for all of it. I feel if the Lord's in it, the Lord will accomplish it, in His time. I have learned to live by faith. Because I've seen it happen enough times in my life to believe God for whatever is going on.
Open your Bibles with me to II Peter chapter 1, verse 3-4. We are born spiritually dead, dead things don't grow. You have to be spiritually alive in order to grow spiritually. If you are in Jesus Christ, you have everything you need supplied to you for growing spiritually.
You cannot grow spiritually unless you have first experienced God’s grace and God’s power as your foundation. You need God’s grace and God’s power as your foundation before you are able to pursue spiritual growth. Let me put it another way, The Christian faith is not merely a set of doctrines to be accepted. It is a power to be experienced!
I believe that it is tragic, to ask people if they know the Lord and have them start listing the things they believe about the Lord. Satan and his demons are the most orthodox believers under heaven. Believing about Jesus Christ will not save anyone, it is God's divine power that saves. If you don't believe in Christ, you are not Christ's. Power is given to those who rely on Christ's righteousness.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our minds, while we prepare our hearts for a Word from our Lord. Listen for the voice of the Spirit of God is saying to us. II Peter 1:3-4.
"Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."
Verse 3, "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." What an incredible statement of truth. From the moment that you became a believer in Christ, you came into instant possession of all things that pertain to life and godliness.
You remember, back in verse 2, Peter said that grace is multiplied in the knowledge of God, now in verse 3, he tells us "divine power is granted through the knowledge of God." God's grace is the power that works in us for our good. Talk about power, this is God's eternal power, this is the same power that created the universe. This is the divine power of God providing for you everything you need. It amazes me, how many Christians today that don't understand the power of God. They are so uninformed, its disheartening. God has given it to us, we didn't earn it, we don't deserve it. He has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
Now, life and godliness are two different things. Life is the life of God in the soul of men. Godliness is the manifestation of that life. One is internal, the other is external. When you were redeemed, the reality of your salvation granted to you the riches of your salvation, your salvation provided everything to transform you on the inside and to transform you on the outside. We have been given all things that pertain not only to life, but to godliness.
Look at the end of verse 3, "Through the true knowledge of Him who called us." When you came into that real genuine salvation, it was comprehensive. You came in the possession of all that was needed for a real transformation on the inside and manifestation of that transformation on the outside. I can't begin to tell you just how many Christians ask God for things they already have. They do it all the time. They just need to understand that they already have it and appropriate it. All they need to do is apply their will to follow. They are already bestowed upon us in measure beyond our wildest imagination. So many Christians just don't understand what they have been given.
Many Christians are fearful about expressing themselves through ministry, their terrified because they think they can't handle it. God has given every one of us, spiritual gifts through which He wants to minister to the body of Christ. Not some of us, but every one of us. God wants us to reach the world and He has granted us the capacity to do it. However, we must have an understanding of our resources.
Then at the end of verse 3, Peter says "By His own glory and excellence." Life and godliness, and glory and excellence are parallels. Life and glory is the internal. Glory is the indwelling presence of God. Godliness and excellence are on the outside, they are externals. God has given us all we need because He has called us to internal glory and external excellence. Living faith redeems you and it sustains you in a life of response to God. Its a life that follows where there's life, where there's godliness, where where there's glory, and where there's excellence. Let me tell you something, if your life isn't doing that, it is not the absence of resources; it is the absence of your will.
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul tells us "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." That power becomes active in our day to day life is through our knowledge of God. This is not some mere abstract fact about God if you know it as applying to yourself. It's power, it is power.
I pray for this ministry, that it would be a ministry where the power of God was released. I ask you to join me me in that prayer, if you would.
Paul says in Colossians 2:9-10, "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority." All of God is in Christ and all of Christ is in you, in Him you have been made complete. What a tremendous reality! You have all you need to see God's power released in unimaginable ways.
Then in verse 4 he adds "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." Peter says that God has not only given us all that we need for today, He's given us great and precious promises for tomorrow. He has taken us out of the corruption of the world by lust and made us a partaker of the divine nature.
"Great and precious promises." The word precious is the word "tímios," it emphasizes unequaled value. Our faith is of equal value, yours is no greater than anyone else's. Our faith of equal value is based upon absolutely unequaled precious promises. It is all based on the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You know, for many believers. their whole Christian perspective is negative rather than positive. Beloved, we must never forget that we are so abundantly rich in resources.
I John 4:4 teaches us that "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."
In Closing..
The resources are there. God's power is there. And, as long as God gives me life is to remind you of the riches of your salvation, that is exactly what I'm going to do! God has given us precious faith, God has given us divine power, God has given us precious promises. God has taken us out of the corruption of the world. God has given us divine nature. God has done all of these things! We have been given all that we need, but we have to do all that we can to add to it. Position is one thing, practice is another. We don't live by the world, we don't live by the news media, we live by the faith in the One True Living God.
When you understand the reality of what has been given to us through Christ, the power of hope surges through your body because you know you have been called. The power of hope and the power of godliness. When you finally see the glory and excellence of God most clearly and know He has
set His affections on you, that is when you will have power to live as you
ought. We must not only know it, we must believe it. Because God's divine power flows into the life of every believer when we know and we trust in His precious promises.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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