A God-given Faith

You You I'm going to that it's going to be on June 23rd, next Sunday at 4 p.m. at Lighthouse Bible Church, which is back behind Golden Hills. You have to go to the street beyond Golden Hills Church, turn left, little Baptist Church back there. We've had baptisms before. Please come and be witnesses to this. We have about eight or nine people being baptized. It's a great time of fellowship and testimony when you can see with your own eyes that God is doing a wonderful work in the hearts of people. And then Holly and Jamie, Holly Peterson and Jamie Foxx. I almost said Johnson, but I knew that's my son-in-law's name, so I didn't know that was right. Jamie Foxx and Holly Foxx. That's going to be Holly Foxx, isn't it?

And Holly and Jamie are going to be married in July also, July 12th, and you're all invited to come. And so come and enjoy that. This was a joyous occasion. The Lord Jesus began his ministry at a wedding like this. And so it's a very appropriate thing for the people of God together and have a wonderful time of rejoicing and fellowship at times like this. And then Jason, a job versus Bible study on Monday evenings tomorrow night, they kick off a new study. They're just starting whose money is it anyway? And they're starting with a potluck. So that's a great draw. If you'd like to come and see what that Bible studies like, you get to come to a potluck and enjoy that. We have some families who've had young people graduate from high school this year.

We want to take a few moments just to recognize them and give them a little gift from our church family. I'd like them to come up Ashley and Stephen, Steele, Peter, Cleansime, Chris Anderson. I don't think the Anderson's. I think they're in Hawaii, right? They're not here. So please come up. You maybe guys could all stand right over here. We'll just go down the line and Stephen, I'll start with you. Why don't you just tell us real briefly where you're going from here? Or do you know? You know the case. And then pass it on to Peter and then Ashley. I'm going to get down to being sent off. I'm going to get a master's college. We wish you'd hurry up and figure that out. I told Ashley she skipped a grade and I told her she really didn't even do that because it takes you a lot longer than that just to figure out what you're going to do in life.

All three of these are from proud families. Ashley Adams will be my granddaughter. So I know how you other families feel. I can remember it was like yesterday when she came into this world and I think that these 17, 18 years have passed so quickly. And now we get to stand here and give God thanks that he's brought him through these times. They grew up in an era in this country when it's quite an accomplishment to go through high school and keep your faith. And we've been praying for them and interceding for them at these times. We want to give them just a small gift, which is really just an expression of our commitment to them, to pray for them. And to know that we are supportive of them as they go in life, that they would come to find the joy and the strength of faith in Christ in this world as they prepare for the things they're ahead for them.

So please keep them in your prayers. Keep praying for them. Peter goes away from his family down to master's college. It's a wonderful place. He's going to have a wonderful time there, but it's also going to be a time when he's going to be exposed to some wonderful Bible teaching. And some great challenges. And so we don't know what God's going to do in his life as he goes. As she goes out and begins to get exposed to these college studies, you know, that God's going to bring all kinds of elements around there. And so pray for strength. Same thing with Stephen that he'd come to know the grace of God in a very real and personal way. So pray for them. And I've asked Peter at Queensland, if he would come and pray, Peter Sr., he'd come and pray for these young people since he has a real vested interest that God would keep us hand on them.

The same world suggests that he's praying that he's got five children in the parent and maybe a combination of them. He's really displayed in it. And you never know why. He's praying to the absolute greatest children in the parent's life. He's really important for us to get rid of that and honor them in the school and in the church. He's praying to the parent so we'll be on the line. Let's give them a hand. If you would turn with me to second Peter, the children, the fourth and fifth graders can be dismissed at this time. And the rest of you, if you've turned to second Peter, you're going to spend the next few weeks looking at the message of second Peter, it's very timely for us because Peter describes the times that these believers are going through are very similar to what we face in our world today.

If you have turned there, if you'll notice beginning in verse one, Peter writes, Simon, Peter, a bond servant and a puzzle of Jesus Christ to those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Seeing that His divine power is granted to everything, granted 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, that is by these promises, He has granted us, or rather by His glory and excellence, He has granted us His precious and magnificent promises. You know, to that by them, you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Pardon me? Yes. Spranky just corrected my slide. That's humiliating. I didn't notice that. I suppose we second Peter chapter one, I could have got through this and never noticed it, but he had to point that out. Thank you. On this Father's Day. Have you ever felt like your faith is straight? You ever feel like your faith is straight in comparison to others that you hear about? We often hear wonderful testimonies of faith and the last couple of weeks ago we had the coffins here and they told us about this trip to Uganda and how God empowered them to go and just gave them the energy and faith to do this work. We were also impressed by it and sometimes when we hear these kind of testimonies or we read in scripture about the kind of faith that God has promised us, we wonder what's wrong with us?

Why don't I have faith like that? A lot of Christians have an inferiority complex about their faith and people who are doubtful about their faith are prime candidates for false teachers and that's what the Apostle Peter is warning these Christians about here in second Peter. People who feel inferior in their faith are vulnerable to this. In fact, if you turn back just a moment, the book of Acts, Acts chapter 20, when Paul gives his final words of encouragement to the church at Ephesus, he speaks to the elders there, he has them alone, they come to meet him and he begins to encourage them about what they're going to face and warn them about what they're going to face. And he says in Acts chapter 20 verse 28, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

Why? Because he says, I know that after my departure, savage rules will come in among you, not sparing the flock and from among your own selves, men will arise speaking twisted things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years, I did not cease to admire you with tears. This warning that Paul gives came true, they did come and they have kept coming throughout the church age. False teachers have invaded the church over and over and over again and we are exposed to more of it today than ever before. They know what you do not know, they've experienced what you do not experience, they possess what you do not possess and in order to have those things and know those things and experience those things, you must come through them.

They have the inside track on God. Now there are teachers like that today who call themselves Christians and they publish their stuff all over the place you get exposed to it everywhere and their goal is to subject you. Anytime you have a teacher who says the only way you're going to get the real scoop is if you get it from me, you know you problem on your hands. They want to make you dependent on them. I have a word of God from God for you. God spoke to me about you. In order to find out what God thinks about you or what you need to know, you have to go through them. Because their faith is superior and they have access to God that you don't have, it makes you a second-class citizen in the kingdom of God.

Now there are theologies like this all around the church that there is a group of people among us who have insight to God that you could never have. They're on a different plane. There's kind of a two tiered or three tiered or four tiered Christianity. You have the normal run of the middle Christians and then you have those super Christians who have special insight and you must get all that you all that you need from God through them. This is what Paul once about in Galatians 4 when he says they exclude you so that you might seek them out. They say you don't have what they have so that you would have to get what you need from them and you become dependent upon them. And we've seen this kind of thing coming to the church ever since the first century we've seen this kind of thing invading the church.

There's a distinctive to this dispensation we are living in and that is that we all stand on equal footing before God. Every believer has access to God through Jesus Christ. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that the wall has been torn down. The door has been opened and we all have access to God through Jesus Christ. There's no distinction between Jew and Gentile or clergy and laity which is a figment of someone's imagination. There is no such thing. In fact the word clergy comes from a word that's used in the New Testament in the book of first Peter. They're refers to the people of God. We are God's claros. We are his allotment. We're his clergy. We are the people of God because we have believed on Jesus Christ.

But ever since the church began there have been men who have been telling God's people that the door is still closed and they have the key. In order to go through the door you must come through them. There was noctisism. Those who said they had a special esoteric knowledge that you could only get through them because they had deep mystical experiences. There was a set of sism. You had to live their particular brand of lifestyle in order to be close to God. There was clergyism that set apart those who had the responsibility to be teachers of the word and leaders of the churches though they were on a different point. On a different point from the people of God. There is popery where people call the spiritual leader Papa.

When my son is a habit he has I can't fault him for it because he's my son and so he calls me dad. And so when he refers to me as dad, when he's up there in front, I'm always afraid somebody's going to think that must be a cult. They call the leader dad. See that's popery. There is nobody in this position that stands between the believer in God. We have access to the living God. Those who say they are post biblical prophets and they have a word for you that you couldn't get from the word itself and you have a huge problem in your hand. So second Peter is written to Christians who are being told that the door was still closed. In fact, look at second Peter chapter 2 verse 1. But false prophets also arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresy, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

And many will follow their sensuality because of them the way of truth will be maligned. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep. When you have spiritual leaders who claim that they have access to God that you don't have. They can manipulate you and abuse you and misuse you in all kinds of ways and they do. In fact, notice in verse 17, these are springs without water. They claim to have spiritual insight and yet they like springs without water. They have a show, but no reality. Missed driven by a storm, it looks like their substance there, but then it just blows away. Well whom the black darkness has been reserved for speaking out elegant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption.

Or by what a man has overcome by this he is enslaved. We've been struggling, there's been this public struggle of a whether men should be remain in the priesthood in the Catholic church if they have committed child molestation. The fact that that's even a question tells you the kind of problem we are facing. These men, if you notice the description of these false teachers, they are going to come in the church. They are filled with pride, sensuality, independence, their allotted themselves, novelty, they teach not what the word of God plainly teaches, but a brand of truth that you can only learn through them. There's in the Bay Area today, we're teaching on the public airways and radio and TV who are saying that they have insight to truth that nobody else does.

And so Peter writes, you see this is why he's writing, he's warning them that false teachers are coming. False teachers are coming and so therefore in the first chapter he says that you need to build your faith that you need to build on the faith that God has given you. God has given you a faith and you need to build upon that faith, be grounded in the word of God. You see you have a capacity to understand truth because you've been born again. Everyone here has rested your faith in Christ. One of the effects of that that the Spirit has taken up residency in you. And John says in 1st John chapter 2 that's the Holy Spirit living in you is your teacher. And he can open your eyes to the truth of the word of God, you can see it.

And he says that's why we don't have this inherent need of a teacher. Now doesn't mean we don't need teachers in the church, it means that there is no teacher that stands between you and God. Are you in the word of God? If you have the Spirit of God living in you. So you have this capacity to receive truth and embrace truth. And so Peter is going to tell them in this 1st chapter embrace this truth, grow in this truth, come to understand truth so that you will recognize air. You know it really is true that we're living in an age right now in the church in America where there is so much biblical illiteracy. It's just the fact that most Christians couldn't tell you the story of the Bible. They don't know the big picture.

They don't know that it is a story. They don't even know that the Bible is a unity. We should. We should know the truth because you've been given this incredible capacity to understand truth. And then in the 2nd chapter he says learn to recognize false teachers. And the first priority is to learn the word but in learning the word you will come to be able to identify false teachers. Don't be fooled by their disguise. And then in the 3rd chapter he is going to say don't listen to those who scoff at the 2nd coming. Now the day I think the bigger problem is we just ignore it. We don't talk about the 2nd coming. We don't have people scoffing at it as much as we have people who just don't think about it but the Bible says we have to live in light of the 2nd coming.

Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. He could come before Holly's wedding. He's coming. And we have to live in light of that coming so that everything that we do we do in light of the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back. Now what he does, the passage that I read in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 4, is that Peter begins his whole letter by establishing the real quality of their faith. And notice how he begins. He begins by identifying himself in an unusual way actually. In fact it is literally sitting on Peter. And what's unique about this and what's significant about it is he is identifying himself with his Hebrew designation. Now why is that important? Well it's important because in Acts 15 Peter said that God had appointed him to take the gospel to the Jews just as he had appointed Paul to take the gospel to the Gentiles.

But what God did was he appointed this apostle to the Jews to be the one who would open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles in other words to the whole world. He was a door opener. In Matthew 16 if you remember the account there where Jesus asked his disciples what are people saying about who do people say that I am? And they gave him various answers Elijah, John the Baptist and different ones and then Jesus said to them, but who do you say that I am? And you remember the confession of Peter. He said that was the Christ the son of the living God. And you remember what Jesus said? He said, flesh and blood hasn't revealed us to you, but my father in heaven has revealed us too. The art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.

And then he says this most startling thing and the expression is in such a way that it means Peter individually although it's going to fly to all the apostles. But he says to Peter, I am giving you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loose in heaven, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Peter has been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. In order to get into the kingdom of heaven you must have the door opened and Peter was given the keys to open that door. That's an amazing thing. And then you see what follows in the book of Acts that is the gospel goes out first from Jerusalem, then to Samaria, and then into all the world. It's Peter that opens the door, three doors in fact, or at least three times he opens the door.

First on the day of Pentecost he preaches the gospel. He announces the resurrection of Christ for the first time publicly after the resurrection. Peter proclaims salvation in this risen Christ. And a multitude, three thousand people, three thousand Jewish people turned to Jesus Christ a little while later in the book of Acts in Acts chapter eight. Peter is there when the Samaritans received the gospel, these half-breeds, half Jew, half Gentiles, which the Jews rejected completely. And yet the gospel came to them and they believed. And Peter was there, laid hands on them. And he saw the manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon them that gave him clear evidence that the door had been open to these half-breeds.

And then later on in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 10 he goes to a Gentiles home, the home of Cornelius, the household, the huge group of people. And he preaches the gospel to these uncircumcised Gentiles. And again he opens the door. Now the point of this is that Peter is the door opener. That was his assignment. That's why he was given the keys. He was given the keys to be the first one to open the door of salvation to the whole world. Any person, anywhere on the face of this earth who will turn to Jesus Christ in faith can enter in. He's the door opener. And he identifies himself this way. When he calls himself Simeon Peter he's emphasizing this very thing that he's the one who's been appointed to be the door opener.

This is the Apostle. The Apostle Peter, the door opener, the one who performs signs of an Apostle, the one who healed the layman at the temple. This is the one who was beaten for the name, was imprisoned and remained faithful. This is the one who confronted Ananias and Sophia and the power of God was manifested through him in judgment on their lives. This is the one who was very shadow. When it fell on sick people, they were healed. This is the one who raised Tabitha from the dead. This is the Apostle Peter, the door opener. And notice what he says in this text. He says, you have a faith of the same kind as ours. Isn't that amazing? That you have the same kind of faith that Peter has? Now this is a political expression.

The word here, the same kind as ours was an expression they used when a non-citizen was made a citizen of Rome. This expression was used to welcome him as a full citizen in the kingdom of Rome. And Peter says, you have the same quality of faith as we do. The false teachers were saying, you need what we have. Peter says, you have what we have. See, those who preach the gospel are telling you that we have something that you don't have. I'm talking about we preach to the people of God. We're not preaching that we have something you don't have and you need what we have. We're saying, this is what you have in Christ. Understand it, embrace it, live in it, experience it. It's yours. God has given you this great gift of faith.

You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. By grace you have been saved your faith. And the faith that you with which you embrace Christ is the same kind of faith that the great Apostle had. The Apostle who healed the sick and raised the dead, you have the same quality of faith. That's what he's telling them. What it's telling us today is we read this and notice it is he has given us this through the righteousness of our God. You know what's important about that? Is this expression that God has given us to this, given us this faith through his righteousness is a reference very specifically to his covenant faithfulness. I've talked about this before that primarily in the Bible and it talks about personal righteousness and so forth or God's righteousness.

It's referring to him acting right according to the covenant that he's entered into covenant with you and he is going to fulfill his promise to you. And we are righteous when we fulfill our obligations to him. We are righteous when we're faithful to our covenant with God. We live under the new covenant based upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and when we live consistent with that covenant we are being righteous. And here it says that God has given us this faith through his righteousness. In other words, he said his affection on you, the Bible teaches that before the foundation of the world before God created anything. He said his affection on a people and you were one of them if you're a believer in Christ.

And when he did that he made a promise to you that you didn't know anything about that he was going to send his son into the world to die for your sins, to be raised from the dead. And then through him he would send the spirit and the spirit would come and convict you of sin and righteousness and judgment. And then he would give you the gift of faith and you would believe that gospel. You see it's the righteousness of God that has given you this faith. He's being loyal to his covenant to you. And then he says finally notice this not just God but our God and Savior Jesus Christ. I wanted to mention this because this is one of the 10 places in the New Testament where it very explicitly says that Jesus is God.

Now there are many other places that clearly teach that he is God but there are 10 places where it explicitly states that Jesus is God. And that's exactly what this expression means our God and Savior Jesus Christ. This past week somebody brought me a little thing off the internet and it was on some Christian website and it caught his eye because in this little statement which was like a little word of encouragement said that Jesus Christ was created by God. That's heresy. Heresy is when you teach something that the Bible exactly the opposite or the Bible teaches that you teach something that contradicts what the Bible says. The Bible says that Jesus is eternal. That Jesus Christ the second person of the Godhead he did become a man 2000 years ago but he has existed from all eternity with the father.

And here's one of those places you have to underline in your Bible. Then you have to ask a question about the deity of Jesus Christ. Here's one of those places that is as clear as it can be. In fact, if you ever talk to a Jehovah's Witness, I mean with this passage and notice how they translated this phrase and be assured it's a distortion. This phrase means exactly the way it's translated in the New American standard. He is our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, let's look at what he says in these next few verses. He says that if we have this kind of God given faith, the same kind of faith that Peter had, it will produce certain effects. First of all, with it comes the knowledge of God. Notice verse two, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Now, this is what's significant about this is in its context that Peter is referring as he's going to teach him regarding these false teachers. These false teachers claimed a real knowledge of spiritual things but they continued in their immorality. In other words, their life didn't reflect the truth that they claimed to know. The Apostle says here that we have come through the faith that we have received into a true knowledge of Jesus Christ. A true knowledge of Jesus Christ produces change and that change is described as grace and peace. Grace and peace. In other words, all of you are familiar. Hello, John. There's John. John is here. John Martinez. I can't believe it. Are you just standing back there with your walker?

It's good to see you. John had been broke his hip a month ago and had a heart attack and here he is standing in church. In Titus chapter two, we are told that the grace of God, which has appeared to all men, the grace of God that brings salvation, which has appeared to all men, teaches us to deny ungodliness and willy lusts. And to live sensibly and righteously and godly in this age. Think about that. The grace of God is referring to the gospel and all of its implications. The grace of God that appeared when Jesus came and did His work and that we proclaim to the whole world. That grace teaches us. It instructs us to deny ungodliness. That is to deny this kind of lifestyle that says we don't have got anything.

When somebody says in response to the commandments of Scripture, we don't have to do that. Basically, they are saying God has no right over my life. See, that's the essence of what sin is. You know what sin is? Sin is living as though God has no right to rule your life. But Paul says in Timothy in Titus that the grace of God, that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Jesus accomplished and we proclaim, instructs us to deny ungodliness. And worldly lusts. Well, if you deny worldly lusts, then 99% of the marketing that goes on in this world is going to have no effect on you. That's amazing. But he said it also instructs us to live sensibly instead of driven by emotions and sensual appeals which come at you 90 miles an hour every day as you drive down the road as you watch TV, as you go to the show, whatever you do is coming at you from every direction.

To live sensually in response to strong feelings and he says the gospel teaches us to live sensibly and righteously faithful to our covenant with God and Godly giving God what he deserves. What does he deserve that you would love him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? That's what the gospel teaches us. That's what this grace teaches us. And so Peter says here that this faith that we have has caused us to experience grace and peace. A person living in immorality as he's going to describe these false teachers does not know and understand the grace of God. When somebody claims that they understand the grace of God, but they live in disobedience to his commands, the Bible says, no, they don't understand the grace of God.

The word knowledge here is very strong word. It's a word that Peter, when he uses this word, he always uses it in reference to personally knowing Jesus Christ and it implies two things. And first of all, it implies an increasing knowledge. A knowledge of Jesus Christ that he's describing here is a kind of knowledge that is always advancing alive, growing. It is a growing knowledge. It's a knowledge that understands I haven't arrived. I haven't discussed the surface. I understand so little about Christ, but I want to know more. The second thing about this kind of knowledge is that it's always in Peter's writing and usage. It's always intimate knowledge. In fact, when you know in knowing a person, whoever uses it, when this word, if you can also use the knowing a person, it implies intimacy and an intimacy that is personally satisfying.

Let me ask you something. Is your relationship with Christ satisfying? Is it bringing you deep satisfaction? Your relationship with Jesus Christ? That's the kind of knowing that God has provided for all who believe in Christ. It's available to us. To know Him in such a way that we find intimacy with Him personally satisfying. This is why a God-to-woman has a gentle and quiet spirit. It doesn't mean she doesn't talk a lot. It means she has a spirit within her that is quiet because it's satisfied in Jesus Christ. Not filled with agitation. Same thing is true with men, but rather resting in this relationship. Here is a wonderful principle. That is, a growing intimacy with Jesus Christ brings the grace a person needs and the peace their heart desires and craves.

If you want grace and peace, it comes through knowing Jesus Christ. If you want growth in the Christian life, it comes through knowing Jesus Christ. All of you parents, you know, we think about these kids graduating from high school. I know all of you were raising kids and as they go through those years, especially those years of going through high school, those early teen, late teen years, that entire experience when things change so much. And you're praying and hoping that they'll be influenced by the right people. You hope they don't get influenced by the wrong crowd and sometimes you hope they are not the wrong crowd. You want them to be influenced by the right people because you see personal influence is the most powerful thing in your life.

Have you noticed that? At the way you are today, the way you are at any time in your life has so much to do with the kind of influence in your life through personal relationships. Well, the way that God changes us comes through our relationship with Jesus Christ. But how do you obtain a knowledge of Jesus Christ? How do you grow and knowing Christ? Some say it's through knowing facts, it's through philosophical speculation, arriving at understanding through your human reason. But the problem is the Bible says that God is infinite and man's mind is finite and simple and we could be led astray. We can come over the most ingenious thoughts about God that can be totally wrong. But you may absolutely convince us that everything is right.

I just know it's true and it is in total contradiction of God's revelation of Himself. So far it is response to Job and the comforts of Job even though they had it wrong, they said many things that were right. And this is one of those things that so far said that was right. He says, can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? And the answer is no. God has to reveal Himself. Others say that you have to have these deep mystical experiences. I need to enter into an altered state of consciousness and have a deep spiritual experience to really know God in Christ. This is what the mystery religions taught that the people Peter is writing to face. They would develop all kinds of methods of having deep mystical experiences that had long fasts.

They wouldn't eat for a long period of time, sensuous music, incense burning, dimming the lights, all kinds of things. Many attempts to bring mystical experience. And there have been many attempts throughout the history of the church to bring mystical experience into the church through all kinds of methods like Eastern, just like Eastern mysticism. You see it all the time. Central music, abandoning your mind, imaging, doing all kinds of things that come right out of paganism. But the Bible says that is not the way that you come to understand and know Christ. In fact, what always happens with this kind of thing, this mystical approach is it's always an experience of the few. Every denomination that's been born in America that is built around mystical experience, it's always that there is an elite few who have the experience.

It's always pleading and Christ is not central. Second Corinthians, Second Colossian or rather Colossian chapter 2 says that it is the work of the enemy of Christ to try to get his people to major on these kinds of things on mystical experience, going into great detail about visions they have seen, but not holding fast to the head, which is Jesus Christ. Now I don't mean by that you're not going to have deep experiences that your emotions won't be touched that you won't have deep and what could be said, what could be called biblical mysticism, deep experiences, but let me tell you the only thing that you can absolutely trust is God's revelation of himself. Over the years I've had people approach me and tell me they knew that God wanted them to do certain things because of the mystical experience they had, even though those things were in direct contradiction to the word of God, they were convinced I had a woman tell me once she was convinced God wanted her to divorce her husband and marry another man.

Amazing. Now I believe she had a spiritual experience, but it wasn't the Holy Spirit who was influencing her. So if it's not through philosophical speculation or missive experience and what is it, well this knowledge is a personal acquaintance with Jesus Christ. Paul didn't say I know what I have believed. He said I know in whom I have believed. It is a personal relationship with Christ and how you develop a personal relationship. This is the problem folks. How do you develop a personal relationship? If becoming a better Christian as we put it, that's really not the best way to put it, but people think well if I want to grow as a Christian I have to learn more things. And so I should pursue Christianity the way I would pursue any other field of knowledge.

But you know what they leave out? Is they leave out the fact that this is a personal relationship and how do you develop a personal relationship? Well all you ladies know, so your men don't know. The way you develop a personal relationship is time, trust, transparency, fellowship, communication, responsiveness, actually listening, coming to the Word and discovering what God has actually said to you about Christ, what Christ is saying in His Word, responding to that, deepening this relationship. That is what must happen in order for us to grow. That's why Jesus said in John 15, abided me and let my Word abide in you. If you do that, you'll bear fruit. It's not just gaining knowledge at the Bible College.

It's just not learning a bunch of theology. I'm all for that. But it's more than that. It's learning truth so that I can deepen my understanding of this person and come to know him better. Our Peter said in first Peter chapter one, he says, it's true trials that I come to believe as I trust him in the midst of trials. I come to trust him more and love him more even though I don't see him and it fills my heart with joy. Some of you have experienced this that the hardest times in your life you have been the closest to God because you spent time with him and you talked to him and you listened to him and you sought out his Word and his will. You wanted to know and you had to. You needed him. And that's something in your life.

I find myself doing this that I have people that I've known and I haven't had much contact with. But all of a sudden some need comes up that I know that person could help me with. And so I call him up and I start talking to them. We start reminiscing. It's like we restore our relationship and then I ask him for something. I don't know if they catch that or not. But that's what God does to us. He lets us get media and then we come to him because we know he's the only one who can meet certain needs. Every one of you that I know you've gone to times in your life where you face needs and nobody else can meet. So you had to get close to Christ. You needed him. He's the only one. Well, that's what Peter is saying.

He's given us faith, the kind of faith that we can develop an intimate, close, satisfying relationship with Christ. We can experience grace and truth. And then in verse three, he says, secondly, this faith will empower us to experience the power of God. Seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and grace. The power of God. This faith produces intimacy with Jesus Christ, which brings grace and peace and it also brings divine power. The power of God to bear in our lives. And notice what power this is. This isn't signs and wonders or miracles or mystical experience that he's talking about in this context.

He said, notice in the verse, it is for life and godliness. I think about this. What is the greatest display of the power of God today in the world? Where can you see it? If you wanted to see the power of God being manifested in the world, where would you go? Where would you see it? Would you go to the Toronto blessing? Would you go to Florida where the power is falling in some revival down there? When I was growing up in the Pentecostal Church, we had this little saying, you've got to get under the spout where the glory comes out. If the blessing is falling in Florida, we've got to go to Florida. Is that what this is all about? Is that the power he's talking about? No, it's the power that is characterized by life and godliness.

If you want to see the display of God's power in the most vivid, powerful way, then look at a man, a spiritual man or woman who is facing great difficulty in their life. That's what Colossians chapter 1 verses 11 and 12 says. The mighty power of God is manifested when a Christian manifests patience and endurance in the midst of trials. And things are going against you. You've got all of these obstacles that would keep you from being obedient to Christ and loving Christ, depending on Christ. And you faithfully and daily trust him. He says, this is the mighty demonstration of the power of God. Once in a great, great while God demonstrates his power through miracles. He did it with Elijah and Elijah.

He did it when the children of Israel came out of Egyptian captivity. He did it at the birth of the church. But those are, if you look at church history, if you look at the history of God's dealings with his people, they are miniscule in comparison to the mighty power of God that is displayed in men simply walking in faith in the midst of difficulty and obstacles. Godliness is giving God what he deserves. What does he deserve? He deserves your total obedience and love. Does he get what he deserves from you when he does? When you are living Godly, when it's costly for you to be obedience to God and you obey him anyway, that is a demonstration of the power of God that comes from faith. Not faith simply that God is going to do some miracle and raise the dead, but faith that you can stay faithful when you don't want to.

And the temptation to be unfaithful is overwhelming. If you heard Glossia and Martin of Burnham who were captured and mended now and held captive for so many months, and you know that he was just killed a couple of weeks ago, and his wife, Glossia, was shot. When they interviewed her at the airport, as they were getting ready to fly back to the United States, the interviewer, and she had several things to say, quite impressive. And she talked about her husband, Martin, who was killed, and she said he was the one who kept everybody else going because he kept encouraging them in the Lord. And then she said this, she said the simple expression is always telling me, he died well. That's the demonstration of the power of God that this man remains faithful.

That is where the mighty demonstration of God is in this congregation. When you guys are on the job, you're working on the job, and you remain faithful to Christ. When the temptation is to cut corners and to be unfaithful to Christ by breaking His commandments, by violating His Word that you remain faithful, that's a demonstration of the power of God. That's what gives glory to God. That reveals the truth about God. Notice something in verse three, what is it that attracts people to Jesus Christ? He said His own glory and excellence. You see, Jesus calls people by His own moral excellence and the total impact of this person. That's what that expression means, His excellence, the total impact of this person and His moral excellence.

When that's demonstrated in your life, God will use you to draw people to Himself. You want to be effective and effective witness for Jesus Christ. You will be effective as the power of God is manifested in you and the glory and excellence of Jesus Christ is seen in your life. Second Corinthians chapter four, which all that the thing that Satan wants to blind people's minds to is the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. He wants to blind their minds to the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ. In other words, what Satan wants to keep people's minds blinded to is the glory of Jesus Christ as He's revealed in this gospel. Satan doesn't want you men and you women to stay faithful. He doesn't want you to manifest the power of God by your faithfulness every day because he wants to blind the minds of people to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In first John chapter five verse nine says that well in fact turn there turn to first John just a couple books over first John chapter five. Look at this. John says if we receive the witness of men and his invocation is yes, we do, don't we? You receive the witness of men. You're always receiving it. People tell you something you believe them. You call somebody you know for some kind of advice you're the telephone company and they tell you if you believe them somebody comes to your house and they evaluate the situation and you receive their witness. John says if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater because you've received the witness of men before and they haven't been true witnesses.

The God is a true witness. He says the witness of God is greater for the witness of God is this that he is born witness concerning his son. God is born witness concerning his son. The one who believes in the son of God has the witness in himself. The witness is none other than the Holy Spirit living in you witnessing to the truth of who Jesus Christ is. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the witness that God is born concerning his son. See that's what happens when people believe the gospel. They are believing the witness of God that's been brought to them through some human witness. He says this is what God says. God says that Jesus is the Christ that he is the son of God that he came into the world to die for sinners and that everybody who believes on him will have their sins forgiven and they'll become a child of God.

That's the witness of God. That's God's witness and he says this witness is in you. He says in verse 11 the witness is this that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. In other words if you have life it's because the son is in you. If you have spiritual life it's because the son is taken up residence in you. Whoever has the son has the life of God. That's the witness. God is witness and his witness is true and he wants the witness of God. That's true and he wants you to be a witness. The witness is in you. It's Christ living in you through the Holy Spirit. And as you manifest the power of God in your daily life and I know there's a lot of ways that happens but I can tell you the most powerful way and the way that we need the most today is to be righteous in our living.

To be faithful to the covenant. And the Spirit of God empowers you to do the right thing when you want to do the wrong thing. That's an incredible opportunity for God to bear witness to Jesus Christ through your life. And God's command is hard. You don't want to do it but you do it because you believe and manifest your faith and obedience. But Paul said he says you know what matters in the church isn't circumcision or uncircumcision. It's not all these things that we often think are so important. He says what is vital in the church is faith working through love. Faith manifested in love. Love for God and love for people. And when God's power is manifested in this way it witnesses the witness of God concerning his son.

What in the world could change people like you? What in the world could take somebody like you and transform you into a godly person? What could do that? Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ lives in you today. It's going to be living in you tomorrow. And as you respond to him no matter what your circumstances are one of the things that a Christian must forfeit he must give up is being a victim. He has to give up a victim mentality because you're no longer a victim. You have Christ living in you no matter how bad it gives you gets you have Christ living in you. Martin Burnham was not a victim. They meant it for evil but God meant it for good. He entered into the presence of God and you got to know there was some rejoicing in heaven.

When he entered in, wouldn't you like to die? Well, wouldn't you love to die? Well, I want to die. Well, I was in a, I was in a hospital room day before yesterday. I saw my one living uncle, one living relative in my father's generation, my father's side. Every sibling my brother, my father had, has died in the face. One of them is living the oldest brother who's never confessed Christ and he's on his death back. He's dying. He's dying. Unless something changes, he'll die without Christ. Do you want to die? Well, don't you want to live your life in such a way that the power of God has manifested you through your faith in Jesus Christ? Notice this one last thing, the promises of God. It is through faith that we experience the promises of God.

Peter writes for by these, that is by the glory and excellence of Jesus Christ. He has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises. It's because of what Jesus is and what Jesus has done that we have been given these precious and magnificent promises. For example, you will have eternal life if you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a precious and magnificent promise and it comes to us because of his glory and excellence because he did what God called him to do. He was faithful. And he says in order that by them, that is by these promises, you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. The person of Christ attracts men, the power enables them to respond and then God gives us these precious promises.

And what promises they are? What are the promises? Well, the promises in this context basically cover all the promises and they're basically twofold. First, a sharing is moral excellency right now. We share in the moral excellency of Christ and our lives as we exercise faith in Him. But secondly, we're going to share in His glory in the future. But how do we do this? How do we share in the moral excellence of God? Well, it's through this phrase. We have become partakers of the divine nature. It's a loaded phrase, let me tell you. In the context Paul uses a phrase that he steals from the pagans. He steals from the mystery religions. He steals from the religions that were surrounding these people that he was writing to.

They spoke of being partakers of the divine nature, but let me show you the difference. The difference is this. In the mystery religions, being a partaker of the divine nature was the end or the goal of religion. That you practice this religion, you enter into it, you became faithful to it, and then the end you would become a partaker of the divine nature. You would be released from your bondage and enter into deity in some way or another. But in Christianity, being a partaker of the divine nature is the beginning of Christianity. When you rest your faith in Christ, Peter says you have become a partaker of the divine nature. We'll see on just a second. In the mystery religions, it was based upon a secret knowledge, what's called noses, and it was experienced through seeking mystical experiences, smoke and mirrors.

The kind of experience where you experience is de-mystical, religious experiences, you gain knowledge that no one else had. But in Christianity, it's through a published, preached, proclaimed public gospel, a good news that we're not ashamed to say to the whole world. Most early in this country, who's read anything, knows that Christian anity is based upon a message that says, God's in his son into the world to die for sinners. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead, and he says to everyone who comes in, we are public about it. And this becoming a partaker of the divine nature comes through believing these precious promises of the gospel through faith in Jesus Christ. In the mystery religions, it was an indulging of the flesh.

If I could just give you three examples, which I'm not going to, but if I gave you two or three examples of the kind of fleshly indulgence that was involved in the mystery religion's worship, you would want to regurgitate. Fleshly, immoral activity, in order to advance in their religion. But Peter says, this being a partaker of the divine nature in the Christian gospel is escaped from corruption that comes through flesh, the flesh in this world. Escalating from the pollution of sin through your faith in Jesus Christ, and you're joining, being joined to him becoming a partaker of the divine nature. In the mystery religions, it came through absorption. That is, there was this being absorbed into the deity, and typically it was monism that everything is God and God is everything.

And ultimately you become a part of the one, and you lose your personal identity. You absorb into deity, but in Christianity it's just the opposite. It comes through the new birth. It comes through a birth, a spiritual birth, and you gain a new identity because you are joined in Jesus Christ. That the person of Jesus Christ comes to live within you, and you become a child of God, and you have a personal relationship with a personal God who has a personality, father, son, and Holy Spirit, and he can speak and act and relate to you. And then in the mystery religions it says that there was no personal encounter with God. It was simply being absorbed by this God, but in Christianity it is personal intimacy with the living God, the triune God, father, son, and Holy Spirit.

You see what Peter does is he robs them of this phrase and fills it with Christian truth. He fills it with a gospel, and he says, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ you become a partaker of the divine nature, because you become a child of God. As John puts it, his seed is in you. His spare mass is implanted in you in the person of Jesus Christ, and you come to have a relationship with him. And so in John 173, Jesus said, this is eternal life. This is the essence of salvation. This is the essence of Christianity that you might know God, the only true God in Jesus Christ, who means sin. It's a personal relationship. It's a relationship that you can understand and experience. Do you ever feel like your faith is third rate that just doesn't measure up to the faith of some other people?

Well guess what? God only gives one kind of faith. The faith that he gives is the same kind of faith that the Apostles had. It's a gift from God. It's a gift from God that empowers you to believe the truth about Jesus Christ. It's not based on who you are. It's based upon who God is. It's the kind of faith that he gives to every believer. But the challenge that Peter is going to give them in this letter is that they should develop through this faith a deep personal intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ. But they should experience the power of God that they should allow God the Holy Spirit to empower them to be obedient to Christ and manifest God's power in their daily living. And that they should embrace the promises of God.

God's makes them incredible promises. God's promised you some things are just amazing what he's going to do in your life. What he's going to do in your life here in this world. He's gifted every one of you who are who are believers in Christ. He's given you a special spiritual gift. He's given you a significant assignment in life in which you can use that gift to do the work of God that's going to last for eternity. He's made you incredible promises. He made you the promise that one of these days you're going to enter into the presence of God. And you're going to be transformed and changed and you're going to be able to love God the way you want to love him now and yet you can't. You're going to get rid of all your sin and all your sinfulness and all your stubbornness and all those little characteristics in your life that keep you from being what you know you should be what you are.

He's going to transform us. He's made these wonderful and precious promises and if you don't have this faith God is the only one that can give it. It has to come from him. It's a gift of God. Let's pray or father how grateful we are. You have called us to yourself through your son and that we have become partakers of the divine nature. We are amazed at it. We are amazed that we have come to have this kind of relationship with you as children of God. Join errors with Jesus Christ that we know you so well that we can talk to you that we know you so well we can call you father. And we know you hear us how we thank you for the promises and we pray that you can help us to be faithful to use the faith to exercise the faith that you have given us that we would see your power.

Believe your promises. Do your work in a way that would please you and honor your son. As we come around the table now we pray oh God as we renew the covenant that you have brought us into with yourself. That we would calm our hearts as we sing these songs of praise may we direct our attention towards you. As we take this bread and we take this the fruit of this bind in remembrance of what Christ has done in giving his body and allowing his blood to be shed on our behalf to forgive us our sins. That we would remember the covenant. We pray oh God even as we quiet our hearts it would help us to have confessing hearts repent and hearts concerning our own stubbornness and rebellion. Help us oh God to enter into this communion time with consciences that are clean and cleansed by the blood of Christ.

You pray that you be glorified by it in Jesus name. Amen. The men would come up we're going to do communion. After we've passed out all the elements then we'll pray over them and partake together we'll sing over passing them out. If brothers would come up we're going to take a look at the bread first. Thank you for you. You You You You You You