Good morning. Great to be with you this morning. What a beautiful sunny day. It's the morning start to cool off a bit, but it's still lovely and warm, isn't it? Just a few announcements as we get going this morning before our service. A couple of things to remind you of. There is a special offering which is scheduled for today for the flood relief, and the details for that you'll find in the bulletin. There's next Saturday is the men's brunch. That's right, Dwayne? Yeah, next Saturday is men's brunch, 10 a.m. You're welcome to come along, or men at least. Also, there is a shared lunch today which will be after the service. Love to have you come and stay if you're able. If you didn't know about it and you've turned up and be like, oh my gosh, I haven't got any food. Don't panic, don't worry about it. Just hang around and eat someone else's food. It's all about just being together and enjoying one another's company and fellowship. Also, I wanted to draw your attention to Grace Theological College classes. There are flies at the back door there. You can still enroll if you want. There is a class on Monday evening, an in-person class. But also, if you prefer just to stay at home in the lounge in front of your computer, you can do a lot of online classes also. So there's a list of classes that are available, and if you would like to join up or you wanna speak to me about any of those, I'd be more than happy to chat with you afterwards as well. Well, it's good for us to be together, isn't it, as we come to worship God, to encourage each other in the faith, and to seek to spur one another on to love and good deeds. And so I want to invite you to stand as we come to worship this morning. And Psalm 110 calls us to worship with these words. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power. In holy garments from the womb of the morning, the Jew of the youth will be yours. Well, let us offer ourselves to God in worship this morning with the words of this song. May the Lord our God, the Holy be praised. Alleluia. Alleluia. For the Lord God Almighty reigns Alleluia Alleluia For the Lord God Almighty reigns Alleluia! Holy, holy are You, Lord God Almighty! ♪ Worthy is the Lamb ♪ Worthy is the Lamb ♪ You are holy ♪ Holy ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty ♪ Worthy is the Lamb Alleluia! Alleluia! O God Almighty! ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh holy, holy ♪ ♪ Are you Lord God Almighty ♪ ♪ Worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb ♪ Oh Oh Let us pray. Lord God, you are holy. You are the almighty. And what a wonder and what an incredible thing it is that we can come to worship you. through the lamb, through the lamb who was slain, the lamb who laid down his life for the sins of his people, whose blood was shed, that we might come into your presence as those who are claimed and called by your name, those who no longer are far off, but those who are brought near. through the blood of the eternal covenant, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we have gathered here today, Lord God, may you be exalted in our praises, may you be glorified in our midst, may our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be the focus, be the center of attention this day as we pray in his name. Amen. Please be seated. We're going to now read together from the book of Psalms, Psalm 62. As you know, we've been in the habit of reading through the book of Psalms on our Sunday morning services. This is a poem of waiting upon God, and our brother Duane is going to come and read this for us. Thank you, Pastor. So once again, Psalm chapter 62, reading from the ES The page 1161, if you're using a church Bible. Psalm chapter 62 is titled, My Soul Waits for God Alone. For God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? The only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone, oh my soul, wait in silence. For my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory, my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in Him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath. Those of high estate are a delusion. In the valances they go up, they are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion, set no vain hopes on robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this, that power belongs to God and that you, O Lord, belong steadfast love. for you will render to a man according to his work. Amen. And may God bless the reading from his holy word. What an encouragement that is. Verse seven, it says on God rests my salvation and my glory. My mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in Him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Well, let us respond by reminding each other that God is our refuge in Christ Jesus and that our burdens, as the song says, are lifted at Calvary. ♪ Days are filled with sorrow and care ♪ Hearts are lonely and bare ♪ Birds are lifted at Calvary ♪ Jesus is very near Birds are little and Calvary, Calvary, Calvary. Birds are little and Calvary. Jesus is very near. Cast your cares on Jesus today. Leave your worry and fear. Birds are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Birds are lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary. Birds are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near. Troubled soul. Every heart, ache and tear Burns a lift in that Calvary Jesus is very near Burns a limb to that Calvary Calvary, Calvary Burns a limb to that Calvary Jesus is very near I found a treasure that can't be taken, found a well that won't run dry. Oh, worldly pleasure be now forsaken. Behold, my love, my life is mine. me right And my song will ever be Christ is Lord All in all And my song will ever be Christ is Lord my soul Christ is all, death like sorrow will never be. Christ is all, all in all, death like sorrow will never be. Oh, give me Jesus, my great desire, my true love. Christ is Lord, Christ is Lord And my song will ever be Christ is Lord, Lord and Lord And my song will ever be Christ is Lord Christ is Lord, Christ is Lord, and my song will ever be. Christ is Lord, Lord and Lord, and my song will ever be. Please be seated. I'd like us to come together in a time of prayer, congregational prayer, as we lift up before the Lord our cares and concerns and thanksgiving as we come before him. Let us pray. Almighty God in heaven, we are thankful as we come into your presence this morning that we come Not only to the King of the universe and the Lord of creation, but also we come before our Heavenly Father who has blessed us in Christ Jesus with all things. We come before you Lord God with a sense of boldness even and confidence. Knowing that we are accepted, not because what we have done, not because of how we live our lives, but because of your beloved Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who in exchange for our sin gives us and imparts to us His righteousness. that as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of him, we are conformed more and more into his likeness. But by his righteousness, we are accepted in your sight as beloved children. Lord God, you are so kind to us and you are so gracious. And so we give thanks to you. We thank you, Lord God, for this day. We thank you for food and clothing and health and strength. We thank you for friends and family. We thank you for those that we love. We thank you that we can gather here together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, that we can worship you, that we can read your word, that we can sing your praises. Lord God, how we praise you and thank you. We thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. We do pray, however, Lord God, for those who have been unable to join us today. We pray for those who are laid aside in sickness, those who are laid aside with frailty and old age, that you would be near to them especially on this day. Encourage them in their spirits. Help them to trust upon you. Lord, even in our times of sickness, would you drive us and draw us to maturity in Christ Jesus, seeing that even health itself is something that comes from you. Lord God, would you encourage and bless us as we struggle with sickness. Lord, we pray especially this day for Fem who is It seems heading towards her final destination, and we ask you, Lord God, to bring both her and her family comfort and encouragement at this time. We pray for the Saville family as they care for mom and surround her and seek to restore her back to health and strength. We ask you, Lord God, to give them patience and strength, to trust in you, Lord God, to give wisdom in terms of ongoing care. We commend them into your hands, Lord God. We pray for Kevia, whose grandfather has passed away back in Brazil, and Lord God, would you bring comfort and encouragement to her heart that she would know your presence at this time as she is so far away from her family, that she would know she is not separated, however, by your grace and by the love that we share in Christ Jesus. Comfort her heart this day, we pray. Father, we do pray For those who have been affected by the flooding in parts of the country and even just yesterday again, may you bring encouragement to them and help, Lord God, those who are cast down, those who are struggling, those who are homeless, those who are without work. Father, we pray too for families who have lost loved ones in this flooding. May you, Lord God, grant them your strength and your comfort. And Lord, as we show and seek to show generosity this day to those affected, we pray, especially for our sister churches in Gisborne and in Napier. Would you help those churches as they seek to respond to the need in their communities? Would you grant them wisdom? Help them to keep a gospel focus and give those churches leading and guiding as they think about how best and how you yourself, Lord God, would want them to help in this context. Lord, we pray even for our world and we think of the wars and the conflicts that are going on. And we've had the sad task of remembering one year of this war in Ukraine. And Lord God, we ask you to have mercy, have mercy upon the people, upon the innocent, upon those who are suffering in this situation. Lord God, would you bring peace. And in all other places around the world where there is fighting and wars, would you bring peace, our Heavenly Father. Lord, we pray that you would restore and bring back to yourself those who are lost and those who are perishing at a time like this, those who are despairing of life, that they would seek you and you would show them the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for those who labor in mission fields. We pray for churches and war-ravaged lands and lands where there is persecution and oppression. Father, we ask you to continue to build your church, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and strengthen your saints, that they might be faithful, that they might pursue you at all costs and at this time. And Lord, for ourselves here in New Zealand, as we live in a land of relative peace and security, that you would protect us from becoming seduced by the pressures and the forces that surround us in the world. and that you would help us to keep our eyes fixed firmly upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord God, you are gracious and merciful and slow to anger, you are patient and you are long-suffering, and how we praise you and thank you for that. Grant to us, Lord God, a desire to pursue you with all vigor. Help us to follow Christ, help us to Be godly, help us to be like our savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, build us up and help us to build one another up in our most holy faith. Lord God, you are our God, you are, as we have been singing, our all in all, and there is no one else besides you. Lord, we do thank you for this day, and even as we worship today, we're reminded that of the Hargaut family on their holiday, we pray your blessing and refreshment upon them. May they know your peace and your grace with them. Lord, we pray for ourselves as we continue to worship that our eyes would be directed to you and we would seek to also encourage and love one another at this time as we continue in our worship. We ask in Christ's name, amen. Children, I would like to meet you down in the front of the church, please. I think it's time for The children's talk, as is our custom. Got some questions for you guys. Hope you can help me. You all right? OK. Tricky questions. Don't be late. I love. Oh, we've got more. Come on. No? All right. Okay. Who here likes honey? Yeah? Honey? Yeah, I love honey. I love honey. So where do I get honey from? Where can I find honey from? A beehive. Man, you guys, I would have just gone to the supermarket, but you get honey from a beehive. You're absolutely right. That's the only place you can get honey from, is from a beehive. Yeah, yeah, it's not nice, is it? Been there, done that. OK, here's another question. Where do you get seafood from? Yes? The sea. The sea. OK, I think you guys are getting this. Where do you get potatoes from? From the garden. From the garden. I was going to say from the potato patch, all right? You get potatoes from the potato patch. You can ask Mr. McLellan about that one. Here's a question. Where do you get godliness from? Ata? Yeah, close. That will certainly is where you need to go to find out about it from the Lord Jesus. You get godliness from God, don't you? I think that was, yeah. You get godliness from God. So who wants to be godly? You guys want to be godly? Put up your hands. You want to be godly? Yeah? Do you know what godliness means? Maybe I should have told you before I asked you that question because, you know, adults do things like that. They ask you something you're not quite certain what it is. Godliness really is being like God, isn't it? Now, I know we can't be like God because God is glorious and eternal and perfect in all of his ways, but But to be godly is to follow God, to think like God, to speak as God would have us to speak, to live as God would have us to live. So we want to be godly, okay? It's a good thing to be godly. And godliness is something we should pursue. But the question is, where do we get godliness from? Where would you go to get godliness? How would you find it? From God. Yeah, you're on my wavelength now. Thank you. Yeah, you read the Bible and the Bible tells us about God, doesn't it? So that's what I'm going to be talking about today in the sermon. When we want to be godly, when we seek to grow in godliness, we have to start with God himself. Don't start with yourself, or even your mom and dad, or a book you might read. If it's not the Bible, you have to start with God. And I'm going to explain how it is that God gives us the power to be godly, and he gives us his own presence to help us to be godly as well. I'm going to sing a song, then, I'm not going to sing a song. I'm going to pray, and then you're going to sing a song. That's what happens when your brain is not fully engaged, or you're thinking about the next thing. Yeah, that's right, that's what I was doing. I was thinking about the next thing. I'm gonna pray, and then we're all gonna sing a song. How's about that, all right? And then you can get your workbooks over there. All right, let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you are so kind to us. Thank you that as God, you call us to be godly. The Bible tells us to be godly. You are holy and you say without holiness, no one will see you. You say that we should follow Christ, that we should be like Christ. And you say that you are God and that we should be like you. We should pursue godliness. We should be like our Lord and our God. We thank you then that as we read the Bible, it tells us It tells us that the source of godliness is yourself. So help us to come to you today to seek and to find you so that we might be godly men and women and boys and girls as we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's stand and sing a song and you guys can get your worksheets. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. Allelu, Alleluia. They shall not live by bread alone, ♪ But by every word ♪ ♪ That proceeds from the mouth of God ♪ ♪ Allelu, Allelu, Allelu, Alleluia ♪ Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you. Let's give thanks for the offering. Lord, we thank you that you have blessed us with such an abundance. We thank you that you give us the opportunity this day to bless others, to partner in the gospel, to share in the work of this ministry that you've called all of us to. We pray then that you would take this money and use this money to bring glory and honor to your name, to build your kingdom, to establish your church, to support those in need, to help the poor and the needy in our society and in the church particularly. Father, we pray that you would continue to shower your blessings upon us and make us to be a blessing to others. We ask in Christ's name, amen. Please be seated. So while Logan is on holiday, myself and Jeff and tonight Andrew are going to preach a short series based on a short book of the Bible, which is 2 Peter. 2 Peter is a book that is not often read and I don't think many of us will have heard sermons from 2 Peter before. 2 Peter is an interesting book. In some ways, it's quite straightforward, but in other ways, it's actually quite a complex book, and it has some very interesting and quite dense sort of statements in it. I just want to read this short introduction. I was thinking of how I'd introduced the book, and then I was thinking, actually, what's written in my Bible is pretty good. It says in the second letter, Peter describes some twisted versions of Christian truth being taught Recalling his experience of Christ's glory at the transfiguration, Peter explains the more fully confirmed truth of the gospel as an antidote to heresy. The gospel is like a lamp shining in a dark place, and in chapter three, Peter focuses on those who scoff at the idea of Christ's return in the final judgment. Just as God once destroyed the world with water, he will one day bring his fire to it. In the light of this, We should live in holiness and godliness as we await his return and the salvation he has promised to all believers. So this is what this book is primarily about and we're going to be working our way through it over the next few weeks. So I want to invite you to turn with me to 2 Peter in chapter 1. And I'm going to read the first 11 verses. I'm only going to preach from the first four verses, and then tonight, Andrew Young will preach the rest of it, but I thought it'd be good for us to read the first 11 verses of 2 Peter. Listen to God's word. Verse one. Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May God bless to us that reading of his word. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that as we turn to your word, we can do so with absolute confidence because your word has been given by inspiration of yourself, by the work of your spirit. As it says, all scripture is God-breathed. And we pray for the presence of that same spirit among us this morning, Lord God, to illuminate our hearts and minds to receive your word. Mix up your word with faith in our hearts, we pray, as we ask in Christ's name. Amen. If you're a Christian today, you want to be like Christ. In fact, you are like Christ if you are a Christian. That is where that title comes from. You are a Christian because you're a follower of Christ. And if you love God, you will also want to be godly. That is something that goes along, you might say, as part of the territory. It's part of what it means to be a follower of God, to be someone who is in Christ Jesus. Godliness is something that is what you are called to pursue. But you're probably sitting here and thinking, well, that sounds a little bit idealistic. I don't necessarily feel godly, or I don't really feel that I'm making a lot of progress in godliness, or I don't even think of myself as being godly. And I understand that. And that is because when we think about godliness, really, first of all, we have to understand that it's not something that actually comes to us naturally, does it? If we think about natural human nature, our natural inclination is actually the opposite, isn't it? It's ungodliness. It's to get away from God. If we go back to the garden and to our first parents, to Adam and Eve, we know that in the garden, that was their exact desire, wasn't it? When God had said, you shall not, they said, actually, we think we can. God says this, we say no. And so godliness is not something that actually comes to us naturally. We don't pursue it by nature. And it can, even in the church, it can easily be overlooked, can't it? We can sometimes focus on other things that we maybe are excited about and that we think are important, whether it's all kinds of good things that the church can do, but godliness can sometimes be neglected. It's not really something that's front of mind for us. And I know that in my own experience and in my own life, that is often a challenge and a battle to maintain a desire for godliness. One of the things that those who engage in full-time Christian ministry are warned about is doing God's work rather than being God's people. Doing God's work rather than being God's people. Becoming a professional Christian. Becoming a professional pastor. Becoming a professional preacher. And not living the way that God wants you to live. So it often sits very low on our radar. But there's another reason I think that godliness, we struggle with it and we find it problematic, is because we, like we do with so many things, we actually misunderstand and we don't really appreciate how we pursue godliness. And what I mean by this is that we tend to fall into one of two extremes. We think, sometimes we think, well, if I'm gonna be godly, I'm just gonna have to work harder, I'm gonna have to try more, I'm gonna have to do more stuff for God, maybe go to more church meetings and volunteer for more rosters and do more mission stuff and give more things and pray more and read more. And if I do these things, then I become godly. So that's one extreme. But then on the other extreme, sometimes we just say, well, you know, to err is human, and I'm a fallen human creature, so, you know, I'm just a sinner anyway, so why even bother? I'll just give up. Just go with the flow. And of course, neither of those is acceptable, is it? Neither of those is what this passage and what the scripture as a whole is calling us to pursue. So in this passage that we read, and as I said to you, I'm going to just really focus on verses three and four. The Holy Spirit, through his servant Peter, says that for you and I to be a people who pursue godliness, we have to start with God himself. In other words, God gives godliness. God is the one who gives us godliness. That has to be our starting point. Yes, I know as we grow in sanctification we have to work on ourselves and we have to put into action and we have to implement what the Bible says, but our starting point is always and can only be God himself. God is the one who gives us godliness. 1 Timothy Chapter four, verse eight, helps us maybe to think about what godliness is because, you know, as you maybe realized when I was talking to the children, we often assume things. Hey, godliness, we all know what godliness means. And sometimes in our minds, different ideas will pop up. Maybe godliness might mean dressing in a certain way or speaking in a certain tone of voice. or not doing stuff, which is inevitably the way we as human beings think. A godly person is one of those people who goes and lives on the top of a mountain in a monastery and all they do is just read the Bible and eat and sleep in a cell. That's a godly person because they don't have a TV, they don't have a cell phone. They don't have any books, they don't talk to anybody, and so they must be godly, right? And that's the way we tend to think about godliness, don't we? We tend to think of it as a removal of anything else that doesn't come directly from God. Now, there is an element of truth in that, but let's read 1 Timothy 4, verse 8, where Paul says, for while bodily training is of some value, Godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. So he's two things he's saying here is that while it's good to go to the gym, and it's healthy for your body to go to the gym, it's healthy for your soul to pursue godliness. There is a certain kind of activity or there is a certain pursuit in life which has another benefit for your spiritual life. And that benefit is something which doesn't just stay in the here and now, but while blessing us now also. benefits us for all eternity. That is what godliness is. I want to reference another passage in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, not 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, but 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, where Paul says, Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. Now, here's something to understand. When we read the Bible, and the Bible uses the word mystery, It's not using the word mystery like we tend to think of something that is mysterious, meaning it's really hard to find, or it's kind of confusing and elusive somehow. When the Bible uses the word mystery, it's telling us that this was something that is unknown by human mind and human searching, but God reveals it, God shows it to us, okay? So he says, Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up into glory. So what Paul is saying there is that if we start to talk about godliness and we want to know where we start and we want to know what godliness is, it is something that God reveals to us. Primarily, God reveals what godliness is to us. He reveals godliness to us, not in a concept, not in a definition in a dictionary or an encyclopedia. but he reveals it to us in a person. Who is the person? You can answer me. It's Jesus, isn't it? He was manifested in the flesh, okay? He was vindicated by God. He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God showing us what godliness looks like. And so you can know what godliness is and you can pursue godliness. And so godliness is something that God gives God Godliness starts with God. It's something that is obtainable. Does anybody here know what UBH-310 is? 310 is? Anybody? I'm really pleased nobody knows what that is. Okay, if you're a follower of the Avatar movie series, because I think they're going to make a series. There'll probably be about 20 of them. On the planet Pandora, there is an element that they are seeking. The element is UBH310. I had to Google that, obviously I didn't know that. But it is the element that they refer to as what? Unobtainium. Unobtainium. My friends, godliness is unobtainable to you by nature. but it is a gift that God gives to you. That's what this passage is telling us. Let's look at it. Let's see if we can understand it and pray that I'll be able to do so with some sense of clarity. Here, this passage is telling us that if you and I want to pursue godliness, we have to start with God's power and God's presence. the power of God and the presence of God. But let me explain that. In some ways, to help us to navigate where this is going and to see what the Apostle Peter is seeking to explain, we almost need to work backwards. And I'm not going to rake over this because this is the passage that Andrew's going to preach tonight. But in verse 11, he talks about entrance into the eternal kingdom of God. which is something that comes about through faithfulness in verse 10 where he says, to confirm your calling and election, make your calling and election sure. Then as we remember our forgiveness that we have in Christ Jesus, verse 9, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins and by the practice of the virtues that godliness calls us to, if that is the end goal, entrance into the eternal kingdom, we are led back to the beginning, the source of it, where we have to start, verses three and four. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. Let's start with that one as a first point. God has given you the power for godliness. His divine power has granted us, to us, all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. You know, where do we start if you want to live a godly life? Apostle Peter is saying this is where you start. This is the source that you have to come from. This is where you have to set out from. It only starts with God himself. The divine power that gives everything we need. And it's so important for us to understand that. He's not saying don't strive for godliness. He's not saying don't practice godliness. He's not saying don't pursue godliness. But what he's saying is that if you want to do these things, you have to come from the source. You have to start with God himself. You know, that is why Peter can pray with such confidence for these Christians, isn't it? In verse 2, and of Jesus Christ. He can pray this, and he's not praying it like some sort of, he's speaking some wish into the universe, or like opening up a fortune cookie and hoping for good luck. He can pray for these Christians that they would grow in their grace and knowledge of Christ, because God has given everything that's needed. He's given the power. Not only gives us everything we need for godly lives in Christ Jesus, But he supplies us. He not only calls us to live a godly life, but he supplies us with the power to do it. Now here's something really shocking. I don't know if you notice in this passage about it. He is not saying, he doesn't say, there will come a day when you will have everything you need to live a godly life. Notice that in this passage, what he says, his divine power has granted. has granted. It's a perfect verb. He's saying, you know, you don't have to hope and that one day God will give you these things. But he's saying that it has already been given to you in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's divine. He has given you this. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him. through the knowledge of Christ. How do we get godliness? Through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I asked before the children, how do you get godliness? And somebody said, the Bible, which is right, isn't it? And the church has always recognized that. God's word is sufficient. God's word, the Bible, is sufficient for everything so that we might live a life of faith and godliness. That is true. But most importantly, God's word tells us, reveals to us, something that is essential, which is the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, you might say, the secret ingredient. That is the unobtainium by human efforts and human nature, which is given to us. It is the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, to know Him. And it's a different kind of knowing, friends. Our family, one of my nieces, she has a photo and it was always put in a prominent place in the family home so everyone could have a bit of a giggle about it. And it's a photo of her and the great all-black, Ritchie McCaw. And she's standing there with Ritchie McCaw. like this, and this looks like this couple. She's single, he was single at the time, and it was always in the kitchen, and everyone's like, ooh, you and Richie McCaw. Now, if I'd have said to my niece, hey, Ritchie McCaw, I'd love to, we're getting around for a barbie, eh, getting over for a barbecue, or I'd love to have a coffee, can you get in touch with him and invite him around? Was she gonna be able to do that? No, of course not. It was just a photo opportunity, wasn't it? She obviously was at a game or some All Blacks event and managed to get the photo. She knew things about Ritchie McCaw, but she didn't know Ritchie McCaw. And this is the difference, isn't it, between knowing God and knowing things about God. You know, I teach theology, and one of the things we always warn students is you're gonna, you know, you learn big words like supralapsarianism and hypostatic union and things like that, all really exciting, riveting stuff. And you know, your head can swell up and you could go to a barbecue and you could talk about the hypostatic union of the Lord Jesus Christ to people. And you know, that might be exciting for you, but is it going to bless others? Well, maybe it would, but the thing is, is there's a difference between knowing about stuff and knowing. And so here, what Peter says, he has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. He has called us to the Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord." My friend, if you want to be godly, you have to start with Jesus. And if you're not a Christian today and you're thinking, I'm not really interested in godliness, or I don't even know what you're talking about at all, I want to encourage you to start with the Lord Jesus Christ. You need him. Because one day, the Bible says we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And each one will have to give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil. And you don't want to stand there in your own goodness. I don't want to do that. You don't want to do that. Don't try it. Don't you dare try. There's only one way you can stand before the judge of all the earth, and that is in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. True godliness. There is only one way to be acceptable before God, and that is through Christ Jesus. That is a general call to all of you, everyone. Everyone has that invitation today. But for those who have received it and accepted it and believed it, the Apostle Peter says, he has called us to his own glory and excellence through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has brought us into relationship with himself. We don't just know stuff about God, but we know God himself. That's what it means to be a Christian. You know God. This is what shocks sometimes. I don't know if you've ever spoken to a Muslim friend about God. And you ask your Muslim friend, do you know God? And they will look at you with a shocked look on their face. They know about God. They pray that God will be merciful to them. But to talk about knowing God and having a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ is incomprehensible because it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ that such a relationship can occur. And you have been called. What have you been called to? He says here to glory and excellence. This is one of the amazing things about this letter actually. It's quite mind blowing. You know Peter, this is the Apostle Peter writing. And if you go to verses 17 and 18, he talks about this experience he has. He says, oh, by the way, me and the other two disciples, one day we were up on the mountain with the Lord Jesus and Moses and Elijah appeared with him and they were walking and talking with him and Jesus became so bright that we couldn't even look at him. He was so dazzling. It was amazing. We saw something of His glory. That's what He's referencing here, I think. The transfiguration. He has called us by His own glory and excellence. All this is given to us, my friends, to you. If you're a Christian today, God's power gives everything that is needed for godliness. I think of maybe a way of trying to think about it or illustrate it is like this. If you think of a baby, when a baby is born, maybe you look at a day old baby. Amazing, incredible, isn't it? To hold a newborn baby. Because when you're holding a newborn baby, you are holding a person. who has all of the potential for life. And as that baby goes through life, they have to learn things like tying shoelaces, and how to fill out tax forms, and how to care for elderly parents, and how to look after grandchildren, and navigate through disabilities, and things like that. They don't add anything to themselves, do they, as they go through life to be able to do all of these things. They are still the same person, they just get sort of bigger and bigger and stretch this way and that way and shrink some bits here and there. But they're still essentially that, they don't have to go and buy extra components to plug into, like here's a shoelace tying program software, let's plug that one in and we can tie, it doesn't happen, does it? It is all of there. And so it is for you as a Christian. God's power has given you everything that you need to grow in godliness. It is sufficient. God's power is sufficient for godliness. Romans 8, 32. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us a few things? Is that it? Have I misquoted it? All things, all things. How will He not in Him give us all things, my friends? But the second point is this. While God's power gives us everything we need for godliness, that power cannot be divorced from His presence. So God has promised us his presence for godliness. Verse four. His glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. He doesn't want you to get the idea that somehow God gives like a magic fairy dust. You know, you have something magical if you've ever watched a cartoon or a comic or something like that. And there's somebody, you have like Marvel comics, you know, you've got some special metal or power Vibranium, ooh, I watched a bit of Marvel with my kids. You know, you have something special that you can use. It's not like that. It's not as if, oh, here is my power, and off you go. But it is by his glory and virtue that God has promised you to share, not only in his power, but also in his very presence. Now this seems like a crazy idea, doesn't it? I don't know if you had that thought when you read that. He said, Now, I don't know about you, but if I was to read that statement, maybe in a theology book written by somebody, I would go, You've got to be kidding me. I think your theology is going a bit wonky here. Partaking in the divine nature? That almost sounds a bit blasphemous to me. That sounds a bit of a heretical idea. I don't know. You're sounding a little bit New Age-y. You know, you're kind of trying to elevate our humanity into deity or something like that. But this is what Peter is saying. What is He trying to indicate to us? Well, what He's trying to remind us is that if you want to be a godly person, and if you and I want to grow in godliness, not only is it the power of God, but it is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in us by His Spirit that God will work godliness. And you cannot detach it. If you detach your godly living from God himself, what are you going to end up with? Just a bunch of good works. Just a bunch of human effort, aren't you? You just be, oh, that nice person. Oh, they're a nice guy. She's a nice lady. Don't know what she believes. But it is always through the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 1.27 says, to them, God has chosen to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul in Ephesians chapter one, he talks about when you've been brought into relationship with Christ Jesus, he says things like, you are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus. That you have brought into such as the nature of your relationship that you have the presence of God and you are elevated with him. And it has this future aspect obviously too, which is brought out very clearly in verse 11. So Christian, you can now experience the reality of God's promised power through this incredible relationship that we have with our Lord Jesus Christ. that you get to participate in the divine nature. You get to have this relationship with God himself in Christ Jesus, that as the Holy Spirit applies not only the benefits of what Christ has accomplished on the cross, not only his sacrificial death is applied to you by the Holy Spirit, but you are also brought into fellowship by the Spirit of God so that Christ dwells within you and you and Christ are united together. The presence of God. the presence of God in you. And so that is why when he says that partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire, this is like a giant magnet that draws us away from sin. So often we fret so much about how am I going to resist sin and how am I going to fight it? Whereas he's saying here, as we have the divine nature, as we have the presence of Christ within us, It helps us to escape the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. You know, I love that story that Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son. Remember that one? He's the one who says, Dad, you're as good as dead to me. Give me my inheritance. See you later. I'm off to party, party planet. And then he spends all his money and he's like, man, this sucks. And then he remembers something. What does he remember? He says, even the lowest servant in my father's house is living way better than this. Why am I here with these pigs eating the pig mash? What am I going to do? I'm going to get up and I'm going to go to my father and say to my father, I have sinned against you. You see what it is? He's drawn back to the presence of his father, the goodness of his father, the love of his father, the kindness of his father, the mercy of his father, and it's that which draws him away from the corruption of the sin that he's living in at that time, wallowing around with the pigs and whatever else he was doing. That is the effect of godliness on us brothers and sisters. Let the presence of Christ draw us away from sin, into the presence of God, as He dwells within us, that we will be made alive to Him, and we will die constantly to our own sinful desires. Sinful desire, of course, is something that you'll see come out again and again in this letter, and we'll dwell, we'll have to look into that. But it's this natural inclination that we all have. to pursue what feels good as opposed to what we know is right. And we know we won't finally conquer all of sin in our lives. I know that. I know it's a battle. I know that no matter how old you get, you still have to struggle with sin, don't you? Thoughts, words, and deeds. You know, sometimes we say to ourselves when we're young, man, when I'm older, it's gonna be cool, because I won't have to struggle with sin. It doesn't work like that, does it? Yes, we are able to have victory. Yes, we are able to conquer certain things in our lives by the grace of God, but we know that only it will be one day when our bodies are resurrected and we're glorified in the presence of Christ that we will have that final victory So this is something that has been given to us. He's not just saying, well, I hope you have a promising future, folks. I'm reminded of when I was at intermediate school. That's the school you go to when you're from about 11 to 13 or thereabouts. There was a guy there called Sean. Sean was an amazing rugby player. And I was kind of jealous of him because he was just so confident. His ball handling skills are amazing. His running was powerful. And just everybody admired him. And we all went like, man, Sean, Sean is going to be an All Black one day. This was at Elminster Intermediate in Gisborne. Sean's going to be an All Black one day, and just watch him. And sure, Sean went to high school. He went straight into the second 15 at the school, which was top there. First 15 was one of the top teams. He went away on a tour with them to Argentina, one of the teams, and then he got sent home. Why? Because he got caught with drugs. And then things just started to unravel throughout his life. And all of that potential that we thought we saw and everybody expected, it was just, by the end of high school, it was gone. And maybe you've seen people and that's the way their lives have gone. And you think, man, that person had so much potential, but now it's lost. My friends, When you come into Christ Jesus, when you have the power of God, and when you have the presence of God, it's like He's given you the all-black jersey already. You're already on the team. You don't have to try and attain to it. You're already on the team. And He will coach you, and He will help you to keep yourself, to keep myself. We must live godly lives. Brothers and sisters, that godliness is something that must only be used with adult supervision, friends. You know those things you buy? Sometimes you buy them for your kids and you give it to them and then afterwards you read the instructions and it says, use only under adult supervision. Fireworks, for example. Don't light this in your bedroom. Get mom and dad to help you light it outside. Godliness is like that, isn't it? Only under adult supervision. Your heavenly father, he empowers you. He is with you. He gives you his presence. The Holy Spirit, he wants you to know that everything that you need to live a godly life starts with God. He gives you his power. He gives you everything you need to do that, and he will be with you. He has promised you that to pursue godliness. Let's pursue godliness, brothers and sisters, not in our own strength, but in the power that God supplies and in fellowship of His presence. Let's pray. Lord God, we've been talking a lot about godliness And our fear is that as we look at ourselves, we see ourselves as being so unworthy, so far short of your standards. We look at ourselves and we say, I can never be a godly person. We look at our own hearts and we think, there isn't much godliness there. But Lord, your word reminds us that we are looking in the wrong place. You, Lord God, have already given us all that we need. You have empowered us in Christ Jesus by your spirit. And you promise, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, I am with you always. Lord, you are present with us. Help us to see that, help us to know that, that we might live godly lives in Christ Jesus. For we pray in his name, amen. Oh, the mercy of God, wonderful grace that gives what I don't deserve and lets me go free. Mistakes. Under the bridge, it is what I don't deserve. Face me, what past has served, and let me go free. Wonderful grace, fills me that's right to change, washes away mistakes that once doubted me. Lord, I am, I may ever be, of a wonderful Savior, ♪ Their lives mean ♪ ♪ Wonderful love ♪ ♪ Can help in the face of death ♪ ♪ Redeem us let us pray ♪ ♪ Forgiveness to be ♪ ♪ Wonderful love ♪ ♪ Whose power can break every chain ♪ Giving us life again and setting us free. Oh, that I may come and lay at the feet of the wonderful Savior, the beautiful Savior, the wonderful Savior who loves me. Well, let's depart with the words that we have just been looking at as a blessing upon us. May the grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire, by our God and Father, and through our Lord and Savior, and by the Holy Spirit. Amen. Now unto Him. Bow to Him who is able to keep, able to keep you from falling. and present you faultlessly for the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty of now and forever. Amen. upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. ♪ Turn your eyes to that hillside ♪ Where justice and mercy embrace ♪ There the Son of God gave His life for us ♪ And our measureless debt was erased ♪ We lift our eyes ♪ ♪ Jesus, our glory and our prize ♪ ♪ We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to you ♪