Father, we come to You, O Lord, knowing that in You we find true contentment, true joy, peace. And Lord, that You, through the Lord Jesus Christ, we are granted much. We are given much. We are gifted much. This morning we want to see more of Christ. We want to know more of Christ. So Lord, this passage before us is just a wonderful truth that just speaks. to so much in our lives of who we are and who You are most of all. Lord, would You give us much understanding? Give me clarity in teaching, Lord. These are words that are just too wonderful for me, Lord, and so I just ask that, Holy Spirit, You come and help. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, we're in 2 Peter 1, and we're going to look at verses 3 and 4, but I'm going to read verses 1 through 4 as we can get a better catch of the context. 2 Peter 1, verse 1. Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle 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 Christ. And now our text for this morning, 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 excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Amen. This is a rich two verses here and just a lot to cover this morning. So bear with me as we try to cover as much as we can and still not even maybe scratch the surface. Last study, if we remember, we had the opportunity to begin this wonderful book, this letter, and notice that just in the salutation alone, the two verses, Peter begins with words like faith, like righteousness, grace, peace, knowledge, Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord. It's packed with meaning, a lot of meaning, just in the first two verses. That we are of those who have received, been given, or granted a most wonderful gift, this precious faith. Not our doing, but a gracious act of God toward us. This is something that shouldn't and can't get old. And really, we'll see what God has granted, what Christ has granted. I mean, he's just granting and granting, gifting and gifting. He's just generous and gracious is who he is. We learn that a faith that is of the same kind throughout the ages is ours. It's the same kind. It's same privilege. It's equal honor. It's equal status. The apostles have it. You have it. The next generation will have it. No discrimination. You are not more special. You are not more privileged, et cetera. There is something, this is really something that the world needs to hear today. If I, and I can't believe I'm doing this, but maybe hashtag equal standing faith. Right? But Peter continues and he states that this is all possible, that this faith has been obtained by or through the righteousness of Christ. That's something that we worked for. And therefore, all who are united to the Lord Jesus, while we enter into this realm where grace and peace are being multiplied. That's the realm we live in, grace and peace being multiplied. This is more than just some fundamental truths that we are to gather and retain in our head as head knowledge. It is experiential. It flows into our everyday life. and affects the way we live out this Christian life. I mean, you see it there in the second verse, grace and peace being multiplied is not just something we know, but something we experience in this life, more grace, more peace. Therefore, if it's multiplying, it's increasing, you have to experience that, you have to know of that. Well, how? Well, through the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This is really marvelous, and Peter will unpack that for us here in the next two verses in 3 and 4. In verses 3 and 4, there are a total of five statements or five prepositions that build on each other in these verses. Number one, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Number two, through the knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and excellence. Number three, for by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises. Number four, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature. And number five, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust. Well, we'll cover these statements. However, what I think is important for us to leave with this morning or to have in our hearts and our minds this morning is really this. This is what my desire is, for us really to be moved by the Holy Spirit. to be in awe of this wonderful and beautiful Savior. All of this can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit that is living in us. And so we're asking Him to take all that we will see in these two verses and apply them to our hearts and minds, that we will know more of Christ, that we will be more in love with Christ, with Him, to know more of His glory, to know more of His excellence, His goodness. this morning, to take hold of these magnificent and precious promises that Peter talks about and become like him, to be partakers of the divine nature, to turn our eyes really, as this hymn writer says, to turn our eyes to Jesus, to see everything else in this world growing strangely dim in the light or in the face of his glory and in the presence of his grace. And how beautiful that is. These verses and the other ones to follow, meaning verses 5 through 11, breathe hope. They give insight to our Christian walk in our Christian life and direction as to how we are to live these lives, these days on this earth. No matter what the circumstances around us may bring, we are not in the dark of how we are to live. to live as those who are useful and fruitful in the knowledge of Christ. We'll cover that next time, but if you're useful, if you're fruitful in the knowledge of Christ, as a result, you're changing, and we're living a life that is supplying or supplementing the faith. It's being supplemented, added to with goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, something that Peter covers. We are being among those who are maturing and making certain of the calling of our great Savior. Certainly, we can quickly jump to verses 5 through 11, but that is not the correct route. And it will be overwhelming. It will be impossible if we don't understand verses 3 and 4. Out of the divine calling, we are admonished to holy living. The two are inseparable. We need to see verses three and four as they are. They are glorious. We need it as we live in and are surrounded by a world that is filled, as Peter says, with corruption. It's dying, it's decaying, it's falling apart, it's wasting away, and it's fueled by lust and evil desires. And we see right off the start, Peter is letting us know the source of all that he will unfold for us in these verses. and the ability to fulfill the verses that follow. Divine power. Verse three, divine power, His divine power, the divine power of Christ. Now some would hold that this divine power is of God the Father. I do think since verse one speaks of Christ and the last reference or antecedent of verse two is of Christ, it would be proper to attribute the divine power to Christ as we would attribute the calling that Peter's going to talk about as the call of Christ. Now we do know that the call is normally, we know of the call of the Father. The Father calls, the Father draws, but there is a call of Christ as well. But we don't make hard distinctions here as far as His divine power, as if there is a hard and fast line of separation between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He has granted to us And though we see it only at the beginning of verse three, it would be only appropriate to attach this divine power to this granting that is found in both verses, verses three and four. You see that he has granted in verse three, and he has granted in verse four. All of this is undergirded by his divine power. This is precisely because all that follows cannot be granted by no other. It is divine. It is supernatural. If God doesn't grant it, it will not happen. Dear saints, we see His divine power at work in or through these verses before us this morning. It's His divine power that we have this true knowledge of Christ. It's His divine power that this calling by His own glory This everything that we need for life and godliness, these magnificent and precious promises, this partakers of the divine nature, escaping the lust-filled corrupt world that we live in, this precious faith, this is all because of the divine power of Christ. We need to see that this is not something that we've arrived at or attained on our own as a result that we finally move the heart of Christ to grant us these truths. No, this is by divine calling, because of divine love, and through the divine power of Christ. Nothing like it. It is the power of God that has given us new life and the power of God that continues to work in our very lives in us and keeps us until the day when we shall say that we have finally arrived. We are finally home. And as Peter mentions in the beginning of the first letter, we are kept by the power of God through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. I want us to rest in that this morning as well. Do we know of this divine power? Do you know this? Do you know of the power of the risen Christ in your life? That as Paul said in Ephesians, we may know what is the hope of our calling, of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness There's no greatness like it, of His power toward us who believe. Well, we see this divine power, that His divine power has granted, and we know that all that God has granted, all that Christ has granted, is a guarantee, meaning it will happen. Here in this text, there is a calling of Christ and there is a granting of Christ. And we are to understand that with this calling and with this granting, there is an equipping and an enabling. It's embedded in those words, calling and granting. Christ will not grant us, his children, something that he doesn't give us, something that we are not able to fulfill or handle. More so, his desire is for us to take hold of these things and to live, to really live. to dwell in the realm of growing in the knowledge of Christ. And this is exactly where Peter wants to take his readers and us here this morning. I have broken down the rest of the study. this morning into two parts all under the main title of Christ the grantor. Christ the grantor. He has, one, granted us everything, all things that pertain to life and godliness. And two, he has granted to us his precious, his magnificent promises. Everything pertaining to life and godliness. There's a lot there. And you notice the word granted in both verses. It's the word doramai, which comes from the root word doron, which is to gift, to bestow, to present, to give a present or to give a gift. We also notice that this gifting or granting is by Christ. And it is to us. the chosen ones, the redeemed ones that belong to him. This is because of his everlasting love and his divine power. Peter is establishing this from the very beginning. I think he makes it abundantly clear. He has granted to us. But by implication, that means also that not all, that there are many who are not granted everything pertaining to life and godliness. the precious and magnificent promises of God do not apply to them. And oh, what a sad state, what a sad condition to be in, to know that you are outside of the promises of God, to know that you are outside of all things that pertain to life and godliness. And I do pray this morning that if you are not in Christ, that this would bother you, that you would call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Put your hope in Him. What these two verses speak of are too wonderful. They're too majestic, too good, too beautiful to miss, to mess up, to kick against. What is here is everlasting. It is of God. And I want to tell you this morning, Christ is accessible. You need to trust in Him. You need to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And His gift will flow. You can have what Christ offers here in these verses right now. And it is a gift of God. We give gifts to each other, don't we? We give gifts to loved ones. But there is no gift like this gift. There is no granting like this granting. It doesn't even compare. In that word, that word granting, that he has granted, and just the way that Peter expresses it. This granting, it's written in the perfect, so it means that something that has already been completed in the past and has lasting effects into the future. That means we are the beneficiaries of what has taken place already. And not only that, but it's in the passive voice, meaning that this is something that has been done to you. This is something that has been done to me. This is something that has been acted upon by an outside person or force. It's God. He's done it. He's granted. And so Christ himself, he took the initiative, he made the first move, he loved us first. And so the first thing we see here is that we have been granted all things, everything pertaining to or necessary for or in reference to life and godliness. But what is meant by life and godliness? Well, we need to understand the meaning of these words in order to better understand the all things. Because all things, we could go on a tangent and just start applying everything. As some do. Well, life here is more than life in general. It is translated as Zoen, which is to be understood as eternal life. And maybe a good Bible study in the future on the theme of eternal life would be appropriate, but suffice it to say here that eternal life is not only some distant future. It is that, but it's more than that. Jesus Christ is eternal life. Pause and meditate on that for a moment. Jesus Christ is eternal life. We read it throughout scripture. Look at what the beloved disciple John records for us. First, what Christ said. He said, he who believes in the Son has eternal life. That's not something distant. That's something that when you believe in the Son, you have eternal life. Jesus says again, "...he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." And it's amazing on what John does in his first letter. He begins and he ends with eternal life. Just verses one and two in chapter one. What was from the beginning, this is wonderful brothers, what we, and sisters, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. He's talking about Christ there. And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. Do you see the correlation? Do you see what he's bringing together? He's saying Jesus Christ is the eternal life. And he ends in chapter five, verses 11 through 13. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. He who has the son has the life. And he who does not have the son of God does not have the life. There's the distinction. These things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This knowing that you have eternal life happens here and now. Eternal life is here and now. It isn't already and not yet. It is a taste now before splendor to come, but never separated from Christ. And so this life in Christ while on this earth, we are also admonished. We're admonished to what? As Jude says in verse 21, he says, to keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And Shriner, Thomas Shriner, a commentator, adds, this eternal life is not just the experience of bliss, but also involves transformation so that believers are morally perfected and made like God. That is the process of sanctification. That's this life that we live in, in Christ, the new life in Christ. We're being made more like Christ. That is why Peter doesn't stop at eternal life, but following right after is the word godliness. That word godliness in its most basic definition or understanding is to be like God. For there to exist in our lives a God-likeness. In other words, for us to live a godly life is to live a holy life. A life that God approves of. You see how godliness is connected to life. If I would ask the question, how many ungodly people will inherit the kingdom of heaven? The answer is quite obvious. None. Nobody. Yet too many in this world would like to hold to the first without the second in a very loose way. Many to declare that they have, I've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm free and clear. I'm good. I don't have to live this godly life, this life of restriction and restraint. Thinking that godliness is not necessary because grace is greater. What they fail to see is that when Christ grants all things for eternal life, alongside comes the granting of godliness as well. And this is by divine power. This is by Christ and through Christ. It would be right to conclude that life and godliness combined would equate to Peter saying that we have been given all things necessary to live this new life in Christ right now in a godly way. For without such godliness, eternal life cannot, will not be granted. Something we are required and instructed to do, but only through and because of his divine power. Be holy for I am holy. Peter mentions that, and he quotes from Leviticus, and he mentions that in the first book that he writes. But what does that really mean? It means that our conduct should match our testimony. Our conduct should match where we are and who we are. That if we've received this eternal life, if we've believed in the Son, and we have this eternal life, where our lives should reflect that very thing. Our thoughts, our actions, our words. The way we walk, the way we talk, the way we look, the way we dress. All these things. Godly living. It's a reflection of Christ in us. The glory of Christ in us should radiate from the inside out. And so when we read that he has granted or gifted us all things needed for eternal life and godliness, we understand it as quite simply stating that through the divine power of Christ, the source of our eternal life and godliness, we have been given all things to live the new life in him in a way that makes our calling and choosing certain. That's what Peter says later on. And I don't think Peter is talking necessarily about justification here in these verses. It's included, though. having been justified as a part of the all things, which pertain to eternal life and godliness. However, as Paul mentions in Romans 5, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we exalt in hope of the glory of God. There it is. It's really wonderful. the way that Paul puts it. We now have access to, we have obtained that introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. Into this grace, under this grace is really depicting a state or a condition in which we are now in. Our position or relationship to God has changed. We know that. We went through Romans. We have had a transfer of dominion and of power. We were under the law, but now we're under grace. We were outside the camp and now we are dwelling in the center of the camp in the presence of the Lord. We were brought near, we were under the wrath of God, now we're under the favor of God. This is the grace in which we stand. Our justification is but the introduction into this grace in which we stand. Giving us full access to what the divine power of Christ has granted. There's more spread out for us at the banquet table of our Lord's riches pertaining to the all things. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives this wonderful illustration that I'll read quickly here. He says, this is the most marvelous thing of all being a Christian. He says, our whole relationship to God is different. It has been entirely changed. It is like the case of a man who has spent his whole life out on the street outside a great palace. Inside the palace there are endless riches and wealth, and a great banquet is being given. He sees people enjoying themselves, but he is shivering out on the street and he cannot partake. He has no right of entry. He is not fit to enter. Suddenly, though, in a miraculous and marvelous way, he is approached and invited to enter. and provided with a festal garment, he is brought in and introduced, and he takes his place and begins to partake of the feast of the riches of God's grace." This is exactly what Peter is saying here in our text before us, that our position now as believers, remember, it is by his divine power that he has granted this to us. It is simply grace, the benefits of Christ given, granted to an undeserving people. Peter is saying that this is the God of all grace. He said that in the last chapter of the previous book. So we have obtained this introduction by faith, and now we live by faith in the grace in which we stand. It is more than just the thought of grace given at the new birth. It is grace upon grace. It is a river of grace that never runs dry. It always flows, grace and peace being multiplied, increasing, adding. And what does that mean for you and me, though, here and now? If these things are true, what Paul says, we have grace in which we stand. Peter says that in his grace, in this grace, we have been granted all things to live in light of eternity. The benefits are ours. All things are ours. There is no lack. All things is all things. We ought to be people who live according to these truths, thriving in this life. We have all these things needed at our disposal for this new life in Christ that we have been given, all the riches of his glory and grace. And this is possible because of our blessed Savior. Benefits flow from his nail-scarred hands and what he has accomplished, who he is, and where he is now. MacArthur put it wonderfully. He said, all you need is there. It's never a question of sufficiency. The grace that is so powerful to save us is equally powerful to sustain and equally powerful to manifest itself in our conduct. We live in a day of exaggerations though, don't we? I mean, it's happened before in your relationship with your spouse. You've talked to one another and you've said you came with your argument, a solid argument of you always. Or you never, right? An exaggeration, because it's not always always, and it's not never never. But we live in such a world, and we use that kind of language to make a point. It's an exaggeration. But see the statement by Peter? When he writes all things, he means all things, everything. This will include most assuredly the new birth, because you're probably thinking, what are these all things? It is the new birth. It is a changed heart. It is a renewed mind. We now have the mind of Christ. We have the marvelous and precious gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, guiding us, helping us, convicting us, teaching us, comforting us. The list could go on. We have the fruit of the Spirit. I mean, you could be put in a situation where you think, I don't know how I'm going to resolve this argument. I don't know what I'm about to say. And then you're given all things that pertain to eternal life and godliness in that moment. He has given you all things. There's nothing that you lack. We lack nothing in this life. And we do believe, we must believe that God is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power. To the power that is at work in us. But we ask the question, how is this possible? How do we obtain all things pertaining to life and godliness? Yeah, the source is his divine power. Yes, the gifts are found in all things, but how? How is this possible? And this is marvelous. Through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. That's how. Jesus Christ said in John 17.3, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is really something here that Peter's getting at. We become the recipients of such great blessings or gifts, the all things, because we know Christ. And we know Christ because he has called us. He has called us to something wonderful and marvelous. Nothing greater is the call of Christ. How did he call us? I really spent some time just praying through this and just being marveled at this. And I don't even think I'm able to put this into words, brothers and sisters. but He has called us by His glory and by His excellence. We know Him and grow in the knowledge of Him by His glory and His excellence. And as we read of this wonderful Savior who walked on this earth and performed great signs and wonders, miracles, who spoke truth, people walking away and saying, there is no one who speaks like this man speaks. This man has the words of life. He clearly presented the gospel. He clearly presented himself. He is the good news. He is the way. He is the life. He is the truth. But do we see his excellence or his goodness? His glorious excellence. His moral excellence and glorious radiance. Or even the manifestation of His divine power as seen through His miracles in the Gospels, throughout the pages of Scripture. He is glorious. Glorious in the way that He talked. And glorious in the way that He walked. He talked about living water and He gave it. He talked about bread that could sustain forever and He gave it. He healed the blind eyes and he gave sight beyond the physical eyes. He spoke life into dead bones that were useless. And those bones leaped for joy, but because there was a newness in the heart of those new bones. Joy unspeakable. Hearts were given new life, hearts of stone, now hearts of flesh beating with vitality. But Peter knows of this glory and excellence in a unique way, firsthand. Tell me, when Christ came, and just think about this, when Christ came and he walked up to those men and he said to them these words, follow me, What was it? What was it about that man that attracted them with leaving everything behind? Losing all that they were working for to gain their soul. What was it about him? It was his glory. It was his excellence. That as he came up and he said, follow me, they dropped everything, left everything behind and immediately went after Christ. What about the tax collector, Matthew? Jesus walking up to his place of business, where he was gaining money through deceptive means, and he comes to him and he says to that man, he says, Matthew, follow me. It was not no ordinary call. This is not a normal call. This is not somebody coming up to somebody else and just saying, hey, come join me. Come follow me. The penetrating yet compassionate look in his eyes. the tenderness yet surety in his voice, his gentle and healing touch, his radiating and hope-filled smile. Everything about him declared that he is good and right and pure and noble and trustworthy. John speaks of him in the beginning of his gospel that this Jesus was full of grace and truth as he made his dwelling among us. We could just stop here and just, one by one, each of us to speak of the beauty of His goodness. The beauty of His glory. We could go on for a long time speaking of His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His ruling, His reigning, His healing others, His miracles performed, all pointing to Him as the Messiah. not to mention bring into remembrance things written in the Holy Scriptures of what he did and what he said. The way he conducted himself, his character, his questions, his answers, his compassion, his kindness, all of this speaks of his glory and of his excellence. But even this, how he called you and how he called me, and how his glory and goodness overwhelmed us. You remember that day when Christ became real to you and you saw his glory and his excellence, his goodness. You saw you for who you were and him as the Savior of all mankind. Are you still drawn to this glorious and good Savior? What attracts you to him right now? Is he still attractive to you? Do you desire to know him more? Listen, there's a surpassing greatness that cannot be compared to any other, and Paul says it is this, to know Jesus, my Lord. And that's exactly what Peter is saying here. That by knowing Christ, grace and peace is being multiplied. That as we continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ, we see more of his glory and excellence. And the more we know Christ, the more our desire to live these lives of eternity with and in great godliness. Listen, the only way we will know more of Christ is through his word. That's it. Don't go looking for any other experience. Get into the Word of God. Walk with Christ. See Christ. Listen to Christ. Imitate Christ. Too many are trying to attach something else to the growth and the knowledge of Christ that is not even scriptural, especially in our day and culture. Go to the Word of God and let Christ speak. But Peter continues in, And sadly, I didn't leave enough time for this last verse, but I hope I can cover it. The precious and magnificent promises. He says, for by these you have been granted precious and magnificent promises. What are these? What are the these that he's talking about? You know, as I was reading, The commentators, they'll come right off the bat and say, these verses are very difficult. Grammar-wise, they're just very difficult to distinguish. Because you have, for example, what we have before us in verse 4, well, what is that referring to? And even in verse 3, as it begins, seeing, well, is it tied to verse 2 or is it not tied to verse 2? These are the technical things, right? But by these is referring to his glory and excellence. It's in the plural. It's referring to those two things. By his glory and excellence, he has granted magnificent and precious promises. It's just who he is, brothers and sisters. With his glory and excellence come precious and magnificent promises. Tell me, are there any promises of God that are outside of Christ? All the promises of God are yes in Christ. You see with me that these promises are qualified. They're qualified by two words there. They are precious, meaning something of great value, great worth. Costly. Costly. And Peter uses that same word in 1 Peter 1, verse 19, to describe the costly blood of Christ. These promises are costly. They don't come without a cost. And remember, by His glory and excellence, we have been granted these promises. It's the grace in which we stand. Not only are these promises precious, but He says they're magnificent. They're great. The greatest. You can't get any greater than the greatest. There are no promises ever made that are greater and with more depth than the promises of Christ. So you may ask, what are these promises? Well, Peter doesn't list them out, does he? He just says, you've been granted magnificent and precious promises. He doesn't list them out, and this is because Peter is going somewhere with this. He wants to share with his readers the purpose of these promises. Of course, the promises are only those which are found within Scripture, and those are sufficient and wonderful as they are. The promise that He is with us, His presence, right? The promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise that He will keep us, the promise of an inheritance, the promise of His coming, the promise of His care and His provision, the promise of His patience, His kindness, His goodness, His gentleness, His self-control, His joy, the joy of Christ, the promise of faith, hope, love, the promises are endless. But the purpose of the promises of Christ is so that we may be He has a purpose statement there, so that we may be ones who are partakers of the divine nature. That's the end goal. So that by them, he says this, so that by them you may be one who is partaker, who has become partakers of the divine nature. This does not mean that we become gods. That is to diminish and to bring God down. But through the promises we will share in the glory that will be revealed. Not only something that will happen in the future, but is happening now to each one of us that have been called by the glorious Savior. Isn't this what the promise of Christ was when he said that he shall take of mine and disclose it to you? Or we have the Spirit of God, those that have the Spirit of God are called the sons of God? What about that in Him we are a new creation? That we are those that are born of God? Or that we are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory? Or that the new self is being renewed in the knowledge and the image of its creator? Or that we have been adopted as sons and daughters? That we are the children of God? That we are a temple of the Holy Spirit? That it is Christ who lives in me, not I? What about Christ in you, the hope of glory? Listen, it is. It's God in us. It's God with us. It's God for us. It's God keeping us. It's God bringing us to be with Him finally and fully. But there is more. We need to see this because Peter's trying to encourage the saints to see where they were, but more so where they are now, and the hope for them to continue on living. He explains to them from what they have been delivered and where they currently stand. All because of His glory and excellence. All because of these things. All because of His great promises. All because of Christ in us. They. We have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. You see, we were partakers of or partners with the rest of the world that is wasting away because of their sinful desires, and so were we. But when Christ called us, we beheld his beauty, the beauty like no other. And as a result, we have escaped, Peter says that, we've escaped this ungodly and corrupt world. A world that will not inherit life eternal, for they do not have Christ, they don't possess the promises of Christ. Those who remain in the world, those who feed their sinful desires, will one day face death and judgment. This is exactly what the false teachers in 2 Peter are trying to convince the saints. Never going to happen. He's slow to His coming. He said He's coming. Ages have passed. Years have passed. Look, He's slow. He's not coming. And if he's not coming, judgment's not going to happen. Live life. We'll show you true freedom. Freedom is found in indulging yourself. But that's not what Peter's saying here. Peter is saying, you've escaped from that way of thinking. You've escaped from that power. You've escaped from that domain. You don't live under that realm of corruption any longer. This truth we will see throughout the letter. Peter's trajectory is really an already and not yet. He speaks of the coming of Christ, the new heaven and the earth. He speaks of how we are to live in light of the coming of Christ. And so here and now we have become partakers in the divine nature. We have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust, but we have not realized or experienced that in its fullness. There is a day coming, and that day, the day of the Lord. When we shall have a new body, a glorified body, where we will enter into the heavenly rest that awaits us. When we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is, glorious. And one look upon His face, His glory will transform us to be like Him. And so we are to live now, in this day, relying upon the divine power and all things that he has granted to us, taking a hold of the precious and magnificent promises every single day, and live to the glory of God as we become transformed more into the image of Christ. and less like the world. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for this precious Word. You have so given us a great gift in giving us Your Word. There is none like it. And Lord, we attempt to come up here and to expound it, but Lord, we are so inadequate. Lord, would you impress upon our hearts only what you can do through the power of the Holy Spirit to make your word real and alive and living in us. We pray this in the name of Christ. Amen.