This message was given at Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. At the end, we will give information about how to contact us to receive a copy of this or other messages. We're going to be in 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. We're going to be in verses 3 and 4. But we'll start from verse 1. 2 Peter 1, beginning in verse 1. Simon Peter, or Simeon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a 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 has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. So in verses 3 and 4, we have a syntactical connection to verses 1 and 2. And again, it serves kind of to explain a little bit what it is to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And really, to see His love for you is to grow in the knowledge of Jesus. And that's the way grace and peace are multiplied to you. So again, Peter's overriding exhortation, what his desire is that God's people would see Jesus more clearly. Then he says, he has granted, the he has granted connects back grammatically to the nearest antecedent, so it's Jesus Christ. So he, Jesus, grants or freely gives of his divine power all things for life in godliness. So we're going to see that verses 3 and 4 form a bridge, they connect to verses 1 and 2, but they're also going to provide the ground for the exhortation of verses 5 through 8 where he tells us to build upon our faith by adding these virtues. They're grounded in what he says here in 3 and 4. And basically what he's telling us is because Jesus, in his divine power, has granted to us all things, therefore make every effort. He wants us to know that God has given us everything, that Jesus Christ has freely given us everything, and because Jesus Christ has freely given us everything for life and godliness, therefore supply every effort. And that could sound like a contradiction, but obviously it's not. He's encouraging His people in the true faith. The reason that we can persevere, the reason that we change, the reason that we obey is all because Jesus Christ is our Savior. It's all because Christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. It's all because Christ is doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves apart from Him. It's all because of Christ and His great gift of salvation for His people is a comprehensive salvation so that God can say, I've done everything for you, now therefore be obedient and walk the path that I want you to walk, and in fact, run the race that I ask you to run. So what's first, he says, he freely gives. Who does he freely give? To us. Again, to every one of us, not just to some of us, not just to the special ones. The encouragement here is God freely gives to everyone and anyone. Anyone who will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone who is saved is in Christ Jesus. Everyone who's in Christ Jesus gets what Jesus gives to his people. which is everything pertaining to life and godliness. Again, in the Greek here, the emphasis is on everything. It's in the first position. He wants you to know. What has He given to you? He's given to you everything. Everything that you need pertaining to life and godliness is what God has given to you. How has He given it to you? Freely. Who has He given it to? You. Every single one of you. Given it to me, given it to the person with the weakest faith, the person with the greatest faith, the person with the most gifts, the person with the least gifts. He's not making distinctions here like that. There are gifts according to God's purpose in His kingdom, but the fact is He gives to each one of His people everything that they need pertaining to life and godliness. So on the one hand, we can say or ascertain through that that eternal life is a present possession of God's people. It's a future promise and a present possession, and that gives us hope that in this life now we're running this race, we're running this race because of what Christ has done, and we already have these things in our possession. And again, how is it? It was through the knowledge of Him who called us. How did He call us? He called us through His own glory and excellence. So again, the glory or the doxon, the excellence here are words that are ascribed to God in the Old Testament. Again, I am the Lord. I will not give my glory nor my praise, which is the same word here, to graven images. What's he doing? He's pointing us to, again, to the fact that Christ is God. He wants you to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, because in growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, you will persevere, you will be assured, you will obey, you will have confidence, you will be able to trust. You see? And so, again, he builds us up by, the one you're getting to know, he is God. It is God who has won for you your salvation. Again, God's glory and excellence, they come to us and they're revealed in Christ. Christ is who? He is our life. You see, He wants to build us up because we're told that Jesus Christ is everything for us in salvation. It's Christ who is our life. It's in Christ Jesus in whom are hidden for us all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It's in Christ, and Christ is God, and God is for you. He is not against you. This is just a great thing. The gospel is actually for Christians. When you're a non-Christian and you hear the gospel for the first time and your heart is open and you go, wow, God loves me. God loves me enough to die for me. God loves me enough to save me. And then for some reason, for some of us, as we begin to walk, we forget that God is actually for me. He's for me as a Christian. What does Paul say? If he died for you when you were his enemy, how much more, right? He's for you now. So that's what Peter wants to build us up in the knowledge that God is for you. So again, here, His glory and His excellence are basically synonymous, and they're the manifestation of His divine power, which we see in the incarnation, the ministry, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So that gives us confidence that when He's saying, He's given us these promises, when God's doing this work in us, it's the same power, Paul says, that rose Jesus from the dead, or raised Jesus from the dead. So it's by or through the means of Jesus' glory and excellence that we are called and given eternal life. So again, what can we deduce from that? Well, the calling's not indiscriminate. It's actually, he's saying it's effectual. The idea here is that this calling, what God's doing, is not just a calling that goes out and is indiscriminate, and hopefully somebody listens, and if they do, then something will happen. There is actually an effectiveness that God is saying. If you're here, and if you believe in Jesus, it's because God has called you. And you can take comfort in that. It's only because of God's effectual calling in your life that the Holy Spirit has opened up your heart. So therefore, again, you can take comfort in what? Comfort in your Savior and what He's doing in your life and what He's asking you to do in your life. You can follow Him. You can trust Him. You can know that God is for you. Even if today all the other circumstances in your life would seem to indicate otherwise. Even if today your own heart cries out against you. Even if today the enemy of your soul has a great big accusation that he's leveling against you. You can know that God is for you because you know you would not have believed in the first place unless God had called you. And in that calling, He has actually done something real and true in your life. So it's in union then with Jesus Christ that we have all these things. This is a wonderful doctrine of the scripture. That it's because God has actually brought you into living a real union with the Savior that you have everything of the Savior. It's because you've been united to God through Jesus Christ that you have all the things of Jesus Christ. So we have these declarative things from God that you're not guilty, that you're righteous, but we also have these transformational things of God. He gives you His Holy Spirit. He opens up your eyes. He renews your mind. He changes the affections of your heart. These things are all for us. They're all for every one of God's people because every one of God's people is united to Jesus Christ. There is no one that's a Christian that is not united to Jesus Christ, but everyone who is a Christian is united to Jesus Christ. So our union with Christ brings in, again, all the benefits of eternal life, all these great and precious promises. We inherit them. Why? Because the Son of God Himself inherits them. And what do you have in union with Him? Just like Pastor Brian was saying the other day, we receive the adoption of sons, right? So we become partakers very much in that way, in the same way that Jesus did. We inherit because the Son himself has inherited. And God chooses us for adoption so that now we inherit. Paul in Ephesians says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has blessed us in the Beloved." You see, he wants his people to grow in Christ because everything is Christ, right? Every good thing is Christ, and he really wants you to know that therefore every good thing is yours. Every good thing is yours. Why does God command us to live the way that he commands us to live? It's because every good thing is for us in Jesus Christ. He is not commanding you to live a certain way in order just to continually show you how much you fall short, or how weak you are, or how bad you are. All those things are true. You will see all those things. But that's not God's purpose. His purpose is to set his people free. Because in Christ Jesus, he has given you everything pertaining to life and godliness. So God's gracious design is to save a people for himself in Christ, and that was made before the creation of the world. This is again, this is a wonderful thing, because it totally sets us free. It points us to how gracious God is. If the election of God's children takes place in eternity past, Okay? And that calling is going to be an effectual calling. Okay? Then we know it's all of grace. Because I wasn't there physically in eternity past. I couldn't have done anything. Isn't that what Paul, even when he talks about it in Romans, before the children could even do good or bad. You know, God has made his choice of you. Why? Because He loves you. Because He loves you. And this choice He made in eternity past for you. Now, there is this corporate dimension to that, obviously, but the corporate in the body of Christ encompasses, right, or it tells that individuals are actually incorporated into the body of Christ. So it is for you. So therefore, even though God saves real true sinners who are really and truly lost, children of darkness, belonging to the kingdom of darkness, there is also this sense in which God has always contemplated you or loved you in a special way because He has always foreknown you in a way in union with Christ. You were really, truly dead in trespasses and sins. You were really, truly a rebel. You were born into this world guilty. You entered in and you were part of the kingdom of darkness. You were a slave, and not only a slave, but a willing slave. These things are true, but understand this. There's some sense in which God has always contemplated you in union with Jesus Christ. To know that he loves you that much. To look at yourself and go, I can hardly believe that, or I can't believe that. But the gospel says, believe it. That God has always, always for you. Not that your sin wasn't real, it was real and you would have gone to hell. But in his mercy and in his grace, he contemplated you in love because he saw you in union with Jesus Christ. And that's in some sense, I mean, is God timeless in the sense that we think of timelessness? Does God have sequential thoughts, all these things? I don't know. I just know that the scripture is clear that you were dead in trespasses and sins, but it's also clear that he thought of you in eternity past. And in thinking of you in eternity past, he had to think of you in some sense of in union with Jesus Christ, which means in some sense, in some very special sense, God has always loved you. Because your union with Christ is always seen in the light of Christ dying for your sins. Union with Christ is a big comprehensive thing, but certainly the initial thing that opens that up is God sees Jesus on the cross dying for people's sins. So therefore, he contemplates you, and he certainly contemplates you this way now, in union with Jesus Christ. so that he sees you in light of the Savior. He sees you in light of who the Savior is, his son, his only begotten, his beloved son. He sees you in light of what the Savior has done, gone to the cross, paid for the penalty of all of your sins. He sees you in union with Jesus Christ. He sees you and has seen you in light of Jesus dying for your sins. So then the thing is this, and this is very encouraging, and I want you to be encouraged. If our callings from eternity pass, then did not God know your future failings too? I mean, obviously in one sense, all of your failings were future for God. All of your failings were future for God. So as he contemplates you now here today, if you're in Christ Jesus, Doesn't He contemplate seeing your future failures? And yet He sees you in Christ Jesus, you see? And that's where He wants us to see ourselves. He does not want us to be apart from Jesus in any way. He doesn't want us to think about our relationship with God apart from our Savior, Jesus Christ. When He exhorts us to good works and holiness and godliness, He doesn't want to see that in any way, shape, or form. take it apart, or divorce, or compartmentalize, or any way take it away from our union with Jesus Christ, so that God contemplates us in Him, so that even our future failures, God sees us in union with Jesus Christ. So we have righteousness entitled to the privileges of God as being God's children. How? Not by law, but by faith, you see. Because if he's contemplating you in union with Christ, and he can see better than you can see, not only your future failures, but your failures right now, then you've got to see it cannot be law that he sees you. He doesn't see you in the context of law anymore. We've been set free from the law of sin and death. We've been set free from the law as a means of righteousness. We are in Christ Jesus. He does not contemplate us as under the law at all. He sees us as those who have been united by faith, by his grace, in his Son, Jesus Christ. So Christ is our righteousness, therefore, and then by his Spirit, we are being conformed into his image. So in Galatians, and Brian's been talking, Christ redeemed us. Why did he redeem us? So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. And then he goes on to say, and because you are our sons, because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we gain the blessing of adoption. That's the blessing of Abraham. Abraham's called the friend of God. Abraham inherits the promises of the children of God. It's through Abraham that the seed of God comes. It's in Abraham that the promise of being the people of God is realized through his seed, Jesus Christ, so that what we gain, what we get, is adoption. So that's what he's telling us. It's in Christ. We are in Christ. We become the children of God. Again, listen, because you are sons, God has sent forth His Spirit. So everything that he tells us, everything that he admonishes us is in light of this, because you already are. You see? So again now, when Peter's going to go on in verses 5 through 8 and say, now for this very reason also apply all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence, he is not telling us to do these things in order to obtain. He is very, very, very frankly telling us, because you have gained all these things, therefore Okay, therefore be diligent. And what a difference, what a difference, because it's complete freedom that way. Because I go, well, am I going to perfectly do it? It's not the question to ask anymore, because I'm no longer under the law. The question for me to just ask is, it's just like the King James, just to put it like this, in Isaiah where he says, who will go for us? And Isaiah says, here am I, Lord, send me. You can say that with confidence and with freedom. It's not a matter of my being perfect. It's a matter of my being adopted. It's a matter of Jesus being perfect. It's not a matter of my having the greatest faith in the world. It's a matter of who my faith is placed on or in. It's placed in Jesus. So therefore, I can say, here am I, Lord, send me. And we can, as a good shepherd leads, we follow. So, it's by the sacrifice of Jesus that we gain the blessing by which we receive the promised Spirit. This is so important, people, that the promise is that Jesus comes, He dies, He redeems His people in order that they would receive the adoption of sons, in order that they would have the Holy Spirit. This is the way that we are brought into the kingdom of God. This is the way that God is transforming us. This is the way that we gain our entrance into glory. It's because God has given His people His Spirit. He's given His people His Spirit because Christ, because Jesus Christ is our Savior, who has won everything for us. So therefore, godliness is not the condition of your being called. It's the promise fulfillment. Everything that God is, when we read God's Word, and everything that admonishes us, or exhorts us, or tells us what to do, is part of the promise of God. It's not part, it's not the condition, it's because He's promised to do this for you. And so, therefore, He is doing this for you. So that's why he says, having escaped the corruption, guilt, and death that is in the world because of sinful desire. It's an eros, it's a point-in-time action because God has done this for you. Again, because of what God has done for you. So for by these things, in verse four, he's granted to us his precious and magnificent promises that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature. Again, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. So God has saved us, he's given us these promises so that we will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, being made like him, even as we now walk in newness of life. When are these promises yours? They're yours right now. Why are they yours? They're yours because of Christ. They're yours because of Christ's glory and excellence, because of his divinity. They're yours because you're in union with him, you have them now, in your possession. So, again, the transformation is not something that we're seeking to obtain on our own. It's given us in Christ. And so, therefore, Peter says, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's coming to know Christ. You're made living by His Spirit. You escape the corruption that is in the world, the judgment, and the death, and you grow in your knowledge. And in growing in your knowledge of Jesus Christ, what are you going to know? You're going to know that He loves you. What's that going to do? It's going to make you love Him. In one way, it's about as simple as it can get. He wants us to know that He loves us, because we will love Him. And that is part of His love, because what's going to keep you? Your love for God in one sense. Now I don't mean that you're kept by your own power, but God in his mercy and grace has this economy whereby the things he requires are the things that he gives us, and the things that he gives us end up being the things that he requires. So it works in this perfect harmony. So the life that he gives is gonna flower, it's gonna bloom, it's gonna burst forth into godliness. It's gonna bring forth fruit. But then understand this, what He gives us is not everything that we might like. He gives us everything that we need and everything necessary for eternal life. Which means he's not gonna give you a lot of stuff that you think you need. And he's gonna give you a lot of stuff that you don't think you need. Because what he's doing is big picture stuff, and we're always myopic, focused on little picture stuff. And when I say that, I don't mean to disparage anyone in any way. Suffering is real. We just did a whole big prayer list. We're probably 80 to 90%. had to do with people suffering, and they are truly suffering. And for those of you here who are suffering, you know that suffering is not a little thing. And so to get up and say, you know what, he's gonna give you what you need, but not what you want, can sound flippant. But here's the thing, I'm not being flippant. I just want to encourage you. When Paul says that this is a momentary, a light affliction that's bearing forth a far exceeding weight of glory, that's what Peter's saying too. And you go, can you realize that right now? No, but can you trust it? Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Why? Because what is God doing in your life? The suffering is not arbitrary. The suffering may be 100% somebody else's fault, and you just happen to be the one on the receiving end. And yet God, who saw everything in eternity past, who chose you, who loves you, is also using this in your life. Why? Because He doesn't like you, because He loves you. Because what he's doing in your life is this great and glorious thing of taking you to heaven, of bringing you into a fuller relationship with him right now, of changing you and conforming you into the image of Jesus Christ. So that our union, our relationship with God is reciprocal because it's living and it's vital, you see. It's living and vital because it's through the Holy Spirit. So how does Jesus put it? God abides in you, now you abide in me. See, well that's got to be because we abide in God, how? Not by my intellect, not just by my volition, those things change, but by the very power of God present in me, present in you, by the Holy Spirit of God. Because of what Jesus has done, we have a living union with Jesus Christ. We have a vital union with Jesus Christ, which means it's not only status transforming, which is the big thing in one sense. Not guilty, okay? Righteous. There's been a real change of your status. Not an enemy, but a son. Not guilty, but forgiven. Not unrighteous, but righteous. But there is also this, there is a life transforming part of that too. So our union with Christ unites us with him in such a way that we derive or we get, we receive all the benefits that Jesus has, but we also, it's a living act of union where he actually begins to transform the people of God. So what's that look like? Well, in one sense, faith itself can do nothing else but then to listen to God and travel the road of abiding. What is it to walk in faith but to And faith is not exactly obedience, but faith evidences itself by obedience, right? That's what happens. And again, in God's economy, Godliness then becomes not just the fruit of life, it becomes a means of preserving life and advancing life. So God says, I want you to be holy, for I am holy. He promises to give us all these things, but it is not just that that's an end in itself. That thing actually becomes a means by which he keeps you, a means by which he blesses you. In a kind of a weird way, effects become causes in God's economies. The effect of knowing God is to live holy. To live holy is to know God better. The effect of knowing God is to know that He loves you. You know He loves you, you love Him. You see the effects and cause become kind of cyclical in God's economy, and it's God's grace in your life. So when He's asking you to trust Him, it's because He wants to bless you. When He's asking you to live in a certain way, it's because He wants to bless you. So Calvin says, Christ cannot be known without the sanctification of the Spirit. Therefore, faith cannot possibly be disjoined from pious affections. Faith that is merely a scent does not penetrate the heart. So I'd have to have a fixed seat there. God wants us, we have to have this where we are really, truly trusting in Jesus Christ. And are walking according to God's rules is one of the ways that God is doing that in your life. So, Augustine says, Perseverance is a lineal progression, a walk, a race, a fight, a climb, but it's grounded on the fact that the Lord continually makes the person to stand. That is, that the Lord enables him to press on as a Christian. to have pious thoughts which produce faith, which works by love. Again, why is God commanding you? Why is he telling you to do this? Why does he convict you of sin? Why does he encourage you towards righteousness? Because when he does that and you yield and you obey, you find out that it's God's grace in your life. It is God's grace in your life. It's God's working in your life. But then those things actually begin to just overflow in God changing your heart so that the things that God wants are the things, the things God commands are the things that he gives. And it ends up then that the things that he gives are exactly the things that he wants in your life. So I'm just gonna summarize here. The ground is not our own righteousness, but it's the fact of Christ's work. The believer does not run in order to make it true, right? You run because it is true. You run the race because you've been saved. You run the race because the promise is sure. You run the race because your good shepherd is the one who's leading you and guiding you and taking you. You run not in order to make it true, but because it is true. God abides in us through the persistent and purposeful action by which His divine nature or His Holy Spirit influences ours, and so our abiding in God is the persistent and purposeful submission of ourselves to His action. It works together. It's all of grace, it's all of God, but what's it gonna look like on your end? It's gonna look like you're actually submitting to God, you see. It's gonna look like you're actually obeying God. Again, if you go, well, you know, bummer, because I don't do it perfectly. But he chose you in Christ. He chose you in Christ. He chose you before the foundation of the world. He knows all about you. And he's still encouraging you, run. Run because I'm with you. Run because I will never leave you. Run because I will never forsake you. So again, although keeping God's commandments, abiding in love, confessing Christ, are exhibited primarily as these things come out in our abiding in Him, these effects in turn become means. Again, as you yield, as you obey, as you trust, as you love, You find that those things actually become means of grace whereby God is continually building you up, manifesting his love, evidencing his power, keeping you on the road to glory. And the reason this is is because it's not a mechanical relationship. We have a living or an organic or a vital relationship with God. And the way that you're gonna get built up in that isn't by purposely deciding I'm gonna work real hard for God. It's by being built up in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a living and it's a vital union, but this living vital union comes to us the same way it came to us the first time. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. How are you going to persevere? How are you going to trust? How are you going to run? You've got to know that your Savior is truly your Savior. You've got to know that your Savior loves you. You've got to know that your Savior laid down his life for you when you were his enemy. And now that you're united with him, he will do, he does do, he's committed to do everything for you in order to fulfill his good promises of salvation. So we're gonna just want to end with a quote out of Romans. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemns sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your encouragement. We pray that you would build your people up in the faith, God. Continue, Lord, to shower your grace and mercy on us by showing us Christ. Lord, we do pray for Pastor Brian. We pray that you would bless him. We pray that you would keep him healthy. We pray that you would keep him safe. We pray, God, that you would use him to, Lord, speak forth your word and that you would be pleased, God, that souls would come to salvation. And we pray for one another here. God, build up, Lord, those who are weak. Lord, establish and strengthen them. Cause people, Lord, to know your love. Lord, build us up, build us up in the love of Christ, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. To receive a copy of this or other messages, call us at area code 775-782-6516 or visit our website gracenevada.com.