All right, we're good to see y'all here this morning. We're excited about the day with the Lord may have for us and we've got dinner on the grounds here this morning after we preach and then we'll have another service right after. So we invite all to come to stay and eat with us and enjoy this time of fellowship with God's people. So let's stand our feet and we'll pray. Again, I was mentioning earlier during Sunday school that there's been some folks who've been asking me about giving towards the towel that we have just put out and giving towards Brother Cat's shack. That's the shack that we're going to. Y'all see the new shack we got? And that's the most expensive shack. and all of Texas. And, but anyway, it's well built. Burl, Burl had no chance to that building. But anyway, they're asking me about giving towards the projects. And so if you'd like to give towards the projects, just put on the offering envelope, brother cat shack, or put towel, and it'll go right towards that. Okay, so looking forward to what God may have for us here this morning. Brother cat, Won't you open us up here this morning, okay? Man. All right, good morning, church. Hope you had a good Sunday school like we did. We'll go to page 449 in our songbooks, amen. Prayers appreciated for the song service. I know my voice ain't 100% there, but we'll make do. Page 449. All right. God be the glory, great things He hath done So loved He the world that He gave us His Son ♪ Build His life an atonement for sin ♪ ♪ And open the life gate that all may go in ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let the earth hear His voice ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let the people rejoice ♪ ♪ O come to the Father through Jesus the Son ♪ ♪ And give Him the glory great things ♪ Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood To every believer, the promise of God Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. He has taught us great things He hath done And great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son But pure and higher and greater will be Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. All right, he had a couple of birthdays this past week. And no, you can't escape from these birthdays, Jay. Amen. Jay's birthday was August 2nd. August 2nd, 22 years old. Is that crazy? 22. All right, sing happy birthday to Jay. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right, Sister Sarah and I share a birthday. August 8th. August 8th. How old are you, Sister Sarah? 22 as well? Wow. All right, let's sing happy birthday to her. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. I guess if you want, you can sing to me. It's kind of weird doing that. I don't know. Just weird. I turn 30. Big 3-0, amen. So y'all take it away, amen. Happy birthday to you. All right, thank you. Am I missing anybody else for now? Anybody else, no? Your time's coming, amen, be ready. All right, let's go to page 126. Page 126. All right. ♪ Rock of ages, clap for me ♪ let me hide myself in thee let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin a double cure save from wrath ♪ And make me pure ♪ Could my tears forever flow? ♪ Could my zeal no longer know? ♪ These for sin could not atone ♪ Thou must save and Thou alone ♪ In my hand, O Christ, I pray ♪ Simply to Thy cross I plead While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyes shall close in this, When I rise to worlds unknown, And behold thee on thy throne, Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee. Good morning church and thank you for coming to God's house this morning. We thank you for the visitors that we see here this morning that showed up as well. This morning's scripture reading will be in Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 and we'll be starting there in verse 16. again that's Colossians chapter 2 we'll start here in verse 16 and the Word of God says let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ let no man beguile you of your reward in voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body, by joints and bands, have nourishment ministered, and knit together increased with the increase of God. Or for if he be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh." Here, Paul is addressing the Church of Colossae with some false teachings that's going around. There was mysticism, there was asceticism and legalism. And basically that false teaching is Christ plus this or Christ plus that. But the fact of the matter is there's nothing you can do or add to help Jesus save you. There's no food or drink that you can abstain from that will elevate you higher in status in the eyes of God than your brother next to you. And there's no holiday or Sabbath that you can keep that will make you any more righteous than the sister next to you. Anything we do in addition to what Christ has already done for our justification, it adds to the gospel. When our Father in heaven looks at us and he sees the blood of Jesus applied, righteous. and justified. That's it. There's nothing else. That's right. Our righteousness and nourishment comes from the head of the body, Jesus Christ. That's right. Our faith is in Him. Yes. Our increase is in Him, and our salvation is in Him. Yes. If Jesus alone is not the head of your life this morning, I pray that today you would let Him be the only one that leads and guides you. Remember, we have a new and living way, and His name is Jesus. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you in Jesus' name, Lord, to say thank you, Father God, for your blood that you shed on the cross at Calvary, Father, for our sins, Father God, and for saving our souls, Father God. believe and let you into our hearts, Father God. Lord, we just thank you, Father, that you did it all, Father God. There's no extra stuff that we have to add or no extra stuff that we have to do, Father God. Jesus did it all, and Jesus paid it all on the cross, Father God. Thank you. We just love you, Father God, for that, Father God. We work because we're saved, Father God. We don't work to maintain salvation, and we don't work to be saved, Father God. And we just thank you for that, Father God. Lord, as we begin the messages for today, Father God, I pray that we invite you in, Father God. We pray that the Spirit of God, Father, would touch us, Father God, would fill us, Father. Pray that the Spirit would move, Father God, and that we'd see some salvations today, Father God. Lord, pray that the Spirit of God would move, Father God. I pray that you'd anoint the hearers, the pastor, and the word, Father God, as it goes forth, Father. In Christ's name we pray, amen. You may be seated. As far as announcements goes, after service this morning we'll be eating in the fellowship hall and then we'll be having our second service right after that. And if you'd like to support Pastor Larry, we'll be going to Calvary Baptist Church tonight all the way to Wednesday night. and uh... tonight that'll be at six p.m. and then monday tuesday wednesday that'll be at seven p.m. at calvary baptist church brother uh... brother gary's church uh... as far as on friday the sixteenth will be a women's bible study here in the fellowship hall conducted by uh... sister teresa at seven p.m. We'll have our church bible study Friday the 23rd at 7 p.m. by Brother Keith. And we'll have our nursing home the 25th and visitations on Saturday the 31st. As far as children's church goes, August 11th will be Brother George and Sister Diana from ages 8 through 12. And today, Teresa will be teaching the children 4 through 7. At this time, would Brother Charlie and Brother Kat come forth for the Lord's Offering? Brother Charlie, would you pray for the Lord's Offering? Amen. Thank you. Alright, I guess I'll sing a special. Church this morning, is that you sister? Okay, you follow Sister Teresa here. Four to seven. at Peter chapter one. And we've titled it, How Can We Lose It, talking about our salvation. We didn't finish that message, and so we're gonna go back there here this morning. But before I do, I'd just like to make a few comments concerning about salvation. I believe there's so much misunderstanding about what salvation is. And I know that many people put a lot of different emphasis on a lot of things, but salvation this morning is not about the sinner. It's about the Savior. Salvation's not about the one being saved, it's about the one who's saving. The emphasis a lot of times is on that sinner. And he gets the praise and the boasting, I was a sorry sinner, I was a drug addict, I was a drunk, I was a whoremonger, I was adulterer, and God saved me in this. But that's not what all salvation's about. Salvation's not about you changing up your life. In other words, you're going to start going to church, and you're going to start staying off of the sins, and you're going to do less than what you did before. And so you're going to make like a New Year's resolution, and I'm going to change up my life. I'm going to kind of remodel. I'm kind of going to add some things in my life. I'm going to take some things out, and we call that salvation. Salvation to some people might think, which is not true, that somehow you learn a few scriptures, you get a few things that you know, and all of a sudden, you know more, so you must be saved. You do less in the way of wrong, and you do more of right. You must be saved. Because you prayed a prayer. Many people think that because you pray a prayer. Nowhere in the Bible does it teach you to pray a prayer to be saved. Nowhere. A lot of people say, because I confess my sins in order to be saved. Nowhere in the Bible does it teach to confess your sins to be saved. We have great misconceptions of how to be born again. And I believe that many folks, because of the misconceptions, are not born again at all. And so it's not a remodel. It's not a change of you making choices in your life. It's not a redoing of who you are. It's not a mixing in your life with some Bible reading, with a little bit of prayer, with a little bit of church attendance. All that has nothing to do with being saved. Now, what has ever thanked about being doing saved is in this chapter 1 of 2 Peter, and let's begin by reading verse 1 if we stand to our feet this morning. I'm going to go back and review a little bit about what we did last week, but we'll move forward to where we need to be this week. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith, that's salvation. just for you to know, have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Father, we come to you in Jesus' name. We thank you again for the reading of your Word. Thank you for the songs that we've sung. Thank you for your love and compassion and mercy and grace. We thank you for the conviction, dear God, of our sin. Thank you, Lord, for the revelation of Jesus Christ, the illumination, dear God, of who we are and where we're headed. Father, thank you for the power that you give unto us, dear God, in order that we might live a godly life and eternal life. And, Father, we thank you for the divine nature that you have given unto us, and we thank you for the divine faith. God help us today to understand it more clearly so that we can understand that we cannot lose the salvation that God has given us. In Christ's precious name we pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. So it doesn't require a baptism, it doesn't require a church membership, it doesn't require a good, it doesn't require a change in order to be saved. It requires a divine faith. And we find that divine faith in verse 1. And in this divine faith, we talked about that it is obtained like precious faith. And in this this morning, we talked about last week, about you're born with a human faith. None of us is born with a divine faith. The saving faith that requires to be saved, you're not born with. You cannot buy it. You cannot trade for it. You cannot get it by something else that you might do. You don't receive this divine faith because you become good, a divine faith because you have participated in some requirements. You don't get this divine faith because you have did something that nobody else has ever done, or you didn't do what you're not supposed to do, and that's how you get this divine faith. None of that is true. You get the divine faith from God in God alone. That's why it's called this faith that you might obtain like precious faith. Now you have a human faith that we're all born with. Every one of us in this room are not without faith. You just not have saving faith, but you have human faith. Human faith would be something that you learn from your parents. Human faith is something that you might feel or you might think. Human faith may be learned by experience or by what you might see. The faith of the lost is all human faith. The faith of the flesh and the faith of the natural is all human flesh. Nothing at all that the human flesh can produce but sin. The human faith can only produce sin. The human faith can only find itself profiting nothing. There's no profit in human faith. And then human faith promotes self at all times. We read Romans chapter 3, verse 9 and 10, and this is where the faith comes from. It comes from Adam. So when we're all born, we're born with this faith, a faith that comes from our parents, a faith that comes from the flesh. At the very best of our human faith is what we have. It's always passed down from the generations before us, passed down the human faith and generations after us will receive that human faith as well. But we find that in order to get this divine faith, you have to be born again. You're born with human faith, but born again with divine faith. This being born again, that word obtained there in the scripture in verse 1, it says having obtained. That word obtained, it means to receive by divine allotment. In other words, that this faith, this divine faith I'm speaking of that you obtain only comes when God gives that faith to you or it's allotted to you. In other words, you can't tell God, God give me the faith to believe in you. It ain't gonna work that way. You can't work for it. You can't get baptized for it. You can't give for it. Only God is the only one that can give any of us this morning the faith that's going to require for us to be saved. And so this faith is a particular faith. The Bible says it's a like faith. It's telling us that those who got saved in the Old Testament by faith, this was their faith. All those who got saved in the New Testament, this was their faith. There's only one faith. In Ephesians 4, verse 5 says there's one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. And so whatever it is that Paul had received, that's what you received. Whatever Peter had, that's what you had. And whatever anyone else that will get saved in the future will have the same faith. There's only one faith, like faith. Amen? So we've got to know it's particular. Number two, it is precious. The reason why it's precious is because in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20 it tells us of the type of faith or whose faith it is that you and I would get at this time of obtaining the faith. The Bible says in Galatians 2.20 He says this, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So who is the faith in which you are going to be obtaining? It's going to be the faith of Jesus, amen. And so that faith can only come from the Lord, and that faith is obtained. In other words, it is received by divine allotment. The time of your salvation, God will give you this faith, and that faith is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Precious. We find that, secondly, that this faith is a faith that comes from the Word of God. The Bible says in Romans 10, verse 17, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. Precious, amen? And so that faith that's going to give to us so that we can believe in Jesus is going to be a faith of Christ and a faith of the Word of God. So those two are precious of the Word of God. You'll find it all through the scripture. Jesus is precious. The Word of God is precious. And so we find that the precious today is because it's God's faith. The faith that will save you is God's faith, not your faith. The faith that will save you this morning is precious because the faith of God is a living faith, not a dead faith. The precious is because it's a spiritual faith. It takes what's dead and makes alive. It is a precious because it is a saving faith. In Galatians chapter 2 and in verse 16, if you want a term there, I'll read it to you. Bible says, Galatians 2, 16, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. It don't say by the faith in Jesus Christ, it says by the faith of Jesus Christ. We find, and it says this, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. How do we get justified? By the faith of Christ. How do we get that? We obtain it from God. That's how we get the faith to be saved. And not by the works of the law, but by the works of the law shall no man be justified. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 22, it gives us another scripture just to verify that. It tells us this, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, again it don't say faith in Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all that believe, and there is no difference. And so we find this morning that this faith that only can be obtained by you and I can only come from God by the allotment that He would give unto us. It is a particular faith. It's a one faith and one faith only. It's like faith. It is a precious faith because it's the faith of Jesus and the faith of the Word of God. It is a provided faith. We find how does God provide this faith to us as a sinner? He provides it through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. We find that that is being said to us or said to us through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in Romans chapter 1 with me and look there in verse 15. This is a very important passage for us to know that if God's gonna give us faith and he's going to allot it to us, how does it get to us? Well, this is how it gets to us. Bible says in verse 15, So as much as in me as I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So we find that in order for you to obtain the faith, you've got to come under the hearing of the gospel of Christ. You've got to hear about Christ and the Gospel. And there'll be no faith outside of the Gospel. There'll be no faith outside of the Word of God. The Gospel of Christ, that's the death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the message for anyone to be born again. There is no other message in any other place and from any other book, from any other church, from any other word, from any other man that you can be saved. You cannot be saved outside of hearing the gospel of Christ. There is not another gospel, for if there is another gospel, friend, the Bible teaches us if an angel from heaven preaching any other gospel, friend, let them be accursed. There is no other gospel that you could get or that you could hear that God would take that gospel, the message of the death, burial, and resurrection, and He would put it upon your heart, upon your ears, and then you would obtain that precious light faith that would come into your heart so that you might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is the message. The gospel, not only is the message, but the gospel is the very method of how anyone and everyone gets saved. You don't get saved by doing works. You don't get saved by being baptized. You don't get saved because you change your way of life. You don't get saved because you start coming to church. You don't get saved because you give an offering. You don't get saved because you change your ways. You don't get saved because you remodel your mind and heart. You don't get saved because you do something different. You only get saved through the gospel of Christ. It's the method. There's only one method, friend. Preach the gospel of Christ. That's your job, that's my job, that's our job, and the world can come to know Jesus Christ by the preaching of the gospel of Christ. But then there's the might, the might of the Gospel. The Bible says the preaching of the Gospel is the very power unto salvation. And so if anyone and everyone's ever going to get saved in your life, in this building, in all the world forever, they're going to have to come under the preaching of God's Word, be able to hear the Gospel of Christ, And as the gospel of Christ is preached forth, the Holy Ghost of God begins to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Word of God begins to build faith within you. God finds it. He gives away an enlightenment to you. You receive it in. And as you receive it in, you get the divine faith of God. By having the divine faith of God, you'll find salvation. Amen? The might. The might of the gospel of Christ. Not many are preaching the gospel of Christ anymore. You know what they're saying? They're saying, do you believe that Jesus is Jesus? Yeah. Do you want to go to heaven? Yeah. Then do you need to tell God, God, I'm sorry for my sins. Come to my heart and save me. And they pray that prayer and they think they're saved. That's not how you get saved. You don't get saved by somebody telling you what to do. You don't get saved by somebody telling you to pray after me. You don't get saved by somebody telling you this is what you need to do and this is what you have to do. None of that's true. Everyone in this room is saved or can be saved or will be saved only when the Word of God is preached and the Gospel of Christ is delivered and the Holy Ghost of God brings conviction upon your heart and persuasion in your heart and when you look up to God because of the Gospel and you look to God in the way of belief unto Jesus because of the Gospel and then you obtain like precious faith. I don't have to pull you. I don't have to beg you. I ain't got to do anything with you. I ain't got to push you. I ain't got to prop you. I ain't got to come down there and pull you down to the altar. I ain't got to tell you, OK, now you pray after me and you do what I do. None of that's true. Amen. I better get back. Not only through the gospel we find a provided faith, but we find through the righteousness of God do we find a provided faith. There in that scripture there, look in Romans chapter 3 with me, verse 20. Romans chapter 3 and verse 20. There in Peter it says, through the righteousness of God. Now what is the righteousness of God? Because that's how the gospel is going to be delivered to you. The Gospel is the power unto salvation, but it came through the righteousness of God. Well, look in Romans 3.20, Therefore the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. By the law is the knowledge of sin, but now the righteousness of God. There's that same term. We need to pay attention to that, highlight it. Without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. So now the righteousness of God is without the law, so the law is now discontented. It's no longer in play, just the righteousness of God. Verse 22, Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, there is no difference. Verse 23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Verse 24, being justified, that's being saved freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has sent forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past and through the forbearance of God. Verse 26, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that's an important phrase, His righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now what is the righteousness of God? Now this is the righteousness of God. It's the righteousness of God had to be met in order for you to become righteous. We serve and do have a God that's holy. We have a God that's righteous. We have a God that's perfect. And there's no way, and there's nobody in this room, friend, born out of a mother's womb, can ever have relationship with God because you're unholy and you're unrighteous and you're not perfect. So you are as far as from the east as to the west in the way of relationship with God. There's absolutely no way it is impossible for you to know God, for you to be with God, for you to go to heaven. There's absolutely no way. I don't care what you do. I don't care how you do it. I don't care how long you do it. There's no way that you can go to heaven when you die. There's no way that you and God can have a relationship. There's no way that without someone else or something else to come into your life, will that bring a reconciliation between God and you. Well, that one is Jesus. And the reason why it's Jesus is because Jesus is righteous. Right? Jesus did no sin, but he became sin so that you and I could become righteous. Jesus fulfilled the requirement of God that you and I have to be righteous in order to have relationship with Him. We know we couldn't do it, but Jesus is the one that is righteous. He is the one that is perfect without sin. He's the one who met that requirement from God. The second requirement is because of your sin, Because of your unrighteousness, because of your wickedness, because of your evilness, not only the evil that you've done, but the evil that you thought, and the evil that's in your heart, and the evil that you didn't even do think or imagine, just because you are human, you're evil, we find this morning, that that evil, that wrongdoing, that wickedness, that sinfulness, somebody had to pay the cost in order to find forgiveness. That's right. You'll have no relationship with God if there's no redemption of your sin. Correct. So Jesus is the righteous one who took that requirement from God and God checked it and said, yes, he met it. He looks over to the sinner in sinfulness. He says, now that has to be forgiven. And Jesus said, I'll go to the cross of Calvary. I will shed my blood. I'll lay down my life. I'll be buried on the third day. I'll rise from the grave, I'll defeat the grave, I'll defeat sin, I'll defeat the devil, I'll defeat any and everything that come up against me. And he arose the third day, he sits on the right hand of the fellowship, sits on the right hand of God today, making intercession for you and I this morning. And when God looked at the blood of the lamb, he looked at God's son, and as he atoned for that son, and as he sprinkled the blood in heaven where God is at, God said, I'm appeased. And I'm pleased. What was required was righteousness, Jesus. What was demanded, redemption, Jesus. That's the righteousness of God. And that's how the gospel is preached and how the gospel is given. And when you hear the gospel through the word of God and through the gospel, It is God that will give you the faith to believe in Christ. Amen? The righteousness of God. Oh, I don't think we can preach too much on this. It is so true. The Bible tells us the righteousness of God. We find about the Jews, we turn to Romans chapter 10 with me quickly. The Jews were unsaved, and we know the Jews were unsaved because there in chapter 10, verse 1, Paul said, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. So Paul was saying the Israelites are not saved. Why aren't they saved? Well, because the one who met the requirement, Jesus, and the one who met the redemption, Jesus, they had stumbled over. Look at chapter 9. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at the stumbling stone. As it was written, Behold, I lay his eye on a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Chapter 10, verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. How far I bear them record having a zeal of God, not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, that's the righteousness of God, that's Jesus Christ, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law of righteousness to everyone that believeth. So what is he saying? He's saying this. He's saying that the Jews were unsaved because they followed the law of righteousness. They were unsaved because they did it not by faith, but they'd done it by works. They were unsaved because they had the zeal, but had no knowledge. They were unsaved because they were ignorant of God's righteousness. They were unsaved because they began to establish their own righteousness. They began in their own mind, their own heart, saying that if I live this away, then God's accepted me of this. If I do this, then God's okay with that. God knows my heart. God knows how I feel. God knows where I'm at. And you start talking like that, friend, you're going behind. You're going backwards. That's not how God thinks or how God even would consider, amen? He considers His Word. It's His Word that you have to obey, not your will, not your thoughts, not your feelings, not your emotion. You know what? I just don't feel good today. I don't think I'm going to church. Who gives you that right? I don't think I'm going to pay my tithes and offerings this morning because I've got a bill paid. Who told you you can do that? Well, you know, I don't think I'm just going to read my Bible today because I got a lot of work around the house. Well, who gave you that privilege, amen? I'm not reading your Bible. That's what I'm talking about. We find ourselves many a times establishing our own righteousness, and friend, we're ignorant of God's righteousness. And so we're saying that's what Israel did. That's what we do. And we find that themselves today as being lost due to the fact of this one statement he makes. And it's this in verse 3. They submitted not themselves unto the righteousness of God. They didn't come to the place where they just gave over. They have yielded. They have surrendered. They have said, I commit. You see, salvation is a commitment. Salvation is a surrender. Salvation is a yielding. Salvation is this. As you look up and as you walk, you see yourself as a sinner, unsaved, without God, headed for a devil's hell. And then one day, you hear the gospel. The gospel of a man who was born in Bethlehem, a man that walked on this earth doing miracles and wonders and signs, a man that walked on water, a man that opened the eyes of the blind, a man that found a coin in a fish, a man that said, be peace, be still to the water and to the waves. And boy, you say, wow, man, this man here, he must be something special. And we find that this man did no sin. This man was sinless. This man was blameless. This man was perfect in every way. And when he talked, he talked like no other man. And when he spoke, he spoke and even the devils would obey. We find here this morning as we think about Jesus as he came to the cross of Calvary. He was in a mock trial. He was beaten upon, spit upon, slapped upon, lied about, blasphemed over, amen. And, friend, He went to the cross as He went to the cross of Calvary. The Bible said He laid down His life. He opened up His hands and opened up His feet. He said unto us, I will die for your sin. And sure enough, He died on the cross of Calvary. He died to shed His blood so you and I can have forgiveness. And you and I would do nothing. You and I would have nothing to do with it. Matter of fact, when Jesus died on the cross, we wouldn't even be born. If we were born, we wouldn't even care. Amen? And we didn't care for a long time. All of a sudden, within our hearts, we're thinking, Jesus arose. He's alive. And it's my sin, for the wages of sin is death. It's my sin, for I've become short of the glory of God. Because of my sin, Jesus died and took my place. He was the substitute. I should have died on that cross. He was the sacrifice. It should have been my blood. He was the servant. It should have been me. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm just going to look unto Him and I'm going to believe in Him. Where did that come from? That came from God. That came from the gospel. That came from the righteousness of God. That came for Jesus being righteous in God and Jesus being the redemption. That's how you believed. You didn't muster up nothing. You came to go around boasting today, I believed in Jesus. Oh yeah, really, what did you do? It's God that gave you that faith. You did absolutely nothing. God did absolutely everything. The righteousness of God. We find this morning that you've got to submit to the righteousness of God. You've got to yield and commit. We don't like that. We don't like being committed to our spouses. We don't like being committed to our businesses. We don't like being committed to the church. We don't like being committed to the work. We don't like being committed to one another. We don't like being committed to the roles of being a wife or roles of being a husband. We don't like being committed when we go to school. We don't like commitment, amen. We want to think that we're free. We can do what we want when we want to do it. We can do it however we want to do it. We can say what we want to say, live like we want to live, be like we want to be. It's a free country, but it's not a free kingdom. That's right. Amen. Let me say that again. It's a free country, but it's not a free kingdom. And the kingdom of Christ, He's Lord. Yes, He is. And when you come under His kingdom, you become His servant. That's right. And you become, friend, under His rulership. And friend, He reigns in your heart. He reigns in your mind. He reigns in your life. Yes. The reason why is because you obtained His faith. And the faith that he has is the faith that always is obedient unto the Father. The faith that he has will be a faith that will endure unto the end. It's a faith that will never fail. A faith that never quit. A faith that never waver. A faith that will never be taken away. The faith of Jesus. We find the divine faith. I know I've preached on that already. Can I say number two? The divine power. The divine power. We see in verse three in our text. In this divine power, I think it's important for us to know this morning of just what kind of power are we talking about. I think it would behoove us today to really describe the power that the Bible says, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Where is the source that's going to be part of us that He's going to give us that pertains to life and godliness? See, that source has to be understood and known. Because if it's just a little bitty power that's going to just kind of go away, well then that's telling us He may have given us power to pertain in all things that pertain unto life and godliness, but if that power just kind of dissipates, then our eternal life dissipates and our godliness dissipates. If this power he's talking about only comes in sections of 10 years, after 10 years it now doesn't exist or expires, that's telling us that we got 10 years of this power, then after that it's gone. See, we got something this morning that is very important to us, it's called life. That word life means eternal life. Now eternal life ought to be the very top concern in your life. Amen? Not human life, but eternal life. Eternal life could be experienced immediately as soon as you lose the breath you're breathing. The second after you stop breathing and you die, eternal life is going to be on the top shelf of your life. It could either be eternal life or eternal damnation. Eternal life is going to heaven. Eternal damnation is going to hell. The only thing keeping you from heaven or hell right now is a tick. The only thing this morning that's keeping you from heaven or hell is that one breath. Isn't that amazing? Life is pretty fragile. Now in this thought I want to tell you that the power of God that it's speaking of is a Greek word called dunamis. Now that's where we get our word dynamite from. But this word dunamis means power in that dynamite is blow, blow, blow, blow. Explosion, explosion, explosion, explosion. It just keeps on exploding. That's what that word means. We find that this power is the power that created all things. In creation, when God created the world, when God created the grass, God created the animals, this is the power that He used. This power is the power to destroy all things, like the flood. This is the same power that He used to destroy the world. The same power is the power to change all things, like He did in Sodom and Gomorrah when He set down fire and brimstone. This is the same power that causes all things like the earthquakes and Korah and other places in the Bible when things took place like famines or pestilences or earthquakes. This is the same power. This power is the power that to control all things like winds and waves and like water and like lightning and things of that nature. That's the same power. This power is the power to conquer all things, like death, and hell, and grave, and sin, and devil. This same power is the power that will convert you from being lost to being saved. Amen? And so when we talk about it in verse 3, according to His divine power, let's know about the power. All right, because it's important to know the type of power we're dealing with. And so this power, the power of God, now is what is a gift of God. The gift of God says this in verse 3, according to His divine power, has now given unto us all things. Now that's telling me that whatever God's fixing to give me, it's going to last forever. Amen? It's not ever going to be defeated. It's never going to be defused. It's never going to be returned. It's never going to be rejected. It's the power. That's why it's important to know the power I'm talking about. The divine power is the power that's going to give you something from God. All right? It's important. What does He give unto us? Well, the Bible says in verse 3, He's going to give us all things that pertain unto life. That's eternal life. He has given us His Son. He has given us the Gospel. He has given us His faith. He has given us His life. Number two, for sanctification. Godliness. Holiness. God's power has given us not only to go to heaven, but He has given us power to live on earth in a holiness, in a righteousness, in a godliness. He has given us His Word, He has given us His Spirit, He has given us His faith. If that power that I spoke of and described is the same power that will give us all things pertaining to godliness, to righteousness, to holiness, friend, we've got no excuses this morning to not live that way. It's not the power. Friend, listen, we've got everything we need to live for God in this ever-present evil world. Stop walking around Stop blowing your trumpet. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, looking for somebody to pat you on the back, somebody to give you a flower and offer you a tortilla. You just want something that somebody can bring an encouragement to you. I'm so discouraged. I'm so disappointed. I'm so frustrated. I'm so aggravated. Grow up, little bitty baby. I mean, what do we want to do? Put a pacifier, give you a pacifier. We want to give you a little toy. We want to give you a ward. We want to give you a little banner. We want to send you a little deal on the, maybe something like on the Facebook or something like on another kind of social media, like on birthdays, when you send a happy birthday, it goes poof. We got to grow up, church. We got to understand and know, listen, that everything that is required for us to live for God, It's in that divine power. And friend, we can live for God in the worst of the days. We can live for God in holiness and righteousness and godliness when all things are falling apart. when everybody's turning their back on God and you, when all things are coming away, when you've got no dollars, when you've got nothing to eat, when you've got nothing to wear, you ain't got nothing to drive. Friend, the power of God, the natural power, the divine power has given us everything that we have to live godly, holy, and righteous no matter what we're at. Amen? I'm talking about a salvation that really works. I'm talking about how can we lose this. We find in this gift of salvation, gift of sanctification, the Bible tells us in verse 3, how does that come to us? Well, there's that word through again. Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and to virtue. Quickly, I say this. the knowledge of God in this verse as it was in verse 2, the knowledge of God. It's not a knowledge that you get from some book. It's not a knowledge that somebody has trained you or taught you. It's not a knowledge that mom and daddy sit down with you and said let me tell you about the knowledge of God. The knowledge that we're talking about with the Bible's teaching right here is a knowledge that you would say to somebody. Let's say this for this morning, just for the sake of illustration. If I'd say, Sister Mary and Brother Cat. If I'd ask all of y'all this morning, do y'all know them? You'd say, oh yeah, we know them. Yeah, that's no problem. Then I'd say to them, I'd say, well, let me ask you, Sister Mary, do you know Brother Cat? And she'd say, yeah, I know him. I'd say, do you think you know him better than we do? She said, oh yeah. I asked Brother Cat, Brother Cat, you know Sister Mary? He said, yeah. I said, do you think you might know her better than I know her? He says, you better believe it. Yeah. See, there's a knowledge between them that you and I don't have. I know. He says, I know her and she knows me. Amen? Every marriage would be that same way. Every place you'd go. The knowledge. The knowledge is not somebody come to Brother Cat and said, Brother Cat, let me tell you about Sister Mary. And gave her ten things and a list of things. Now you know her since I gave you that information. No, that ain't what happened. What happened was because of their relationship, because of their experience, because of their togetherness, friend, and because of what a marriage is all about, friend, two becoming one, we find that there is a knowledge within their heart and within their mind that they could say that I know, that I know, that I know, that I know! I know Jesus. Did somebody sit down and tell me about that? No. No. I just know Jesus. God the Spirit. Jesus. The Word of God. Prayers. Meditation. Seeking the Lord. Asking of God. All that has given a knowledge of God. And that's how this power of divine power comes unto us and gives us all things that pertain to life and godliness through that knowledge. Many people don't have the knowledge of God. They know about God. They know about Jesus. They know about the Word. They know about this. They know about that. But they don't have the knowledge of God. They can't say within their heart, I know that I know, that I know, that I know. Number three, divine nature. There's a divine faith and a divine power. But number three, a divine nature, we find that in verse four, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now I want you to notice the promises. The Bible says that the promises is exceeding. That means there's a great strength in these promises. Nothing stronger than these promises. Number two, the size of these promises. It says they're great. They're great. They're huge. They're out of sight. They're out of human mind and intellect. It's the sum of them is precious. The sum is precious. It's more. It's so much. There's no cost. There's no value to it. You can't sum it up and say $10,000 or gold or silver. It's just without price, these promises. Romans 1, verses 1-4. You don't have to turn there. We've already been there. But the Bible says that this promise is the gospel of God is promised. So the promise that the Bible's teaching of right here is whereby we are given unto us great, exceeding, precious promises. That promise is, the Bible teaches, is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's exceeding, it's great, and it's precious. That's the first promise. The second promise is in Titus, chapter one, verse one through two. He says, promise eternal life. the promise of eternal life. He's not talking about the many, many hundreds and even thousands of promises of the Word of God that will bring you to the place of a divine nature. All those promises are conditional. But these two promises are not conditional. These two promises are promised to you. They're exceeding and great and precious promises that through these promises you shall have or you shall be partakers of the divine nature. The promise of eternal life and the promise of the gospel. Amen. Those two promises will make you a partaker of the divine nature. Now, we probably stopped there, or close to here last time. I got six minutes. I want you to notice not only the promises, but I want you to notice the partakers. To be a partaker of the divine nature does not say that you are becoming God. So don't think that you're going to become God, because you're not. It doesn't mean that you're going to possess what God is. Like God is righteous, God is holy, and God is perfect, so when you take on the divine nature, partake of the divine nature, then you become righteous and holy like God. That's not true. At the moment of salvation, at the moment of being born again, at the moment of justified, being born, saved, washed in the blood of the Lamb, you now possess a divine nature. a divine nature. Now, all of us have a human nature. That human nature will never be saved. That human nature will never be tamed. Your human nature will always be about you. But when you get born again, when you get saved by the divine faith, and you have the divine power, you'll find divine nature, now you have a divine nature within you. So as one that is saved, you have two natures, human and divine. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2 and Ephesians chapter 4 that we are created in Christ Jesus. That we're created in righteousness and true holiness. Colossians 3.10 says we're created in the knowledge of God. Now do you think, friend, that when we get created after being born again, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, right? So when we become a new creature, that's because we have a new nature. Is that right? God don't take over our old nature and create us a help for that nature. That nature's not even touched. Whenever we get saved, we become a new creature. Now we're created, we get a new nature. And that nature that's within us is a nature of righteousness and true holiness. It's a nature of Jesus Christ. It's a nature of the knowledge of God. So when we get saved, immediately, within us, we have a nature that is righteousness and holy. Within us, immediately, our nature is Jesus Christ in us. Our nature immediately is the knowledge of God. Nobody got to teach us the things that I'm talking about. It's the nature that gives it to you. Right? We talked about nature last time. I'm not going to go through that. But then I noticed something. You become a new man. Ephesians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 3. Talk about a new man. Is that true? The Bible teaches of a new. What becomes new? The old nature? The old nature? Man's nature? Human's nature? Does that become new? No. The new nature. The new man. The created man. Totally opposite of the human. But now you got the divine. Created. And now you become a new man. Now you become different. Now you become changed. How in the world did you get changed? The divine nature. What made you stop drinking? The divine nature. What made you stop being a whoremonger? The divine nature. Man, what made you start coming home at night? The divine nature. What in the world made you start reading your Bible, coming to church, living for God? The divine nature. You think that human nature wanted to do all that? Oh, no. It's the divine nature. You follow me? Partakers, possessors of the divine nature. The reason why some of y'all have never changed, because you still just have a human nature. Why you still have a problem with sin? Because of a human nature. And why you still can't control your mouth? And you can't control what you drink? You can't control what you say? You can't control where you go? You can't control your anger? You can't control your bitterness? You can't control your spending? You can't control anything about your life? It's because you're still living on the human and natural nature. But when you get saved, you've got a divine nature. Amen? And that divine nature, you become a new man with a new nature and now you become natural. Amen? You become natural with God. You become in the way of Christian life. It's a natural possibility. It's a natural prospect. It is something that you get up in the morning. You don't have to think about it. You don't have to worry about it. You ain't got to pray today, Lord help me to pray. God help me today not to say a cuss word. Today help me not to do this. Today help me to be kind. Help me to be polite. Lord, help me to go to church on Wednesday night. Lord, help me to read my Bible. Help me to do what's right. You ain't got to pray any of that. In your human nature, do you have to do something with that? You just got to live, right? Because it's natural. It's natural to cuss people out. It's natural. It's natural. Somebody run in front of you on the freeway and you somehow... You ain't got to pray about this. Somehow your foot just goes on the pedal. And you want to go around them. When you get around them, you go... Did you pray about that? No, the human nature. It's just nature. It's just automatic. It's just the way you do. It's just the way you are. Well, when you get a divine nature, you start doing divine things. You're about living a divine peaceful. Do you know your divine nature never sins? Never. Never sins. Has no sin at all. What? You mean I got something in me when I got saved that never sins? You got that right. They got that right. Let me say this and I ain't got time to say it. Let's stand. My question to you this morning is this. We'll pick up right here after lunch. Somebody says to you, be holy for I am holy. Have you ever tried to figure out how you're going to do that? God's Word says this, He says, be holy for I am holy. Number two, He says, be perfect for my Father which is in heaven is perfect. Does He not say that? If God says that this morning, then how can you be perfect when you know you're not? And how can you be holy when you know you're not? I got the answer. Divine nature. When you really truly get saved, when you truly really get born again, you get this divine nature. And that nature will bring you to a place of perfection with God. A place of righteousness with God. a place of holiness with God, that when God looks upon you, He sees Jesus. He looks upon your account, looks upon your record, He sees the blood of the Lamb. He sees Christ in Him, Himself, as He lives in you, and you live in Him, and as God will look upon us today. He says you finally have reached the place of holiness. and perfectness in Christ Jesus. Divine nature. Do you have a divine nature this morning? If all you are is living on the human nature, you're lost without God. How about you this morning? Search it out. Search it out. Heads are bowed or eyes are closed. Anybody like to come this morning and say, listen, Brother Larry, I've just got a human nature. I do everything by human nature. All my habits, all my reactions, all my natural abilities is always human, human, human, human. I try so hard to live Christian. I get wore out trying to live the Christian life. I get so tired and I get so weary trying to do what's right all the time. I get so burdened down and I get so bogged down trying to be a Christian. It's just overwhelming to me. You know what your problem is? You just have a human nature and you don't have a divine nature. For if you had a divine nature, it would just come natural. It'd be easy. The Christian life is the most easy life to ever live. I lived it for a long time. But I have to live it by the divine nature and not by the human nature. Thank you, Lord. How can you lose your salvation when God gives you a divine nature? How can you lose your salvation when God gives you divine power? How can you lose salvation when God gives you divine faith? How can you? How can you? Thank you, Lord. Anybody need to come this morning, you come.