2 Peter 1

to first or second peter chapter one peter introduces himself again in his second letter as simon peter as a servant or a bond slave and an apostle of jesus christ so he sees himself as a bond slave but as a bond slave of jesus christ he is one who has been sent out apostle means one who is sent out so he is both a slave and one who has been sent out by jesus christ to them that have obtained light precious faith with us through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ we've obtained peter says this like precious faith it is by faith that we are saved faith in our lord jesus christ and we all come the same way like precious faith that's a similar faith that we all have in jesus christ that brings us the hope of salvation through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of god and of jesus our lord notice how he is tying together the father and the son all the way through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ grace and peace be multiplied through the knowledge of god and of jesus our lord oh that we might know him more fully more completely paul's cry was to know him and to be found in him but to know him and to know the power of his resurrection oh that we not might know that power of the spirit that raised jesus from the dead and we talk about power we say oh yes i want to know the power but paul went on to say and the fellowship of his sufferings now a lot of times people back off there well i like the power but let's can we do something without the suffering but in reality they go together in order to have the power it is necessary to share the suffering so grace and peace is always multiplied paul spoke about growing in grace and in knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ and so this knowledge of god and jesus our lord causes our grace and peace to be multiplied according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness everything that you need to live a life of godliness is provided for us by god we cannot live that life in and of ourselves we don't have the capacity i can't say well i'm going to live like god and by my resolve do it but god has given to us all that is necessary to live that life of godliness it's imparted to us through the knowledge of him and that is through the word of god the formula is there all that is necessary is there in the word we do not need further revelations i'm not interested in new truth i'm interested in new experiences in the old truth it's all there i am not interested in these religious systems that want to peddle their formulas for the church you know the latter day saints and with their special revelations don't need it all that is necessary to live the life of godliness has been provided for us and we don't need further revelations so it is through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue god's called us to be his children god has called us to spend eternity in the glory of his kingdom but not only are we called to this glorious future but god has called us to live a virtuous life now so often we think of the term virtue in in the term of sexual purity but this greek word is much more than that it is a word that speaks of courage of valor and god has called us to live a courageous life of purity holiness and this is all wrapped up in this word virtue whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature a interesting study is to go through the bible and mark the promises what tremendous promises jesus gave to his disciples exceeding great and precious promises i will pray the father he will give you another comforter even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it sees them not neither knoweth him but you know him he dwells with you and shall be in you what a glorious promise i will not leave you comfortless or as orphans but the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that i have commanded you what a glorious promise and even if you just go through and take the promises of jesus and that would probably be a good place to just start take the gospels and just underline the promises of jesus we used to sing years ago every promise in the book is mine every chapter every verse every line and i'm living in his love divine for every promise in the book is mine and i think it's great to personalize those promises when it says whosoever put your name there because the promise is yours and of course these great promises of salvation for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him and as again insert your name shall not perish but have everlasting life the promise of eternal life the promise of the holy spirit wonderful promises the promises that the lord gave to us in regards to our prayer life the encouragement and the incentive to pray exceeding great and precious promises that by these we are made partakers of the divine nature now this morning we were talking about the word of god and jesus in the parable of the sower declared that the seed that was sown was the word of god now the seed he said is the word of god planted in the hearts of people has varying results according to the kind of soil upon which the word of god comes with some people there is a hardened heart to god to the things of god and to the word of god so that it has no effect it has no beneficial effect to them because they don't receive it there are others who are like seed that falls on stony ground that has no depth of earth there is a reception there is a quick springing forth but then soon it dies out because of the lack of depth of earth and when persecution comes or difficulties arise when things don't go the way they want them to go they fall by the wayside and the plant perishes then there is the seed that falls among thorns that grows up but with it the thorns also grow up and the effect of it is that it isn't bearing fruit the thorns choke out the fruitfulness and i'm afraid that there are many people in the church that lie in that particular category you're growing but thorns are growing with you and the thorns actually choke out the fruitfulness from your life so that you don't really live a fruitful life now the fruit of the spirit is love and joy and peace and longsuffering and gentleness and goodness and meekness and temperance but there are people who have been in the church for a long time and they are lacking in this fruit in their lives the thorns have choked it out and it is interesting that jesus said the thorns are the cares of this life the deceitfulness of riches and the lust for other things these are the things that choke out your being a fruitful believer but then there is the fertile soil upon which the seed also falls and it brings forth fruit some 30 some 60 some 100 full now we talked this morning about the fact that the seed has within it the dna code to reproduce the original the original plant the original tree the original flower all of the information for the creating of the new plant the new tree the new flower all of the information is coded in the dna molecule within the seed it's all there and looking at the word of god as the seed that is planted in our hearts it is god's word it is god's seed that is planted in us and in it all of the coded information to make you into the image of god to bring to you the divine nature beloved now are we the sons of god it doesn't yet appear what we're going to be but when he appears we will be like him for we shall see him as he is so this to me is an exciting thing as we are here tonight studying the word of god there is a work that is going on in your heart as you receive the word of god and if it is falling on fertile soil then it is going to develop within you the divine nature and the aspects of the divine nature so god has given to us all that is necessary to be like god it is through the knowledge of him and our lord jesus christ and it is imparted to us by these exceeding great and precious promises it's laying hold on the promises of god claiming as your own these promises of god as the word of god the seed is planted in your heart the coded information is there to bring the transformation in your life to bring you into the divine nature or into the likeness of god having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust recognizing that behind the corruption of the world is lust is greed the problems with government is that government is run by man and man is not capable of governing over others with impartial judgment but will always be influenced by his own desires that which he wants to see done and ultimately government becomes corrupted and it falls into the hands of corrupt people invariably throughout history every form of government has ended in corruption it was the desire of the founding fathers of the united states to somehow avoid corruption within the government and so they established what they hope to be checks and balances between the legislative and judiciary aspects of the government but gradually and over time there's been the compromises as there's been sort of this fight between the judicial and the legislature over the laws over the government and and so the legislature will provide some govern some law and then the judicial system will overturn it on some premise that it is not according to the constitution or whatever and and thus uh you have this buying between the legislative and judicial systems and ultimately again the breakdown and the corruption within man attempting to govern man but thank god we've escaped this corruption in the world because the corruption goes back to greed it goes back to lust and james talks about how that a person lust but has not and uh how we are consumed with us and it's the thing behind the wars and the fightings from once come the wars and fightings among you they come they not from your own lust from your own greed and it is our desire for the material things that creates the problems of envy strife wars fightings uh disputes uh corruption it's all there in the lust that man has the desires for the material things jesus said don't worry about the material things after these things do the gentiles worry but you just seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and god will take care of the other things in other words jesus is saying to be freed from the corruption you've got to have new values new goals and you must seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and god will take care of the things aspects and so thank god a true child of god has escaped the corruption that is destroying the world because of the lust now beside this giving all diligence the idea is to really put this top priority work on this add to your faith virtue our relationship always begins with faith it is when we put our faith and trust in jesus christ that we are born again and there is where the beginning of our relationship with god comes by faith i come to believe and trust in god but that isn't sufficient peter is saying give all diligence to go beyond just faith in the book of hebrews it said therefore laying aside the first principles of the doctrines of christ repentance from dead works baptisms the laying on of hands let's go on into completeness and so peter is giving us the path to completeness and herein is another listing there are several of these listings in the new testament paul spoke in galatians of the fruit of the spirit love joy peace long suffering and he and he gives that list of the characteristics of the divine nature and now peter is urging us also to develop these characteristics of the divine nature add to your faith virtue and to your virtue knowledge growing in the knowledge and the understanding of jesus christ as we live a virtuous life and then to knowledge temperance moderation is also listed as one of the fruits of the spirit or one of the characteristics of love is temporation is temperate and to learn to be moderate not to go overboard on issues and to your temperance patience or another word for patience is long suffering and and so we grow in these things this is the progress of the believer as we are being inf dude with the power of the holy spirit imbued with the power of the holy spirit enabling us to be these things and to patience godliness being like god and to godliness brotherly kindness the word is philadelphia in the greek and it is a it is a love on a on a emotional level and it is a brotherly love but then even beyond that we're to enter into the agape the brotherly love is is pretty much a give and take kind of a situation where by because we have similar desires similar taste similar interests we love each other and so we have this love for one another and i love you because you love me and i want to do nice things for you because you do nice things for me it's sort of a reciprocal kind of thing i love you because you're attractive i love you because you're so good and and there is that cause for love but when you get to agape there's no cause i just love you because god's love is in my heart i can't you know and it causes us to love those who are say incompatible to us things people that do things that upset us and irritate us people that if it weren't for jesus christ we couldn't stand to be around them there is nothing that would draw out our love for them except that god's love has been planted in our hearts and thus i love because god's love is being perfected in me and and this is interestingly enough is you know i mean when you get there you've pretty much arrived paul describes it in first corinthians chapter 13. and that is sort of the ultimate of our walk with jesus christ when we love with that kind of love that deep spiritual godly love that he puts within our hearts four if these things that is these characteristics of virtue and faith and temperance and all if these things be in you and abound not just in you abound a lot of times they say well i'm fairly temperate and i'm i'm fairly you know uh virtuous fairly fairly patient i'm somewhat patient but if they abound then they will cause you or make you that you shall neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ now we talked earlier about how the word of god produces the fruit in our lives these things are the characteristics of god each one of these things is one of the characteristics of god and so as i am conformed into the divine nature through the word of god as the seed is planted in my heart and is transforming me into the image of god these then are the characteristics of god that will be manifested in my life and if these are in my life and abound in my life i will never be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ but he that lacks these things is blind and he is nearsighted and he's forgotten that he was purged from his old sins unfortunately there are many christians who have never developed in their christian walk they've never taken a step beyond faith when they say well i believe in jesus christ they've pretty much expressed the totality of their experience they've never gone beyond that there are no real godly characteristics that mark their life there's just that well i believe that jesus is the son of god but we are encouraged to go beyond that and if you lack in these other characteristics you're blind to the truth i really don't think that there is any place for sort of a static relationship whereby we're just sort of treading water where we're just sort of coasting where there is not a developing a growing i think that if you're not going forward you're sliding backward you're drifting away from the heart of christianity i think that in the christian life there's always a necessity for progression and growing in grace and in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ and i don't think you can really stand still and those who have endeavored to just maintain usually don't they'll fall into sin and into sinful practices they'll drift away and that is why in the book of hebrews we are exhorted to take the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should drift away from them and so if you lack in these things there's a spiritual blindness and you cannot see that which is far off short-sightedness and you've forgotten that the lord has cleansed you he's washed you from that old life from the pollutions and the corruptions of the old nature and the old life you've been purged from your old sins wherefore the rather brethren give diligence now again we're encouraged to give diligence back in verse five giving diligence to see that we are progressing and growing that we're adding to our faith the virtue and the knowledge and things but now again give diligence to make your calling and election sure make sure give diligence to this this should be one of the most important issues in each of our lives that we are sure of our salvation make your calling and election sure for if you do these things that is if you are developing in these characteristics you will never fall you're going forward you're progressing and you'll never fall back into the old life you won't be as the seed that fell among the stony ground that popped up for a moment but soon withered and died you've got to grow and so give diligence to make your calling an election sure how by seeing examining yourself therefore let a man examine himself for if we will judge ourselves will not be judged of god am i growing in my knowledge of jesus christ am i growing in the characteristics of jesus christ can i look at my life and see the difference between where i am now and where i was a year ago have i progressed that much further in this past year as the spirit of god and the word of god has been working in my life am i more conformed to the image of jesus than i was a year ago there are so many people that come along and they like to talk about the good old days i can remember when and of some great spiritual experience some highlight in their spiritual walk in some time past i'm not really at all interested in the good old days i'm interested in the now and my present relationship with the lord and if it isn't deeper richer fuller then i am retrogressing rather than progressing and retrogression is always a dangerous thing in your spiritual walk in life so if you will do these things if you will give diligence to grow you will never fall you have that glorious assurance that god is working in you conforming you into the image of his son you will never fall for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ years ago there was a song and it didn't last long and i'm glad for that but the song went if i can just make it in i don't mind the lord i'm bearing i don't care the cross i'm carrying you know if i can just make it in well unfortunately i think too many people have that attitude they want to just make it i'll be satisfied if i can just make it in i don't want to just make it in you know the door is closing and i sit past the whoa made it wow all right all right peter is saying that we might have an abundant i want the band to be out the welcoming committee to stand before my lord and hear his words well done good and faithful servant and so an abundant entry into the kingdom of our lord jesus i don't see anything wrong with desiring to have an abundant entry into the kingdom wherefore peter said i will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things i'm not embarrassed to remind you he said of these things though you know them now i'm not telling you anything new peter said you know these things and i'm putting you in remembrance of these things because things you already know you're established in the present truth but i think it is necessary as long as i am in this tabernacle as long as i am living in this body this tent to stir you up by putting you in remembrance i think it is necessary as long as i'm alive to put you in remembrance of these things to stir up your memory to prod to push you on to the growth and the development of your walking of your life so many of the things that we say to you and of course teaching is by repetition and and we learn by the repetition of truth and so many times the things that we are saying we've said before but we say them perhaps in a little different light or in a little different way but things that you know but things that you need to be reminded of because it's so easy to get caught in sort of a groove of of normalcy not progressing or growing anymore and so you need to be prodded again into activity into growth in your spiritual walk in life so as long as i'm in this tabernacle i need to stir you up by putting you into remembrance knowing that shortly i must put off this my tabernacle even as our lord jesus christ has shown me peter was in rome and the lord had shown him that he would not leave rome that he would be martyred there in rome the prophecy of john chapter 20 would be fulfilled when jesus prophesied the death by crucifixion that peter would experience so now the lord has told him that it's just about time peter and you're going to be leaving this tabernacle and paul the apostle said for we know that when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved that is our body goes back to dust that we have a building of god not made with hands eternal in the heavens so peter's about ready to move out of the tabernacle and into the mansion so he said i will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance in other words knowing that i'm going to be leaving i'm writing this to you so after i am dead you'll still be put in remembrance every time you read my letter you'll be put in remembrance of the necessity of making your calling and election sure the necessity of developing and growing in your walk and in your relationship with the lord for then peter tells us we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming of our lord jesus christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty we didn't get together and make up a story the story of the glory of jesus john and james and i didn't get together and say well let's say that we went up into the high mountain with jesus and he suddenly was transfigured before us and and all no that isn't a cunningly devised story it was something peter said of which i was an eyewitness of that majesty of that glory for he received from god the father honoring glory thereon the mount of transfiguration he received from the father this honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory declaring this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and so peter said i was an eyewitness there on the mount of transfiguration i heard the voice of god declaring this was his son in whom he is well pleased and this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount so i am an eyewitness i declare that this is not a cunningly devised fable this is the truth but then he went on to say we have also a more sure word of prophecy i was an eyewitness of this event but you might accuse me of going into a swoon having some kind of a trance or dream so i don't trust in just what i saw and what i heard i have something that is more certain than seeing and hearing i have the sure word of prophecy and so concerning jesus christ that he is indeed the messiah the son of god the savior we turn to the prophecies and the more sure word of prophecy when you realize that jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies in his birth life death and resurrection you realize that it would be totally completely impossible that any one person could fulfill these predictions by accident or even by design there was a book that was written oh many years ago now called the passover plot in which the author sought to prove that jesus planned the whole experience of his death and he really didn't die he went into a swoon and how that the disciples of course stole his body and the passover plot and and tried to explain that jesus knew the prophecies and so was deliberately fulfilling these prophecies and it was actually a plot on the part of jesus well it is interesting to um think of how jesus perhaps bribed the soldiers to part his garments among them but to cast lots for his robe so he had to bring the soldiers into the plot he had to bring the soldiers into the plot to pierce him because it said that they shall look upon him whom they have pierced but of course if you look at the whole issue as jesus plotted it all and planned it all and and just sought to go around fulfilling the prophecies you have a pretty hard time explaining how he plotted to have mary a virgin bring forth a son that's sort of hard to arrange in advance the more sure word of prophecy there is a very interesting little book called science speaks by peter stoner it is a moody press book and in this book he seeks to show the chance factors of jesus predicting first of all eight of the prophecies and then going to 16 and finally to 48 and and the chance factors which become so totally astronomical that it is absurd and incredible to think that jesus was something other than the promised messiah of the old testament we have the more sure word of prophecy jesus said to his disciples now i have told you these things before they come to pass so that when they come to pass you might believe the purpose of speaking of them in advance was to alert them that these are the things that are going to happen but when they do happen you will then believe because i have told in advance of these things now of course it was pretty clever of jesus to arrange with titus the roman general to destroy jerusalem and to arraign arrange with the drunken soldiers of the roman army who weren't even born yet when jesus said it to destroy the temple so that they would not leave one stone left standing on another now titus the roman general ordered them not to destroy the temple but some of the soldiers were drunken and they set fire to the temple and it was destroyed the gold melted went down the crevices and the temple was dismantled one stone after another until there was not one stone left standing on another the prophecy of jesus was completely fulfilled how can you explain his plotting that when he prophesied it some 40 years before it actually took place the more sure word of prophecy where unto you do well to take heed in other words if you're a skeptic if there's a question here's a good thing to study you would do well to take heed and to study the prophecies of the old testament relative to the messiah and to observe how that jesus fulfilled them to help you in that study is the book of matthew for matthew is constantly as jesus was doing particular things he would say in order that the prophecy might be fulfilled which declared and he goes on and he points out how that jesus through his lifetime was fulfilling so many of the prophecies from the old testament you do well to take heed as unto a light that is shining in a dark place god's work shining in this dark world until the day dawn oh glorious new day a new day is dawning and i believe that really the skies are already beginning to turn a little light in them the day is going to dawn the day of our lord and how we long for the day of the lord and the kingdom of god to be established and so until then we have the light of the scriptures that shine in the dark places until that day does dawn and the day star arises in our hearts the glorious day of our lord knowing this first that there is no prophecy of the scripture that is of private interpretation i had a fellow a while back when we were first starting calvary chapel that came and he called me up one day and said chuck i need to talk to you the lord has revealed something to me and i and i have to share it with you can you come over this afternoon it's it's very important that i talk to you so i went over and he said the lord has revealed to me that we are the two witnesses of revelation 11. i'm elijah and you are moses you didn't know that did you i moses it is interesting there is this cult that we read about just recently in the in the paper where this cult leader in denver feels that he is one of the witnesses and destined to die in jerusalem in in december of this year and how that some of the cult members went ahead and they've been deported and so forth but there it's it's something i don't know there's a jerusalem complex that they call and and people get these weird ideas oh incidentally elijah died but uh but no scripture is a private interpretation in other words the lord gave me a special revelation on this scripture now no one else has ever had this revelation and you know they start going into these crazy spiritualizing and you know this represents this and this represents this and and but no scripture is of any private interpretation god did not try to hide the truth in the word he sought to reveal the truth in the word it is interesting that the word apocalypse which we translate revelation literally means an unveiling it isn't a covering it isn't a hiding it's an unveiling and god seeks to reveal the truth and it isn't hidden in little secret messages or in codes that you have to really figure out to find out what god really meant i can assure you that god meant what he said and he said what he meant for if god didn't mean what he said then why didn't he say what he meant he meant what he said and he said it plain so all of us can understand there is no secret or private interpretation for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man isaiah didn't say well i think i'm going to write about the messiah what shall i write about him no it didn't come by the will of man but holy men of god spoke as they were moved by the holy ghost as paul wrote to timothy all scripture is given by inspiration of god holy men wrote as they were moved by the holy ghost it is interesting on the day of pentecost when the great crowd gathered together as the result of the phenomena that accompanied the outpouring of the holy spirit on the church filled with curiosity and wonder wondering what this meant all of these people speaking in various languages declaring the glorious works of god and they were saying what does this mean and peter standing up said men and brethren hearken unto me and he told them what it meant this is that which was spoken of by the prophet joel where god promised that in the last days he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh your sons and daughters would prophesy your old men would dream dreams your young men would see visions and upon the servants and handmaidens would god pour out of his spirit in that day and then peter went on to preach to them concerning jesus christ and peter then mentions how that david by the holy spirit spoke of the resurrection in the first chapter as the church was assembled together waiting for the promise of the holy spirit peter addressed the assembly about 120 and he said this scripture must needs be fulfilled which was spoken by the holy spirit through the mouth of david recognizing that the holy spirit was the one that was speaking though it came from david's pen the holy spirit spoke through the mouth of david saying and so the belief that scripture is inspired by god holy men wrote as they were moved upon by the holy spirit and that of course i think is foundational for the church i think that that is one of the most important doctrines that we must hold tenaciously to there's a real battle for the bible and i think that god's word will stand as it always had against every assault and when it's all over those who have attacked the word of god will fall but the bible will continue to stand all scripture is given by inspiration of god god has given to us in the scriptures all that is necessary for the life of godliness and as that word of god is planted in the fertile soil of our hearts it's going to bring forth the nature of god in our lives the word of god the emphasis here is on this is god's word it has a transforming effect upon those who will read it those who will study it those who will take it to heart it will change your life and transform you into the image of our lord jesus christ the power of the word of god alive and powerful and it will work in our lives in a powerful way if we allow it father we thank you for the word and lord even again as peter felt it was necessary to stir up their minds and their hearts concerning the necessity of growing and developing in their spiritual walk of being conformed into the image of jesus christ of taking on the characteristics of the divine nature and seeing them develop and progress so lord in our lives let the word of god dwell in our hearts richly through faith that we might begin with all the saints to comprehend just how much you really do love us and that through the word of god we might grow in grace and in the knowledge of jesus christ our lord and in the knowledge of your love for us and lord with david we will be satisfied that day when we awake in your likeness and we see you as you are until then lord may we give diligence to the word and to the study of the word and to our own lives and to the growth and the development of the spiritual characteristics in our lives in jesus name amen so we stand again tonight the pastors are down here in the front to minister to you and so after the service feel free to come down if you're in need of prayer prayer on any issue physical afflictions maybe you're in need of a job maybe you're having family difficulties maybe there's a member of your family that you're concerned about gone astray come on down they're here to minister to you and to pray with you jesus said if two or three and precious promises great and prejudice promises if two or three of you will agree on earth as touching any one thing it shall be done so come on down they'll be glad to agree with you and we through the prayer can see the work of god accomplished not only in our lives but the lies of those that we love that we're concerned for so take advantage of the fact that these men are here to serve you to serve your spiritual needs and to minister to you in the things of the spirit and may the lord richly bless you watch over and keep you in his love and may this be a week of growth you remember that old game mother may i take one giant step forward mother may i yes you may all right this week one giant step forward in your growth and in your walk and in your relationship with our lord may you be blessed by him trying to think of a chorus that would uh sort of wrap up the idea um i don't know of you some of you are i surely do remember this not all will but some of you will um it's not that you know dear do you remember when this and that and if you remember you're much older than i but to be like jesus to be like jesus all i ask to be like him all through life's journey from earth to glory all i ask to be like him once more you can pick it up to be like jesus to be like jesus all i ask to be like him all through life's journey from earth to glory all i ask to be like him we think all i ask but man that's a big order on the plate god bless you thank you

Channel: Pastor Chuck Smith

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Id: LCyuwZU-NIs

Length: 62min 54sec (3774 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2021