Experiential Sanctification, Pt. 2 (09/17/2000)

Paul that was beautiful. This needs to be turned down just a little bit Greg. Not much just a little

That Made me feel like I was out by a bubbling brook just me and the

Lord having a quiet time That was I love that setting whatever you had that set on was really nice And actually it made me feel like I was doing that back in the cowboy didn't

Indian days And there were no skyscrapers and cars and asphalt and just the river and We ever thought about Hey, I know a few of you've seen the movie.

I think Bob Jones University put it out called Sheffy Remember that one where he was a circuit riding preacher

You ever thought about you know It takes all day to go a few miles on the horse and he's out there

Riding along a river like that praying. Why was he so spiritual? I wonder

And we just move 100 miles an hour all the time, don't we? So it's different But we still have to find those moments and that that was very helpful.

Paul. Thank you very much It's more. Let's turn to 2nd Peter chapter 1

And We've we've been talking about sanctification for quite some weeks now and we talked about the fact that there are two major Segments positional and experiential okay, so we spent most of the time talking about positional up until now and So today we're going to talk about continue with experiential and And Experiential is what happens in time

Positional is what has happened from our vantage point all the way in eternity past From reality, it's where the father is in the eternal present tense.

So those things don't change and so we have both we have positional sanctification and we have experiential and One is outside of time and in that dimension and the other is in time

So today we're going to move more into time but even in the beginning of this we're going to find out that the the outside of time has to be there and has to be there first and my wife is smiling at me and either means my tie is crooked or Are we didn't introduce

Jenny's guests one of the two? Jenny, why don't you introduce your guests to us this morning? Uh, well,

I was thinking about that though, I I neglected would you do that for us? Amy and Megan from Letourneau University Glad to have you with us this morning

All right. Well, that's what I'd like to do with this is take this verse by verse now Russ is clear in his throat

What do you want Russ? Did I forget something else? I'm kidding

I kid you it is but the timing was funny, you know Okay, I want to take this verse -by -verse

And a good place to start I think be verse 1 so 2nd Peter chapter 1 in verse 1

Okay Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, I think the word and is important.

I'll show you why in a minute To them that 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 Christ our

Lord and of Jesus Christ 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 exceeding great and precious promises

You might be partakers of the divine nature the very nature of God Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and we studied those in Sunday school this morning in Galatians the the lust of the flesh

It says having escaped those and beside this giving all diligence

Add to your faith virtue and Then it gives a list of things that we're going to add to our faith.

We see virtue. We see knowledge in verse 6 We see temperance patience and godliness

In verse 7 we see brotherly kindness and charity which are two different kinds of love in the

Greek language and For if these things be in you and abound They make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten

That he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure

For if you do these things You shall never fall and that's a simple little phrase at the end of that passage you shall never fall, but Don't ever think for a moment.

You should take that lightly because to fall we'll see some scriptures today That deal with what can happen when we fall

But that's not where we want to go And the beautiful thing about this passage it says if you take faith and you add to this faith

These other items you shall never fall now Let's go through this verse by verse and and see exactly what the lord's teaching is first of all

Notice, it says simon peter is a servant And an apostle of the lord jesus christ

Uh one could take some time at this point to uh to teach what the bible teaches about an apostle

Let me just give you quickly Some things that I see that the scriptures teach about what these apostles were you have to understand the word apostle

Uh is kind of like the word angel In the bible where you see the word angel in the greek language.

It's the word that could be translated messenger and so sometimes uh When you see the word angel in the bible in the english

It really would better be translated messenger because it's not talking about an angel like you picture an angel

But sometimes it is talking about an angel and the word apostle means an ambassador

So there's a sense in which the word could be used to mean an ambassador But there is a sense in which it means the 12 apostles

And uh, you can best tell that by the context But then again, there are some things uh, some some fairly strict.

Um, Signs of an apostle or things that tell what an apostle is of the sort that jesus called to himself the 12 i'm referring to Much information in the bible.

Let me kind of zip through it because it's not the main topic this morning But I want you to be aware that these scriptures are here.

First of all, it says he is a servant That's the word doulos. Anybody remember what that means from sunday school?

Hmm Oh, there you go a bond servant she's not even in our class and she knew that It means a bond servant.

So one of the things that peter says that he is is he is a bond servant now

What's the next thing he says he is an apostle So he's two things listed here.

He's a bond servant, but he's also an apostle apostle means an ambassador One who is set apart

One who is sent out is what this word means So he is a bond servant

And He's an ambassador Now if you look at mark, don't look these up because i'm going to give you a bunch of them mark chapter 10 verse 2

Luke chapter 6 verse 13 Luke chapter 9 verses 1 and 10

Luke chapter 22 verse 14 Luke chapter 1 verse 26

And then we bring paul into this thing and acts chapter 9 verse 27 those are

Several places in the bible where it calls the apostles the 12 With that phrase the 12

And that's the sense in which we're discussing this word apostle Uh, and I would ask the question have there been any more apostles like that since what we call the apostolic age

I think the bible bears out clearly to me that there have not been Uh, first of all, we see these references to the 12

And then we go all the way to the end of the bible in revelation 2114 and we come to the end of the church age and we see that they're still mentioned as a select group

It says and the wall of the city had 12 foundations and in them the names of the 12 apostles of the lamb

Second thing not only they call the 12 but There are some

Things that had to be true of a person before they could be an apostle The second thing is this

That they would have been given commandments from christ After his ascension now, that's a little bit hard to accomplish

And that's why it hasn't happened To anyone besides these gentlemen, but after jesus died was buried

Resurrected and ascended into heaven after that he gave Commandments to his own apostles in john 16 12

He said I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now How be it when he the spirit of truth has come?

He will guide you to all truth for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever. He shall uh

Whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you Things to come he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and show it to you, etc

And then uh in ephesians 3 5 it says which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men

As it is now revealed unto his holy apostles by the spirit so Uh, one of the signs of an apostle was that he was given commandments by jesus christ after jesus ascended into heaven

A third is this and acts chapter 1 verses 20 through 22 indicates that he must have walked with the lord.

Jesus christ And that's a little bit hard to accomplish in the physical realm after Jesus has died and gone to heaven, but it did happen to one person that way who was that?

And how many years did he walk with jesus? Three So you can say that that couldn't happen

But it is a requirement whoever claims to be an apostle must be a person who literally walked with jesus and was taught by him

Uh in in the physical realm right there where his presence was there

The fourth thing is he saw him alive after his passion that's found in acts 1 3 his passion means his death on the cross

So these apostles saw him alive Now that doesn't count 90 foot jesus is besides beside the freeway folks,

I mean this this is jesus and then uh another one There are signs of an apostle that are listed in the bible and get these down your notes

Go read them when you have time one is in acts 2 43 Another one acts 5 12

Another one acts 8 18 Now what seems obvious to me is that if these signs could be done by anyone then they couldn't prove that anyone was an apostle

So these are signs that uh that were given by god in power to the to the apostles specifically

To bear out the fact that their office was true. And the last one is second corinthians 12 12

I will read it to you because paul says this truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds

Paul was having a little bit of a problem. Some of the christians didn't want to believe he was a real apostle And he said well look at the signs that god has put on me

And you'll see that I am now if it were true that anyone could have those and it wouldn't have proved he was an apostle So these were very specific special powerful mighty

Wonders and signs that only these apostles could do and have been able to do since that time

Another is in first corinthians 12 28. It was the highest calling It's listed as some callings of god first apostles.

That's the word proton The word first proton it means first in time place or order

And then they were called of jesus christ. And in fact peter says this simon peter is servant of jesus christ and an apostle

But they were so they were chosen by jesus christ himself in person Luke chapter 6 verse 13 bears this out acts chapter 1 verse 2 bears this out acts 125

Bears this out and uh romans 1 1 romans 1 5 first corinthians 1 1 and so forth

And this is an interesting verse in first corinthians 4 9 For I think that god hath set forth us the apostles last

As it were appointed to death for we are made a spectacle unto the world and angels into men

It sets them apart as a group A group that was a peculiar group

That was set apart last in god's little plan there during that time period when he was authenticating the new testament

And they were set forth last as the final proof and they all died because of it except for john who

Was sent to the isle of patmas and then another interesting, um The verse that we find is that uh in ephesians 4 11 and ephesians 3 3

And then uh, let's go to ephesians 2 19 and 20 It says that these apostles are the foundation of the church

Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners But fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of god and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets

Jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone and then it pictures the church as being built

In a continual sense on top of that what's interesting about that is where it deals with the apostles and prophets

It says they were the foundation And uh this word foundation in the greek language literally means

Something put down or a substructure of a building It comes from a small little greek root word which literally means to place in a passive horizontal posture

Literally to lay down like a foundation. So that's not something that's continued to add to the foundation.

I remember when we built this building Back in those days it'd be a fortune now to try to build it.

I'm sure but it's somewhere we got a great Deal, I think by the builder somewhere in the ballpark of half a million dollars to build this whole building

But more than a third of that cost was the foundation that this building was put on because it goes all the way down to The bedrock and and this building does not rest on the soil at all because if it did it would already be cracked and uh

So it costs a lot of money to build that foundation and it had to be built first And it was built first and once it was built

There was never another foundation put down what happened then is you just start building the building on top of it

And that's what god gives as a sense about the apostles Is that they were the substructure they were there first proton

They were put down first and then everything is built on top of that from that place on So it's my view that there have not been any other apostles in that sense of what the word apostle means since that time

Uh now let's go on He says I was a servant and also an apostle of jesus christ to them that have obtained like precious faith

With us now, let's go into this part Notice the reason I took a little time on apostleship is because we're talking about sanctification

Which means in general to be set apart And these 12 the 12 were set apart in a very special way in which no other man was ever set apart in fact, uh in the end times jesus says he that there will be 12 foundations

And their names will be the 12 apostles will be on those so there aren't any other apostles of that sort

Um, and I do believe that paul is the one who took judas's place. That's my personal opinion.

Um It's not easily proven But it's proven well enough for me for that to be my personal opinion

And that the one who was selected by drawing straws was uh, maybe jumping ahead of god

Somewhat because there are only 12 and they're going to be their names will be on those 12 foundations

So sanctification a setting apart it just the whole passage starts out talking about this very important and peculiar type of sanctification where peter was

Set apart, but now it goes in and it broadens out becomes more general and starts to talk about christians in general

So let's look at this part of verse one where it says to them that have obtained Like precious faith with us through the righteousness of god

And our savior jesus christ, isn't it wonderful that he says that your faith is just like he had now

Do you think of the apostles peter preached a sermon one time? 3 000 people saved another time 5 000 people saved.

I mean that's the power of god, isn't it? And we look at paul. We look at john We look at james and we think of these men as giants of the faith and yes

They were but they were just people weren't they? And did you know that when you got saved that the faith that god gave you is of like precious nature as their faith was?

In fact, it's the same faith whose faith was it? It was a gift of god

And he gave you the faith of jesus christ because jesus is the only man that ever lived since the garden

Whoever truly totally believed everything that god said was right all the time Every other man has failed in that area

But jesus never having faith is a gift.

It's not something you can work up It's something god gave you. In fact, if we had it, we wouldn't need jesus's faith, but we don't have it

Until he gives it to us as a gift a free gift of love So we have like precious faith

With us he says with Peter with the apostles with everyone else who's saved through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ

I want you to notice this word obtained where it says to them that have obtained In english, it almost makes it sound like you can go out and get it doesn't it?

How many times have you heard people say um, I found jesus or Or I made the decision to accept christ and things like that I understand that and that's not the most horrible thing in the world because usually it's baby babes in the lord that are saying that And they haven't studied the word yet The word of god yet, but look at this word obtained in the greek language

It's the word lankano And I don't know if I should bother to spell that for you.

I will it's l -a -n l -a -g c -h -a -n -o And uh, it really if you're from texas you could call that lag cheno,

I guess But let me tell you what it means

It literally means to receive by divine allotment

Whoa That doesn't fit most doctrines floating out there around there today Not in the modern church.

It means to receive by divine allotment So to them who have received by divine allotment like and precious faith um

Man, that's amazing, isn't it? What do you suppose that means?

Just suppose that that means that god Can choose to love his own children and that he has his own children

That's exactly what it means That's very good I wasn't going to say it, but he said it so he's got on the tape you're out there in radio land

Predestination, okay That's what it means. It's here. You can't get around it. Now. What's amazing about it is as we go through this passage

We're going to go out into a place. That's a different dimension than where we live And we don't know what kind of how many dimensions it may be infinite dimensions

We don't know what it is, but it's a place that we cannot fathom and it's a place where the father is And he is not in the same dimension place or time as we are

He isn't a if you want to call it a place. It's a place that has no time Things are not done in sequence

In fact things are already It's hard to even speak of it because we think everything we say we say in in time terms

But that's a place where there's no time The father is above beyond and not bound by time.

In fact is not in time And so back in that place you can go back to ephesians chapter 1

You can go back to many other places in the old testament new testament scriptures where it says that he loved us

He knew us it says he chose us before the foundation of the world that's exactly what divine allotment is

We would look at the word allotment. We think it's luck If we don't know much

But there's nothing that happens that way nothing by chance god is a sovereign god

He is the sovereign god of the universe and god The father has chosen his own in in so many hundreds of scriptures that it's a sad thing that people think they have to remove

Or overlook those scriptures god put them there for a purpose Now that is the foundation and the groundwork that is laid before as we move into this passage

What's interesting is this passage is used primarily to come into the dimension of time

And to talk about experiential sanctification, but it begins Outside of time in that place where the father is and it all deals with positional sanctification

You can't change positional sanctification If you're saved this morning, you can't change that by what you do or what you think

Did you know that now there are a lot of brothers and sisters around and other churches that teach that you can

Uh, there's some that teach you to go out lose it and go grab it again But hebrews chapter 6 the first few verses of that chapter prove very clearly

You can't do that. You'd have to recrucify jesus and put him to open shame, which the bible calls blasphemy

You can't recrucify him. You can't make better the finished work of jesus christ

You can't help him finish it. It's finished. He said it is finished And it is finished and the positional things of your salvation you can't change

And aren't we glad we can't because if we could we'd sure change them, wouldn't we? We'd go out in the morning.

We wouldn't feel half as saved as we feel right this moment So it's all based uh, first of all in verse one on this

Having obtained like precious faith. We received it by divine appointment divine allotment from the father

Because he wanted to do it not because we wanted to in fact We were enemies at the time it happened.

You look at the apostle paul's salvation experience. It pictures this so vividly He was not out looking to be saved.

He was looking for christians so he could kill him And the first thing he knew out of nowhere

He saw a light his eyes turned on and he saw jesus christ for who he was and said lord

And that's the first time he could have ever called him lord because all of a sudden he found himself saved And this is how salvation works.

The apostle paul Saul had been chosen by the father And uh, he received this divine allotment.

This precious faith was given to him at that point Now he goes on and says obtained like precious faith with us

Through the righteousness of god notice that salvation is by god's righteousness not our own

And it says through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ

I love this word and it's kahi

Which means copulative and cumulative Just write that down figure out what it means later copulative and cumulative

It means that It is the righteousness of both the father

And the eternal son copulative means connected And cumulative means that it creates a more powerful force than either one together and even more than if you took them separately

If you add them together It's more than one plus one is two. It's like one plus one is infinitely powerful

And so that's what the little word and means here And so then it says that the righteous that this faith is through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ together

Working together bringing this faith To us now. Let's go to verse two grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of god and of Jesus christ our lord now, let me

Get you to circle this word knowledge or the phrase through the knowledge of God and of jesus christ our lord

Jesus was called the word There's a very important reason for that because what is the word someone tell me what a word is

It is a vehicle it's like a truck That carries something and a word can carry the thoughts from your mind and heart

Put it on the truck drive it over and I can drive it over there to brother dennis and it can go in through his ear into his mind and dump the truck

And all of a sudden my minds what was in my mind and my thoughts Are now in his mind and he can see a little bit what

I was thinking It could never happen without a word could it and jesus is the word of god

He is the word. He is the one who brings god's heart and mind to us And so notice that grace and peace can only be multiplied to you through knowledge

Now knowledge is another word. You might just put this in your bible relationship Write down the word relationship and think about the idea of relationship the rest of this morning because so many people are off into thinking that salvation is by Keeping some rules or salvation is by finding a religion that you can be a part of And all the different things that man invents in order to build a stairway to heaven, which is impossible

Anyway, god shut that down long years ago with the tower of babel It doesn't work and People just do not understand that salvation is all about a relationship a living relationship

Where all of a sudden, you know god and the reason you know him is because jesus said my sheep hear my voice

And I know them and they follow me. He calls us to himself And it's through this knowledge or this relationship or getting to know the lord.

Jesus christ And he then can reveal the father to us That is exactly what this is all about and this is where grace and peace come from and but they're specifically multiplied now as we get to This thus far along here in this passage so far we've seen a lot of god doing things for us, haven't we?

We've seen that it was god who by divine allotment chose us unto himself

We've seen that it is by god's righteousness Connected with the righteousness of jesus christ, which is the same righteousness

The righteousness of god is by that righteousness that faith comes to us and that we're saved It's by his righteousness not by ours that we're saved

And we've seen now that peace And grace can be multiplied to us through a knowledge a relationship of knowing and learning and understanding and walking

With the lord as he reveals himself to us all of this is god doing things to us so far

Now it says that grace and peace can be multiplied there in verse two and What's interesting about this is that this word is

In the tense it's in the strongest possible wish for something to happen

So it's like peter is saying this is my strongest desire for you Is that your grace and peace be multiplied through a relationship a growing relationship with god?

Now, let's look at verse three according as his divine power Hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life

And godliness now in the english language hath given does that sound like something you can change or something that's already happened?

It sounds like it's already happened and in fact in the greek language, it's the perfect passive participle

Which means according as his divine power hath given unto us all things it means it's already happened

So this is something that has happened in the outside of time dimension where the father is you see the

Perfect tense means something that happened in our past from our vantage point in time

We look back to the past so we go all the way back to what we call eternity past This is something that has already happened

Never needing to be done again Now the grammar in the perfect tense tells us that's what this is all about So according as god's divine power has you might add in the english already has already given unto us

And notice that it's in the passive which means it's not something we can do. It's something that's done to us by the father

So according as his divine power has given unto us all things how many is all

Let me ask you this. Could you add something to something if it's all there already? You could not and he has already perfect passive participle already from eternity

From that place where god is the ever present now Coming out from that place into time where we are

He is his divine power has already given to us all things

That pertain to life and godliness. Do you know ladies and gentlemen that we have been fully equipped?

To live for god now Now we talk about all the time. What's it going to be like at the rapture?

Man man, what's it going to be like? Well, i'll have a new You know Changed in the air body

And it won't be pulling the wrong direction anymore And that is going to be glorious It is going to be absolutely glorious.

We can't even fathom. I don't think what it would be like And in sunday school this morning brother otis was talking about the flesh.

We're talking about the flesh He said he's there every time when when the flesh cannot What's the word it used?

Lust against the spirit and and we live in that realm Unfortunately, there's going to come a day when we don't but you know what we have right now even now in this corrupt body

This old flesh that has not been saved yet. It's the only part of you that hasn't been saved yet Do you know what you do have though?

You have full equipment To live in god's will right now. It has already been given to you

It comes to you from out of this realm from that other realm where the father is and it comes in full power

And it's all of it all that you need that pertains to life Which is what jesus said meant when he said

I given to you abundant life And godliness which means how to be godly

So, you know what you don't have to have a whole big old set of rules and try to keep them every day Because god has placed this within our realm and equipped us with this power

That came from him, but look at the next phrase in verse three There is a medium through which this power comes there is a

In the greek language where you see the word through Most often it's the word ain en and it means the channel through which something comes

So picture it like a little channel with water flowing or whatever this stuff is you're getting it's flowing through Think of it as a pipeline.

Okay, we're here in texas oil and gas country. It's a pipeline Now this divine power that has been given

And gives us all things that pertain to abundant living And to godliness in our life is through a pipeline let me show you what the pipeline is it's the word knowledge

You see where it says through through knowledge of him That hath called us that's past tense.

He's already called us To glory and virtue. We are the called But there's a pipeline

And that pipeline is the word knowledge or you could just put relationship again So it all starts with this this relationship with the lord.

Jesus christ the the phrase hath given is perfect Passive participle.

It's not something you can change The pipeline is in place. It's there for us to take advantage of now.

Let's go to verse four Whereby we Reflects back

I think to verse three, wouldn't you say? It has to do with this um this pipeline

This pipeline this relationship now, isn't it interesting that all of this equipment comes from a place that's a different dimension outside of time

It's not in this dimension we can't comprehend it I've mentioned the little book about the flatlanders where they live in two dimensions

There's no way they could understand our three -dimensional world You can start to try to explain it but it's very difficult for them to view it

They can believe it maybe if you can convince them, but they can't comprehend it And for us to sit here this morning

In time and try to comprehend what it's like for the father who's in a dimension that's different than this that where there is no time

Is really quite difficult if not impossible except for the revelation that he gives us the little bits of nuggets of information that he gives

Us and it's still hard for us to get it So we have to understand though that all of this these things that god gives us

To help us be godly and to help us have abundant life There is a pipeline going up through our dimension and going out through a hole in it into that other dimension

Where he is And the way that I see that the father extends himself to us is through the holy spirit or the or his or the eternal son

Jesus christ one way or the other he can step down into time and be in time with us

In christ or in the holy spirit, and that's how I see that he does this And so whereby

Points back to the pipeline now. Let's look what happens here in verse four Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious

Promises now. Wait a minute Exceeding great that word is the word magistos

There's an english word that comes from the first little greek word there, which is mega. You ever heard of mega bucks?

You know mega this and mega that it just means it means the biggest of the big huge And it says whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises

Magistos, which means mega which is the greatest that there is or the very great.

It's the superlative It's it's just the best you can get the greatest the biggest That you can get

So it is superlative of mega the greatest promises and what's interesting is the next word says exceeding great and precious the word precious if if you examine that is

Temios and you look in the greek under the In the dictionary for this word and it is in the superlative, you know, you have good better best.

It's the best It's the best there's nothing better. It's the best form of this word and it literally means valuable

So what it says is whereby are given through this pipeline of this relationship that god's given us at the point of salvation

Where we have the Holy Spirit living in us We're connected to that other place that we can't even comprehend but through that pipeline he brings all of the equipment that we need all of it for abundant life and godliness and This is given to us and through this pipeline comes these things exceeding great mega promises and Exceeding precious which means exceeding vow exceedingly valuable promises that are so valuable

You can't even understand the value of them because they come from a different place than here Are you with me at all this morning?

It's not of this world These promises are not of this world.

They are so vastly and exceedingly great and precious We cannot even comprehend them on our own

Without the light that the Holy Spirit brings as he teaches us as we grow through our different levels of growth

He brings to this pipeline exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature and I've learned some things about this and In this study that I have never known before Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust

How do we escape the fruits of the flesh that were discussed in Sunday school this morning this is showing us how

But it's kind of interesting at this point now See, I would stop here and I would ask the question all the verses down to where we are

Down at the first part anyway down through the precious promises in verse 4 if you just stop right there

Would you say that most of that stuff comes from in time or outside of time?

Outside of time That's exactly right now what's interesting though Even though they come from outside of time they are given to us in time because that's where we are and When you get past that first part of verse 4 where it says whereby are given to us exceeding great precious promises at that point

Much of the rest of the passage comes down and we're going to talk about in time So we're we're moving now from an outside of time dimension to an in time dimension as we discuss the rest of this passage or much of the rest of it and What was kind of fascinating to me is let's look at the second half of verse 4 now that by these you might be partakers of the divine

Nature by what? Well, we got the pipeline right and we have these Precious and mega promises that are coming from this other place to us that are given to us in the word

We can't understand them just because they're given there only we have them the only way we understand them is as the

Holy Spirit teaches them to us and that's the pipeline because it has to do with a Relationship you have to have this relationship with God to even understand these things and so but as that happens

By these so that you might be partakers of the divine nature haven't and then escape the this this lust that it speaks up Well, I'll show you something kind of kind of interesting

By these you might be partakers The word be I want you to look at that for a moment

You see there where it says you might be partakers of the divine nature, you know what the divine nature is

Who can tell me what that is tell me what it's the opposite of Flesh it's the opposite of human nature

The fallen nature it's the opposite of the fallen nature Now, why do you think a cow eats grass?

That's right So does the fact that he eats grass make him a cow?

No But the fact that he is a cow on the inside is what causes him to eat the grass and You know that when you give a list like the fruits of the

Spirit we've discussed in Sunday school That's not a list that's given for you to memorize and try to do

So that you can then be called a Christian. It doesn't work that way In fact, the only way anyone could even come close to doing anything in that list is if he is one already

And so you have to have the very nature of God rather than the old human nature the old fleshly nature to do the things

Of God in other words to have this godliness that this passage is talking about. It's talking about not only peace and grace

But it's talking about to live a godly life There's no way to live a godly life

Unless you have the divine nature inside and so it says that by these promises these mega promises

You might be partakers of the divine nature this little word be be partakers

Is a word that literally in the Greek language means to become or to come into existence

Like let it be God says let it be and it's there It's like it comes into existence and it can mean this to begin to be

All right that you might begin to be partakers of the divine nature Now what this shows us is that this is not a thing that's just poof and all of a sudden you're a perfect Christian Well, we kind of knew that anyway, didn't we?

It's a growth process But the divine nature is something that yes you have But you don't know how to take full advantage of it and you learn that as you go and so that to the extent that you develop that relationship as The Lord is like the groom and we're like the bride and we then come back and we respond to that great

Love that he has for us to the extent that we're good Responders and we respond and we develop that relationship and that pipeline is used

Then at we are better partakers of this divine nature that you might be partakers that you might begin to be partakers of the divine nature and then

It's kind of interesting too Where it says that you might be partakers is in the aorist active subjunctive

Tense now, let me get your attention just for a moment. I know we can't go much longer. We hadn't discussed subjunctive before In fact,

I wish Deborah were here this morning. I'd love to ask her what subjunctive is I might get her finally

She's our grammar teacher, but she probably would she probably have it just like that, but We've been talking about Things that are perfect tense things that are passive things that God did to us things that have been done never needing to be done before haven't we and all of a sudden we find in the midst of this passage that you might be

Partakers of the divine nature this phrase that you might be a partaker is in the subjunctive

Tense, what does it mean? Write this down? the subjunctive mood is the mood of possibility and potentiality

Now you can't have that in God the Father's place of the eternal now

Because it either is or isn't But did you know in time where we're living in sequence?

this introduces possibility and potentiality I Get this phrase.

Let me say that one again in case you're taking notes. The subjunctive mood is the mood of possibility and Potentiality The action described may or may not occur depending upon circumstances

Now do you see now how God's moved and changed the subject a little bit now he's talking about in time

He's talking about a place in time whereby the Holy Spirit he can come down into time and live with us and there then are

Possibilities and potentiality and things that may or may not occur depending on the circumstances now the only place you can have that is in time and You cannot have that from the

Father's point of view God the Father has known the end from the beginning

But as he chooses and I think you know It only makes common sense if you had made this thing you would want to come down and play with it

Wouldn't you you want to be in it? Wouldn't you and in the father desires to be in this and so by the

Holy Spirit He does that and by Jesus when he walked on this earth and the different times that the

Eternal Son appeared even the Old Testament In Christ the father could be in time and I suppose that's the only way he could be in time.

I don't know but I mean We come down to this place it says that by these you might be partakers, you know what that does

In time, that means that there is the potential for you to be more or less of a taker partaker of the divine nature at some point in time and the reason that God says that this is true is

Because we're coming back to this verse that we've been studying for so long where it says the first and the second year

You shall eat of the fruit of the field But the third year I want you to do some tilling and I want you to do some sowing and I want you to do

Some reaping and just like in prayer just like in witnessing just like in good works

Just like in every aspect of our life. The Bible says God is working together with us. He chooses to do that Did you know that that's true in this matter of growth?

In this matter of taking advantage of this pipeline of full

Blessings of things that will help us to live a godly life That he expects us to do

Experience he tells us to Sanctify ourselves in so many places So we see this coming into play at this point right here in These verses in verse 4 as we continue

It says that by these you might be made partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in this world through lust

Partakers of the divine nature that's a beautiful word the word partaker. It's the word coin onos

Which is translated in many many places as the word fellowship Fellowship so we're back to relationship with the

Lord Jesus Christ What God is telling us is very simple this morning

He's telling us that He's provided everything that's needed

Remember the little parable where he said, you know, I put a fence around the vineyard

I Planted the best seed and I put it in fertile soil. I Put a hedge about it.

I built a tower right in the midst of it, which is a picture of Jesus Christ in our hearts And he says

I went out to look and I expected to see that you brought forth grapes But he said you brought forth wild grapes

He said what more could I've done he said I called you to be a judge what more could

I have done To cause you to bear the right kind of fruit and God says in time

There are things that we can do and not do that determine whether we bear good fruit or bad fruit during that time and in time

God observes that and in time God says What more could

I have done? And that leads me to believe that the great white throne judgment is going to occur in time

Because I don't believe there'll be a single person who is cast into the lake of fire Who look at God and say it's your fault because you're a sovereign

God and you didn't choose me You won't hear that and If you go to the judgment seat of Christ, you won't see a single person a single

Christian Who when they're called into account for what they did in their body whether it be good or evil Who will look at God and say yeah, but I'd have done that better if you'd give me those gifts

And we won't be saying that you know why we won't be saying that because God has laid forth here some responsibility for us as We look in verse 4 whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be

The potential is there the promises are given. What will you do with them? It's the third year now folks.

We're supposed to do a little Reaping and sowing Ourselves to bear even more fruit

It's the third year and by be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust

And look at verse 5 and beside these giving all diligence add to your faith faith was a gift

Faith is the first and second year you just eat of the fruit of the land

Did you know when you're a brand -new Christian? That's how it is because you don't even know where to look in the Bible Do you you don't have a clue where to look and for the first years of your

Christian growth? It's all through the pipeline God just puts it on you and he sanctifies you and it's positional and he works in your life or it's or it's in time

And it's passive. It's God doing it to you But there comes a day when he says, you know, you've got a Bible once you read it

You know, you have a Bible Church. Why don't you be there when something's being taught? You know, there are people all around you.

Why don't you witness like you're supposed to witness? You know I've given you myself and I'm here any time you want to you could come be alone with me in prayer when you choose to In time when you come to play you can choose to be alone with me in prayer.

You can choose not to be Why don't you choose to be? Because to the extent that you choose to be in prayer more and you choose to be in my word more

Then the potential is there for you to have more and more of the divine nature But to the extent that you don't the potential is there that you won't be a very strong Christian God is putting the ball in our court in time

He's showing us these things and look what he says. I want you to add Some things to your faith, which

I've given you I've given you the faith now I want you to add virtue knowledge temperance, etc, etc. And remember what the word add means from last

Sunday in The Greek language is from two little Greek words one is epi which means around or about and the other is choreograph

So he says I want you to choreograph in your life I want you to take the faith that I've given you.

I want you to take the relationship that I've provided for you The pipeline that's there from this place where I am to where you are

I want you to take that and I want you to choreograph around that Some things as you plant in your garden as you till in the garden with me to make your life even more fruitful

And that's where we come into experiential sanctification. What will we do this week? Do you think it matters if all you do is you view the outside of time viewpoint?

That's all you ever look at you come a fatalist. Sometimes you say well God's just gonna do it all and I don't have to do anything

But you have a problem when you come to a verse like first John 3 3 where he says and he that hath this hope in Him purifies himself you have a problem when you come to a verse where he says, but the third year

I want you to do some stuff So it all works together We remember the first part of the chapter

Bills on positional it builds on the things God gave us because you can't do anything without Jesus He said without me you can do nothing

But that doesn't mean we're supposed to do nothing We're supposed to take what he's given us and then build our part of relationship

Have you ever stopped to think that it seems this way to us? It seems this way That if we were gonna have a one -on -one meeting with the father in prayer

It would be us that chose when and where doesn't it seem that way? Doesn't it seem like it's you that decides when you're gonna stop all the busy stuff in your life

Just stop and pray and that if if you do decide that that God's there, isn't he? Well Is there some truth to that in time?

Can you make a choice to pray or not to pray Certainly can't will it make a difference which choice you make does every choice you make make a difference in Time it certainly does

Does that do anything to undo the fact that God knows the end from the beginning and that you can't surprise him with anything?

And that he really is in control of all events It doesn't contradict. It's just it's just two different dimensions

So what we're called to do Is to choreograph

To take these these steps of growth Which can only come through a deeper relationship of walking with the

Lord And as we do it comes down to the last promise in the passage.

It says so that you will not fall How many of you gentlemen would like it if you could?

I Think that there are some things that can be done in my family to make it where I won't fall

There's some things that can be done In my wife's life and my children's life that if they will focus in this area of relationship, they won't fall

Wouldn't it be nice to know? Why is it true? Do you know why it's true?

Did you know that as long as you're plugged into that pipeline you cannot sin? First John tells us that As long as it's the nature and the

Spirit of God It's overwhelming your life, which is exactly what happens when you come in the presence of God.

Is it not? You can't come in the presence of God and all of a sudden you're the big guy. You're the big one You're the all -important person in the whole universe

That just goes right away because when you come into God's presence as his child you fall in the proper position in worship

And you know who is God at that time and you will not sin You would not want to sin you could not sin and you would not sin

And that's where this whole passage is leading next Sunday. We'll get into the actual words themselves

These things that he says to choreograph around your faith And we will relate those to the gifts of the

Spirit that are mentioned in the book of Galatians and see how they relate Let's stand and have prayer together Brother Jesse, would you dismiss us and ask the