We must live for God.
And what is this "better hope" that we can partake of,
that they couldn't partake of,
that we read about here?
Yes, we can read about that in 2 Peter.
We can read there in chapter 1, verse 4.
There it's written: "By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature ..."
So, if you have a calling from God; if you are chosen,
and then you hear this: "Divine nature,"
it's as if something is awoken in you!
It is stirred up: What is this? Is it possible?
It is the city on a hill
and those sitting in murkiness and darkness,
stuck in various assemblies,
they are longing for this; they are called to this!
And when they hear this message, "You can be a partaker of the divine nature!"
then it's as if something says, "Yes! That's what I've been longing for my whole life!"
That's how the hearts of those who have this calling respond.
"... by which have been given to us
exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust."
They didn't have those promises in the Old Covenant.
They couldn't come to a victorious life by the law.
The law was too weak.
It was impossible.
But they had promises for the forgiveness of sins
and all earthly blessings – that came by the law.
But not divine nature!
And what is the first compared to the second?
To be a partaker of all spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ –
What is that,
earthly blessings and the forgiveness of sins,
compared to becoming an eternal person,
and seeing God open up a thousand years here on earth for you?
You can be with Jesus
and put things right here on earth
and transform it into a Paradise for people!
What is the first, compared to the second?
"By which have been given us," it's written.
Yes, by what then? Then we can read in verse 3:
"... as His divine power
has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him who called us
by glory and virtue ..."
So it was by that knowledge.
Nearly nobody has that knowledge.
It is Jesus' completed work that gives us these promises,
but if we don't have knowledge of His work,
we don't have the promises, either.
And that's the case with most believers today.
They don't know that.
It was impossible to attain to these promises until the work was completed
but now that the work has been completed,
it is possible for all those who believe.
But you have to believe it!
We preach the word of faith.
You have to believe it!
That it is possible for you with your corrupted nature,
with those temptations,
with all the lusts and desires that dwell in your body!
That Jesus has called you to something so great,
that we can be partakers of the divine nature!
These are the promises for you, the exceedingly great and precious promises.
Paul says in Philippians 3,
he was righteous according to the law,
but he says what that is,
we can read that in verse 6,
where he says:
"... concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."
And then he says,
"But what things were gain to me,
these I have counted loss for Christ.
Yet indeed I also count all things loss
for the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord ..."
Think about that!
That is, the knowledge of Him,
the knowledge of Jesus Christ!
And then he says in verse 8,
"Yet indeed I also count all things loss
for the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and count them as rubbish ..."
That is, worth less than zero.
Rubbish.
Dung.
Pah! Worth nothing!
"... that I may gain Christ."
So the promises he got through the knowledge of Christ Jesus
were so great,
that the rest was loss in comparison!
There you can see a little of what it means that you can partake of the divine nature.
Most people have no more knowledge of Jesus than they had in the Old Covenant.
There, in the Old Covenant,
they had these sacrifices for sin
and the sins of the people were placed on the goat
before it was to be slaughtered,
and then they sacrificed it and then they received forgibveness.
But they didn't get a new nature!
Absolutely no new nature!
Because the blood of animals doesn't remove the sin in the flesh.
And what most believers believe today
is that their sins were placed on Jesus there on Calvary.
And that sacrifice on Calvary,
they received the forgiveness of sins through Jesus' sacrifice,
but they don't believe in overcoming!
And even less in divine nature!
They absolutely do not believe in it,
even though the Scriptures are so enthusiastic
and all the apostles are in agreement when they write about this,
they still don't believe it.
But through the knowledge of Jesus,
what He did in the days of His flesh,
and not only on Calvary
but His whole life,
where He partook, as children partake of flesh and blood,
He partook of this in the same way.
And then He took up this enormous battle
and there He destroyed him
who had death and the power of death,
and He robbed him of all his power
and threw him out with everything he possessed.
Then the way was paved,
the new and living way,
so we could partake of the same life
and become disciples and followers of Jesus!
That is the gospel the Bible gives us.
And what did He do then, you can ask?
We can read that in Romans 8.
We can read verse 3:
"For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh,
God did ..."
When He entered the world, He said,
"Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
but here I am!"
The the Son of David came
with mighty strength and power,
and did what David did physically:
He overcame all His enemies.
Jesus Christ did that in His inner man.
He ovecame the pride in man.
"... God did by sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin:
He condemned sin in the flesh ..."
Why did He do that? It was on account of sin.
So we could be set free
from the sin that had bound us right since the fall.
He did that work. So now it is possible!
And if Jesus sets you free, you will be free indeed!
Free from what?
Free from your sin. Free from your love of money.
Free from your pride. Free from being offended, etc. etc.
When you are offended, it isn't anybody else's fault; That's just something you think!
It is the sin in you that makes you become offended.
Just think about it, when you have been offended!
It isn't anybody else's fault.
But if you see that and put that sin to death,
then you are set free!
And now you can do that in the power of the Holy Spirit,
in the power of that tremendous grace, not only to forgive,
but grace to put everything in order
so you can grow by that grace
and become strong in God, like Paul did.
You can read that many places;
you can read it in 1 Corinthians 15:10, for example.
What that grace did in Paul. It was tremendous!
But you have to believe it!
In modern times they want grace, revival ...
But truth? Oh no, not truth!
They have removed that word and only speak about grace.
But what are they supposed to do with that grace if they don't want to know the truth?
Grace was to help us live the truth,
so the Word could become flesh in us!
We need grace for that; we need help for that!
But people don't love the truth.
Nevertheless, Jesus says: "I am the truth."
They love Jesus, they say, but then they don't love the truth.
But Jesus says, "I am the truth!"
It's all falsehood.
The Word is the truth and the Word became flesh in Him,
and He came, full of grace and truth.
Grace is help to hear and do and receive the truth.
That is what help is for.
So yes, you want grace,
but you don't inquire about truth, righteousness and a life in God.
You don't want that. Oh, no!
You kind of want to live for yourself a little bit, do things partially.
You must repent from that!
Being "partial."
You must live completely for the Lord; be completely in the Lord's service.
That is, when you are a warrior, a soldier,
the only thing that is required of you – after all it is the king who is paying for you;
there you get clothing and weapons –
but you are required to know your weapon
and that you are ready day and night when the king calls.
Then you are a warrior,
and it's like that in God's kingdom as well.
You must be ready to fight!
Peter wrote about Silvanus:
"Our faithful brother, as I consider him," he writes,
he wrote briefly by him,
"... exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand."
The grace had already been falsified, even then,
so Peter had to write, "This is the true grace!"
And how do you think things are today?
Yes, I want to praise God for these promises.
I will stop now,
but this life has laid hold of me.
And I could wish that Jesus Christ could lay hold of each one of us
and that we could all see this great work that has been made possible,
so the life of Christ can develop in your inner man.
You see more and more of the Lord's greatness,
just as Moses did when he looked into the Promised Land.
God be praised and glorified! Amen.