2 Peter: An Awersome Grant

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. That's 2 Peter 1-3, and part of the text for today's message. God has packed in around the believer rich promises and resources that enable us to live meaningful lives that magnify our Lord.

We have but to remember, keeping our eyes fixed on our provider. Let's listen in. This is part four of a message that was first preached on May 7, 2023, at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

It's part of a series through 2 Peter titled, Live as People Who Remember. To hear the whole message, you can visit www.delightingrace.com. Please listen to me, loved ones. You need to know what is yours in Christ. You need to know all that He has promised you. Because if you lose track of that, this is why Peter is reminding, reminding, reminding. Because he wants his people to live as people who remember.

Remember what? The promises of God. Remember what is yours in Christ. Because there's potential there. There is potential. Verse 4, by which He has granted us His precious and very great promises, so that, there it is, so that through them you may, you hear the potential there? So that through them you may, in other words, this potential, he's talking about the practical difference this is intended to make in your day-to-day life.

Day-to-day life. As you do life, as you live, as you walk with Christ. That you may become, this is in the aorist subjunctive. And some of you right now are saying, who on earth cares?

I'm going to tell you why I care. The aorist subjunct, because it's a snapshot of intent and potential. This is God's intent for you. It is not God's intent that you become saved and then just drift in frustration until you get to heaven.

That is not His intent for us. It is a snapshot of His intent and our potential. Look what it says, that you may become partakers of the divine nature.

Isn't that awesome? Partakers of the divine nature. This is what Paul was promising. This is what he was telling his people at the Roman church, Romans chapter 8 verses 29 and 30. We know these verses well.

Read this with me. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified.

And those whom he justified, he also glorified. Do you realize that from God's perspective, you in Christ are already seated at the right hand of God with Christ? He sees you in your future glory. That right now you can only imagine, but God sees you there right now. Because he has infinite transcendent knowledge and understanding. God doesn't look down the future. He sees all of it, everything right here, right now.

Completely, perfectly, absolutely. And he sees you seated with Christ at the right hand of his throne. That's mind blowing.

But his self-disclosure tells me it's true. What are you going to do with that? Partakers of the divine nature.

Let me just unpack that real quickly. It means specifically two things. Number one, the newness. The newness that is yours in Christ.

It is growing. You are becoming day by day by day. As you walk with God, as you get to know God better, as you become more like him, as you enjoy him and delight in him, you're becoming more and more like Jesus. You're becoming more and more like Jesus. And secondly, the partakers of the divine nature, I think, references the fact that his spirit indwells you, the very presence of God, to regenerate you and empower you. So you, in your new humanity in Christ, with the righteousness of Christ, you're becoming more and more like Christ in your day to day walk.

Why? Because you're walking with him and delighting in him and learning to love him and love what he loves and think what he thinks. And you're becoming more and more like him. That's becoming a partaker of the divine nature.

And why is that possible? Because he has placed his very spirit in you to make all that possible. You might not think very highly of yourself right now, and that's okay. Because self-esteem is not the highest virtue. Saddam Hussein had a very high self-esteem. But if you don't think very highly of yourself right now, you need to understand this. God is forming a masterpiece in you. That's his business. This is what Peter wants his readers to know.

There's a contrast to that. Look at verse 4 again. So that you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. Become a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world.

That sounds very much like Colossians 1.13, where you rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the son of his love. Having escaped the corruption. The corruption is a word that means decay. It means destruction. It's like a branch that's severed from the tree.

There's only one thing it can do. It's die. But if you've been grafted back into the tree and reconciled to the tree, you are in fact alive. And as you draw life from the tree, you are living and productive. But the contrast here is, you have escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desires. God has rescued you from the luring of self-preeminence and misdirected love.

Those luring are a trap, and they end in self-destruction. Take Psalm 119, verses 37 and 38, for example. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise that you may be feared.

Look at that verse 38 there. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things. Worthless things mean they're things that don't count at the end of the day. They don't make me a better person. They don't lead me in the direction of becoming what God wants me to be and designed me and redeemed me and has empowered me to be.

Those are worthless things. And look what he says, confirm to your servant your promise. If I were to quote that to you and then ask you to finish that if it wasn't up here in front of you, I would say, I want you to finish this verse for me.

And what does the Bible say? And I would say, confirm to your servant your promise that, and how would you probably finish that? That I may rejoice in you or something like that. No, it says that you may be feared. Doesn't that sound like a non-secular to you? Confirm your promise to me so that I can fear you?

What? Well, that's why we need to understand biblical fear. What it just simply means is this, confirm to your servant your promise so that I can live for the audience and the opinion of one. That's what it means to fear God. You live for his opinion alone.

Why? Because you are so aware of all of his promises, it would be utterly foolish to live for anything else. God will, in our day to day, as we walk with him, he will faithfully remove the dross to manifest the fine gold of Christ's character. Are you willing to let him do that?

You know what? It's going to be painful. But it's worth it.

It's worth it. He will faithfully remove the dross to manifest the fine gold of Christ's character. As you walk with him, in his faithfulness, this is what he does. This is, again, something that Paul meant when he said, It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Can we say that? We should be saying that to ourselves every day. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And are the Fran in my life, friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors, for those of you who are visiting, are the Fran in my life beginning to more and more recognize the true character of Jesus Christ? Listen to me. Listen, please. I'm not talking about keeping up appearances.

Are you with me on this? That's not what I'm talking about. Are the people in your world recognizing the genuine outflow of your delight in God in your day-to-day walk?

You can't fake that. But it can be yours if you are very much aware of all the promises of God and you build your life on those promises. Let me bring this to a conclusion today. In my challenge to you, my call to you today is to live in God's grace. I want God's people as much as possible to be rescued.

God, please rescue us from simply trying harder to be better. That's not what the walk of faith is. The walk of faith is not keeping up appearances so others will think well of you. God's not in that. That's not grace. I want you, Christian, I want you to beware of the awesome grant that has been lavished upon you in Jesus Christ. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on Weekdays at 10 a.m.