[0:00] I greet you in Jesus' name. Jesus, hallelujah. Knowing Jesus, you know, when John said that about this man that, you know, he says it's all in the Ten Commandments, but he doesn't know Jesus.
[0:22] He doesn't know Jesus. You know, if we know Jesus, we can have broken all ten of those, but we know Jesus.
[0:40] It's not held against us. We're set free. It's all in knowing him, and that's our message this morning.
[0:54] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Turn to 2 Peter. You know, before I start in 2 Peter, I'm going to read a verse or so in Hebrews 6 out of the Amplified.
[1:17] Hebrews 6, verse 1, And therefore, let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ, the Messiah, advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity.
[1:39] Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works, dead formalism, and of the faith by which you turn to God.
[1:54] Verse 3, If indeed God permits, we will go on. You know, why would God not allow us to go on?
[2:05] I believe it all depends on our heart. This will we do if God permit, the King James says. But notice here in this verse I read, He says, Let us go on past the elementary stages.
[2:28] And he talks about not laying again the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works and of faith toward God.
[2:42] And, you know, also as I was thinking of Corwin and Tarenda and the deep trial that they're in the midst of.
[3:02] You know, Peter says, The trial of your faith is more precious than of gold that perishes. And we look at people that are going through those hard trials.
[3:19] But they're faithful. And then I ask the question, How do we go through trials?
[3:29] When we come against a hard time in life, we, you know, things don't go the way we planned.
[3:43] Do we tend to get discouraged? Do we tend to doubt? You know, Job is an extreme example of this.
[3:56] And in all that he went through, you know, he didn't know. He didn't know what was going on in heaven.
[4:08] He didn't know that God and the devil were having a contest here. He didn't know that. But in the midst of it all, he said, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.
[4:22] And he said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. You know, Job expressed faith in God in the midst of the deepest trial.
[4:41] How could he? How can people face these deep, dark trials and walk through them in faith?
[4:57] There's only one way. And that's by knowing Jesus. I'm convinced of that. If we know him, if we know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, if we know Jesus, it's all in him.
[5:19] It's all in knowing him. It's all in acknowledging who he is. It's all in following after him.
[5:30] 2 Peter chapter 1.
[5:45] Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
[6:00] Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Grace and peace be multiplied to you, to us.
[6:16] And how? He says, Through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This is how we will enter into grace and peace.
[6:31] This is how we enter into the provisions of God. This is how we enter into the promises of God. Is through knowing him, learning to know him more, walking with him and acknowledging who he is.
[6:51] You know, this man that he wants to hang to the Ten Commandments, but he rejects Christ.
[7:02] He doesn't know Jesus. He has no hope in Jesus. But if he would learn to know Jesus the way we hopefully know him, then he could be saved too.
[7:17] And he could have a relationship with Jesus. But he doesn't acknowledge who Jesus is. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, we receive from Christ all things that pertain to life and godliness.
[7:55] How? Through his divine power. And how can we receive that? How can we be recipients of the things that we need for life and godliness?
[8:13] He ends this verse by, through the knowledge of him, through the knowledge of Jesus, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue.
[8:29] He has called us to glory and virtue. Now, virtue. You know, we know how to pursue virtue and to pursue a virtuous life.
[8:45] But it's not just virtue. It's glory and virtue. Well, how do we, how do we have glory in our life?
[8:56] I believe it is, it is as we have the glory of God upon us. The glory of God upon us as his children.
[9:08] His glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
[9:29] And we will be partakers of the divine nature. And one of those natures is holiness. You know, 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 15, he says, But as he which is called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.
[9:54] God is a holy God, and he expects his people to be holy. But how are we going to be holy? It is as we are partakers of his holiness, as we are partakers of his divine nature.
[10:11] That is how we become holy. That is how his holiness comes upon us and within us. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
[10:26] And when his holiness is upon us, when his power is upon us, then his glory is upon us. And we can walk in glory and in virtue. Hallelujah.
[10:40] Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grow in grace. That's the last verse in 2 Peter.
[10:53] But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and ever. Amen. Grace and peace be multiplied to us.
[11:08] How? Through the knowledge of Jesus. You know, it is all. You know, all of life. You know, how did you come to Christ?
[11:19] How did you see you needed to be born again? You saw Christ as a Savior. You saw yourself as a sinner. And you acknowledged that he is a Savior.
[11:32] And that is how we go on through life. We acknowledge Jesus. And we learn to know him more. You know, I run across something here in my studies.
[11:46] But in verse 3 we have here through the knowledge of him, through the knowledge of Jesus, what the King James says.
[11:59] In the original Greek, that word means acknowledge. Acknowledge. So as we acknowledge Christ and as we acknowledge who he is, hallelujah, that's how we will enter in, is acknowledging him and learning to know him.
[12:23] Hallelujah. partakers of his holiness.
[12:37] I want to get just a couple verses in Hebrews and then we'll come back to Hebrews later probably. But in Hebrews 12 verse 10, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
[12:53] And what's the first part? For God, I'll just read the last half of it, but he for our prophet, God chastens us for our prophet that we might be partakers of his holiness.
[13:11] And then in verse 14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Holiness.
[13:22] We already talked about holiness and God is a holy God and he expects his people to live a holy life. He says follow peace with all men.
[13:36] Follow after peace. Follow after holiness. How do we follow after holiness? Well, we will look at some of that, but I want to go elsewhere for now.
[13:51] Let's go we'll get a couple verses out of the Old Testament too. Well, John, in the Gospel of John 17 verse 3, just a simple verse, we probably all know it, but I'm going to read it so we get it right.
[14:15] And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
[14:30] Life eternal. This is life eternal. Well, you know, actually I think we need to read the first three verses here.
[14:42] These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him.
[15:03] And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.
[15:17] Hallelujah. This is life eternal, that we might know Jesus, that eternal life is in Jesus, and we receive it by knowing him.
[15:29] Hallelujah. Knowing Jesus, knowing Jesus. Now, I'm going to read several verses out of Jeremiah 9.
[15:53] Jeremiah 9, verse 23 and 24. Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might.
[16:12] Let not the rich man glory in his riches. You know, all the things that people of this world glory in, they glory in their riches, they glory in their wisdom, they glory in their strength, and in what they can accomplish, and what they have accomplished.
[16:32] But God says, let not, let them not glory in those things, but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
[17:00] if we will glory, you know, we have nothing to glory of in our own selves, but here he tells us what we can glory about.
[17:11] We can glory in the fact that we know God. We can glory in the fact that we know the one that exercises loving kindness, the one that exercises judgment and righteousness in the earth, it is God almighty, it is our Lord Jesus Christ.
[17:32] Loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, what does he say? For in these things I delight, saith the Lord.
[17:43] The Lord delights in these things, he delights in judgment, he delights in righteousness, he delights in loving kindness, hallelujah, our God.
[17:57] Yes, that's our God. In Hosea, chapter 6, verse 1, 3, and 6, come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal us, he has smitten and he will bind us up.
[18:21] You know, we don't understand many times when we go through trials, but I don't know is that what he's talking about here, but here he's talking about a people that were torn, a people that were smitten.
[18:42] It says, he has torn and he will heal, he has smitten and he will bind us up, then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth is prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth, if we will follow on to know the Lord.
[19:07] Notice, just think of this, his going forth is prepared as the morning, you know, do you love to watch the sunrise?
[19:19] Slowly it gets daylight and then finally there's, finally you can see the light and finally you can see the sun coming, his going forth is prepared as the morning, hallelujah, and he will come unto us as rain, you know, a gentle rain, oh, that waters the earth and everything turns green, the latter and the former rain on the earth.
[19:45] Verse 6, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice, God speaking, he desires mercy and not sacrifice, sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burned offerings.
[19:58] You know, this is still in the Old Testament when God said this, and you know, they offered many burned offerings and sacrifices, but that wasn't really what God desired.
[20:12] He desired mercy and he desired the knowledge of God, he desired that people would know him and that they would acknowledge him and they would order their lives accordingly.
[20:23] you know, if we acknowledge God, it will change our life, it will change our life. You know, there's a verse, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path.
[20:41] You know, if we acknowledge him, if we acknowledge him and he directs us, hallelujah, I believe we will have a fruitful life.
[20:52] It will show forth the glory of the Lord. Yes. In Micah 6, 8. Probably many of us have this one memorized.
[21:07] Micah 6, 8. He has showed the old man what is good and what doeth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.
[21:22] To love mercy, to walk humbly. You know, there's no place, there's no place for a proud heart. You know, if we, if we rise up in pride or if we, or if we push aside the chasing of the Lord, if we push aside the dealings of God in our heart, there's no place for that in the kingdom of God.
[21:50] He has showed us what is good. He has showed us what God requires of us to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.
[22:07] Are we walking humbly with Him? Now I want to go to Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 6.
[22:23] In verse 7, in chapter 7, verse 1, he says, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
[22:44] Let us cleanse ourselves. How do we do this? How do we do this? We'll be looking at this as we continue on.
[22:58] But he says, having therefore, so let's go back and see what he's referring to. Here in chapter 6, in verse 14, he says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
[23:13] For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial?
[23:24] What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God.
[23:36] As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. We are the temple of God almighty.
[23:49] We are the temple of him. He dwells within us when we're born again and we're a new creation in Christ. That seed of Christ comes within us and we're partakers of the divine nature.
[24:04] We're the temple of God. He lives and he abides within us. And so he admonishes us. He tells us we cannot allow idols.
[24:18] What's an idol? I believe it's anything. It's anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It's anything that would dethrone God, that would not allow him to be on the throne of our heart.
[24:32] That's what it is. It's as God has said, I will dwell in them and I will walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
[24:47] In other places, he will write his law in our hearts. Have we allowed him to write his law in our heart? You know, the outward things that we, you know, we can make all the laws that we want to and walk in strict accordance to them.
[25:07] But unless we've allowed God to do it in our heart, it's of no avail. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you.
[25:30] Ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, having these great and precious promises, let us cleanse ourselves, let us cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
[25:56] You know, I believe it's an ongoing thing. It's an ongoing work of sanctification. Sanctification, you know, another thing that I come across this week, I probably knew it, I probably heard it before, but you know, we forget these things, but the word sank is the same word that is used for saint.
[26:24] saint. So if God sanctifies us, he sanctifies us. Are you a saint? Well, we hesitate to say it, but we better be saints.
[26:39] Called out, holy men and women of God. we are not unequally yoked together.
[26:52] First Corinthians says, we are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
[27:03] 2nd Corinthians 3, verse 17 and 18. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
[27:20] But we all, with open face, beholding us in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord.
[27:35] Hallelujah. As we, as we learn to know him, and as we walk with him, we become more and more like him.
[27:46] If we will allow him to change us, says, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, his glory upon us, his glory within us.
[28:00] Hallelujah. When his glory is within us, oh, how glorious we are changed into the very image of our Lord Jesus. Now let's turn to Hebrews chapter 12.
[28:25] Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which do us so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
[28:45] Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, shame, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
[29:02] Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, you know, and he endured the cross, he endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, and verse 3 says that, he says that we should consider him, we should consider Jesus, who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds, you know, if we look at Jesus, and we consider him, and we consider all that he went through, and such contradiction of sinners, you know, oh, if you're the son of God, save yourself, well, he was the son of God, that's why he had to stay on the cross, he had to give his life, for us, hallelujah, and he did, he did, he authored our salvation, and he finished our salvation, he's a finisher of our faith, ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son despise not thou the chastening of the
[30:23] Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourges every son whom he receiveth, notice what he says here, the Lord, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, does the Lord love you, if you, if you have given your all to him, he loves you, yes, and he will take you on, you know, you know, this Christian life, it's not, it's not that, you know, we got born again 20, 30, 40 years ago, and we've been sailing on through life ever since, you know, it's a continual work, it's a continual growth, it's a continual, it's a continual growing and drawing nigh to him and learning more, learning to know him better, learning more about our
[31:24] Lord, you will never know all about him, maybe when we get there we will, but not here, he admonishes us, he says to not despise the chastening of the Lord, and to not faint when we're rebuked of him, to not faint, to not falter, to not turn back, to not be lame, to not be discouraged, but to allow his working in our life.
[32:08] if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not, but if ye be without chastisement, for of all our partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons, furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits, and live, for they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our prophet, that we might be partakers of his holiness, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby, wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed, follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of
[33:36] God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, now let's go back and let's look at this a little bit, chasing, the chasing of the Lord, what is the reason, what's his goal, that we might be partakers of his holiness, he wants to bring us closer to him, he wants to cleanse us from some hindrance in our life, you know, we started out this chapter with lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and run with patience the race that is set before us, you know, when you run a race, it's not always just, it's not always sin, that's a hindrance, but sometimes there's weights, sometimes there's cares of life, sometimes there's things that just hold us back from fulfilling all that
[34:36] God has for us, and he admonishes us to lay them aside, and if we lay them aside, praise the Lord, but if we hang on to them, guess what, God is going to try to get that, to pry that away from you, to pry it out of your hands, why?
[35:00] Not to take something from you that is good, but to take something from you that he can give you something better. A lot of these weights, they might be something good, they might be something even needful, but as we walk in faith with our God, as we know him well enough, that we just surrender everything to him, as we surrender to him, he can take these things, and he can give us his holiness, and he can give us all things that pertain to life and godliness, and we can go on and we can live a fruitful life, allowing him to make us fruitful, and for this fruit to grow is so much more fruitful than anything we can produce.
[36:08] Follow peace with all men, pursue peace with all men, pursue holiness, follow after holiness, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
[36:25] What did Corinthians say? That we are to cleanse ourselves, and we are to perfect holiness in our lives. As we perfect holiness in our lives, it's a demonstration of our reverence for God.
[36:44] Yes, you know, you know, we have many promises. Have we entered into these promises? You know, the children of Israel, they got to the border of the land of Canaan, the land of promise, and they could have stood there on the bank of Jordan, and they could have said, that's our land, God gave it to us, it's ours.
[37:11] Guess what? They could have stood there and they could have proclaimed that all they wanted to, but the Canaanites would have stood over there and laughed at them.
[37:26] You can say, it's yours all you want, but we're living here. They could have crossed over to Jordan. Now we're in the land of promise.
[37:39] We're in the promised land. We're here. It's ours. Same way. You know what God told Joshua? He said, everywhere the sole of your foot will tread, there, that is yours.
[37:56] That is yours. You know, unless we, unless we enter into the promises of God, they will never be ours.
[38:09] We got to walk this walk. We can't just talk, but we got to walk. We got to fulfill the will of God with our feet.
[38:22] We got to conquer this land. It's a land full of giants, and we got to conquer it. The biggest of them all is the giant of self, the giant of pride, arrogance, the giant of I know how, the giant of I've got it done, I know it.
[38:52] Those giants have to come down, and a lot more. And we need to surrender our heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
[39:10] Verse 12, it says, Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. You know, probably all of us, at one time or another, we fainted in the midst of chastening.
[39:27] We fainted in the midst of a trial. We were discouraged. But he says, lift up the hands which hang down.
[39:41] Strengthen the feeble knees. Make straight paths for your feet. Don't wander around, not knowing which way you're going. Follow the path of the Savior.
[39:56] Savior. Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. Let it rather be healed.
[40:08] Our God, he wants to heal us. He wants to set us in a straight path. He wants us to walk the straight and narrow. He wants to fulfill.
[40:20] You know, he has a calling for each one of us. And he wants us to fulfill that calling. He wants us to walk the path of holiness.
[40:32] And as we walk that path, as we walk the way that he sets before us, he will bring into our life at which he has desired, at which he has preplanned for us.
[40:52] Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God. You know, we're in a body and we need to be mindful of what each one is going through.
[41:07] And we need to help each other and encourage each other and walk together lest any man fail of the grace of God. Lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, root of bitterness.
[41:27] You know, there's many things that can make us bitter. But the one that always comes to my mind first is that one when someone has wronged you, when someone has mistreated you, when someone has done you wrong, they've done you ill and they've gone their way and they've not repented.
[42:02] You know, it's a lot easier to forgive them if they repent, right? But you know, we have to forgive whether they've repented or not.
[42:15] why? Because we need to be clear. You know, as long as we hold something against them, notice what he says here, he says, follow peace with all men.
[42:30] As long as you don't forgive them, you can't have peace with them. Follow peace with all men. And I believe that having peace with our fellow man, as far as we can possibly have, I believe that is part of following after holiness.
[42:53] How is our relationship with our fellow man? Do we have people that we've not forgiven? They still owe us.
[43:05] They still owe us. You know, in reality, if we forgive them, they don't owe us an apology anymore. I know many times people apologize, but they don't repent.
[43:18] That's between them and God. They need to repent, yes, but we need to forgive. If we will be free, we must forgive those who have wronged us.
[43:32] We can't hold those IOUs. do we trust God with everything?
[43:45] Do we trust God in the midst of a deep trial? Again, I'm reminded of Corwin and Tarenda going through the midst of that deep trial.
[43:57] as far as I know, their faith is yet strong in God. And when they come through that fiery trial, their faith will be as gold.
[44:18] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Do we trust God in everything, in circumstances, in trials, in tests?
[44:33] Or do they cause us to doubt and to be discouraged? Do we waver? When things go wrong, do we waver?
[44:45] You know, if we are walking in the will of God, we can trust Him and know that He will carry us through. No matter what comes our way, no matter what we face, no matter what circumstances hit us, we can trust Him in the midst of it all.
[45:09] Yes. Perfecting holiness. in the fear of God.
[45:24] He chastens us that we might be partakers of His holiness. Changed more and more into His image.
[45:44] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. partakers of His nature, partakers of His holiness. Hallelujah.
[45:56] Let's pray. Let's pray.