March 8, 2026 - Partakers of the Divine Nature, Pastor Mark Brattrude

[00:00:00] Speaker A: But Mark has been a dear friend, and he's actually my favorite preacher. I'm just being honest. So I know you're going to really enjoy today. So, Mark, why don't you come and share God's word? [00:00:17] Speaker B: Bless you, Paul. God bless you. Amen. Well, I want to thank you for allowing me to be here. And as I live in a desert, I don't know how many of you know that I live in a desert. So I want to thank you for having snow today. It's probably been, I don't know how many years. When Patty told me, oh, there's a snowstorm coming, I thought, how many years has it been since I've been in snow? It's been quite a few years since I've been in snow. So thank you for that experience. But I want you to know, when I get home on Tuesday, I plan on getting off of the plane and just standing there and letting the sun beat down on me. Last week, I don't know how to convert from the way you measure temperature the way we do, but it was in the 90s last week where I live, I live in a desert. So this is a fun time for me to come up here. And I want to say thank you, Pastor Paul. I had forgotten that you had spent time with Andrew, and that actually was a very pivotal moment in his decision to start a church. And God used you to be a part. Even though, you know, you weren't there for years until after they started, you were a big part of that church getting started. And I'm not just saying this because he's my friend, but I do want to remind you as a church to appreciate the gifts that God has given you. Not every church has a godly pastor, especially for 37 years. Not very few churches have that kind of godly leadership over a period of time. And you are so blessed, so blessed to have that. So thank you, Pastor Paul. [00:02:09] Speaker C: Well, if you would find in your [00:02:10] Speaker B: Bible, Second Peter, Second Peter. And it was interesting because this message actually is a part of a series I'm doing for another reason somewhere else. But as I was pondering this message and then arrived here last night, Patty mentioned something. I immediately lit up because I thought that's a part of my introduction. And so maybe many of you have heard this also. But there was recently I heard of a principal of a Christian school who [00:02:42] Speaker C: had decided to do a survey of [00:02:45] Speaker B: how his alumni were doing in their spiritual walk. [00:02:50] Speaker C: And he had. [00:02:51] Speaker B: I keep saying pastor, but he had [00:02:53] Speaker C: been the principal of this Christian school. And it was a good school. They taught the Bible, they had chapel twice a week. [00:03:01] Speaker B: They were not some watered down kind of school. [00:03:04] Speaker C: But he did a survey of all the alumni, and he found out that the response was that 68% of them [00:03:13] Speaker B: were no longer walking with God. [00:03:16] Speaker C: Now, I want you to think about that number for a moment. 68% of the graduates of that Christian [00:03:22] Speaker B: school, a few years after they got [00:03:24] Speaker C: out of school, were no longer walking with God. Now, the conclusion he came to I agree with, but I don't think it's enough. He said, well, I believe what we need then is a curriculum on apologetics, because we've taught our kids what to believe, but not why they believe it. And I think that's great to do apologetics. But as he was saying that, or [00:03:47] Speaker B: I was listening to him say that, [00:03:50] Speaker C: I thought of a conversation I had [00:03:51] Speaker B: with a friend of mine who has [00:03:53] Speaker C: been very active in the homeschool movement for a while, and they are really entrenched in apologetics. And he shared with me, we were talking about revival and whatnot. And he shared with me, he said, by observation, I have been seeing that even homeschool kids who are well entrenched in apologetics a few years after they [00:04:13] Speaker B: get away from home are no longer walking with God. What's going on? What are we missing? Why is this happening now? [00:04:21] Speaker C: In the book of Timothy, Paul said, the Spirit speaks expressingly that in the [00:04:26] Speaker B: last days many will depart from the faith. [00:04:30] Speaker C: They will be giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. And many who are in the faith are going to be leaving the faith. [00:04:38] Speaker B: And we've been seeing that. [00:04:40] Speaker C: Why do people fall away? Well, in the passage we're going to [00:04:46] Speaker B: look at today, I believe it has the ultimate answer for not falling away. [00:04:52] Speaker C: And in this passage, let me just recite this real quickly for you, and [00:04:55] Speaker B: then we'll read it together. [00:04:56] Speaker C: I want you to be looking for [00:04:58] Speaker B: these things as we read our passage. [00:05:00] Speaker C: But there are many tremendous promises in this passage. Now, all of these promises have a condition, but here are some of the promises that we can have, like precious faith, the same kind of faith that [00:05:13] Speaker B: the apostles had, we can have. That's an amazing thought in and of itself, though. I can have the same kind of faith that Peter and Paul had. [00:05:21] Speaker C: In our passage, we're going to see that grace and peace are multiplied. [00:05:27] Speaker B: That's not just a greeting of a letter. That should be the reality of every believer. Grace and peace being multiplied in our lives. [00:05:36] Speaker C: In our text, we're going to See that everything we need for life and godliness has already been given to us. [00:05:44] Speaker B: No excuses for not living the Christian life, no excuses for not being godly. [00:05:49] Speaker C: Everything we need for life and godliness has already been given to us. [00:05:54] Speaker B: What a great promise. And it sums it up by saying [00:05:57] Speaker C: exceedingly great and precious promises have been given to us. We see in our text that we can escape the corruption that is in this world. We see in our text that we will never have to be barren nor unfruitful and that we will never stumble or fall. [00:06:15] Speaker B: So obviously those 68% that have fallen away missed something. [00:06:21] Speaker C: They weren't doing something that we're going [00:06:24] Speaker B: to see in our text because our [00:06:25] Speaker C: text says that, that if you do these things, you will never fall. [00:06:29] Speaker B: It's a tremendous promise. And then this passage closes with an even greater promise. It says, if we do these things, [00:06:37] Speaker C: if these things are in us and we're doing these things, then an abundant entrance will be given unto us into [00:06:44] Speaker B: the kingdom of God's dear Son. And I believe that means both future [00:06:48] Speaker C: and present, that God wants to open up his kingdom to us. God wants us to know the reality of kingdom life here and now. And yet in the future, even more glorious kingdom life. You don't need to fall away. You don't need to be unfaithful. You don't need to be unfruitful. You don't need to be barren. We can be abounding in fruit for [00:07:12] Speaker B: the Lord Jesus Christ. How many of you want that kind of a life? Well, it's right here in our text. [00:07:19] Speaker C: The conditions for this. [00:07:20] Speaker B: Let's just read the text. [00:07:21] Speaker C: We're going to look at the first 11 verses. But there's one phrase that I find to be the key to it all. At the very heart and core of all the conditions. [00:07:33] Speaker B: This is the very center of it. What we're going to talk about today, Simon Peter, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. [00:07:50] Speaker C: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God, in the [00:07:55] Speaker B: knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to [00:08:02] Speaker C: life and godliness through the knowledge of [00:08:04] Speaker B: him who called us by glory and [00:08:06] Speaker C: virtue, by which we have been given to us exceeding 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 [00:08:21] Speaker B: lust, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence. Add to your faith, virtue to virtue, [00:08:28] Speaker C: knowledge to knowledge, self control to self control, perseverance to perseverance, godliness. To godliness, brotherly kindness. [00:08:36] Speaker B: And to brotherly kindness, love. [00:08:38] Speaker C: For if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor [00:08:43] Speaker B: unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [00:08:47] Speaker C: For he who lacks these things is short sighted even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to [00:08:58] Speaker B: make your call and election sure. [00:09:01] Speaker C: For if you do these things, you will never stumble. [00:09:05] Speaker B: For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. [00:09:14] Speaker C: Well, this passage, we will only be able to just hit the very tip of an iceberg because this passage is so packed with incredible promises. But notice, he says, God has called you not only by his glory and virtue, but one translation says God has [00:09:33] Speaker B: called you into his glory and virtue. [00:09:36] Speaker C: That all these tremendous promises can be a reality in your life. [00:09:42] Speaker B: But they're conditional. All things you need for life and godliness, grace and peace multiplied unto you, escaping the corruption that is in the [00:09:52] Speaker C: world, never being barren nor unfruitful, never stumbling, never falling, having an abundance, entrance supplied unto you. All these things can be yours. [00:10:04] Speaker B: But there's a condition, and I find that at the very core of every condition is this one phrase. I want you to note down this phrase. We're going to try and explore it. To me, it was always a mysterious phrase. And here's the phrase, partakers of the divine nature. Partakers of the divine nature. [00:10:28] Speaker C: What does it mean to be a partaker of the divine nature? And if it is possible for you, for me, to be partakers of the divine nature, how does it happen? Those are the two questions we want [00:10:41] Speaker B: to look at today. What is it? How does it happen? Because if we are becoming partakers of the divine nature, you'll never be unfruitful, you'll never be barren, you'll never stumble. Isn't that what the text said? [00:10:56] Speaker C: Let's take God at His word. Grace and peace will be multiplied unto you. You will escape the corruption that is in this world. You will have an abundant entrance supplied unto you into all of his kingdom. [00:11:09] Speaker B: But it's all contingent on this one very mysterious thought. You must be a partaker of the divine nature. What in the world does that mean? [00:11:24] Speaker C: To be a partaker of the divine nature. Let's look at the word nature. [00:11:28] Speaker B: What is that? [00:11:29] Speaker C: What does it mean a partaker of God's nature. Now, one of the reasons I started doing this study was I was asked to do a series of messages on becoming like Jesus. Being conformed to the image of Christ, being transformed by the renewing of your mind, becoming more like Jesus. [00:11:49] Speaker B: And that's why this text tells us that we are called not only by God's glory and virtue, but according to [00:11:55] Speaker C: the English Standard Version, we are called into God's glory and virtue. God's purpose for your life is not just to save you and take you to heaven. As wonderful as that is, God's purpose [00:12:08] Speaker B: is to make you like His Son. And that's why all things work together for good. All things do not just automatically work together for good. [00:12:17] Speaker C: All things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those [00:12:22] Speaker B: who are the loving God ones, and to those who are called according to his purpose. Well, what is his purpose? Whom he did foreknow then he did predestinate them to be conformed to the image of his only Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's God's purpose. [00:12:42] Speaker C: God's purpose is for you to become like Jesus. God's purpose is not only for you to be saved and go to heaven, but for his image to be restored [00:12:51] Speaker B: into your life, for you and I to actually, in reality, become like Jesus. Think about that. God wants you to literally become like Jesus. But that will not happen if we do not understand and become partakers of the divine nature. [00:13:17] Speaker C: So what is nature? Well, the Greek word for nature comes from the word pluo. It means to spring up. It's that which just naturally springs up. [00:13:25] Speaker B: For example, no farmer has to teach a cow how to eat grass. Why do cows eat grass? It's their nature. It's within them. [00:13:35] Speaker C: None of you woke up this morning. I hope none of you woke up this morning and said, oh, wow, I really would enjoy swallowing a rat. [00:13:46] Speaker B: Any of you have that impulse today? Any of you have this desire to swallow a. If you did, there was a prayer line up here for you. [00:13:55] Speaker C: But why didn't you have that? [00:13:57] Speaker B: Well, a snake has that desire because that's its nature. I love this phrase. One writer, when they were trying to define this word nature, one writer put it this way. Instinctive behavior. [00:14:12] Speaker C: Your nature is your instinctive behavior, and that includes your desires. Why does it does something naturally desire? Why is there an instinctive behavior? Because that's that thing's nature, whether it be a person or an animal. [00:14:26] Speaker B: My wife, I kid about this but there is a little bit of truth in it. [00:14:31] Speaker C: My wife has two dogs. [00:14:33] Speaker B: The reason I say my wife has two dogs is because I only have one. We have two dogs in the house, but I'm not making any claim to the second one. My wife took in another dog because my daughter couldn't keep the dog. And my granddaughter, my little granddaughter, was [00:14:49] Speaker C: in love with the dog. So my wife came up with a brilliant plan. If we take the dog, then little [00:14:55] Speaker B: Clover can visit the dog whenever she comes to see us. So we took in this dog. And this dog is extremely annoying. [00:15:07] Speaker C: This dog, I don't know what happened to its legs. [00:15:09] Speaker B: Its own legs are like this. Its body's like this. His face is like this. [00:15:13] Speaker C: And this, I don't know. [00:15:15] Speaker B: I'm not cruel to the dog. I let him live in my house. [00:15:21] Speaker C: I gave him a bath the other [00:15:22] Speaker B: day and didn't hold him under. [00:15:26] Speaker C: So it's not like I'm cruel to the dog. But I definitely do not go out [00:15:30] Speaker B: of my way to show this guy any kindness. And I'm sitting on the sofa the other day, and I feel something on my lap. And I look down and it's this annoying dog. And he's on my lap. And I just looked at this dog and I thought, why are you here? I don't even like you. Why are you here? [00:15:56] Speaker C: What gave you the idea that you [00:15:58] Speaker B: should be on my lap? You know why? He's a lap dog. I'm not deceived into thinking that he's in love with me. [00:16:05] Speaker C: He's just a lap dog. That's his nature. He wants to be close to a human being. He wants to get up on their leg, up on their lap. Why? It's there. It's his nature. And here's the problem that we have. We received a human nature from Adam. And when Adam was originally created, he was in the image of God. He was like God. One translation of Genesis 1 where it says, let us make man in our image can also be translated, let us make man as our image. God was saying, I want to put on the earth a creation that will reflect me. I want to put on the earth something that will bear my glory and be in my image. [00:16:49] Speaker B: And that's man. It's incredible when you think about how God created man. Psalm chapter 8 says that God created [00:16:58] Speaker C: man just a little lower than Elohim. And Elohim is a plural word for God. God created man just a little lower than himself, crowned him with glory and honor. [00:17:11] Speaker B: But then Adam fell, and that image of God at best got corrupted. And that nature, now that Adam passes on is a fallen nature, is a sinful nature, is indeed a selfish nature. [00:17:30] Speaker C: And our instinctive behavior, until we overcome it by Jesus Christ, our instinctive behavior is selfish. [00:17:38] Speaker B: It's about me. It's my fallen human nature. It says about Adam in Genesis chapter 5 that when he gave birth, when they had Seth, that Seth was begotten [00:17:51] Speaker C: by Adam in Adam's image and likeness. Now everything that has life in it reproduces after its own kind. And the problem is I have inherited and I'm born with and I act out and I live out of a fallen nature. [00:18:08] Speaker B: And religion cannot change that. Religion can change my outward behavior, but it cannot change my nature. And that's why Jesus said, and hear the word, you must be born again. [00:18:25] Speaker C: For that which is of the flesh, that which is born of the flesh will always be flesh. And that which is of the spirit is spirit. But we must be born again because of this fallen human nature. And I never thought to repent of that. [00:18:41] Speaker B: I'm not trying to start a new doctrine, but I know there's enough sins that I was aware of. But maybe we need to be repentive of the fact that we've fallen short of God's glory. We were created for his glory and he's calling us back into his glory and virtue. [00:18:57] Speaker C: And what is the essence of sin? The essence of sin is not just breaking some rules and regulations. The essence of sin is we fall [00:19:08] Speaker B: short of God's glory. We no longer can bear his glory because of our nature. And how can I become like Jesus until I have a new nature? You must be born again. [00:19:27] Speaker C: And I love that definition of nature [00:19:29] Speaker B: being that which is instinctive behavior. [00:19:32] Speaker C: Think how glorious it would be if every time you had to respond to something without thinking about it, without calculating [00:19:41] Speaker B: it, you just instinctively responded like Jesus would respond. Wouldn't that be glorious? That's the way God wants Christians to be developing and growing and getting to the place where we are living out of our new nature. [00:20:00] Speaker C: Paul talking about his old fallen nature In Romans chapter 7, talking about living in the flesh. That's another phrase about that old nature. He said, within me that is, within my flesh dwells no good thing. [00:20:13] Speaker B: We need a new nature. [00:20:16] Speaker C: By nature we were children of wrath. [00:20:20] Speaker B: Ephesians 2 says, Ephesians also says, by [00:20:23] Speaker C: nature we are sons of disobedience. [00:20:27] Speaker B: That's who we are. [00:20:30] Speaker C: It's our nature. Nobody teaches a child to grab something and say mine. [00:20:36] Speaker B: That self, that self centeredness. Is instinctive in all of us as fallen human beings. But Jesus came not only to take us to heaven, but to impart into us a new nature. [00:20:54] Speaker C: Now go to First John, chapter three, if you will. [00:20:56] Speaker B: First John, chapter three. [00:20:58] Speaker C: And this is a troublesome passage for [00:21:00] Speaker B: many people, but let me explain something to you that makes perfect sense. [00:21:04] Speaker C: When we study the New Testament, we need to keep in mind that in the Greek language there were different tenses for the verbs. And one of those tenses is what was called an oros tense. [00:21:14] Speaker A: And. [00:21:14] Speaker C: And an oris tense, to make it real simple, is an act, a punctiliar act, something that happened at one point in time. [00:21:22] Speaker B: Now, it can have ongoing effects, but it's one act. It happened at this point in time. And in First John, chapter one, when it talks about sin, it's in that tense. It's in that oris tense. It says, if we sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. [00:21:39] Speaker C: He says, my little children, I write these things unto you that you sin not. This is in chapter two. Now, but if you do sin, we [00:21:45] Speaker B: have an advocate with the fatherless Lord Jesus. [00:21:47] Speaker C: If any Christian says that you do not sin, you're deceiving yourself. But he's talking about an act of sin. And that act of sin can have [00:21:56] Speaker B: ongoing effects, but it's just one act. But now we come to One John, chapter three, and he uses a different tense for the verb to sin. And now he uses a present tense, which means an ongoing, continuous, or a habitual lifestyle sin. Now listen to this verse with that in mind. In First John, chapter three, verse nine, it says, whoever has been born of God does not sin. [00:22:24] Speaker C: Whoever has been born of God does not sin. He's not talking about a peculiar act of sin. He's talking about an ongoing lifestyle, habitual lifestyle of sin. He says, whoever's been born of God does not sin for his seed. [00:22:40] Speaker B: God's seed remains in him and he cannot sin continually. Lifestyle practicing sin because he's been born of God, why can't he sin? Practicing ongoing lifestyle of sin because he's got a new nature. Now, if you're born again, you have a new nature. [00:23:01] Speaker C: If you are not born again, there is one thing that convicts you. It is the Holy Spirit. To some degree, you might have a conscience, but the Holy Spirit convicts you. But if you are a believer, not only will the Holy Spirit convict you, but when you and I are behaving in a way, or we are thinking in a way, or we are feeling in a way that is not according to the nature of Christ. [00:23:26] Speaker B: We feel it on the inside. We lose our sense of peace. Why don't we have peace? Because we're not harmonizing within ourselves. Our behavior is not lining up with that nature of Christ that he has placed within you. [00:23:42] Speaker C: Now, I want to pause here for a moment, and I want you just to think about the glory of what does it mean to, quote, receive Jesus? [00:23:51] Speaker B: What does that really mean? What does it mean that you ask Jesus into your heart? We use that phrase. What does that really mean? Well, there is something so miraculous about being a Christian. [00:24:08] Speaker C: And unless you have experienced this miracle, you are not a Christian. But to become a Christian means you turn from your sin and yourself and you believe upon the Lord Jesus and you open your heart to him and his spirit comes, literally comes into you. Romans 8 says, if you do not [00:24:29] Speaker B: have his spirit, you do not belong to him. So to be a Christian means to have this new nature put within you by his spirit. Ezekiel used the analogy of a heart of stone becoming a heart of flesh. Jeremiah talked about not only the spirit within the heart, but the laws written on the heart. Why? So that you would be like God, naturally. [00:24:56] Speaker C: First John, chapter five says that if you're born of God, you are keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. Why are God's commandments not burdensome to the one who is born of God? Because it's now your nature to keep [00:25:12] Speaker B: the law of God. You have within you a new nature, [00:25:17] Speaker C: and the glory of the new birth is that the God of all creation, God, comes into you. [00:25:26] Speaker B: I mean that literally. And that blows our minds. Doesn't it go back to the original creation? In Genesis, chapter 2, verse 7, it says, God made Adam. He made him out of the dust of the earth. And then it says God breathed into Adam. God breathed into Adam and he became a living being or a living soul. Victor Hamilton, in his Commentary on Genesis, notes that the most common word for [00:25:56] Speaker C: breath or spirit or wind is the Hebrew word ruach. [00:26:00] Speaker B: But the Holy Spirit in writing that passage, did not use ruach. He used a word that's only used about 25 times. But this word, according to Hamilton, is only used about God and man. And he makes this point. It is used that way because man and man alone is the recipient of the divine breath. God created you fearfully and wonderfully. [00:26:26] Speaker C: Now when we read Psalm 139, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, I always thought about, oh, the wonders of how the brain works, or the wonders of the circulatory system or even the wonders of one cell being able to reproduce as they do, the wonders of the human body, they are incredible wonders. [00:26:47] Speaker B: But I believe being fearfully and wonderfully made goes beyond that. You were made to receive the indwelling of God's spirit. God himself would come into your being by his spirit. [00:27:11] Speaker C: As unbelievable as that sounds, that's what the Bible teaches, that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. [00:27:17] Speaker B: We read that in Ephesians, chapter three. [00:27:19] Speaker C: Why do we overcome the Antichrist spirits that are already in the world? [00:27:24] Speaker B: The world is already full of Antichrist spirit. But how do we overcome. It says we overcome them. In First John 4 it says we overcome them because, little children, you are of God. In other words, your life comes from God. You are of God, and greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Why do we fall away when we have the greater one within us? [00:27:54] Speaker C: Why do we fall away when we have been indwelled by the Spirit of the living Creator God? What can overcome that person that is filled with the presence of Jesus? [00:28:07] Speaker B: First Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 17 says, he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. These are things that we need the Spirit of God to reveal to us because our human understanding just can't grab all this. [00:28:24] Speaker C: When you were born again, a miracle [00:28:26] Speaker B: took place inside of you. [00:28:27] Speaker C: Something inside of you that was dead because of sin was made alive. You are dead in trespasses and sin, but you have been made alive. [00:28:37] Speaker B: Your spirit has come alive, resurrected by Jesus. And now the Spirit of Almighty God comes into you, and your spirit and the Spirit of God become united. That is unbelievable [00:28:53] Speaker C: because I know my heart. I know who I am. I know what I am without him. I know what my nature was like without Jesus. And to think that he would come and unite with me in my inner being is unbelievable. [00:29:15] Speaker B: That he loves you that much, that he literally wants to fuse, as it were, his spirit with you in the inner man. And you have inside of you the divine nature, the nature of God. But we must partake of that nature. [00:29:38] Speaker C: We must be come partakers of the human nature. And I know sometimes we wrestle with how literally do we take certain passages of scripture, but Second Corinthians, chapter four, it tells us that the life of Christ might be made manifest in our body. [00:29:57] Speaker B: Do we take that literally, that his life is now manifesting in our human bodies? [00:30:05] Speaker C: I am not saying that you and I become God. No. There will always be a distinction between the Human and the divine. I am not saying that somehow in a new age, new age kind of way, we get absorbed into God. [00:30:18] Speaker B: No, no. [00:30:18] Speaker C: There's always going to be the human [00:30:19] Speaker B: and there's always going to be the Savior. But he calls you to partake of his nature so that somehow from within you, somehow from within you, you become like Him. And someday that will be complete when he comes again. Right? We will be like him, for we will see him as he is. But there's a process going on even now that you and I can become [00:30:49] Speaker C: partakers of this divine nature. And the word partake here is from the Greek word koinonia. It means to share in common, to share of the same. [00:31:00] Speaker B: God says, I want to come into your life. I want to dwell in your heart and share my nature with you so that as you mature in me, you get to the place where your instinctive behavior is like me. Wow. [00:31:22] Speaker C: I, without Him, I am so unworthy of that. [00:31:27] Speaker B: But he calls you. He is calling you into his glory and virtue. It's all by this partaking of the divine nature. [00:31:45] Speaker C: And the Greek word here for become, it literally means that it's not just an activity you do. Occasionally you become a partaker. Partaker characterizes who and what you are. [00:31:58] Speaker B: You are a partaker of the divine nature. I hope you're asking yourself, how can this happen? All these wonderful promises, never falling, never stumbling, never being unfruitful or barren. An abundant entrance escaping the corruption of the world. [00:32:21] Speaker C: All these great promises. Everything I need for life and godliness. How can this happen in me? [00:32:28] Speaker B: Well, I want to give you three answers, and we're going to major on the second one. The first one is simply found in verse 3 by his divine power. Notice verse 3 of our text. He says, by as His divine power has given us unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. [00:32:46] Speaker C: Everything you need for what we're talking about has already been given to you by his divine power. [00:32:54] Speaker B: When we think about the power of God, we think about healing sick bodies, we think about raising dead people, these [00:33:00] Speaker C: kind of acts of power. [00:33:02] Speaker B: And I believe in those things. I believe in miracles like that. But I also believe in what Paul prayed for in Ephesians 3, that you would be strengthened with power in the inner man by the Spirit. That's the power he's talking about here. [00:33:16] Speaker C: That God's Spirit would work within each and every one of us and would take God's power to work within each [00:33:22] Speaker B: and every one of us so that we can become partakers of the divine nature. I love Philippians 2, 12, 13. For he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And then he goes right on to say, for it is God that work works in you to will and to do of his good pleasure. It's God who works in you. I was sharing with Pastor Paul last night again. It was. I'm glad you asked me about that because it was a good reminder to me of how I became a Christian. And I summed it up by saying, God did it. [00:33:53] Speaker C: I look back on my conversion and I didn't do it. God did. Was his power getting ahold of me? And the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is now working toward you if you believe. [00:34:08] Speaker B: And that same power can bring you into this experience of being a partaker of the divine nature. And so how can I experience this? It's got to be by God's power, the spirit of power working within you. [00:34:21] Speaker C: The third thing we see here in our text, how can I experience this? He talks about the precious promises that [00:34:28] Speaker B: have been given to us. And I think that means just this word of God. This is a supernatural book. This is a supernatural word. And as we meditate upon it, as we feed upon it, as we read it, as we listen to it being [00:34:43] Speaker C: expounded upon, as we interact with it, as we open our hearts and minds to it, our minds are being transformed by this Word of God. And we partake of the divine nature through His Word. [00:34:54] Speaker B: There's never going to be a substitute for this Word. So that's the third way. But for our purposes today, I want to emphasize the second thing we see in the text. There are two little Greek words in and through, in and dia. They're in verse two and verse three and verse eight. It talks about these things in our [00:35:18] Speaker C: text becoming a reality for us in [00:35:22] Speaker B: or through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. But this word for knowledge is different than the English word for knowledge. This is the Greek word epigonosco. An EPI on the beginning of a word is an intensifier. But this word epigonosco means experiential knowledge, not just intellectual knowledge, experiential knowledge. Why do kids who can give every apologetic argument for the existence of God and the truthfulness of the Scriptures and [00:35:59] Speaker C: the problem of evil in the world. I mean, they can debate all these things and have all the intellectual answers and they still fall away if they don't experience Jesus. [00:36:10] Speaker B: It must be experiential. It must be something that happens in [00:36:15] Speaker C: your heart and life as you Interact [00:36:18] Speaker B: with God as you meditate upon his [00:36:21] Speaker C: word, as he opens up new vistas of his glory to you, or as you break before him in repentance, or as you come before him with worship. Somehow or another, as you are interacting [00:36:32] Speaker B: and experiencing the living God, something changes inside of you because you're partaking of the divine nature. Why do we come to church? We come to church to experience God. To experience him corporately in worship. Why do we have prayer? We pray to experience Jesus. I know the night that I became a Christian, I was only 16 years old, but Jesus became so real to me. [00:37:00] Speaker C: I went around telling everybody I met Him. I met Jesus, he's alive. I met Jesus. And of course they looked at me [00:37:06] Speaker B: like I was crazy. I was 16 years old. 52 years later, I can tell you one thing. [00:37:15] Speaker C: I met him. He's alive. It hasn't changed at all. He's alive. [00:37:22] Speaker B: And I know those times in my life when I found myself drifting and could have been headed for trouble. I was not being a partaker. I was neglecting that inner life of being a partaker of. Of the divine nature. There are those that are ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge. The epigonosco of the truth. [00:37:47] Speaker C: Second Peter 2:20 says, we escape the pollutions that are in this world by the knowledge, the epigonosco by experiencing Jesus. [00:37:56] Speaker B: And I'm looking at you today and I don't know you, but I want to ask you, have you experienced Jesus? Do you ongoingly experience Jesus? It must become an experience. [00:38:15] Speaker C: We who are charismatic are always being put down by, oh, you're too experience oriented. You're too experience oriented. No, wait. We need to experience the truth. It must be true. It must be the Bible. It must be based on God's Word. But you must experience it. [00:38:32] Speaker B: You must taste and see that the Lord is good. I know I might sound heretical or too charismatic or whatever, but I believe this. If you've experienced Jesus Christ, you know he's God. There's something intuitively inside of you that you know he's God. Why? Because his nature is now inside of you. There's just some things you just know because you've experienced Jesus Christ. And I challenge us today to stay focused on the word of God, to never leave the written scriptures. I know your pastor does this. I know Pastor Paul wants to bring [00:39:14] Speaker C: to you the word of God. [00:39:16] Speaker B: And it is really true. [00:39:17] Speaker C: It's not some false humility. But it does not matter if you remember me or not. But it does matter whether you Remember [00:39:24] Speaker B: Second Peter Chapter one. [00:39:27] Speaker C: Because if you remember Second Peter Chapter [00:39:30] Speaker B: one, your life will be different. It's the word of God, but it must be experienced. So if you've not had that experience, have it today. Come to him, seek him, break before Him. We love to quote, and I'll say this in closing. [00:39:49] Speaker C: We love to quote quote Revelation chapter 3:20. [00:39:52] Speaker B: In evangelism, some of you already are thinking, you know, Revelation chapter 3:20, but originally was not written to an unbeliever. [00:40:00] Speaker C: Originally, it was written to a lukewarm [00:40:03] Speaker B: church, a church that was on the verge of sliding away. Why were they sliding away? They were not partakers of the divine nature. And here's Revelation 3:20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. [00:40:26] Speaker C: If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. And we use that for evangelism. We say, yes, open your heart. Jesus will come in. But why does he come in? What does he come in to do? [00:40:37] Speaker B: Finish the verse. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and I will dine with him and he with me. I will sup with him and he with me. In the mid Eastern world, dining together, eating together meant you were becoming one with that other. [00:41:02] Speaker C: That's why part of the background of [00:41:04] Speaker B: communion covenant had a meal with it. Because those two tribes were becoming one. And they would not repeat the sacrifice, but they could repeat the meal. Like they repeated the Passover meal, like we repeat communion. And when we have a meal together, it symbolizes we're becoming one. And that's why, in their mistaken way of thinking, the Jewish people for long periods of time would not eat with a Gentile because they thought they were becoming one with them. If they ate together, they partook together. Do you dine with Jesus every day? Do you set aside time to do nothing but be with Him? Please don't say you're too busy. [00:41:46] Speaker C: You are not created to be busy. [00:41:49] Speaker B: You were created to be indwelt. You were created not only by the breath of God, but you were created for the breath of God. [00:41:59] Speaker C: That inside of you is Jesus Christ, the mystery of the Trinity. I know he's on the right hand of God, but He's also in your heart. [00:42:09] Speaker B: Commune with him every day. Dine with him every day. Weep with Him, Laugh with Him, Be silent before Him, Sing to Him, but partake of Him. [00:42:28] Speaker C: How literally do we. [00:42:29] Speaker B: I don't want to get into Catholic theology, Protestant theology, but remember what he said. Hey, this is my body. Take, eat. What is he saying? He's saying, I want you to have me. [00:42:45] Speaker C: I want you to have me. [00:42:48] Speaker B: And as you partake of me, your whole life changes. And you don't need rules and regulations to be like Jesus. It's coming from your new nature. That's what it means to be a Christian. The nature of God in the soul of man. Wow, how unworthy we are. But the blood of Jesus was shed so that you could become worthy in his sight and so that he could unite with you and dwell within you. Let's stand together, shall we? And I'm going to ask Pastor Paul to come to get ready to close us. But would you just begin to pray? Everyone in this room just begin to pray. And if you've never experienced Jesus, ask him right now. Lord, I want to know you. I need to know you. Jesus, I'm asking you to know you. I'm asking you to draw me to that place where I know you. I'm willing to open my heart and invite you in. But I need to know you. If you've never done that, and if you don't know him, you begin praying right now. And a miracle can start in your life. And if you are a born again believer, then will you realize the glorious profound truth that he entwells you. So partake of him and you will be transformed from glory to glory into his image. But it'll be natural. It'll just be who you are now. Make that commitment. I will be a partaker of the divine nature. Hallelujah. Thank you. [00:44:39] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, Pastor Mark. Powerful. It's not religion, it's not a bunch of rules. And it's so true. You know, the first generation, first part of Book of Acts, the first generation, they all had to experience Jesus. Problem came up in the second generation. You're growing up in the church and you know Christianity, you know the doctrines, you know the teaching, but you've never experienced it. God's challenging us. And here's the thing, you can have an experience, but you can drift away. See, why do we drift away? Because we're not partaking. So beautiful. It's a continuous thing. I'm sure if we went into the tents, we'd find out continuous. You know, if you're married, you have to work on it. You got to keep working on it. You got to keep. Because you're going to go through changes in life. People change. Got to keep working at it. Do you know who's changing in this relationship with God? We are. God's perfect. He doesn't need to change. He's the unchanging God. We need to change. When you first become a Christian, it's exciting. Boy, you just want to tell everybody, you know, you're so excited about, you know, meeting God and, you know, like, when I was a new believer, I didn't have all the theology. I didn't grow up in the church, so I didn't have all the right language or the words or everything else. But I remember one day reading Scripture, and all of a sudden I'm reading Colossians 1:27. It says, Christ in you, the hope of the glory. I went, what? Christ is living in me? Then my mind started going, because the spirit of God is downloading and saying, hey, I'm the God whom the universe cannot contain, but I'm living inside of you. Do you know what a temple is? It's a place where God's presence is. And you and I, when we receive Christ, we become a temple. God now dwells in us. It's powerful stuff. And to think that the God whom the universe cannot contain is now dwelling inside of you, that's pretty exciting. This is amazing, you know, why am I saying all of this? Because we got to spend time with him. We got to partake of him, like Mark's pointing out. But that's the true conversion experience. It's not just saying a little prayer. Somebody's pressuring. I'm going to say this prayer. No, it's allowing the nature of God to overrule our old sinful nature. You know, he talks about that. The corruption in this world caused by lust. In that translation, Niv says, evil desires. Do you know what happens when God's nature comes inside of you? He changes your desires. You know, Mark, you and I've chatted at length. When we got saved, I went from the kid that used to try to miss church to the kid that wanted to go to church. I went from the person who had no interest in spiritual things to one that would read chapter after chapter after chapter of the Bible because something inside of me was hungry for that new nature. So let's close in prayer today. If you've never experienced God's nature in you, it just is real simple. You just say, God, I want what you're offering. I'm opening my heart to you. Would you come in and would you change me from the inside out? Because that's where the change happens. It's not external pressure. It's internal transformation. And maybe you're here today and you say, you know, I've been drifting For a long time. Why? We could just surrender to him today and say, lord, help me to reconnect and to build really healthy routine. You know, first thing in the morning, that's when I do it. I just go to my office, in my house and I just spend time with Jesus every morning. This isn't sermon preparation, this is soul preparation. I need to hear from God every day. Lord, would you open my eyes to what you want to tell me today? I'm going to be looking in your book. Could you talk to me and explain what you want to say to me today? I'm listening. And you know what? What starts happening is the very thing Mark's talking about during the day. I have so many things coming at me, but I instinctually start doing stuff because the nature of Christ is there, wisdom. If you feed your soul good stuff, they come out, you know, Pretty soon you're going, I didn't even think about this. I have an answer to that problem. It's not just always a verse. Sometimes it's just like, wow, where did that come from? Spirit of God, Spirit of God wants to do that. So Lord, as we bow our hearts and minds to you, we bow our lives to you, we surrender to you, Lord, we want to experience more of you. At least I do. I'm not satisfied. I want more. Anybody else want more? I want more. Lord, I pray every day, fill me with your spirit. Fill me with your holy spirit. Fill me with your presence. That's what I want above everything else. Fill me with your spirit. And I just pray today that we will surrender to you and yield to you and allow you to bring transformation inside of our lives. Just draw us right to yourself today. And where we have failed, we ask for forgiveness where we have lived a self centered, selfish life. Forgive us Lord. Draw us close to you, Lord. We need a move of God. Our nation is in desperate shape and the only thing that's going to change, it's not political parties. They're not changing anything. They haven't changed anything. The church needs to change. We need a move of God in our soul. Fill us, I pray today. Draw us ever closer to you, Lord. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave.