Who We Are

[00:00:00] Good morning. Greetings to one of you in Jesus' name this morning. I guess I could say like Tom, it's good to be back. It's been, we missed last Sunday, and well, we missed Saturday of the meetings with Freedom Hills, and then we missed Sunday and Wednesday night, so it's good to be back. Still have a little bit of cough hanging on, but definitely feeling a lot better. Also, I praise the Lord that kids have not gotten sick. My wife and I were both quite sick, but our children have been, I think they took all of our energy and put it into their little bodies and they've been bouncing off the walls all week, so it's been an interesting week. [00:00:42] Who we are makes all the difference. Who are you? Who are you? How do you view yourself? How do you view your beliefs, your convictions? How does God view you? I'd like to turn to 2 Peter 1. I've been working on the book of 2 Peter. Peter, I think I'm going to read the first four verses. We're going to focus on the first three, actually verse two and three. I'd like to read 2 Peter 1 through 4. 1, 1 through 4. [00:01:24] 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. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus 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 ye might be partakers of the divine nature [00:01:56] having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now I'll admit I read that and read that and read that and I think I went back through I believe the first verses 2 through 4 I'm not looking at it right now exactly but I think 2 through 4 is one sentence So there's a lot of things in there and it's kind of hard to follow down through Like when he says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises in verse 4 [00:02:26] What does that whereby mean? Does that mean the things that were given to us? Does that mean God's power? Does that mean the grace and peace? It's kind of hard to follow that down through I've tried to paraphrase it a little bit I wrote it out again in my own words And I'm not saying I have it nailed down But I think it helped me a little bit 2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the acknowledgement of God and of Jesus our Lord, just as His divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the acknowledgement of Him who has called us to glory and virtue. [00:03:07] This same power has given to us exceeding great and precious promises that by these things that are given to us we might be partakers of the divine nature having been given the power to overcome the temptations that we face in this world because of our fleshly desires to sin. Grace and peace be multiplied according as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain. That word according, I never really thought of that. [00:03:40] That word according, usually when we think of the word according, it's if I say something, then I will act accordingly. If I tell you that, if I tell my child, if you do this, you will be punished. Well, when he's punished, he's according to what I promised. According is usually when the word according is in the Bible, it is used in the way that God would maybe God would say will happen according as he had said, or it is done according to his word. [00:04:12] There's a few instances where according is used in a different way. It was it still has the same meaning, but rather than saying it'll happen according to what I told you, it's. For example, Psalms 103.11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. That word according is not in there, but He's giving it, rather than saying, My mercy is great. He uses the example, as the heaven is far above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. [00:04:47] Well, there's also things where according is used in the same way. Ephesians 1.19 and 20 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. That was in our Sunday school lesson a few weeks ago. And that really caught my eye. He doesn't just say this is according to my power. [00:05:18] And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe Rather than saying this is my power that is towards you, he says our power is towards us, his power is towards us according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. So when we think of God working in our lives, when I pray, when I ask God to take this dead, worthless, rotten sinner and make him into a child of God, does God have that power? My power toward you, the greatness of His power to usward, toward us, is according to the same power that I used to raise Christ from the dead and set Him at my right hand. [00:06:00] If God can take a dead body out of a tomb, raise it to life, and give it a place, give Christ a place at his right hand, then he can take our sinful, worthless bodies and convert them, change them into something that he can use, and something that is fit for the kingdom of God. That is the word he used, according. Ephesians 3.16 That He would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. [00:06:33] There again, He's using according as a comparison rather than just as I say, but as a comparison. That He would grant you to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man that will be strengthened according to the riches of His glory. We know that He has a lot of riches, A lot of, that his glory is very high. So when we know he's using that as a standard or that as a bar that he is going to strengthen us with, with his spirit, that gives us an idea of just how much he's giving to us. [00:07:06] In Ephesians 4, 7, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. We are given grace. Well, how much grace? According to the measure of the gift of Christ. If we think about what God did, God gave his only son, a son that was in majesty in a kingdom that was established, and today's lesson he said he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, thought it was nothing to be grasped. He didn't hold on to his equality with God, but he became found in form as a man, and took on the nature of a man, made himself of no reputation, and came to us. [00:07:47] We have been given grace in the same measure as that was a gift of Christ. The hugeness, the greatness of the gift of Christ is the same measure that he says that compares to the measure of grace that is given to us. And now here he says, I'm going to give you grace and peace. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you according as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. [00:08:20] So here again I believe he's saying, in the way that I've given you other things that pertain to life and godliness, I'm also giving you, or asking Peter, saying, I'm asking that grace and peace also be multiplied unto you. Last time I talked about through the knowledge of. How much do we try to, in verse 2 and 3 it talks about through the knowledge. In verse 2, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. And in the end of verse 3 it says, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. [00:08:53] Kind of just saying the same thing in a different way. Last time I talked about having the knowledge. What do we do? Do we actively seek the knowledge of God? Do we try to increase our knowledge of God, or are we content where we're at? I did a little more study on that, and that can also be translated, or actually the literal translation of through the knowledge of is through the acknowledgement of. So we have this knowledge of God, but we acknowledge God. [00:09:27] We claim Him. We claim that power that is there. I believe in God. Most people, at least in America, have some form of knowledge of Him. It's whether or not we acknowledge Him. What do we do with what we know about God? Proverbs 1.7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 9.10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom [00:09:58] and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 14.26 And the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and His children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord. I've talked about this before. People, scientists, they say, okay, we don't believe in God, now we're going to figure out where man came from. So they start with nothing and come out with a bunch of garbage. Where if we take the fear of the Lord, we take the acknowledging of God Okay, I believe that God created the earth [00:10:28] Now I'm going to try to figure out why things work the way they do And it all makes sense If we start with the fear of the Lord The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom If you want to have knowledge that means something that is true If you want to have wisdom that is worthwhile wisdom That is good wisdom Wisdom that will work in the world today We need to acknowledge Christ first Verse 3 We have not just been called [00:10:59] We have also been equipped to be able to do it We have all been given a calling in our life His divine power has given us what we need And He's given us more than we need Notice we've been called to glory and virtue That sounds a little bit tough Let's turn to Romans 8, 31-39. Romans 8, 31-39. [00:11:35] What shall we say then to these things? Thinking about, okay, now where do I stand in God's view, in the view of things that are going on? Am I small and insignificant and don't matter and can't do anything? Or am I really something? What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Notice he says, if he gives us God's Son, won't he give us enough things with that to make it work? [00:12:10] He doesn't just say, okay, here's deliverance, but you're not capable of doing it. He gives him shall he not with him also freely give us all things who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect it is God that justifies who is he that condemns it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also make intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the time. [00:12:44] We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors. Notice the more than. We're not just conquerors. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Keep your finger there, we're going to be coming back to that chapter. But if we stop and think about what has been given to us, what has been done for us, and who we are because of that. [00:13:22] This is not a pride thing. This is not I'm somebody because of me. This is I am somebody because of what Christ has done for me. Why are we so timid about our beliefs and convictions? Why don't we share? Why don't we confront wrong living and sin in our neighbor's lives? I wonder if maybe too often we forget who we are and who they are. [00:13:55] Where we stand in God's view. We are, and I'm talking about born again believers, not we as in this congregation or a certain group of people. But I'm talking about born again Christians. We are sons of God. We are royalty. We are joint heirs with Jesus. We have the truth on our side. They, speaking of the world, and here again I'm not speaking in a condescending tone or we're bigger or better than them [00:14:31] I'm speaking about born again, not born again They are lost, deceived, wishing for something better It is only natural to make fun of or put down what you are afraid of or don't understand Again, if we think about why neighbors reject us, why they would put us down, why when I stand for Christ I'm made fun of or ridiculed, usually it's because they don't understand, they don't know better, they don't realize they are deceived. [00:15:06] How often have you seen a joke or heard a joke or saw a cartoon, something about hell or death, something like that, something that we are naturally afraid of and really don't understand. That's the human way of dealing with those things. We make light of it. We make fun of it. We joke about it. That's the way of dealing with things. And when Christians talk about Christianity, about right living, about righteousness, about a God that will actually demand an answer that we will give account to, we will be laughed at, we will be ridiculed, we will be mocked because it's something that as a lost person I fear that, I don't understand it, and that's my response, I'm going to make fun of it. [00:15:59] How do we respond to that? Does that mean, well, I don't want to get made fun of so I don't talk? The next time you're out and about and someone says or does something that makes you want to say something but you're not sure what might happen, think about who you are and who they are. Here again, I'm not going to say, well, I'm something so you better hear what I have to say. But we can say, I have the truth. I know the truth and this is what people need to hear. [00:16:32] It needs to be done in love and for the right reason, but it needs to be done. I think we need to be more willing to share when sin is being laughed at or mocked or lifted up. How often do we stick our necks out and say something? I think a good illustration might be a guard dog versus a stray dog. When there's a dog sitting on the porch at home or he's on his own property and the neighbor dog comes over and tries to get his bowl of food [00:17:06] there's going to be a fight unless it's a big disadvantage one dog over the other the dog that's defending his home territory is going to run the other dog off. He's got reasons to fight, he's got something that's his and the other dog knows he's intruding. Do I realize that the gospel is mine? The truth is mine. It's something that I can back all the way. I know it's true. It's something that I've made mine and it's personal. And when I share it, it's something that's real. Something I know about and something that I can share with conviction. Or is it something that I'm borrowing? Something I've heard about? Something that's not really mine and I'm not going to fight you for it. We'll talk about it and we'll go on our way. [00:17:59] Just what do I have to offer? Denny Eicher really challenged me when he was here. I don't know how many of you are here for that. But he really, he wasn't afraid to, he's not afraid to just say it like it is. And if your feelings are hurt because I'm talking about truth, then your feelings need to be hurt. Now, I want to be careful. I know that you can take that the wrong way. You can have, you know, just cram it down people's throats. [00:18:30] But my point is, because someone chooses to live wrong, should not affect the way I talk when I'm around them. I still need to talk about truth. I still need to be able to express that what Christ, or what God has given us in His Word is truth, and we have been called to glory and virtue. Not mediocrity and dirty living or live like everybody else so I blend in and don't make any difference. [00:19:01] We have been called, it says in the end of verse 3, Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Are we living glorious and virtuous lives? Are we content to just blend in? To just go with the flow, not cause any ripples. Going back to Romans 8, we're going to go into verse 15 through 25. Thinking about being called to glory and virtue. What is our calling? How high is our calling? Do we see ourselves as being called to a high calling? [00:19:35] Or just simply called to accept Christ and ride with the flow? Romans 8, 15 through 25. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, Whereby we cry, Abba, Father The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit That we are the children of God And of children, then heirs Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ If so be that we suffer with Him That we may be also glorified together [00:20:08] Notice the glorified For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time Are not worthy to be compared with the glory Which shall be revealed in us Notice that with the glory that shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God for the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. [00:20:42] Not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. We are children of God. We are God's children. Think about that. [00:21:13] If you were born to an earthly king, you would be a prince, you would be maybe the heir apparent. Do you think that most days and most weeks you would go through the day and through the week without even thinking about it that you were royalty, that you were related to a king, that you were something special? and yet we claim to have God as our Father. We claim to be born again Christians. We are sons of the King but we don't want anybody to know about it. [00:21:46] We don't want to ruffle any feathers. We don't want to offend anybody by telling them, hey buddy, you're on the road to hell. You need to repent. I had a very interesting conversation with a man this week. He's a big man. I had hoped you'd be here this morning. He talked about coming. He's probably 100 pounds bigger than me. He's big. He's intimidating. He's a very nice guy. I talked to him. I built fence for him back in 2002, and now I'm supposed to do a little bit more for him. [00:22:24] And since I got to know him, he's gone through a divorce, he's with the divorced lady, they're starting this, they just moved to a new home, they're starting out together now But he talked about that this summer he had, well not a heart attack, he talked about it, he actually had some surgery, rotator cuff surgery, maybe I shouldn't share that But he got a blood clot and he almost died. [00:22:55] He went to the doctor because he was so out of breath and he had a, I don't know all the medical terms, but he had a blood clot that was a saddle that was blocking both lungs. And it was just lodged there and he could breathe, but it made it very hard. If he walked any distance or anything, it was hard to breathe. But he said, the doctor looked at me and said, buddy, he said, the helicopter is going to be here in ten minutes. And he thought he went in just, he didn't know what was wrong, just because he was out of breath. He said, I'm not going home, am I? [00:23:28] He said, no, you're not. He said, the helicopter's going to be here in ten minutes. And he said, you're going to the hospital right away, to Kalamazoo, I believe. He said, we gave you two shots, but he said, if that, he said, well, what, and he explained to him that this clot's here. He said, well, what happens if that thing slips off? He said, it's lodged there right now. He said, then we'll stand right here and watch you die. He said, there's nothing we can do for you. And he said, now that makes you sit up and pay attention. And so I talked to him a little bit about it, about being ready, about living in sin. [00:24:07] And I used some very plain English with him. And he said, you know, I used to joke that, yeah, they'd never send me to hell because I'd just take over. But he said, I'm scared. He said, I don't joke about that anymore. So, his name is Mark. You can pray for Mark. He's got a lot of things he'd have to give up. He'd have to change his lifestyle. He'd have to give up his girlfriend. And, uh, but my point is, now he knows. I can, I have a free conscience. I explained to him, I told him what the Bible says about living in sin, about hoping you're good enough, about hoping that your good deeds outweigh your bad, which is basically how he was living. [00:25:00] He has done a lot of real bad things and he hopes, he says, I think about the Lord sometimes. But I guess, now he knows. I told him in ways that might have offended him. I told him, I said, Mark, I want to be careful how I say this. But I said, there are some things you need to know. And if you do this and this and this, things he's planning on doing. I said, stop going to church. Is that a good thing to tell somebody? I said, all you're doing is deceiving yourself. [00:25:32] All you're doing is making yourself feel better. I said, admit that by making these choices, I am going to hell. And just admit that. At least you know. At least you're not going to church because his new girlfriend is trying to get him to go to church with her. I said, you're going to find preachers that will condone it. You're going to find churches that will condone it. But I said, if you're going to live with another man's wife, just admit that you're going to go to hell. [00:26:05] Stop going to church. Stop pretending that God will overlook sin. And like I said, that could have offended him. I don't know that it did. He was very deep in thought when I left. But why are we so afraid to say that this is the truth? And another thing I told him, I said, Mark, I said, we all want to go to God's heaven. But to go to God's heaven, we're going to have to play by God's rules. [00:26:37] We want to take our rules and use those to get to God's heaven. And that's not going to work. When God has given us this word, and he has given it to us clearly, we are going to have to be in line with that. We are called to glory and virtue. We are called to live lives that line up with what God has asked us to do, what God's Bible says. We can't just say, well, I've got all these things wrong, but I hope he'll overlook that. [00:27:09] We must be born again. We must be living virtuous lives. We like the glory part. We're called to glory. Hallelujah. God is going to glorify us. When he comes back, we are going to reign with Christ. That's all wonderful and good. Do we concern ourselves with living virtuous lives? I don't have a lot of time, and I didn't put a lot of things down about this. But men, I want to talk to the men. When we think of the word virtuous, we think of a virtuous woman. That's just kind of, when we think of virtuous, everyone wants a virtuous woman. Their wife, they want a virtuous wife. [00:27:49] Do we want, are we willing to be virtuous men? Do we concern ourselves with being virtuous men? Virtuous means with moral integrity, having or showing moral goodness or righteousness. Do we have moral integrity? It's about tax time here in a couple months. Are we going to be moral men when we fill out our taxes? Are we going to claim things that aren't expenses? Are we going to show all of our income? [00:28:22] Are we moral? Are we virtuous men? We are called to glory and virtue. Philippians 4.8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. I'd like to challenge you as we close let's live like we know who we are [00:28:55] and let's not forget who they are we're king's kids we don't have to be afraid of anyone or anything we are God's children the God of the universe and we're not going to worry about what a man might say Today, we have been called to glory and virtue. Let's stand for prayer. Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you, Lord, for your word. [00:29:32] Thank you, Lord, for your promise that we are made more than conquerors when we accept you. When you gave us Christ, you gave us all that we need. Thank you Lord for that. I pray Lord that you would help us to be honest and be willing to look at ourselves. Are we living like we are sons of a king? Are we living like we are called to glory? Are we living virtuous lives? [00:30:06] I pray Lord that you would help us to not kid ourselves, to not be deceived, to not be just hoping that you'll overlook some of the things that we refuse to give up. I just pray Lord that you would give us a real ability to overcome. Just pray that your spirit would work among us. Help us, Lord, to not be ashamed of who we are, but to be willing to share and to realize that we do have something to share, [00:30:38] something wonderful that the world needs to hear. I pray also, Lord, for the food that's been prepared. I pray, Lord, that you would bless it to our bodies. I pray that you would bless our conversation, our fellowship, that you would just help us to bring honor to you and to bless each other. Thank you so much, Lord, for all you do. And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.