Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Entrance...into the everlasting kingdom

2Pe 1:1 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 Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,


Like precious faith- the faith of the apostles. Obtaining this precious faith comes THROUGH the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.


That didn't say through our righteousness… it said through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.


Grace and peace be multiplied. Amazing! Multiplied grace, multiplied peace, who wouldn't want their grace and peace multiplied? If someone were to tell you that your grace and peace could be multiplied wouldn't you quickly ask how? We are told this-- grace and peace be multiplied…through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Through what? Through KNOWLEDGE of God and of Jesus our Lord. KNOWLEDGE. Through the knowing of God and of Jesus our Lord.


And there is more…

2Pe 1:3-4 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, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.


We are given exceeding great and precious promises! It is through the promises that we are partakers of the divine nature- partakers of our Savior! We escape the corruption in the world through lust by being part of that divine nature of our Savior, through HIS righteousness. The fact that we have to escape the corruption in the world through lust should tell us something very important. There is something we have to ESCAPE. We cannot be all caught up in the world and truly believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord. Satan is lord of this world, if we worship this world we are worshipping Satan. If we don't escape the corruption that is in our lives in this world through lust then we are part of this world and we are not part of the divine nature. Our Savior gives us many promises and it's through Him, through His righteousness that we have any hope at all.


Let's continue with this passage…


2Pe 1:5-8 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Add to our faith (given to us by the righteousness of Christ)… add virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.


Add. When you add to something you had to have something first in order to add to it. We have to have the faith given to us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Without that faith we can't add to anything. Is it possible that too many seek to have virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity without having that faith? We have to give diligence to ADD to our faith, we can't ignore adding to our faith and we can't presume to add to something we might not have. Accepting the gifts of God is so important. Understanding that these spiritual gifts though unseen are the essence of what makes us who we are is very important. Accepting the faith given to us is paramount.


Continuing on…


2Pe 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
2Pe 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.


Spiritual blindness, unable to see the reality of future promises, forgetting that we were redeemed from our old sins… we can't be blind, we can't forget the future promises, we can't allow ourselves to ever forget that we were purged from our old sins, we can't! But people do and people will forget. People will go blind, people will stop seeing far off and only live in the here and now. We have to give diligence to make sure that we are right with our Savior, to make sure He is our all in all. If we do these things… WE SHALL NEVER FALL.. We will be Christ's forever! And make no mistake, you can be Christ's and then leave Him, you can forget and it a forgetting that can cost you eternity.


An entrance shall be given to us abundantly…. INTO the everlasting KINGDOM of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!


An entrance shall be given to us!


An entrance shall be given to us…. how amazing!


We want an entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, don't we? This entrance shall be given to us abundantly. We must listen to these words we can't ignore them, we just can't. We are admonished in many ways and for our own good. To think that we can do otherwise is to be blind, to be shortsighted, to forget.


By the love of our Savior may we forever be His, forever! May we never ever forget! May we have our eyes opened, may we see far off, may we NEVER forget all through the grace, through the righteousness of our God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!.


Amen!

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