2 Peter, 1:1-4
Gene Fuqua · Apr 8, 2007
1 & 2 Peter (2006-07), No. 27
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926022571576

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

First Peter, we're done with for a little bit, but we must realize we have the same writer. And we're going into 2 Peter. And in 2 Peter, we have our verse here. Did we have some announcements or anything to say before this verse, Vern? Anything? Nothing? We'll talk about the next study after 2 Peter at the end of the class. Is that the way we'll do it? OK. All right. Well, let's look at this verse. For those of you that have your Bibles and want to look at that, or if you want to go by the sheet, it's typed on here on your assignment sheet. Anybody, or notes, do you need a note? They're over here on this side. For those that are visiting this morning, you can find them here.

Okay, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours. By the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." And as we read this, if you remember, you can remember things that Peter said in 1 Peter. What he's doing now is reminding us of the provisions that we have in Christ. And these readers are not getting new information, but truths that they've already known. You probably noticed as we read that some of the phrases there that would remind you of 1 Peter.

So Peter is going to do much of his teaching here in this passage from this analogy that we found there in 1 Peter 1.23. where we see the Word of God is like spiritual food.

Being born again, he says in 1 Peter 1.23, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God which lives and abides forever.

That's not 1 Peter 1.23. 1 Peter 1.23 talks about, let's look at that. Being born again, isn't that the one I'm trying to think of?

1 Peter 1.23. That's what he's working with here.

And he says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Then he talks about babes feeding on the Word there in chapter 2. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow. So as milk is to light the life of a baby, so for us we have the Word of God which is spiritual food for us.

And so he's dealing with this analogy here. He wants us to remember all of our past provisions. So he starts off here with his letter, like they did in the old days, with their name, with the one who is writing to the letter. And he says, Simon Peter. I'm Simon Peter. I'm the one that's writing to you. And Peter was known as Simon, you remember, until Christ met him. And Simon is derived from the Hebrew name Simeon. And the name Simon means hearkening or listening. I think it's an interesting verse.

You know, the Proverbs speaks of whoever hearkens unto me. It said, hear and give ear and be not proud for the Lord has spoken. You know, we begin by listening, don't we? In teaching music, I find that the most important thing of a person or a child can hear themselves, that critical self-hearing.

And certainly, the Lord is going to take Simon, and He's going to do something for him help him to hear so that he can begin to hear his old self, one thing, and begin to hear things about himself that he doesn't have that he needs to have. And it's going to be interesting.

In 1 John 1.42, one of the first things the Lord says to Peter, he changes his name. Look at this. He, Andrew, brought him Jesus. Remember, Andrew was the brother of Peter, Simon. And he, until he met, so he brought him there and it says, he Andrew brought him to Jesus and Jesus looked at him and said, you're Simon, the son of John. And the King James says Jonah. You shall be called Cephas, which is translated Peter. Now, Peter is a name that's significant. In the Greek, it's Petros. In the Aramaic, it's Cephas.

It means a stone, a rock, or a boulder. So it's a prediction of the rock-like character that God's going to produce, that Christ is going to produce in and through him and manifest in him. And you know, it's the same for us. The Lord is going to do the same for us and has done and is doing that. You, it's read in 1 Peter 2-5, you also as lively stones are built up a house. So, in this person of Peter, we're going to see how the Lord works to make him to be like a stone. And yet not him, but the character of Christ to be shown in and through him. So the type of truths that we're going to be getting into here in this book are going to help us to be built up and to display that very same character of Christ revealed in us. We see here in Luke 22, 31 through 33, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has determined or demanded permission to sift you like wheat.

But I pray for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers, the brethren. So this is a command, it's in the imperative. And so, he's going to, notice it says there, when you have turned again. I think the King James used the word, does anybody have the King James there on that one? It used the word, it makes you think that he's got to get saved. No, it says when you've turned again. When you've turned about and got a different, But when you turn from yourself, you know, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself, the Lord said, take up his cross daily. You know, it's the old self-life as we see in Simon Peter.

We see that he had this determination, didn't he? After this, after the Lord met him, he had this determination. And of course, he had it before that he was going to do certain things. He was a very strong-willed person, evidently. If you read in Luke 22, 33, he says there, I'm ready to go with you, Lord, to prison and to death. You know, I'm going to do it. He had great self-confidence. And the Lord said, you know, you're going to deny me how many times? Three times. And so he had to come to total defeat of that old Simon. That failure. was eventually led to total dependence on Christ.

And you remember in the book of Acts chapter 2, if you have your Bibles you might look there, that he delivered this sermon quite boldly to these people, some of the very people that had crucified Christ. And in Luke chapter 2, I mean Acts chapter 2, get over there to Acts chapter 2, We see that he preached this wonderful sermon, you know, and there were how many people saved, do you remember? Three thousand people saved through his preaching. And then, I won't maybe read the verses because I'm not getting my Bible over there, let's see if I can find it.

He said in verse 38 to these people, he said, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And so, verse 41, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. So this man became very bold. He had learned through his defeat and problems, failures, that it had to be not I, but Christ. And it's interesting here that how did he establish these new believers?

Verse 42 says they contain steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. That's how believers are going to be established. If you remember the book of Romans, Paul in the first chapter speaks that when he writes that book of Romans, he's writing it so that they might be established in the faith. And then the last chapter of Romans, he reminds them, you know, that he's written these things that they might be established. And Peter is, he is strengthening the brethren. And he begins with these 3,000 people, strengthen them through doctrine. And of course, they then had fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers.

How different things are in this day that we live. People today will not endure sound doctrine. They like to go to places where they can have just a great hoop-de-lop fun, you know, and have self-ministered too. It's more of the building up of the self, it seems like, in so many places. Bev and I are reading this book, I don't know if you've read it, This Little Church Went to the Market, the church that is, and today you see all these mega-churches and churches that are trying to imitate the way they do, and it's interesting when They're taught through this 40 day of purpose how to have people come to Christ.

Here's what he wants them to pray. Dear God, I want to know your purpose for my life. I want to base the rest of my life on wrong things. I want to take the first step in preparing for eternity by getting to know you, Jesus Christ. I don't understand how, but as much as I know how, I want to open up my life to you. Why didn't he tell them what to pray there? He's telling them, I don't know how. He's telling them to pray, I don't know how. We know how to tell them how.

He says, make yourself real to me. This guy's praying, supposed to pray this. And use this series, this 40 Days of Purpose, in my life to help me know what you made me for. What you made me for. And so he goes on to say, now if you've just prayed this prayer, if you've prayed that prayer, For the very first time, I want to congratulate you. You have just become a part of the family of God.

How different from Paul's gospel when Paul said, you know, if any man preach any other gospel than what I preach, let him be accursed. What was his gospel? 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. You know, I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I've also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

He was buried. He rose again the third day. You know, he was seen in the next verse. Yes, Bev. That's the prayer, he's having them pray though. The man that wrote the book, no, no, the writer of this book didn't say that, Gilley, Gary Gilley didn't say that, he's just quoting what the 40 day of purpose prayer that they have them to pray. Do you understand that? Okay. Yeah. Yes.

So different gospel folks coming across there. It's interesting. We could go on about this, but another well-known speaker who is, he was on TV and they were asking him about how to become a Christian. And he could not, he did not clearly ever give the gospel of Christ. So we are living in a day where The sound doctrine of the apostles is not being clearly taught. Yes. Yes. Let Christ come in your heart, which is not a very clear statement of how to receive Christ. Yes. Yeah, that's confusing, isn't it? Yes. OK. OK. Yes. Yeah. Okay, that's not real clear.

Just knowing God is not going to save, knowing of God is not going to save a person. You know, if you're going to have eternal life, you need to be related to one who's eternal, right? And we need to be able to be born again, as the Lord said. You must be born again.

Now, how do you do that? Well, the message we have for people. is that Christ died for your sins, according to the scripture, and he was buried. He rose again the third day. And give that clear message to him. And they need to receive him as their personal savior.

So, with Peter, he did strengthen people. And he also, how else did he strengthen? How has he strengthened believers? Well, we see that through these two books, he's strengthening believers. And so he did feed the sheep, you know, and we see that that in the last of John, where the Lord said, if you love me, you know, feed my sheep. And he had three times, you know, is it feed my sheep, you know, feed my lamb lambs. And so he certainly has done that and is doing that through his book. All right, let's go here to the next page. All right. He is an apostle. And he's a bondservant.

So a bondservant, it's interesting, in 1 Corinthians 6.20, we are bought with a price, and we are to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's. And then he's an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, we know the apostles are ambassadors of the gospel and delegates. They're officially a commissioner of Christ. And so, they're one cent forth. And there are the strict apostles and there are those in the loose ends.

The twelve apostles, of course, are listed. You find this in Acts chapter 1, verses 2 and 13 and 26. And then the loose ones would be like, you know, Timothy was certainly one who was a man and other men who were following the Lord, but these twelve apostles are especially the ones, the foundation, and really they're the ones given to the church. We find this in, I believe it is, Corinthians, you know the verse that says, and he gave some apostles and prophets. What?

Ephesians 4.11. Okay.

Gave some apostles and prophets, some evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saint. And so these men had a special office and certainly have fulfilled their office and it's still being fulfilled. We're still being fed the good doctrines as we get in the Word. Alright, on page 2. To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours. It's a light, precious faith that King James says. It's of equal value or honor. That's what the Greek means. Of equal value or honor.

So the receivers of this letter were identified as a group of people who had a common spiritual experience as the apostles. And the way Peter formulates this letter implies that this message is for all of us, for all of us Christians, even in our age.

Jude speaks also of this faith which was once handed down to all the saints. He speaks of a common salvation. He speaks of this faith that's been handed down. Now, we are to stand for a common salvation that's once delivered to all the saints. And in other words, we have the same Savior, and we have the same life, the same redemption, the same hope, the same destination. We have the same union with the Lord. Jesus Christ is the object of our faith. What a wonderful object. What a wonderful person to focus on, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So there are a great many people who are religionists, as you know, but they're not Christians. In the New Testament, religion and Christianity are not the same. Religion is what man does to please God. How many times you talk to somebody and say, well, I'm pretty good, you know, I go to church. Well, you know, a dog can go to church, you know, it doesn't change anything. True Christianity is having a life that's in union with the Lord.

The one who died was buried and rose again. It's not our works that saves us. It's not our ceremonies that saves us. It's not our knowledge about Christ that saves us. The one who is saved is one who is in relationship with the Lord Jesus. To have eternal life, we need to be related to one who is eternal. And we have a like precious faith with Peter, James, John, Paul, and anyone else who has this precious faith. And it's not in more or less, it's the same amount of faith. We have no more than what they have, this basic faith.

It's only as we stay in the Word of God that we can be held steady in the midst of a world that has gone away from God. We see this in the church today, as I've already brought out, this spiritual declension. So we need to be realistic today to realize that there is the movement about to really draw people away from sound doctrine and from the true faith that was once delivered. So where does faith come from? Where do we get faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So we really need the word. And I think you go somewhere where you're not getting the word, people need to get their dishes out and hit on them and say, come on, give me the word, you know, or get out of there and get to where you can hear the word. Yes.

We're speaking of this kind of faith. Well, I'm talking about that one kind of faith that saves. That one thing, Steve. And you're talking maybe that some people seem to have more faith in God than others, but the saving faith is the same. But I mean, some of us, I mean, you take somebody like George Mueller, we may say, well, this man had great faith because he looked to God to provide for those orphans. And he had great faith.

But that's this. We're not talking about in that case, saving faith. But in this case, where we're talking here, I mean, to be saved. If I wrote that down inaccurately and confusing, I meant for it all to speak of that one faith, Steve. So I wasn't confused. I just wanted to. Yeah, I appreciate that.

So there are some that seem to have a godly walk that would be a faith where they have depended on God and have seen provisions and seen God work mightily in their life, but that didn't have to do with their salvation. Of course, that's the foundation of it, but in this case, Peter is talking about this saving faith, I believe.

We now get down to by the righteousness. We are saved by the righteousness. Peter is talking about the kind of faith that comes by God's righteous character. Our precious faith is founded in God's righteous character. The character of faith that we all graciously receive by the righteous character of God.

There's no kind of faith specific to the apostles or inner circle, no special faith and knowledge among the chosen few, in other words. So this saving faith is something we all can have and should have to be saved. Where does faith come from? Of course, it's from the Word.

So as we focus on the true character of Christ and the person of God and the fact that He's a God who cannot lie, I think that's a great verse in Titus 1-2 that I have down here somewhere. Titus 1-2, the fact that God is a God who cannot lie. I think that's one of the things that helped me to get assurance in my salvation when I began to see that I have a God that cannot lie. So as I take a hold of these promises that he's given, then I can depend on the fact that he's going to keep his word.

And so this righteousness is of God and Savior Jesus Christ, he says here. Now, this expression that he uses, I like the way the New American Standard updated says it. It says it the very way it is in the Greek, which demands for us to translate it, Our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

The King James, you don't get the idea that God and Christ are both deities. You could take it that way, but this way you see the deity of Christ the way it is written. This is according to the Greek. You know, Peter insisted that Christ was the son of God and deity. And this is why he ended up possibly for being martyred, because in the society he was in, Caesar was to be worshipped as God. And of course, he would never have Peter would never would have done that. All right.

So then he speaks of grace. It's the unmerited favor of God, as we know, and grace is always named first in the New Testament, in these epistles, when it's a greeting. And it speaks of our basic need. Someone has said grace is simply just the help, the unmerited help of God. You may have a good definition. You got any better definitions? It's a wonderful thing to know that God reaches down to us, even though we don't merit, he reaches down to us.

And he says, peace here, grace and peace. This is the effect of receiving God's grace. And so it speaks of a state of well-being that comes out of the experience of reconciliation and forgiveness. You remember the first words of Christ when he rose from the dead to the apostles when he appeared to him in that room? Peace be unto you, Luke 24, 36.

And Peter says the same thing here. He says, and peace to you, peace to you. It shows Peter's care for the readers, to us. He is obeying the Lord and feeding us who are sheep and those he's writing to. Peace be to you. And then he says, and grace and peace be multiplied to you.

The statement suggests that the readers have already experienced God's grace and peace, but in view of what their trying situation is, these people he's writing to, they needed grace and peace in increasing measure. Do you think we need grace and peace in increasing measure too?

I do. I do. I was late today. I was supposed to meet Winnie at about 8.15 at least, and I was here at 8.30. And I just thought, oh, she's going to be upset with me. And I had all this imagination when I get here. I get here and she just was so gracious and gave me the grace, the unmerited favor.

You know, so every day, you know, we need to be that way toward each other, especially in our families. It's so hard to be hard on our loved ones, isn't it? Demanding and harsh or a rail on people sometimes when they don't act like they should, especially our children, you know, because they need our grace. They need grace. They need peace. You know, my people shall live in peaceable homes. I think of that verse, you know, I think, well, we need to have a nice, peaceable home, you know, and I'm learning as a leader of my home to be more peaceable and create an atmosphere of peace.

Okay, back to Peter here. In the knowledge, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. This is not just a mental conception of truth. This has to do with the experimental side of things, day-to-day situations. And this is the center and support of our faith through the knowledge of God. Our salvation is determined by our relationship with the Savior. Our assurance of salvation is through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I don't know about you, but when I was saved, I was very happy and crying and happy. But then as I went along and found out, I don't act like a Christian sometimes. Maybe I wasn't a Christian. I started focusing on self. When I finally got to the place where I started focusing on the Lord, And that was years later. And what brought about that was a lot of failure, a lot of problems, trials, and trying to live the Christian life. Then, after I got in the Word, I started memorizing, I started reading daily, getting in the Word, meditating. Then I began to get assurance of salvation.

So as we get this knowledge of God, we're going to have an experience of grace and peace through this knowledge of who He is. Great is the Lord. His greatness and His provision for us is wonderful. Okay, this word for knowledge, epinosis, which you're familiar with, it speaks of full discernment, acknowledgement. And Peter is talking about the knowledge of God in our life, not just head knowledge.

You know, as we see in Romans 10, 9 and 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. But with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So we need to have taken Christ to our personal Savior, and He is to be the object of our faith. And we need to believe that He died, rose again, and personally something for us that He did. And that His resurrection guarantees this work that He's done on the cross for us. Alright, then we come to page 4 here.

Isn't it wonderful to get into the Word and find out that God has done something for us completely. He's granted everything that we need for our life in godliness, and it's something that we don't have to strive for. We can start from a position of perfection in Christ that's His perfection, that He has given us, 1 Corinthians 1. But of Him, are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made to us wisdom? righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

We have everything we need for the life of Godliness in him. And we begin our Christian life from a state of perfection and we work out our salvation. We're not working toward trying to please Him. We're not coming from that point. And every day we can start in thanking God that we don't have to start and try to strive for something that we're already complete in Christ. And we work out that which He's already worked in us.

Peter uses this word knowledge. And it's a key word. Seven times in 2 Peter, he uses the word knowledge. And all the divine provision has been made for us to live this life. And it's a gift. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, John 1, 12. So he gives us the power. But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses of me. So the more we know Christ and experience Him, the more we realize this power that's available to us.

And this life that we live, we trust that the Lord will make it a corresponding life to the life of Christ, that people will see Christ in us. So all this comes through our knowledge of Him as we keep focusing on Him, like looking in the looking glass. The word is compared to a looking glass, and we look in it, and you know, as we see, Ourselves.

The old self. We say, Lord, let it be not I today, but Christ. Let it not be I, not I, but Christ. In Ephesians 1, 18-23, I'm not going to read all that, but he brings out this power that is taught to us who believe. This wonderful power that is taught to us who believe. We see also this in Ephesians 3, 14-19. We're strengthened by His Spirit.

Colossians 1.29, we see that He works in us mightily.

Ephesians 3.20, we see the power that is in us, that He speaks of that.

And in 2 Corinthians 10.4-5, He speaks of the weapons that He's given us of our warfare that are mighty through God. So, we take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, in situations. One thing that covered me there as I was coming in, we were late and Bev was feeling uncomfortable about the fact that we were late and I'm feeling bad. And it was Romans 8, 28, 29.

You know, all things work together for good, you know. It's going to work out for good that we're running late. You know, it's a great comfort, God's word, in situations. And so, otherwise, I mean, we can get all stressed out and worked up about situations that we can't control sometimes. And surely every man is disquieted in vain, the scripture says. So that's a comforting verse to me. One thing I'm getting stressed out about situations. Surely every man is disquieted and vain. You know, it's wonderful to know that that's a vain thing. So get back on track, you know, trust the Lord. This is going to work out for good.

So I heard of a man trying to think of his name, a dear saint that was in England, and he was praying with this young girl before she took her trip, a train trip, I think it was. And Chapman, I believe is his name, dear brother, it was a preacher and man of God, I think in England. And he was praying. He prayed and prayed. And he was his prayer was so long she missed the train.

Well, that particular train had an accident. Had she got it, she could have been injured severely or killed. And so, you know, so we just have to get God's mind about everything every day, you know, or we're just constantly living in stress. I mean, and so glad to hear that story. Yeah, so you could play as long as you want to burn by the burn was OK.

Now, by these, he has granted us now this this King James says whereby. This goes back to verse 3, which speaks of God's glory and excellence. You know, as we see His glory, what is glory? Do you know what glory is? Anybody have a thought or meditate on that? What is it? Yeah, so when we see His glory, who He is, the sum of all of His attributes, when we see His excellence, Then we can take hold of these promises because we know who He is.

He's one who, you know, He's a God who doesn't lie. And what else do we see in Him besides the fact He doesn't lie? He's holy and He's righteous and He's taken care of our sins at the cross in a righteous way. The Lord says, you know, if you don't believe me, believe the works that I do. What did He do? He died for our sins. He was buried, rose again, just as He said. I mean, there's so much we could go into on that. So, Titus 1-2, I've already given you that verse. He doesn't lie. These are precious and magnificent promises. Wow! You know, it's a gold mine. Christ has promised forgiveness to sin, rest to the weary, comfort to the sad, hope to the dying, and life to the dead. What more could you want? That was very comforting to me to know that He gives life to the dead.

Because when I had my open heart surgery about three years ago, they had to take my heart out and stop it, put it on ice or whatever they do. And then they had to cut off the old bad valve and gave me a valve job. I have a cow's valve in there now. I knew that if the Lord was going to take me home during that time, okay, I'm ready.

I mean, what can you do? I mean, you do what you have to do, right? And so it's wonderful to know that he that lives and believes in these shall never die. Isn't that wonderful? So we have great promises and we have the promise of his physical return to reign on this earth for a thousand years.

OK, now we're on page five. For those that are following, the very trials of this life are an open door for God to display His power and glory. The more we know Him, the more we appreciate His glory and His moral excellence. And through these has been granted to us these great precious promises. And then Peter goes on to say, so that by then you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

You mean, I can be a God? You know, I have You know, I can become part of this divine nature. Does that mean that we're going to be part of God? Are we going to be gods or like God? Certainly, the cults teach this, don't they? They teach that you can become a god. That's a very devil's lie. I think they're in the garden to Eve, you know, that she could become as God, like God. Certainly, we are to be conformed to the image of Him. but we will not ever be deity ourselves.

We are members of a new race, is what he is talking about. When the Lord died and rose again in his resurrection, we read that he became the firstborn of a new race of people. Everyone in this new race is eternal life. There is no death in this new race. Everyone in this new race is a child of God, covered with the righteousness of Christ and belongs to God. So God has done something brand new for us. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, new creature. And this is a wonderful thing.

Galatians 6.15, For neither is circumcision anything or uncircumcision, but a new creation. And in human religions, they try to patch up the old. And sometimes I feel like that, it's just very obvious that that's what's happening with this mega church thing. They're trying to make people feel good. And whatever we can do to make them feel good, we'll figure it out and we'll do that.

Entertain them. I was involved in a situation in Florida where they had men jump out of parachutes for service on Sunday morning. I mean, you know, everybody comes and sees people jump out of the planes and have a parachute, you know. You know, they had a parachute. I'm going to make that clear.

But still, I mean, let's do something to really get people's attention, you know. And we're not, so we're not trying to build up the flesh and do things in the fleshy way to please people. The Lord says through the word, Romans 8.8, And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And so we need to see that God's way is different than what way we would try to do things. Maybe we should advertise, you know, we should advertise. We could draw more people in. Well, what kind of people are we going to draw in, you know? It's not multitudes that God is looking for. A little one shall become a thousand. It's the individuals God's concerned about.

And so we're not trying to build something up for ourselves. So the divine benefit right now for believers is that we have escaped from this corruption that's in the world through lust. We've escaped through Christ. We're in Christ. We're new creatures.

The spirit of God uses the word of God through a child of God for one to become born again. I don't know about you, but it was my mother that gave me the word. And as a child and I came to faith in Christ, I trusted Christ as a child. So God used the instrument of other individuals to share the word with us.

And in 1 Peter 1.23, for you have been born again not of corrupt seed, which is perishable, but imperishable seed, that which is through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1.23. Well, what promises have you taken hold of for your salvation? Let's have some people share the promises that they've taken hold of for their salvation, this common salvation that Peter's talking about.

Any verses? You're all asleep. That breakfast was so good. John 5, 47. Quote that for us, would you? He who believes in me has eternal life. Good. Good. That's good. And what do you believe? That he is the Christ, the son of the living God. Yes. He died for my sins and rose again. Amen. That's it. See, I mean, he's got, that's it. That's good.

You've got scripture to back up your salvation. Watch out when the testimony doesn't have the word of God in it. You know, I did this and I did that. And like you said earlier, one of you, I received Christ into my heart, you know, well, it's not a very good, strong testimony. Yes. There are a lot of church members that may not be in heaven, you know. It's a shame. That's it. And most people don't know what the true church is. That's for sure. All right. So it's not walking down the aisle. You know, not what I do. Right.

Any other testimonies of what Bible verses the Lord may have used? Anybody? How many have John 3, 16? The Lord used that. All right. Good. And it's, you know, we believe often that's used For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

In the simple faith we believe, yes Lord I believe, but then as we get older we realize what is it we really are to believe, you know? And it's the Gospel. As you said, Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day. And it's very important that we give that Gospel to clarify and help people to have assurance of their salvation. A lot of people believe in God. The Lord said, you believe in God, believe also in Me.

But what do we believe about Him? That's the important thing. Anything else? Alright, for assurance, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's good, you know, that's good. We tend to have those days when we don't feel good or down or we've had failures, maybe sin, and we think, oh, have I lost my salvation? No, Christ doesn't leave us. Thank God, He never will leave us or forsake us. Any other verses you want to share that we didn't cover?

John 1.12, I think we've already talked about that one. As many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Any other verses that you claim for assurance? How about assurance? Great. Far as the East is from the West, so far he has removed my transgressions from me. I love it. How about some more? Say it for us. What is it? Titus?

John 5, very early I say unto you, he that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life. You know, that's a great verse. John 5, 24. Okay. John 6, 47. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who believes has eternal life. Present tense. Beautiful. What's that reference? John 6, 47. Okay. Good. You know, these are great.

Even some Old Testament. How about some Old Testament verses that you took hold of? When I felt hopeless, I took hold of a verse. To him that's joined to all the living, there's hope. To him that's joined to all the living, there's hope. I'm still alive, okay? There's hope.

For a living dog is better than a dead lion. Well, Lord. You know, David said, I've been as a beast before you, Lord. But if thou, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who should stand? There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. I tell you, even the Old Testament, you can get some comfort. Especially, you know, when you're trying to get a hold of something to hold you up. When you don't have that, you know, you feel like you're being attacked. Whether by Satan or your own flesh, you know, a condemnation feeling. Taking hold of promises.

Because God cannot lie. Titus 1-2 Yes. Yeah, I've never researched that. He's saying the Old Testament has more reference to the crucifixion. Yes. Good. Very good. Okay. Yeah. All right. That's good. That's good. And there's comfort in that, isn't it? To know that it has been fulfilled.

And as we see everything lining up for Christ's return, you know, so many things. Israel back in their own country and such things. There's so many things we could talk about. So, He's made available to us everything that we need for life in God's hands. As we get in the Word and stay in the Word.

I hope you'll read through Peter this week at least once. I'd like to see you reading it every day. Because next week we're going to go and take verses 5-11. So if you could read it every day at least once, that passage, then you'll be prepared to keep me on target.

Because, you know, we add up all our years of walking with the Lord together. I mean, we must have 500 years or more worth of walking with the Lord in this room. There should be some great wisdom here. How many years have you walked with the Lord, Bertha? When were you saved? What age? That's a scriptural thing, you know, forgetting those things which are past, right?

Let's thank the Lord for the time. Lord, thank you for this good day, for this Resurrection Sunday. We thank you, Lord, that we can depend on you, a faithful creator, a God who can't lie, one who has fulfilled promises already and will continue to do that. We thank you, Lord. We can trust you today to guide us and direct us by your spirit as we continue to worship you in spirit and truth. Thank you for your precious son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.