SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/5/2012 8:18:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Christian Life Begins With Faith (Pt-3)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2Peter 1:4
Message
of the verses: We begin today with
the last part of this first main section in the book of 2nd Peter by
looking at the last sub-point which gives a look at verse 4.
This
faith involves God’s promises (v. 4): “4 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 by lust.”
“4 And because of his glory and
excellence, he has given us great
and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share
his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human
desires.” (NLT)
As we begin to look at this verse I
want to first do a little word study of the word “precious” and its use by
Peter.
A.
1 This
letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing
to you who share the same precious faith we
have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus
Christ, our God and Savior. (2Pe. 2:1)
B.
These
trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests
and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious
than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many
trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus
Christ is revealed to the whole world. (1Pe. 1:7)
C.
4
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.
These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape
the world’s corruption caused by human desires. (2Pe. 1:4)
D.
It
was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God.
E. unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, (1Pe. 2:4) (AKJB)
F.
For
this is contained in Scripture: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL
NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." (1Pe.
2:6) (NASB)
G.
This
precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,
"THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER
stone,’” (1Pe. 2:7) NASB) Precious Savior.
We
have not only received all we need from God for life and godliness, but He has
also given us His Word that will enable us to develop this wonderful life. The promises that we find in the Word of God
are precious promises. When we think of
the Word of God we have to believe that this wonderful book was written by men
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit actually used the personality of these men as they wrote
the Word of God. “2Pe 1:21 for no
prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
In
listing to a message by John MacArthur that was on the last chapter of the book
of Mark he stated that we have over 2500 copies of the Word of God that in some
cases date back to OT times. The Dead
Sea Scrolls are an example of this. When
you think of other books from the past the most copies we have is only six. What this proves to me is that the Word of
God is important, it is perfect, and the God of the Word is completely able to
make sure that His Word is kept so that people can read it. The Bible is by far the most printed book of
all times and the most printed book each year.
This wonderful book has all we need in it to live holy lives.
When
a person is born into the family of God the Holy Spirit of God will use the
Word of God to impart the life and the nature of God within him. Now when a baby is born into this world it
will share the nature of their parents, and so it is when a person is born from
above that they too will share the nature of their new Parent, that is
God. I mentioned that the raising of
Lazarus is a picture of salvation in an earlier SD. We see Lazarus lying dead in a grave and then
we see the Lord Jesus call to him as an individual to bring him to new life and
then the Lord asks to have his grave clothes taken off of him so that he can
begin this new life. The Bible tells us
that we are all born spiritually dead because we are all children of Adam and
it will take a calling and effectual calling from the Spirit of God using the
Word of God to give us this new life. We
are then to remove our old grave clothes in order to begin this new life in
Christ. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Mankind is
under the bondage of corruption (Rom. 8:21), but the believer shares the
freedom and growth that is a part of possessing the divine nature.”
When
we look at the word nature we know that this word has to do with appetite, for
a pig wants to live in the mud and a dog will return to its vomit (2Pe. 2:22),
however when we look at a sheep they desire to green pastures. Not only does nature has to do with appetite,
but is also has to do with behavior. We look at different animals and we see
different behaviors that they have. An
eagle flies because it has the behavior of an eagle, and a dolphin has the
nature of a dolphin so it swims. Nature
also determines environment for we see a squirrel climb a tree to live in and
moles live in the ground. It also
determines association, for we see lions travel in prides and we see sheep
travel in flocks and fish in schools.
Now
let’s carry this over to the life of a believer for as believers we are to have
an appetite for the Word of God, for what is pure and what is holy. Our behavior should be like that of our
Father, and we should live in the kind of “spiritual environment” in which is
suited to our nature. We should want to
associate with other believers, those who are like minded. In Hebrews we read that we are not to forsake
the coming together with other believers, which is we should desire to attend a
church with like minded people. As
believers we should have a desire to grow and to produce fruit, and to do this
we must study the Word of God and we must remain or abide in the vine.
Dr.
Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section with the following words: “Because we posses this divine nature, we
have ‘completely escaped’ the defilement and decay in this present evil world. If we feed the new nature the nourishment of
the Word of God, then we will have little interest in the garbage of the
world. But if we ‘make provision for the
flesh’ (Rom. 13:14), our sinful nature will lust after the ‘old sins’ (2Peter
1:9) and we will disobey God. Godly
living is the result of cultivation the new nature within.”
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: Cultivate
godly living and “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for
the flesh in regard to its lusts.” By
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ I believe that Paul is speaking of putting on
the spiritual armor that is found in Ephesians 6:10-18, for each piece of this
armor is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Make no provision for the flesh by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and
His armor and by remaining in the vine.
6/5/2012
9:27:07 AM
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