A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Coming up on A Daily Walk. Church, let me ask you: when was the last time that you just stopped and you considered all that you truly have in Christ? And just really took stock of what’s available to you because of your relationship to Jesus.

How important this is to realize a faith that is so precious. A righteousness imputed that is divine, grace, peace multiplied. Power of the spirit of God to live a godly life.

But wait, there’s more. A sales pitch uttered countless times in advertising. And you might say we could say it today on A Daily Walk. We’ll ponder over our personal relationship with God. Being saved and on our way to heaven would be more than enough, but there’s more, much more. And we’ll unpack these fantastic blessings of knowing Jesus now as we get back into Second Peter. Here is Pastor John Randall.

John Randall: Isaiah 61 verse 10. Oh, it’s such a beautiful passage where the prophet declared, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord and my soul shall be joyful in my God." Why? "He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of His righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with jewels." Guys, listen, we have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So what does that mean? This is what it means. This is going to blow your mind. Buckle up your seatbelt.

It means that when the Father looks at you, He sees the righteousness of Jesus. Not the righteousness of John. Hallelujah. The righteousness of Jesus. Therefore, I am accepted in the beloved, Paul says in Ephesians chapter one. How does this happen? Second Corinthians chapter five verse 21. Paul said it best. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." That’s how it happened. He took on our sin and exchange for our sin He gave us His righteousness.

In writing to the Philippians, Paul being aware of this, he said, "I want to be found in Him," Philippians chapter three verse nine. "I want to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith." There it is again, faith in Christ, that the righteousness which is from God by faith. In exchange for our sin we are given a righteousness that is divine. And the reason that I say the righteousness is divine is because Peter tells us where the righteousness comes from. He says it right here in verse one, "Our God and Savior Jesus Christ."

I hope you understand that passage. This is one of the many passages that declares the deity of Jesus Christ. "Our God and Savior Jesus Christ." I'm not talking about separate people here; I'm talking about the same person. If you didn’t know this, let me just tell you what the Bible says. Jesus is God, simply stated and profoundly stated as well. He is God. People say Jesus never said He was God. You have not read the Bible. It says it over and over and over again. Here’s another passage.

In writing to Titus, Paul said the same thing. He said in Titus chapter two verse 13, "We are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Jesus is God. So through the knowledge of God, through this relationship with Jesus Christ, what do we have so far? We have a faith that is precious, a righteousness that is imputed that is divine. But wait, there’s more.

The third blessing that comes as a result of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, are you ready for this? Number three, grace and peace that is multiplied. Look at what it says, verse two. "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." Grace is God’s unmerited favor given to the undeserving sinner. Mercy is not getting what we deserve, whereas grace is receiving what we do not deserve.

I came across a powerful definition of grace. I want to share it with you. Grace is the favorable disposition towards the unworthy and wretched. It’s the free bestowal of kindness on one who has no claim to it. God’s grace allows Him to spare the guilty, welcome the outcast, and bring into favor those who before were under just disapproval. Oh, thank you, Lord for the grace of God. In John chapter one verse 16, it says, "And of His fullness we have all received grace upon grace." Romans chapter five verse 20 it says, "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more."

What follows the grace of God, always in this order, grace and then peace. What follows the experience with the grace of God is then peace with God. When you are unsaved, if you are here this morning and you are not yet a Christian, according to the scriptures, you’re at war with God. You’re fighting against God’s plan for your life, resisting God’s will for your life. But when you respond and surrender to the grace and the love and the mercy of God, what follows is peace. You’ll be at peace.

The word peace means to join or bind together that which has been separated. It pictures the binding or joining together of that which has been separated and divided and setting it once again, bringing it together. Peace. The prophet Isaiah declared in Isaiah 26 verse three, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You."

Both the grace of God and the peace of God increase and multiply as you grow in the knowledge of God. As you grow in the knowledge of God, suddenly you realize more about His grace. You discover more about this peace that is accessible to you as a child of God, and this peace that protects your heart, protects your mind. Grace is multiplied to you. How again? Through the knowledge of God. How can you learn more about the grace and the peace of God? Right here, friend, it is found in the scriptures.

This is how God reveals Himself through His word. Through the knowledge of God, through personal relationship with Jesus, you have a faith that is precious, a righteousness that is divine, grace and peace that is multiplied to you. Peter goes on. He tells us number four, what do I have as a result of a living relationship, this knowledge of Jesus? Here’s what I have. Number four, power to live a godly life.

I love this passage, verse three. It says, "As His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge," there it is again, "the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue." Everything that we need this morning to live out the Christian life has been provided for us through knowing Jesus Christ.

Folks, you have, I hope you know this, the resources of heaven available to you today. You have the word of God. You have the Holy Spirit of God. You have the people of God. Everything that we need to be able to live the Christian life. It doesn’t say that He’s given unto us some things that pertain and the rest you've got to figure out on your own. It says I've given you all things that have to do with living out the Christian life. Which tells me that if God’s called me to live this life, He’s provided what I need to live this life.

It’s available to you. I wonder if this morning you actually know what you have access to. What is actually available to you this morning? Some people live without knowing what’s available. They just have no idea. Why would you ever look outside of Jesus if all that you need is found in Jesus? Everything else is just a cheap substitute that cannot provide what He alone can provide. Everything that you need is found in Him. I want to live the Christian life.

Paul tells us when he wrote to the Philippians in chapter two verse 13, he said this, "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." God’s working in you. He’s working in me. Everything I need He’s provided. In Second Corinthians nine verse eight, oh great cross reference, listen to this, "God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work." That’s pretty emphatic. All, every, every single one? Yes, all of it. It’s there.

Romans chapter eight verse 11, Paul said this, "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies and His spirit who dwells in you." Folks, listen, the power to live the Christian life through the spirit of God, the same spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us. That’s everything that is everything you need. Did He leave anything out? No, He didn’t. It’s all here.

I love what Charles Spurgeon said concerning this. He said, "It is through knowing God that we realize that His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness. All these things are in Him, and as we know Him, trust Him, love Him, become like Him, we also come to possess all these precious things in Him." Church, let me ask you: when was the last time that you just stopped and you considered all that you truly have in Christ? And just really took stock of what’s available to you because of your relationship to Jesus.

How important this is to realize a faith that is so precious. A righteousness imputed that is divine, grace, peace multiplied. Power of the spirit of God to live a godly life. The fifth blessing, you thought there's wait, there's more, there’s way, there’s more. What else is there? Here it is. Number five, promises that sustain us. Promises. It says in verse four, "By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature."

Someone has estimated, I haven’t counted it, but it’s been estimated that there are some 30,000 promises in the scriptures. I'd like to go through those today. Let’s just start. I don’t know, you might have plans. We’ll come back to it. But 30,000 promises available to us, accessible to us. I wonder if we actually know how much we have. The Bible tells us in Second Corinthians chapter one verse 20, Paul said this, "All the promises of God are in Him yes and amen to the glory of God through us."

Have you learned as a believer to access the promises of God? It was D.L. Moody that said it was said concerning him, in the margin of his Bible, that he would use two letters: the letter T and the letter P. The letter T stood for tried, and the letter P stood for proved. And he would go to a promise and he would write T. I’m going to try this, in other words. T. And then as he lived on that promise: proved.

God is good to keep His word. He keeps His promises. Folks, someone said that God’s promises are like money in the bank of heaven to which the children of God can withdraw that they might live the abundant spiritual life as more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord. That’s what you have access to. Hey, listen, why don’t you cash in today? Why don’t you withdraw the promise that you need? There’s people in this room, I know it, I know it for a fact, that you are living on a promise.

And if I gave you opportunity this morning to stand to your feet and say, "Tell me what promise you’re living on right now," you'd say, "This is my verse right now in this season of my life." It’s a passage, it’s a promise, but you know that you’re living on it and it’s sustaining you. It sustains you. I don’t know how it works other than it’s God’s word and it’s been given to us. These exceedingly great and precious promises. I challenge us collectively: memorize them. Memorize these promises. They serve us well in those moments when we need them.

But we don’t live on suggestions. We live on promises. We live on the promises of God. And don’t believe it when you come to a promise and the devil says, "That’s not for you. That’s for godly people." Listen, take it as your own. Take the promise for yourself. Grab hold of it and say, "God, I believe it. I believe what You said, and I don’t know how it’s going to be fulfilled, but I trust You in this." The promises of God that sustain us are made available to us. How? Through the relationship with Jesus Christ. We have access to these promises. The blessings of knowing the Lord, of walking with the Lord.

A sixth blessing. Number six, escape the coming destruction. Promise. Look at what it says. "That through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." There's a lot in this passage. As we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we read His word, our faith grows. The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So my faith begins to expand as I grow in the grace and the knowledge of my relationship with Jesus through the word of God. The spirit of God is now at work in my life.

And here’s what happens, guys. The spirit of God is with me, He is in me, He is empowering me, in a sense, as Peter says here. Because of our relationship to Jesus, don’t miss this word right here: partake. We get to be partakers of the divine nature. The word partaker here means we have fellowship with the Lord. We walk in the light as He is in the light and we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. I have access, I am a partaker of the divine nature. His nature.

The spirit of God is working in me. It doesn’t mean you’re a little god. Please do not misunderstand and take this out of context. When it says we are partakers, it simply means we get to have fellowship with God. We get to partake of the divine nature. And as I partake of the divine nature, as I have fellowship with God, what happens? Listen, I escape the corruption that is in this world. As I fellowship with Jesus, as I worship Jesus, I am removing myself from the corruption of lust that is in this world.

And when it says that we have escaped, it is a word that is used in what’s called the aorist tense, which signifies, listen to this, when it says we’ve escaped, it signifies a past, completed action that became effective in our lives the moment we believed in Jesus. Every believer, true believer, effectively escapes the stench of corruption. The word corruption is a word that’s used to describe something that’s spoiled like milk in your refrigerator after a while you leave it in there too long. It’s spoiled. It becomes corrupt. Disgusting.

Ethically speaking, the corruption refers to the state of ruin or destruction with deterioration, disintegration, decay, rotting like organic matter. Folks, that is our position apart from relationship to Jesus. We are dead, the Bible says, in trespasses and sins. That is corrupt. Living according to, pursuing after the lusts of the flesh that lead to ultimate corruption and destruction.

On the other hand, to be a partaker of this divine nature through the relationship I have with Jesus Christ, I'm no longer the outward man might be perishing, but the inward man is growing. The inward man is being changed and transformed day by day. I’m not corrupting according to my lusts anymore. I’m being transformed through the work of the spirit in the process of sanctification because I am a partaker. I have fellowship with the Lord and my life is radically changed and I have ultimately escaped the corruption and the ultimate destruction that is to come.

Because of relationship to Jesus. Did you know that? We get to escape the coming judgment upon a Christ-rejecting world. That comes through relationship with Jesus Christ. Apart from that I was under the wrath of God, destined for destruction. I mean, that’s where I was headed. The life that I was living apart from Jesus, it’s corrupting, but you’re also going to end in destruction. But now the opposite is true if you have relationship with the Lord. Do you understand this? A partaker of the divine nature.

I get to have fellowship with the living God. The living God who created everything that you see. The living God who created the universe, spans it with His hand, the Bible says, flung the stars into existence and calls them by name. That’s the God that you have fellowship with today. Do you know what you have? Do we actually think about when we come to prayer in the morning before the Lord, do you know who you’re talking to?

You’re talking to the living God. You get to have fellowship with God. How reverent should that moment be of just being with Him? Thank you, Jesus, that we’ve escaped the corruption of lust. Oh, how lost we were. Stench of death was upon us. But now there’s the fragrance of Christ emanating from our life. So different. Without Jesus, I was just growing more and more corrupt every day. You try to cleanse yourself, a good deed here, a nice thing done there.

Still, you can’t wash away the stench of corruption. Oh, but when you turn to Jesus for salvation, when you are taken out of darkness and placed into light and delivered from the old life that was once governed and owned and in bondage to the lust of our flesh and sin, suddenly we have been rescued, redeemed, and restored. That’s what Jesus does. The blessings of knowing the Lord, of having a personal relationship with Jesus. What do I have access to?

Faith that is precious. Righteousness that I could not clothe myself in, the righteousness of Jesus has been placed upon me. I’ve been given unmerited favor and a peace that surpasses understanding, that expands and grows as I learn more of Him. A power to actually live out the Christian life. I don’t have to live a defeated Christian life; I can live a victorious Christian life because all things that pertain to life and godliness have been given to me and to you.

Furthermore, promises. When I start to doubt, when I start to think, "I don’t know if this is am I going to make it?" Hey, listen, what did I say? That’s right, You said that. Not how you feel, but what He said. Not what it looks like, but what He said. I’m living on these promises that are exceedingly great and valuable. And I’ve escaped this coming destruction and the corruption of the flesh. He has taken me out of that life and brought me into a new, abundant, eternal life all because of a relationship with Jesus. Friend, I ask you this morning, do you know Him? Do you know Him? And I don’t mean do you know about Him? Lots of people do. But do you know Him personally? He wants to know you. Actually already knows you. And He loves you. These are the things. I hope today that you walk out of here like, "Wow, I had no idea I had all that." That’s something right there. Yes, it is. You should be one step praise Lord, next step hallelujah, praise the Lord, hallelujah. I mean just all the way to your car.

Guest (Male): We’re considering the blessings of knowing Jesus today on A Daily Walk from Pastor John Randall. It’s the first of many studies we have planned for you from Second Peter. You can listen to this study again at adailywalk.org or oneplace.com. It’s also available through the Calvary South OC app. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

That beautiful verse served as the inspiration of a book we’d like to send your way called *If My People: A Prayer Guide for Our Nation*. Written by Jack Countryman, this will no doubt stir your heart and mind as you read seven noteworthy prayers from past presidents. They were inspired during some of our country’s darkest days. This prayer guide not only reminds the reader that in God we still trust, but also brings some measure of hope for our country just when we need it.

You can order that today online at adailywalk.org or call us at 877-242-0828. The cost is just $8, and anything given above that amount will help us deliver God’s word on stations like this one all across the great USA and around the world. Again call 877-242-0828 or donate online at adailywalk.org. Come back next time here on A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall, where you never have to walk alone. This program is made possible through your generosity and brought to you by Calvary South OC.