Give Diligence, Make Your Election Sure Series

Peter says because we have been given (past tense) "all things that pertain to Life and godliness" and because we have been given (past tense) "exceeding great and precious promises," we are without excuse and with all diligence SHOULD by believing Jesus is Who He says He is, let Him manifest His Divine Nature in us, and this Nature helps us escape the corruption that's in the world through lust (desire and covetousness of things that are ungodly). Paul says in verse 1 of 1 Peter we have been given "like precious faith" meaning we have all been given the same faith at the time we got born again like Romans 12:3 says, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to *every man the measure of faith."* The Scripture says God has dealt to us all the same measure of faith which is what Paul says again in 1 Peter 1:1 calling it " like precious faith" which means the very same measure of faith as with everyone else when we got born again. I once heard someone say we should never say we don't have faith to do this or that because that is untrue and would make God a liar because as pointed out in these Scriptures we have been given the gift of faith and its the same as every other believer but by choice, some will use their faith more than others so it's a choice. It's like a muscle that's well exercised, the more you exercise it the stronger it gets, the same analogy can be applied to faith. We have to exercise it, knowing we already have it so we don't have to ask but put what we were given to use.

For the rest of the sermon I am breaking down verse by verse of 1 Peter 1:1-11 to better explain. Please read along side your Bible for better understanding. Starting in verse 1 of 1 Peter, he says we have obtained (past tense) the same faith as all men when we got born again and we obtained this faith by The Righteousness of God our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It's by His Righteousness that we got this faith. Jesus is our righteousness 1 Corinthians 1:30 says "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" This Scripture says Jesus has been "made unto us" righteousness, which means He has become and is our righteousness. We could leave it at that and have only the title "righteousness of God in Christ Jesus", but we have been called to manifest and bear fruit of this righteousness Who is Jesus, and bearing fruit of righteousness means His Life and Nature visibly manifested in and through us.

So more than having just the title, Peter makes his case by The Holy Spirit and says, the Nature of Jesus our righteousness should be manifested and seen outwardly and should not just be an inner acknowledgement, we should not be content with just having the title. The Bible talks a lot about Jesus being revealed in us and Romans 1:16 explains how that happens. Romans 1:16-17 "[16]For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is *the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;* to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

[17] *For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:* as it is written, The just shall live by faith." This Scripture says our righteousness Jesus, is manifested and revealed in us by The Holy Spirit's power if and only IF we believe The gospel of Christ, The Word spoken and confessed. Peter continues and says in verse 2, Grace and peace is multiplied to us, or increases and we receive more and more (Grace and peace) through the experiential intimate knowing of God and of Jesus our Lord. Peter is saying here it is through relationship with God that Grace and peace are increased. Verse 3, Peter says this Grace and peace are manifested and increased because of His Divine power, and this power has given to us "all things" that are Life and godliness. The Life and godliness being talked about here is Jesus He is our Life, the life of the new man, in Him is fullness and therefore "all things". To back track to Romans 1:18 quoted above, by believing He is Who He says He is, His divine power manifests His righteousness in us, manifests Life and godliness only and only IF we believe. The verse continues and says Life, godliness and "all things" are manifested through the knowledge of Him, that is knowing Him intimately through relationship, the Scripture says He has called us to glory and virtue, that is to manifest His glory. We have been called to be conformed to the image of Jesus as Romans 8:29 says. That is our high calling, "the upward call in Christ", to partake of His Nature which we already possess by the renewing of our minds by The Holy Spirit. Verse 4, for us to walk in this calling of glory and virtue authentically and not just have a "form of godliness", we have been given (past tense, so we already possess them in The Person of Jesus in us) exceeding Great and precious Promises which promises point us back to Jesus. (Compare Gen 15:1 where God tells Abraham He is his exceedingly Great Reward) There is nothing Greater, Higher or more powerful than God, so He has given us Himself as our Greatest Reward to partake of His very Nature. He is our glory, our Life, our precious Promise in Whom are the precious promises.