God’s Promises (Contd) - 2 Peter 1:4b Series

2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become sharers in the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world caused by coveting.

Promises Are for Trusting

2 Peter 1:4 says that the way to share in the divine nature is through God’s promises. How do you use a promise to escape moral corruption and share in God’s nature? By trusting it. A promise has its intended effect when the person receiving it trusts it. If I make a promise to my grandkids, whatever effect I’m hoping that promise will have won’t happen unless they believe the promise. If I want them to be happy, so I promise them a treat, the happiness won’t come unless they believe they’ll actually get the treat and that the treat will be good. So it’s not enough to just write down all the promises you can find in the Bible. If you don’t trust a promise, it’s not going to have any effect on you.

You could define faith as welcoming one of God’s promises from a distance.

Hebrews 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

Faith is believing something you can’t see just because you trust the one who promised it.

All Choices Come from Trusting Promises

And you know your faith is real—you know you truly believe a promise—when you act on it. You make decisions based on that promise that you would not make if the promise were in doubt. If I say, “Give me your retirement savings to invest and I’ll double it in one year. If you have any question about whether I’ll fulfill that promise, you’re not going to do it. Hebrews 11 is a whole chapter of stories of people deciding to do things no one in his right mind would do unless he was sure God would fulfill the promises.

Every choice you ever make in life is based on some kind of promise. The reason we sin is we believe sin’s promise that it will make us happy or satisfy us. That sin promises to satisfy our desire for revenge, our craving for pleasure, our quest for greatness—in some way, sin promises to satisfy. And every time you sin, it’s because you believed that promise.

You can try your hardest, but you will never resist a sin for very long as long as you believe its promises. You might resist it for an hour or a day or even a few months, but eventually your soul will find its way back to that thing it believes will satisfy.

So the only way to have long term change is to believe a better promise—a promise of something that’s more desirable. That’s why Peter says all this transformation—changing your desires, escaping corruption, sharing in God’s nature—all of it comes through trusting God’s promises.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I’m tempted to find fulfillment in something or someone other than God, and I remind myself, “If I find a way to take pleasure in God today, I’ll lay my head on my pillow at the end of the day satisfied and fulfilled.” That changes the direction of my pursuit—instead of running toward that other thing, now I’m oriented toward trying to find delight in God. Who knows how many different sins that can save me from throughout the day?

Another promise in that same psalm (and also quoted by Jesus in the beatitudes)—

Psalm 37:11 The meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.

I get into a conflict with someone—they hurt me, insult me, belittle me—and I’m tempted to retaliate, give them the silent treatment or some harsh words or whatever, then I remember this promise and think, “If I just respond with humble meekness, all this anxiety and turmoil and angst roiling in my heart—it will evaporate into sweet, calm, inner peace.” That’s going to change the way I act in a conflict.

Power Through Promises

Solution to Coveting Is Trusting God’s Promises

And it’s not a generalized trust that just says, “I believe all the promises in the Bible are true.” The power is unleashed for a specific spiritual problem when you trust in a specific promise that relates to that issue. For example, in v.4 Peter tells us that all the corruption in the world is caused by coveting. If we could overcome greed and become content, we would escape moral corruption. So how do you overcome greed and learn contentment? By trusting a promise. Which promise?

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because [Okay, here comes the secret on how to do it] God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."