II Peter 1: 3-11
3. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
4. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6. and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7. and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
8. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,
11. And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.¡¨
We’ve been discovering how God is not only willing, but able to change us for His purposes.
First we saw that He changes us from bad to good
Second, we said that he changes us from good to better
But beyond all this God is able to change us, One Day,
III. From the Better to the Best ( II Peter 1:10-11)
"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall (stumble), and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," (NIV)
The Apostle Paul knew it.
He knew there was a day coming in which he would be changed from the Better to the Best and so he said in
II Cor. 5:8
"We prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."
Did you hear that?
"We PREFER... prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."
To the Philippians, remember what he said,
He said, "For me to live is Christ, but to die is (what?) GAIN."
"It’s GAIN" he said
"I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is, (remember what he said?) far better." "Far better!"
Quit honestly, the way we live our life doesn’t seem to indicate that we really agree with that.
The fact is, It’s true!
And one day, praise his name, He’s going to change us again.
Philippians 3:20-21 "For our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transform the body of our humble estate into conformity with the body of His glory,..."
One day, God is going to change us from better to the BEST!
For those of us that have grown older in the Christian life, we still find ourselves making changes.
God has brought us from the Bad to the Good,
so we seek by His grace and strength to become Better & Better so that One day we will, indeed, enjoy THE BEST!
ILLUS.
I heard a story about a 98 year old man who had been a Christian for years and years.
He was 98 years old and someone asked him,
"Is it easier to live the Christian life NOW, than when you were younger?"
And this old Christian gentleman thought for a moment and then replied,
"Well, there is a whole lot less peer pressure"
Well, it may not get a whole lot easier being a Christian, but the Lord won’t let you down, He’ll always be there.
Matter a fact, it gets harder for some.... It got harder for Stephen, didn’t it?
What an example of faithfulness. Here’s Stephen, a deacon in the church. He gave his life fully to Jesus, fully surrendered, God changed Him and...
When he delivered his courageous message before the Sanhedran Council there in Jerusalem,
-He knew the risks,
-but he would not compromise
-he would not back down
-he told the truth even if his life depended on it
And in this case it did!
They took him out to stone him to death.
Saul of Tarsus was there. You know,...later he became the apostle Paul!
And we read in Acts 7:16, we read, even as they killed him, he looked up into heaven and said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them..."
and when he had said this, he fell asleep."
He died!
and it could have been added,
"and he awoke in the presence of Jesus."
"For to be absent from the body (for the Christian) is to be at home with the Lord."
We often go to the funeral of a man or woman of God and hang our heads and long faces and that’s understandable,.... the Bible doesn’t teach us not to mourn.
but not for those who die in Christ do we mourn...
"For to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord."
You see, for the child of God, living this life...
THE BEST IS YET TO COME!
And that’s what prompted Paul to say,
"If the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you."
And Paul went on to say, in Romans 8:11 & 18
"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy even to be compared with the glory that’s to be revealed to us."
WOW! What a different perspective for many of us.
Paul told the Corinthians,
"Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we SHALL BE CHANGED!"
God is able to change us from the
-Bad to the Good... that’s conversion
from the good to the better, ...That’s Sanctification
--and from the Better to the Best,...That’s Glorification!
And Folks, it doesn’t get any better than Heavn!
If you miss heaven,... You missed it all!
When we leave this earth, we leave it for something far, far better...
For the Best, God’s best... Eternity in His presence.
God is ABLE to change us, and He does it by Christ.
"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Some of you may know an old preacher named Glen Wheeler. He’s retired now, but for many years he served faithfully at Central Christian Church in Ironton, OH
I went to college with his son.
But he shares a testimony that relates to his wife.
He says, Now recall the most delicious meal that you’ve ever enjoyed.
Do you remember, as the end of the meal came, that the host or hostess would come around and urge you to have some more meat, more vegetables, more salad.
And your response would be,
"Oh, no thank you, I’m full. I couldn’t eat another bite!"
And then he said, the plates are removed. The hostess said as the plates are taken up, "Now, folks, hold on to your forks."
Because the Hostess knew what was coming.
The best part of the meal was yet to be.
For in a few minutes, that hostess, after clearing the table of all the dirty dishes would return with a generous helping of your favorite dessert.
Wheeler said, "No wonder she said, ’Hold on to your fork’ ".
*****************************
Well, he relates that to the relationship with his wife in this way.
His wife’s first heart attack was early in their ministry...she was a young lady at the time.
later years she had open heart surgery - had a valve implanted
more years passed and during a North American Christian Convention the announcement came to Pray for Glen’s wife.
a couple of years after that the doctors a said she needed more surgery
a year after that, she went into the hospital for that surgery
it was done on March 3rd of that year and on March the 5th she died.
They had been married all those many, many years and she was.... more to him than words could describe. And now she was gone!
And Glen Wheeler said, "The fork not only slipped out of my hand, it seemed to break."
But after the memorial service, he says, the family car prepared to pull away from the cemetery.
Glen Wheeler said, "Looked back over his shoulder for a final glimpse at the graveside of his life’s mate.
And he said, "Even though my eyes were filled with tears and my heart seemed to be nearly bursting. And it seemed as if I heard a familiar, feminine voice whisper, ’Glen, hold on to your fork. The best is yet to be!"
And it really is!
We’ve said it around here a lot, haven’t we?
Would you say it again,
God is Good. (All the Time) All the time. (God is Good)
(all) and the best is yet to come.
God changes us from the Bad to the Good, Praise him for his salvation.
He changes us from the good to the better, Praise Him for Santification
But he changes us from the better to the BEST.
Praise him for His glorification.
***********************
But you first must be changed from the bad to the good.
You must first receive the free gift of salvation he offers you through the death, burial and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ.
He is the only way to get the Best God has for you.
