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- Preaching the Living WORD through the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4:2
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REQUISITES OF
CHRISTIAN VIRTUE: PREREQUISITE - 2 (2Pe 1:4 from vss. 3-10) 7-29-12 Grace Bible Church,
Gillette, Wyoming Pastor Daryl Hilbert I. PERCEIVE THE SUFFICIENCY
OF GOD’S POWER (3) II. PERCEIVE THE SUFFICIENCY
OF GOD’S PROMISES (4) A. The second requisite that
the believer must fulfill is to perceive that the Scriptures reveal and
enable the believer to have Christian Virtue. B. It is on the basis and agency “through”
(dia - by or through agency with the
genitive) God’s glorious and virtuous moral excellence that God “granted
to us” (perfect middle indicative - dōre,omai
grant or bestow, same root as vs. 1) the Scriptures. 1. The
Scriptures have been granted to the believer. Being in the perfect tense they
were given at a point in time at the writing of the NT by the apostles. 2. However they continue to be granted as
the believer studies and is enlightened by them. C. The Scriptures are
explained as “His precious and magnificent promises.” They are
“precious” (ti,mios)
in that they are honorable and valuable to the believer’s Christian Virtue. 1. They are
“magnificent” (me,gistos,
Eng. mega) in that they are immensely critical and glorious in
contributing to the believer’s Christian Virtue. 2. How is it that the Scriptures are
unparalleled in importance to the believer’s Christian Virtue? Because God’s
Word has quite often been revealed in “promises” (epa,ngelma).
God declares and assures the believer that He has been given everything he
could possibly need to live life with godliness and virtuous moral
excellence. 3. According to Herbert Lockyer
in his book called “All the Promises of the Bible” there are some 8000
promises found in Scripture. In addition, God's commands are also His
enablements. D. Through the Scriptures the
believer perceives and becomes a “partaker of the divine nature.” The
believer has become a “partaker” (koinōno,s
- sharer) of God’s divine nature the moment he was saved through God’s
divine power (vs. 3). Furthermore this divine “nature” (phu,sis
- qualities, characteristics, or disposition) is realized as the believer
comes to the full knowledge of its reality and its quality in his regenerated
soul. Note this relates to the communicable divine nature (holiness,
righteousness etc.) not incommunicable (omniscience, omnipresence etc.). 1. The
unsaved man’s nature is inherently sinful (Eph 2:3). 2. A believer is made a new creation in and
after Christ’s nature (cp. 2Co 5:17; Gal 6:15). 3. The believer is to experience and live
out Christian Value because of the indwelling Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19-20) and
his new nature (cp. Eph 4:24; Col 3:10). 4. Though he possesses a sinful nature, the
believer has become a partaker of a full and complete divine nature (cp. Col
2:9-10). E. Peter’s language refers to
the believer’s present reality because he positionally “escaped the
corruption that is in the world by lust.” 1. “Having
escaped,” apophugo,ntos
is an aorist participle meaning a completed action in the past (i.e. the
moment of salvation). 2. The believer has escaped the inward
“corruption” (phthora, - here depravity and moral decay) of the sinful nature observed in the world by its
“lust” (epithumia - here sinful passions)
because the believer is now a partaker of the divine nature. The believer is
to work out that divine nature which has been worked into him (Phil 2:12-13). III. OBSERVATIONS AND
APPLICATIONS A. Christian Virtue is divine
in nature and revealed in Scripture. 1. Christian
virtue is not pulling oneself up by his bootstraps. Rather it comes from God’s
own power and nature infused in the believer at the moment of salvation. 2. The believer comes to realize what this
new nature is by the revelation of God’s promises in His Word. God’s promises
are the believer’s realities and enablements for life and godliness and
Christian Virtue. B. The Scriptures are
sufficient for all of life’s problems, difficulties, and temptations. 1. Some,
even Christians have claimed that the Scriptures are not totally sufficient
to deal with all of man’s difficulties in life. Therefore, they erroneously
incorporate psychology, spiritualism, and other solutions. 2. However, the Scriptures are sufficient
for “everything pertaining to life and godliness” because the Scriptures
reveal God’s power and promises for the believer. 3. The believer must live out His Christian
Virtue based on a trust in God’s power, not the world. He must live solely
rely on the expositional interpretation of God’s divinely inspired,
infallible, and powerful Word (2Pe 1:20-21; 2Ti 2:13; 2Ti 3:16; cp. Col 1:28;
3:16; 1Th 5:14; 2Th 3:15). C. Christian Virtue differs
from self-help organizations. 1. There
certainly is a degree of diligence and determination in gaining Christian
Virtue. But it is based on what God has exclusively provided for the
believer. 2. Any attempt at virtue without this basis
is often erroneous, incomplete, and merely a pseudo form of godliness denying
God’s divine power and Scripture (cp. 2Ti 3:5). |
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