Partakers Of Divine Nature
Take your Bibles
and go to II Corinthians. I would very
much for you to understand and appreciate, and this applies not only to you but
all of our people around the nations of the world. The greatness of the
subject that I want to share with you tonight. It’s entitled Partakers of Divine Nature.
Just because you
can’t feel something or you can’t explain it, does not mean something cannot be
real, genuine or experienced. My being
seated at this desk and you seated out there, can you feel the air around you? No.
But it must be real and genuine are we are still experiencing life and
we’re still breathing. How about life? Can’t feel it and yet, we here in this room
we can see, we can make our notes like some of you are doing. Look at your Bibles.
You know, we have
from birth been so conditioned by our 5 senses that we have erroneously come to
believe that only what we can, see, hear, smell taste or touch is real. When in truth, it is not.
II Corinthians
chapter 4, verse 18: While we look not
at the things which are what? Seen. But at the
things which are not seen. For the
things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are
what? Eternal.
While
we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for
the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
-- II Corinthians 4: 18
The man of the 5
senses, the natural man, no matter how intelligent, has never produced a
civilization that it did not ruin. Nor
has it developed an educational system of philosophy and metaphysics that did
not corrupt and destroy. The reason for
that is given in I Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14.
For
the what? Natural man receiveth
not the things of the spirit of God; for they are what? Foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them. The
natural man, the man of body and soul.
Who gets all of his information via the 5 senses – seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting or touching. He just cannot know God. He can’t know, he
can’t receive things of the spirit of God.
As a matter of fact, all of those things are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are
spiritually discerned. Things in the
natural realm can be known by the five senses, but things that are of the
spirit must be known spiritually.
But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. -- I Corinthians 2:
14
Our day and time,
our civilization in which you and I are living has failed because of churchianity and religious Christianity. Metaphysical and philosophical religion do not have and they cannot offer eternal
life. They, from generation to
generation revamp the wrappings only. So
the man of the 5 senses is left with his unworthiness, a sense of sin and an
inferiority complex. And that’s why
natural man has jealousies, bitterness and hatred. But man was never made to be this way. God wanted winners. He wanted spiritual athletes. He wanted his own family, his own
children. And because of God’s great love from even
before the foundations of the world, God conceived a second birth which in the
Word of God is called the new birth. In II Peter chapter 1.
II Peter chapter 1, verse 4.
Whereby, or by
which, are given unto us exceeding great and what? Precious promises. In order that by these ye
might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust.
Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. -- II Peter 1: 4
And the word
corruption means where you are getting worse and worse and worse.
By these great and
precious promises in order that by these, the great and precious promises of
God, ye might be partakers, share fully of the divine nature, having escaped
the corruption of getting worse and worse and worse. Because in verse 3, preceding this great
verse 4, it says through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and
virtue. And the word virtue means
superior excellence. God has called us
to glory and superior excellence. So by His own glory and superior excellence, we are given, it is
given to us exceeding great and precious promises. That great truth almost leaves me breathless
class. Who of us has really believed this
to the end of magnifying it in our daily living? We can’t feel the new birth. So it makes such little difference in most
people’s lives. And yet in the new birth
we have Colossians 1: 27: To whom God
desired to make known, what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
To
whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this ministry
among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: -- Colossians 1: 27
He has called us
to His glory and superior excellence.
Then this verse talks about that glory again which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory. What a tremendous
truth. We were natural men, but now we
are sons of God. I John, the epistle,
chapter 3 verse 1. Behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of
what? God. Therefore the world knoweth
us not because it knew him not. Verse 2. Beloved,
now, now, are we are sons of God. Right
now we are sons of God, but it doth not appear what we shall be. Right now we are sons of God. We are not friends of God as Abraham
was. That it would have been wonderful
if you think of what Abraham accomplished and God worked with him and Abraham
was just a friend of God.
It says so in the book of James chapter 2 of
James verse 23:
And
the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham
believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called
the Friend of God. -- James 2: 23
We are not friends
of God as Abraham was. We are what? Sons of God. And the reason this has been so hard for
people to believe and to admit to is because of our sense knowledge up
bringing. Because we only believed in
what we can see, hear, smell, taste or touch.
And as I said at the opening, just because you can’t feel something or
explain it does not mean something is not real or genuine or that it can be
experienced. Galatians,
please.
We are not only not friends of God, we are sons of God. We are not servants of God either. Galatians Chapter 4, verse 1.
Now I say that the
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing
from a servant though he be Lord of all;
But
is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Now
I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth
nothing from a servant though he be Lord of all; But is under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the father. -- Galatians 4: 1, 2
Verse 3: Even so we, when we were children, were in
bondage under the tutors or ordinances of the world, the elementary things.
Even
so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the tutors (or ordinances of the world) the elementary things of the world; -- Galatians 4: 3
But verse 4 and
5: But when the fullness of the time was
come, God sent forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law. To redeem them that were
under the law that we might receive Sonship, not
adoption, we are not adopted, we are born again. And to be born again means that you have the
seed of God in Christ in you. You are partakers of God’s divine nature through
Jesus Christ.
But
when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons. To redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. -- Galatians 4: 4, 5
Verse 6: And because you are sons, God has sent forth
the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Father Father,
Abba Father, Father Father.
And
because you are sons, God hath sent forth His spirit of his son into your
hearts, crying Abba, Father. --
Galatians 4: 6
Verse 7: Wherefore thou art no more a what? Servant, but a son: and if a son, then an heir of God through
whom? Christ.
Wherefore
thou art no more a servant, but a son: and
if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. -- Galatians 4: 7
We are sons of God in a perpendicular relationship, class. We are servants to our fellow men. I understand that. But I hear people pray or talk about being
servants of God. We are not. We are sons of God. If you say that you’re a servant of God,
thinking this way, that’s contrary to God’s Word. And anything contrary to God’s Word has to be
sin, I guess. I don’t know. It isn’t too great. Now I know it’s a shocker when you talk to people
about, even at best we’re not friends of God, we are not servants of God,
because all they’ve ever thought about was if they could only be a friend of
God, they would be tickled to death. Or
if they can just a little bit serve God, you know, they’d be grateful. We have
never magnified in our hearts and lives that we are partakers of God’s divine
nature. And that we have His glory and
His superior excellence within us. As
natural men, we were fully failure conscious.
Condemnation conscious. Now we must become God
and Son Conscious, class. You have to
get a new sense of God. You have to get
a new vision in your mind. Look at
Colossians, chapter 1: verse 11.
Strengthened with all might according to his what? Glorious power. Unto all patience and longsuffering with joy
fullness:
Strengthened with all might
according to his glorious power. Unto all patience
and longsuffering with joy fullness: -- Colossians
Giving thanks unto the Father, which has us or who has made us - meet
is the word adequate. He has made us
adequate of the inheritance of the Saints in light:
Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in
light: -- Colossians
Partakers is to enjoy our share. He has made us adequate to enjoy our share of
the inheritance of the Saints in the light because we are partakers of His
divine nature. Verse 13:
Who hath, past tense, delivered us, past
tense, from the power of darkness and has translated. And the word translated is has given us
citizenship in His kingdom by the work of his dear son, is the text.
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us by
the work of his dear son. (This translation is from the text). -- Colossians 1: 13
God has delivered us from the power of darkness, that’s the adversary,
all the negatives. And he’s given us
citizenship and if you’re a citizen like here in the
In whom we have redemption [through his blood is omitted] even the remission of sins, not
forgiveness. It’s the word
remission. Remission is for the unsaved
sinner. Forgiveness is for the saved
one. So in God in Christ we have our
redemption and to have redemption, you have remission of sins.
In whom we have redemption [through his blood is omitted] even the remission of sins. -- Colossians 1: 14
Who is the image, verse 15, of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,
is the text, verse 15.
Look at Romans, isn’t this terrific, Romans 6, bless your hearts. We have to just become God conscious and son
conscious. We have to get a new vision,
a new sense of God in Christ in us in evidence.
Romans 6: 11: Likewise reckon ye
also yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto whom? God. Through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Likewise reckon ye also yourself to be dead indeed unto
sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. -- Romans 6: 11
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it
in the lust thereof, in the five senses thereof.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that she
should obey it in the lusts thereof. -- Romans 6: 12
Neither you ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto
sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. -- Romans 6: 13
For sin shall not have dominion over you: Another translation that I like very much
reads: “For sin shall no longer Lord it
over you.” It’s not going to be your
Lord. For ye are not
under law, but under what? Grace.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: For ye are not under the law, but under
grace. -- Romans 6: 14
Look at Romans 8, verse 16:
The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. -- Romans 8: 16
And if we are children then we’re what?
Heirs, heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ. We are children of God because of His divine
nature, partakers of His divine nature in us with Christ in us the hope of
glory. And if we’re children of God,
then we are heirs of God and we are joint-heirs with Christ. Not with Jesus in his humiliation but in the
Christ, the messianic promise and the one who has been raised from the dead
seated at God’s right hand. In the
gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 24:
Verily, verily, I say unto you.
He that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me, on God who sent Jesus Christ, hath what? Everlasting life. And still not come into what? Condemnation. But is passed from death unto what? Life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. -- John 5: 24
To pass from death to life is to be rescued. It’s taken out of the kingdom of Satan class
and put into the kingdom of God by the works of his son as we read in
Colossians 1: 13. I think tonight again I ought to explain to you the
difference between the usage of the word everlasting life and eternal life in
the Scriptures.
It’s eternal life from God’s point of view. It’s everlasting life from your experiential
point of view. Let’s say you were 20 or
18 when you were born again. Did you
have eternal life before that? No. But once you got born again, from that moment
on, it is everlasting. If you had it
from the beginning, you could have said it was eternal from before I was
born. But everlasting means it had a
starting point. 18,
20, 30 years old, whenever you got born again. From that time on, it is everlasting, but
from God’s point of view that everlasting life that you have is eternal.
You just got to think tonight a little bit about what it means to you
to have his divine nature in you. Well
it means sonship, it means you’re an heir of God,
you’re a joint heir with Christ, it means you have eternal life. It’s everlasting, but it’s eternal because
you got born again and from that day on its everlasting, but it’s
eternal life from God’s point of view.
And we have never measured the greatness of that eternal life because we
get talked out of it by our feelings or by our environment - a lot we see,
hear, smell, taste or touch. But people
we are what the Word of God says we are, we have what
the Word of God says we have.
It does not depend upon your feeling or mine because we have nothing to
do with the sacrifice of God’s only begotten son. God so loved that he gave. You and I didn’t so love that we gave. God gave.
Now I know that this is a revolting situation in the world. Well, I don’t care about the world. They will never understand anyway. But, we can understand and we can experience
because it’s the truth of God’s Word.
This eternal life and sonship is so fantastic
and in a marriage situation if the husband is a believer and the wife isn’t,
his eternal life just sort of sets her aside.
Vice-versa.
If she’s a believer and he isn’t, her eternal life, Christ in her sets
him aside. It says so in I Corinthians 7, listen to verse 14.
I Corinthians 7:
14
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified, set apart, by the wife, the
believing wife and the unbelieving wife is set aside by the believing husband,
else where your what? Children what? unclean; but now are
they what? Holy.
Now isn’t that tremendous?
That’s part of the greatness of this partakers
of divine nature.
For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife,
and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children
unclean; but now are they holy.
-- I Corinthians 7: 14
Sonship, eternal life, joint
heirs. That the children are holy that are born
where the is one member who is a born again
believer. You see this eternal
life. This being partakers of divine
nature gives us the potential to change habit patterns. It gives us the potential to form new habit
patterns. The
potential to change our conduct and our living. It gives us the potential to manifest a new
kind of love which is the agapeo, the love of God in
the renewed mind. For
we are living in God’s class as his children for we are a new creation.
II Corinthians 5: 17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation (is the
text). Old things, the old man nature
passed away. Behold, all things in
Christ are become what? New.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation,
old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. -- II Corinthians 5: 17
That’s why we can manifest a new kind of love. It’s not fileo, fileo love is selfish love.
It is agapeo, it is the love of God because we are partakers of his
divine nature. That’s why you and I can
love the unlovable. Even
as God in Christ loved us when we were dead in trespasses and sins without God
and without hope. And it’s the
love of God that draws people to repentance.
I think it says that in the Word.
It’s the love that draws. And
there is no other way they can see the love of God except in your life and mine
and that’s why God made it possible for us to be partakers of his divine nature
so we can manifest a new type of love.
According to Philippians 2: 13
Being a partaker of the divine nature, it is God who is at work within
us to will and to do his what? Good pleasure.
For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his pleasure. -- Philippians 2: 13
Why do we keep forgetting
this? Because of our old man training
that we only believe what we can see, hear taste, smell, or touch. The Word says God is at work with in us. So tomorrow morning at your shop or factory,
farm, business, wherever you are, tomorrow morning. Who’s going to be at work within you to will
and to do His what? Right. Good pleasure. So you have the potential to change your
habit patterns, you have the potential to change your believing, change your
conduct in living and you have the potential to manifest this new kind of
love. The mind of the believer, class
must be renewed to come into harmony and fellowship with God’s divine nature in
us. This experience plus concentration
and commitment are the ingredients to spiritual success. And then competence leads to confidence. The Word of God, class, gives to every
believer a deep sense of affection love, pride, self-esteem and responsibility. Reason for you living and
doing something satisfying and worthwhile. In Romans chapter 8 verse
28.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
what? Love God. Not all things work together for good, but
all things work together for good to those who do what? Love God.
I’ve see a card that just had the first part of the verse on it. That’s a lie.
All things do not work together for good, but all things work together
for good to those who love God. To them
or those who are the called according to his what? Purpose.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according his purpose. -- Romans 8: 28
Verse 29:
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn [ Jesus
Christ might be the firstborn, his son] among many
what? Brethren. -- Romans 8: 29
Moreover , verse 30, them whom he did predestinate,
them he also what? Called.
And those whom be called, must have called you because you heard by confessing
with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe God raised him from the dead, you
got born again. Whom he called them he
also what? So are you justified because
you are partakers of his divine nature? Your justified and whom he justified, them he also
glorified.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called:
and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also
glorified. -- Romans 8: 30
So in God’s sight as partakers of divine nature, you are righteous, you
are justified, and you’re already glorified. Just think of what a wonderful
week this can be for us as believers knowing these great truths of God’s Word
and going by the Word rather than our past experiences. Knowing that we are
partakers of His divine nature.
That’s why verse 31 is so tremendous.
What shall we then say to these things?
If God be what? For us, well let me ask you, is God for
us? We are what? His sons. We are not servants, we are not friends of
His, we are sons of God. We have been made righteous, we’ve been
redeemed, we’ve been justified, we have been
glorified. So if God be for us and He
certainly is, who can be against us?
What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? --
Romans 8: 31
He that spared not His own son, but delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? --
Romans 8: 32
And that’s why class, one of the greatest truths in God’s Word that we
as believers need to recognize and build in our hearts and lives is that we are
partakers of God’s divine nature. And
thereby we have his great, glorious and precious promises.
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