In his sermon titled 'Knowing God,' Jason Dohm delves into the essence of Peter's message in 2 Peter, focusing on the importance of truly knowing God rather than just knowing about Him. The sermon outlines a key problem: false teachers spreading soul-destroying teachings, which Peter identifies as 'poison.' The antidote to this poison is growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, which leads to the multiplication of grace and peace. The knowledge of God is portrayed as a fountain of grace and peace, essential for life and godliness, and is described as a saving knowledge. Dohm emphasizes that knowing God results in being given all things necessary for life and godliness and receiving exceedingly great and precious promises, allowing believers to partake in the divine nature. The sermon further explores the source of this knowledge, which comes through God's calling by His glory and virtue, and highlights the transformative nature of truly knowing God. By referencing Jeremiah 31, Dohm underscores the new covenant's basis in knowing God, contrasting it with the old covenant's genealogical nature. Ultimately, Dohm calls for a deep, personal relationship with God, inviting believers to seek a fresh vision of His beauty and perfection.

Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The title of the sermon is is knowing God. This is the subject that Peter brings us to in 2 Peter. Knowing God.

Last week we began this letter, and I said last week in the introduction that I thought that the final two verses of the letter was a summary statement that really says it all about the whole letter of 2 Peter. And in these last two verses of the letter, Peter says, not this, but that. He gives us the problem statement and says not this. And the problem statement in the last two verses of the letter is not allowing yourself to be led away by false teachers. They teach things that are soul destroying if you're led away by the things that are being advanced by these false teachers.

So Peter says, that's the poison. That's the venom. That's the problem that you're facing. And then he says, grow in the grace of Jesus. Grow in the knowledge of Jesus.

So he gives the poison, the venom, the problem statement, which is false teachers are among you and they're advancing soul killers. That's the poison. But then he gives the anti-venom. It will save you from the venom. And there are two prongs to it.

The first is growing in the grace of Jesus. It saves you from false teachers and the false teachings. They are poisonous teachings that they are advancing. Growing in the grace of Jesus and secondly, growing in the knowledge of Jesus. Last week we covered the first two verses.

In verse one we get the from of the letter. It's from Simon Peter and this name says it all. He was Simon but Jesus laid his claim to this man. He put his hand upon the life of this man and he changed his name and he made him a rock. So in the Gospel accounts we see Peter, he's all over the map, but not by the time he's writing this letter decades later.

He's been fully discipled by Jesus. Jesus laid claim to Peter and he transformed him into something completely different to what he was when Jesus found him. And then there's the two of the letter. Peter is writing to those who have obtained like precious faith. All of Those in Christ, from the greatest apostles to the lowliest servant, have the same saving faith.

It's a like faith. It's a precious faith. In verse 2, Peter speaks of the knowledge of God which is a fountain of grace and peace. Not a set amount of grace and peace that you get whatever you're going to get at the beginning and then that's your amount. No, it can be multiplied.

Peter desires that all of his readers, and that includes us, would have a multiplication of grace and peace. And so he brings them to the fountain of grace and peace. The thing that will be a channel and a conduit of the grace of God and the peace of God. What is that? The knowledge of God that you would know Him.

So verse 2 had the theological truth that Peter is expressing that the knowledge of God is a fountain of grace and peace for the people of God. But what does that mean day by day? These are broad categories. The grace of God is very broad. The peace of God is very broad.

Even the knowledge of God is very broad. What does that look like on Monday? What does that look like day to day? What is the practical outworking of the grace of God and the peace of God in your life on a weekday? That's what Peter undertakes in verses 3 and 4, which we'll look at in detail today.

So that's what it's all about. This fountain that Peter has brought us to, the knowledge of God, out of which flow the grace of God and the peace of God. And this looks a certain way on Monday and Wednesday. It works its way out into your life. So Peter now begins to speak of that in verses 3 and 4.

As we go to the text, let's pray. Father, I pray that you would help me to speak well, to speak clearly, to hug close, stay close to the words of the text. Be so accurate and faithful to rightly divide. And to also make the passionate appeals, the urgent appeals that ought to come with preaching. God, I pray for the hearers that you would help them to hear well, to be attentive, to place themselves under the authority of your word.

Be ready to learn and gain and be blessed and be built up and be strengthened. As we sit at your feet and learn from you and the things that you've told us through your apostles. I thank you for your word. I pray that you would use it as a mighty tool today to accomplish your purposes among us. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Verses 2 through 4 are a single sentence. Do you notice that? We were in two last week and this week we're undertaking just two verses, three and four, but the whole thing, two, three and four, is one long complex sentence. If you were just told the whole sentence not with Bible in hand and were asked who wrote that, you would say Paul wrote that. It's a Pauline sentence for sure.

Which means long and complex and it can seem like just a jumble of words unless you're really careful with it. And all the different phrases that you're going to encounter in this long, complex sentence can be very disorienting and can make you miss the whole point. Part of the problem with these long complex sentences is that they have all these modifying phrases. By this, as this, through this, in this. It's just awash in modifying phrases.

And the modifying phrases describe the main thing, or they clarify something about the main thing, or they explain the main thing. And we need them. You can't get what's taught without all of these modifying phrases. So they're not fluff at all. We need every word of what's in this long complex sentence.

But it helps to start by clearing away all the modifying phrases. And seeing what is the main thing here that the modifying phrases are speaking of, describing, clarifying, explaining. Just get all those off to the side, say this is the core, and then begin to bring back in all these explanations and descriptions and clarifications. So that's hopefully what we're going to do. We're going to start with the core, and then we'll establish the relationships of the modifying phrases.

The core of what Peter is teaching is knowing God. The knowledge of God is at the center of what Peter is trying to press on us as his readers. In the middle of verse 3 we see the knowledge of capital H-Him, the knowledge of Almighty God, knowing God. And this was also in verse 2. It said knowledge of God in verse 2.

So now again we see it in verse 3 and it's right at the center of what Peter is teaching. So no matter what we come to in these verses, we're going to tie it back to knowing God. Knowing this God who has revealed Himself in His Word and continues to reveal Himself by His Spirit. Peter has already introduced the knowledge of God as the fountain for the grace of God and the peace of God. I've already said that.

Now one clarification as we come to verses 3 and 4. What is in view here is the saving knowledge of God. You cannot miss that in the text. That's no stretch. We're standing on super solid ground to say that what is in view here is the saving knowledge of God.

Sometimes in the letter we are going to come to the places that speak of the knowledge of God and it is not the saving knowledge of God. We will just have to go instance by instance and look at the context to see whether Peter is talking about a saving knowledge or not. But in this case it's unmistakable that Peter is talking about a saving knowledge of God. Knowing God Himself, not Knowing about God, not knowing facts pertaining to God. Not having simply memorized some Bible verses that tell us something interesting about God.

But knowing God like you know your friend. Like you know your neighbor, like you know your mom and dad, knowing God. Peter has already said that the knowledge of God is the fountain of grace and peace. In today's verses He's going to say it's the source of all things that pertain to life and godliness. We're going to see the connection to exceedingly great and precious promises, which allow the people of God to be partakers of the divine nature.

Okay, None of that is true if we're not talking about the saving knowledge of God. So all of those things pile up to make it so clear that what Peter is talking about is a saving knowledge. Not knowing about God, but knowing God, being saved by God, and knowing Him in that way. Turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 is going to help us understand something about the knowledge of God.

Jeremiah 31 is about the new covenant. Now as we are turning to Jeremiah 31, remember what Jesus says in Matthew 26 when he is instituting the Lord's Supper. He says, this is my blood of the new covenant. When Jesus says that, right as he's getting ready to die, right as he's instituting the Lord's Supper, he says that this blood is represented by the cup is his blood of the new covenant he has Jeremiah 31 and the new covenant spoken of there in view. Jeremiah 31 I'll begin reading in 31 and read through 34.

Follow along. Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.

I will remember no more." The New Covenant is describing this like precious faith. This common faith so that you won't have to tell your neighbor, know the Lord. Because knowing the Lord is the basis for entering into the New Covenant. The old covenant people were genealogical people. It had to do with family tree.

Predominantly had to do with who your dad and your granddad and your great granddad was. The New Covenant is not going to be like that. If it's genealogical you might have to say to someone who's physically related to you know the Lord. Because though they are related to you, they might not know the Lord. In the New Covenant that will not be the case.

In the New Covenant, you are not in the family unless you have a like precious faith. Unless you know the Lord. I am going to spend the rest of my time addressing two key questions that verses 3 and 4 in 2 Peter 1 answer. So now we're coming to the modifying phrases. At the core is knowing the Lord.

It's the heart of the new covenant. You're not in the new covenant If you don't know the Lord. Did you get that from Jeremiah 31? The only way you're in the new covenant is if you know the Lord. So that's the core.

Now we're coming to the modifying phrases. All these modifying phrases in verses 3 and 4. And they answer two key questions. The first is, where does the knowledge of God come from? Where do you get this?

If it's the whole basis of the new covenant, and you're not in, unless you know the Lord, where does it come from? How do I get that? Then the second key question is, what does the knowledge of God result in? All these modifying phrases answer one or the other of those questions. Let's start with the first one.

Where does the knowledge of God come from? Verse 3 says, It comes from God's own calling, Through the knowledge of Him who called us. That's where the knowledge of God comes from. It comes from God's own calling. If you know God, it is because He has called you to know Him.

Peter is teaching that. If you know God, there is one reason. Because God Himself has called you to know Him. Because He's decided to have mercy on you. Now remember the first letter.

We're hot on the heels of 1 Peter. Remember 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy." Peter has already taught us about the calling of God. Calling of God is for a people in darkness to bring them out of that darkness and to bring them into his marvelous light. To take a people who had not obtained mercy, didn't deserve mercy, by definition. You can't deserve mercy.

You can't earn mercy. But to show them His mercy and to call them out of the kingdom of destruction and darkness, into a kingdom of life and abundance. If you know God, it is because He has called you to know Him. He's called you out of darkness. And the lights came on.

You couldn't see, but now you can see. There's marvelous light that allows you to know Him. How does He call you? By glory and virtue. The very next phrase in verse 3.

By glory and virtue. What in the world does that mean? What in the world does it mean that God calls you by glory and virtue? Well first let's define the terms. Glory means what it always means.

Splendor. Magnificent. The things about God that make your jaw drop. Because He is so unlike everything and everyone else. He is so magnificent that all you can do when you behold him is to stand in awe.

It makes your jaw drop. Glory. What about virtue? Well moral excellence is part of virtue. But the Greek term behind what's been translated as virtue is way broader than that.

It's way better than that. And honestly, I feel for the translators, because there's not an English word that really is going to have the breadth and depth and beauty of the Greek word. But it essentially means the sum of all desirable character qualities. All of them added together. The sum of all desirable character qualities.

All of them added together, the sum of all desirable character qualities. Excellence across the board, A to Z, start to finish. So when you take these things, this is God. Magnificent, splendid. The sum of all desirable character qualities.

It's by this that he calls you. So his glory and his virtue equals total beauty and perfection. Please take that out of this text. What it's saying about God is His total beauty and perfection. And He calls you by showing it to you.

By simply putting Himself on display. That's enough to call you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 13. I think in Matthew 13 Jesus helps us understand what it means to be called by glory and virtue. Matthew 13 verses 44 through 46.

Jesus gives us two quick parables about the kingdom of God. I think it's intimately related to being called by God by virtue, by glory and virtue. Matthew 13, 44-46. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid. And for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. The nature of this calling of God is the giving of eyes to see, of showing you a treasure that has been hidden in a field. And you weren't even aware of it. But when you found it, you had to have it. There was nothing that you owned that would keep you from buying this field.

Because though you used to be unaware of the value, When you became aware of the value, there's nothing you wouldn't part with. This is the nature of being called by glory and virtue. It makes you like a merchant seeking fine pearls. You have an inventory of pearls of varying values, but then one day you see one, one single pearl that you have to have. And you'll liquidate all the other inventory and go home and sell down to the last item to have that one pearl.

You can't get it out of your mind. This is the nature of what it is to be called by glory and virtue. To be shown God. For God to open your eyes, to remove the scales from your eyes. Every natural man, every natural woman, Every natural boy and girl is blind.

It's a willful blindness. It's this kind of blindness. Holding your eyes shut, not even wanting to see. Every natural man, every natural woman, every natural boy or girl has a deafness. And it's this kind of deafness.

Fingers jammed into the ears. I don't want to hear. But on the day that God calls you by glory and virtue, by His total beauty and perfection, He opens your eyes. He takes your fingers out of your ears and He shows you Himself. And you say, I have to buy that field.

I have to have that pearl. Consider what John says at the beginning of his Gospel. This is John chapter 1 verse 14. In John chapter 1 verse 14, John writes, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. You might have spent a lifetime hating Jesus, despising Jesus, railing against Jesus, but on the day that the scales drop from your eyes, you'll see him full of grace and truth.

And you behold his glory, and you have to have him. That's the testimony of all those who are born again. You can hear a thousand testimonies of Christians. And there will be all these details about their life and their sin and their experiences and what they knew and when they knew it. But when you boil it all away, that's what you end up with.

I had a life of not being able to see and not being able to hear, and one day for a reason that I can't explain, the scales fell off of my eyes, and I saw the beauty of that, and I thought there's nothing I won't part with to have that. That's what it means to be called by glory and virtue. It is His glory. It is His excellence across the board. It is total beauty and perfection and when you see it you have to have it.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, cry out to God that he would reveal himself to you. He is a merciful God. He delights to put himself on display. If you've never seen what I'm talking about, cry out to him. He might pull the scales off of your eyes, and pull your fingers out of your ears and allow you to see his total beauty and perfection.

And in the day that happens, there's nothing that you won't part with to have him. So the first key question was, where does the knowledge of God come from? It comes from Him. He calls by glory and virtue. The second key question, What does the knowledge of God result in?

Two things. The knowledge of God, according to Peter in verses 3 and 4, our text, results in two things. Number one, Being given all things that pertain to life and godliness. The knowledge of God results in that. Being given all things that pertain to life and godliness.

Look at verse 3. As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him. First, this is a gift. The things that pertain to life and godliness don't exist within yourself. They are not resources that are inherent to you that you can pull from at will.

They're given by God to His people. God has not left His people to flounder around in the grope in the dark. He hasn't left them without all the resources they need for life and for godliness. Everything we need to be saved. Everything we need to put off the old things.

Everything we need to put on the new things. Everything we need to grow and mature in the faith. Everything we need to increase in the knowledge of Him. Everything we need to persevere to the end. Is given to us through knowing God.

Everything from the starting line to the finish line and everything in between are given to us as a byproduct of knowing God. What goes on the all things list? Well, all things. It's a long list. It encompasses everything you need.

And they won't all fit in a one-hour sermon. But here are three things that go on that list, probably close to the top. His Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You have to have His Word.

It's required at the starting line, in the middle, all the way to the finish line. We need His Word. His Spirit. We need it, and He sent it. And His Spirit indwells all those who are His people.

He, I shouldn't call it an Ed. The Holy Spirit is not an Ed, it's a He. I retract. His people. Does anyone else find themselves needing Sunday?

Does anybody else find themselves needing Men's Bible study, needing prayer nights, needing women's mentoring. Does anybody else need the people of God or is it just me? We all need each other. All things that pertain to life and godliness, and the list could go on and on and on, but His Word and His Spirit and His people are a good start on that list. All those things have been given to us through the knowledge of God, through entering into this new covenant for which the knowledge of God, knowing God is non-negotiable.

Peter wants us to have ultimate confidence. His divine power has given us all these things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything we need from the start line to the finish line. It's His divine power that has given us all these things. It is the divine power of Almighty God that guarantees us everything that we need.

So the way Peter has said this should give us ultimate confidence that the people of God don't have any lack in the things that they need. His divine power delivers it to His people. You should have ultimate confidence that the things that you need will be there when you need them. Why? Because of His divine power.

If it depended on us and our steadfastness and our own strength, we should despair. We should just start despairing right now. Do not delay. Despair immediately. But it does not depend on our steadfastness or our strength.

It depends on the divine power of God, which never waxes or wanes. Here's an implication of this, What Peter is teaching. Boasting is entirely excluded. What Peter has said is, God's divine power has given us all things related to life and godliness. What did he leave to you in that?

Zippo. Nothing. So boasting is entirely excluded because all the things you needed had to be given to you by God. We are fools when we get proud of ourselves when things are going well. If they are, it's because God, by His divine power, has given you the things that you needed.

Listen to what Calvin says. He leaves to us not even the least particle of any virtue or merit. That's what Calvin says commenting on these verses. God leaves to us not even the least particle of any virtue or merit. In other words, Calvin sees the beam of sunlight coming into the room.

He sees those particles. The particles that you're totally unaware of right now, but they're floating in the room right now. And if the beam of sunlight were to come in, and you came to the beam of sunlight, you would see all the things that you never see all during the day, but they're there, particles. And they seem like they don't even have any mass. They're so small that there are as many floating downward as there are upward, and upward as there are downward.

And It would seem like they would never land. Now when you dust your room, you find out they do land. These are particles. They are nothing. You can't even see them right now.

It would take a beam of sunlight to come through for you to even see any of these thousands of particles. They are nothing. Calvin says, this verse leaves us not even one particle of virtue for ourselves. We need all the things that pertain to life and godliness that God gives to us through His divine power. So what does the knowledge of God result in?

The first thing was being given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Secondly, being given exceedingly great and precious promises. So in the structure of verses 3 and 4, the knowledge of God sits right between those things. Before it comes being given all things that pertain to life and godliness, and then after it is being given exceedingly great and precious promises. But The wording that Peter uses makes it so clear that both of these things result from the knowledge of God.

Peter speaks of these promises. These promises are exceedingly great. That's one Greek word. Exceedingly great. Tremendous.

Expansive. Exceedingly great. Not just great, but stretching the borders kind of great. These promises are precious. They're very valuable, but they're also very dear.

Did you get that? These promises are precious. So they are valuable, very valuable, but there are things that are valuable that aren't particularly precious to us. They're also very dear, both at the same time. In other words, we have a connection to them that goes beyond sheer monetary value.

They are very valuable. They are very dear. Listen to what Paul says about God's promises in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 19 through 22. This is Paul in 2 Corinthians 1, 19 through 22. For the Son of God Jesus Christ Who was preached among you was not yes and no But in him was yes For all the promises of God in Him, in Christ, are yes, and in Him, amen, to the glory of God through us.

Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the law and the prophets. That's what Jesus says of himself in Matthew 517. He is the ultimate fulfillment of the law and the prophets. One of the things that means is he is the ultimate fulfillment of the promises.

So Paul comes along and says, in Jesus all the promises of God are yes and amen. He's the fulfillment of all of God's promises. And Paul says, Jesus has sent a spirit as a guarantee to indwell his people and as a seal that they are his. So there are lots of promises. You go to any Christian bookstore in the world and there will be half a dozen books on the promises of God.

Chalk full of the promises that God has made to his people. Now that's a really long list. We're not going to be able to cover the whole list. Which promises is Peter talking about? The ones that allow us to be partakers of the divine nature.

So all the promises of God in Jesus are yes and amen, but Peter has a specific group of these promises in view in what he is teaching here in 2 Peter chapter 1. And it's the ones that allow us to be partakers of the divine nature. So I've got four of these many, many promises that I want you to consider. The first one is by Jesus Himself. Consider this promise, John 14 23.

In John 14 23 Jesus says, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. This is a promise of God that is yes and amen in Jesus. That all those who love Jesus, the Father will come to him and Jesus and the Father will make their home with him. You like that promise? I like that promise.

This is what it means to be partakers of the divine nature. That all those who love Christ, the Father and the Son, will come and make their home with that man or woman or child." Spectacular promise about being a partaker of the divine nature. Or how about Paul in Colossians 1 verse 27. In Colossians 1 verse 27, Paul says, To them, this is the Lord's people, to them God willed to make known, What are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles? Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory?

In Colossians 1.27, Paul talks about the mystery. The mystery is God revealing Himself to the Gentiles, and He says specifically, It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is a promise. That is the hope of the Lord's people. Christ in us.

The hope of glory. Partakers of the divine nature. Or how about Paul in Galatians 2.20? In Galatians 2.20, Paul writes, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Paul is describing this like precious faith, this common faith that makes Paul like you and me if we repent and believe. That makes Christ live in us so that our life is no longer our own but it's Christ living out, living himself out in our lives. Or how about Peter in Acts 2? Peter is the great preacher of Acts 2. He is the great preacher of the day of Pentecost.

And he has just pointed his finger at these Jews and said, you killed the Messiah. He leaves that hanging in the air and they say, brethren what must we do? Here's how Peter replies in Acts 2 verses 38 and 39, Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off as many as the Lord our God will call, so that in the year 2014, just barely, this promise is to us, the ones who are far off, as Many as the Lord our God will call by virtue and glory. I'll add that in from our text.

The promise is to you and your children and to all who are far off." The promise is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Holy Spirit is promised to us 2000 years later. Wow. So here's a summary of these promises that allow us to be partakers of the divine nature. Union with Christ being joined to Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus sending His Spirit to live within his people. Union with Christ in dwelling of the Holy Spirit. There's nothing weird in being partaker of the divine nature as if we were to become a God in ourselves or anything like that. Heretics love this text and do strange things with it that don't fit anything else in Scripture. Go home and Google Manichaeanism.

If you'd like to see what heretics do with the phrase, partakers of the divine nature. They do strange things with it that don't match anything else with scripture. It's simply union with Christ, which is spoken of so many other places in scripture. And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is spoken of so many other places in scripture it need not mean anything strange or eastern myth need not be eastern mysticism okay partakers of the divine nature simply means you're joined with Christ and His Spirit indwells you. Period.

When that happens, when you are joined to Christ and the Holy Spirit indwells you, something else has also happened. You have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. When you are joined to Christ, and When the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life, you have also escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. There is a degradation. There is a rotting, there is a corruption, there is a downward spiral that happens to all natural men and women and children because of lust.

Lust just being the sinful desires, the evil desires that are resident in a fallen race. This happened in Genesis 3 when our race threw off the government of God, lust began to rule the day. So that these evil desires that come with you, that you are pre-programmed with these evil desires, These sinful desires rule the day. And union with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit means you don't have to be ruled by that anymore. Now, Romans 7 and Galatians 5 also make it clear that you're not done with that either.

There's a war on, but it is a war that can be won. It will never be perfectly won this side of heaven. But you can have victory. Now, we're reformed folk. We love our worm theology, right?

That God is everything and we are nothing. Puritans preach that we are just worms. Honestly, when you look at mankind and what we are like, that is probably overly optimistic. It is good for us to be humiliated and laid low, and for God to be everything and for us to be nothing. But if that becomes, we can't have victory in sin.

We've gone too far. Jesus has bought our freedom. He came and died so that we could escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. You don't have to lose and lose and lose and lose and lose and lose. Jesus came that we might have life and that we might have it to the full.

That we might have it abundantly. That we might have victory and not have to be ruled by our lusts. Turn to 1 John. We're almost done. 1 John is just a couple of pages over.

1 John chapter 2, 15-17. John here really fills out what Peter has begun talking about by saying that those who are joined to Christ have escaped the corruption in the world through lust. John speaks about it more fully in 1 John chapter 2. I'll begin at 15 through 17. 1 John chapter 2, 15.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever.

There is the love of the world, and There is the love of the world, and there is the love of the Father, and they are incompatible. That's what John is teaching. They don't go together. And you can't straddle for very long with one foot loving the world and the other foot loving the Father. There is an escape from the corruption in the world through lust.

That escape comes through the knowledge of God, through knowing God, through seeing Him in His incomparable beauty and perfection. But even those who have seen the pearl of great price, and at one time sold all to have it, can have their gaze turned away to other things, Can have their love start to grow cold. And we need to know our God. We need a fresh vision of His beauty and perfection which sweeps away the corruptions that overtake us through our lusts. May God give us a fresh vision of His beauty and His perfection so we don't find ourselves having to manage sin, but we find ourselves at His feet worshipping Him for His beauty and His perfections.

Peter says that's possible in this text. That to know Him really is to love Him. That to know Him and to grow in the grace of Jesus, and to grow in the knowledge of Jesus, is to be more free, and more free, and more free of the corruption that is in the world through lust. In summary, consider the immense importance of knowing God. Think of what Peter has already said in four verses about what's at stake when we think about the knowledge of God, the saving knowledge of God.

Peter says, from the knowledge of God flow the grace of God and the peace of God. Is the knowledge of God important? And not that we have one amount allocated to us, and then we're done. It can be multiplied. We can grow in grace and grow in peace.

By growing in what? By growing in knowing God. The truth is, we only know Him a little. There's a lot more to be had. In communing with the Spirit, in reading His Word, And as we know Him more, we'll find that we have more grace.

We have more peace. Peter says that from the knowledge of God flow all things that pertain to life and godliness. Is knowing God important? All things pertaining to life and godliness. Every single thing from the starting line to the finish line flow from knowing God.

Peter says that from the knowledge of God, flow exceedingly great and precious promises. That make us partakers of the divine nature. Is knowing God important? Brothers and sisters, know Him. Grow in knowing Him.

Seek Him. Those who seek Him find Him. Those who grow in the knowledge of God grow in grace and peace. They grow in all the things that pertain to life and godliness. They grow in experiencing the exceedingly great and precious promises.

What if this year were a year of growing and knowing Him? And in receiving all these things that flow from the knowledge of God. Not knowing about God, but knowing God. What if 2014 would see a surge in our knowledge of God as one would know a friend or a father. This would be for our happiness.

Let's pray. Father, May we know you. Oh God, getting tangled up in the trappings of religious life is such an easy matter. Knowing you is something entirely different. God, I pray first of all that you would help us never to confuse those things.

That when there is a poverty of knowing you, no matter how well integrated we are into the religious machine that we would feel the poverty. That we would not think ourselves rich when we are poor and blind and naked. God help us to return to our first love. Give us a fresh vision of the pearl of great price that is worthy to have all things put behind us to have. Father I pray that you would help us to know you.

Reveal yourself to us Lord. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Man, over to you.