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GTM - Partakers of the Divine Nature - Part 3 - By Eduardo Elizondo September 23, 2023. This is just a recap of what we have studied before and II Peter second Peter one. We've been studying this section about becoming partakers of the divine nature and it says in second Peter one verse five. After giving the introduction, it says for these very reasons, also having applied all diligence besides adding to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge and to knowledge...
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GTM - Partakers of the Divine Nature - Part 3 - By Eduardo Elizondo September 23, 2023. This is just a recap of what we have studied before and II Peter second Peter one. We've been studying this section about becoming partakers of the divine nature and it says in second Peter one verse five. After giving the introduction, it says for these very reasons, also having applied all diligence besides adding to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge and to knowledge...
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Partakers of the Divine Nature - Part 3 - By Eduardo Elizondo. Eduardo begins by discussing the concept of becoming partakers of the divine nature as mentioned in 2 Peter 1. He explains that this is a process of transformation and becoming like God; emphasizing the importance of adding various qualities such as faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and the love of God. Eduardo highlights that godliness is a pivotal point in this process and explains its significance. He also mentions the mystery of godliness and how it relates to the manifestation of God in the flesh. Happy Sabbath to everybody, it's great to be here again with you. And yes, we've been talking about these partakers of the divine nature. We've been studying what it says in 2 Peter chapter one. And when it talks about in that section, let's go there to begin. This is just a recap of what we have studied before. In 2 Peter one, we've been studying this section that talks about becoming partakers of the divine nature. And it says in 2 Peter one, verse five, it says after giving the introduction, it says for these very reason also having applied all diligence besides after your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control endurance and to endurance godliness and to godliness brother beloved and to brotherly love, the love of God. For if these things exist and abound in you, they will cause you to be neither lacking effort nor lacking fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we have been talking about a lot of these things that we are to be adding one to another. And we talked about faith, we talked about virtue, we talked about knowledge, adding knowledge to that, we talked about self-control, we talked about endurance. But now we're gonna talk about the last three things listed here. And just as a recap, we talked about what it means to be adding these things and what is the difference when we add each one of these layers. Because this is, as it says in verse four, is that through these, it says, through the promises that God has given us, we may become partakers of the divine nature. And when it says become partakers of the divine nature in verse four, it's talking about this process of transformation, this process of conversion, as we call it. And that's why it says become partakers of divine nature. Because we have to become, this is a process, this is not something that happens instantaneously. And this process of becoming partakers of the divine nature, it says that for that reason, for those promises, and that we may become that, we have to do these things. We have to apply all diligence and add to our faith virtue. And we talked very briefly, we're gonna recap these. But what we talked about last time, it was faith, which is where everything starts, then virtue, which is that desire to do what's right, which the majority of people that are religious or that are seeking God are trying to do. They have a faith, it may not be correct, but it's still faith. And then it talks about virtue, and they have that too. They have that desire to do what's right. They're seeking God. And then to that, then we add knowledge. And that is a big differentiator between mainstream Christianity and the truth of God. And it's a big differentiator between all religions and the truth from the one true God, that knowledge part. But that's only the third step. And there are many other things here. This is only the third thing to add, because in there, after knowledge, there's self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly love, and the love of God. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. After knowledge, then it comes self-control. And we briefly mentioned that self-control, it's really that discipline, and not only the discipline, but that diligence to do what's right, according to knowledge, according to what God is teaching us. And we also talked about how these things are cyclical and continuous. And there's levels, and we can continue in all levels in all of these things. But when it says self-control, it means are we going to control ourselves? Are we going to really strive to do what's right based on the knowledge that has been given to us? Obviously, continuing building up on that virtue and on that faith, it all comes together. And then that self-control, endurance, because we talked about this as well, that it's maybe not easy, but easier to do one time the right thing. One time the right thing, according to the knowledge that God has given us. But how about doing it all the time? That takes endurance. That's what it means, endurance, is don't just do it one time, but continue on to perfection. Continue to do what's right based on that faith, based on that virtue that decide to do what's right, based on that knowledge of the truth of what the Word of God actually says. And you have to do it and then do it all the time. Strive to do it all the time. That's why there's endurance. And today we're going to talk about the last of the things that are mentioned here. We're gonna talk about godliness. That's the very first thing that we're gonna talk because it says to add to endurance godliness. And it's a progression that is beautiful to see because it starts to, this is a pivotal point. Godliness is something that is so much more than feeling, like we feel that faith, we feel that virtue that decide to do right. And then knowing, which is that knowledge and that self-control and that endurance, knowing all these things and knowing what we have to do and applying it ourselves is more than feeling, the knowledge is more than the actions themselves. Because when we get to self-control and we get to endurance, we're really talking about our actions. So the faith and the virtue are really more emotions, they're more feelings, they're more things that you can't define any other way. It's what you feel, it's what you believe. So it starts, then it's knowledge, it's also what we think and then it's actions, what we do of self-control and endurance. But godliness is different. Godliness, it's that pivotal point where we turn all of these things from feelings, thoughts, and actions. Because godliness, it's 16 times in the New Testament, but godliness, in the very word, godliness is being like God, is becoming like God. That's something that you are or that you've become or that you are being transformed into. So it's different, it builds upon the other things, it all goes together. But having godliness is really your nature. It's changing that nature and it's the beginning because godliness, if we looked at the word godliness and what it is, and in the papal version we can see it, we can see that the words underneath in the Greek, but the godliness is Eusebia. And that Eusebia comes from two other words. And this is, I'm no Greek scholar like Fred, but I just, I like to take a look at the word to see what is the original intent or meaning at least a basic definition. This is a very basic definition. But it gives us a little bit more of understanding of what this is, what is Eusebia. And it comes from you, or you, it's pronounced you, but that is to be thought, to fare well, to prosper. And that is important because that's what it means. It means to fare well, acting is another definition that we can look at right there in the dictionary. So that's one of the reasons. That's only, if you click in the origin, you will see that it's Eusebia. And the other one, there's the other word from you, which comes Eusebia, then it's Sebulmani. And that one is to revere or to worship. So Eusebia means it's to revere or to worship. But it talks about doing what's right and talking about reverence and worship. It's talking about the reverence, the sanctity of doing what's right. It's really talking about doing what's right by nature. That's what godliness is, is doing what is right in reverence, in a worshiping manner. And that godliness is something that we become when we are doing the other things because we're building up, we're adding to. We're adding to our faith, virtue, and then knowledge, and then endurance, and then self-control, and then endurance, and then godliness. And when we come to godliness, we see that it's a transforming thing. Let's go to 1 Timothy 3 to read a little bit about godliness. But it is a transformational process. And all of these things are gonna come together because it's godliness first, and then it's gonna be, we're gonna see the other two things that we're going to add to that. But godliness is absolutely pivotal. And knowledge is also pivotal because it transforms from a desire and emotion, and all of these things, the truth comes through the knowledge of God. But this is not just knowing. This is now being or becoming. 1 Timothy 3 and verse 16, where it says, Paul says, "'Undeniably, great is the mystery of godliness.'" And it is a mystery because how do you define a transformation process that is so profound and so deep? And it's not only the transformation process. Here it's talking about the mystery of godliness. If we think, let's read what it says. It says, "'God was manifested in the flesh, "'was justified in the spirit, "'was seen by angels, "'was proclaimed among the Gentiles, "'was believed on in the world, "'was received up in glory.'" When we think about that, it is the mystery of godliness because how is it that God did this? That God came in the flesh to die for those he created. And how he did all of these things. He was justified in the spirit because this is a connection of how can you be justified in the spirit? And so are we, brethren. This is part of this transformation process. This is part of being transformed in our hearts and in our minds. It says, "'He was justified in the spirit, "'was seen by angels, "'was proclaimed among the Gentiles.'" Meaning this gospel, this is transformational. This is a mystery how God did that because it's where the spirit world and physical world really came together. God came in the flesh and he was justified in the spirit. If he was one with the father and he came to die for us and then he went back to the father. So it's a great mystery. And when we think about that godliness, it also applies to us because it is the justification through the blood of Jesus Christ who came in the flesh but now is sitting at the right hand of God and he is our high priest because remember that none of those priestful laws have been abolished. They have not been abolished. They have been now transferred to the true holiest in heaven above. And that's where they are still carried out. But it is a mystery. It's the mystery of godliness. And when we think about what Jesus Christ did here, because you're talking about him, he manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, and all of these things that he did and we compare that to that definition of doing what's right with worship in a reverent way. It's talking about doing what's right by nature, doing something that is so, and what can be more right than this, than the creator redeeming those who are his, redeeming his creation. And ultimately it's the beginning of the redemption of everyone and everything. Obviously everyone who repents, we understand that salvation is conditional. We understand that. But the godliness, this mystery of what God is doing, and he starts with this. He starts with everything that God has done. He starts with God and he ends with God. Because all of these things of being justified in the spirit, seen by angel, proclaim among the Gentiles, this is all for us and for everybody who will ultimately be saved. And as we are now in the middle of these full holidays and all of the deep meaning, think of this, think of this mystery of godliness. All of these things are being done because of what God has done, because of that desire, not desire, that doing good. That's what godliness is, is being like God. And God is so much. So he's done so many things for us. And then he says, what's believed on in the world and what's received up in glory. And that is our ultimate destiny. But we have to have this godliness. We have to be transformed. Let's go three chapters forward here in First Timothy. Let's go to First Timothy six. So the first thing that we see is that godliness is a mystery. It's a mystery because we don't know exactly to understand really, to really understand the depth of God becoming a human being and doing what he did and doing what he does now, which we cannot see. Like the people used to see the sacrifices in the temple and the shedding of the blood. We cannot see, but we believe it by faith, but it's taking place. And it is a mystery. Now, the Bible talks about mysteries. It also talks about revealing things to us that have been called. So it's not just to remain ignorant, but it's to reveal that it's a mystery because there are hidden things. And also how we are transformed and become like God because this is being partakers of the divine nature is becoming like God. And this word is key because his godliness is becoming like God. We were made in his image, but we're not in his likeness yet. That's the process of life. That's a process of physical life. We look like God, but we are not like God. We don't react like God. We don't think like God. We don't love like God. That's what this process of conversion is. And godliness is a humongous part of that, this pivotal. First Timothy six and verse three. It says, and this is a warning and he's giving a warning, Paul's giving a warning to Timothy. And he says, if anyone teaches any different doctrine, because this is how it all comes together. If anyone teaches any different doctrine and does not adhere to sound words, we talked about that and we'll talk about knowledge. We have to add knowledge to our virtue and our faith. Even those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine that is according to godliness, because you can see it. You can see the fruits of godliness. You can see the fruits of when there is godliness in a person. When you see a little bit more of that godliness in a person. When they're not only striving to do what's right, but they do it and they do it from the heart and you can see it and you can feel it. That's godliness. It says, so if anybody teaches that, it says he is proud and knows nothing. Why? Because we have to have humility. We have to come before God and we have to have that humility. But as soon as pride starts creeping in, then godliness starts to go down. It says, rather he has a morbid attraction to questions and disputes over words, from which come envy, arguments, blasphemy, wicked suspicions, vain reasoning of men who have been corrupted in their mind and are destitute of the truth. Many who believe that gain is godliness, which is not true. Gain is not godliness. We cannot define conversion. We cannot ascribe any kind of things that are going on in our lives as to whether, it's not a direct result. If we're going to trials, that's not necessarily because we don't have godliness. Maybe God is working even more godliness in us. So we cannot compare because it's not the physical blessings here. It's talking about people that believe that gain is godliness. Oh, how much money do you have? Oh, how many people do you have? And those kinds of things, especially in religion, gain is not godliness. There can be preachers on TVN that can have tens of thousands of people in an arena, but that is not godliness. That is not godliness. Godliness is being in your heart, in your mind like God. That's what it is. And it says, from those that believe that gain is godliness, from such, withdraw yourself. From organizations that all they care is about how many numbers and how many people and how many tides are coming in or whatever it may be. It says, from such, withdraw yourself. Gain is not godliness. If our pride rises up, our godliness is gonna come down. But it says in verse six, that godliness with contentment is great gain. Why? Because we know it's not about this life. It's not about the things of this life, the riches or the honor. It's not about any of these things. Godliness with contentment is great gain because we know that we're being transformed into being partakers of the divine nature. We're being transformed into the children of God. We are the children of God, but we're not the born children of God yet. It's just same as a baby in the womb. It's a child of the father and the mother, but it's not fully formed yet. It's not born yet. And that's the process that we're going through. Let's go to first thing before. In this letter to first Timothy, there's a lot of things about godliness all over in different contexts. Talks about the mystery. Now that he talked about godliness instead of the gain of this world, instead of all of this knowledge. And in first Timothy four, in verse one, it says, now the spirit tells us explicitly that in the latter times, some shall apostatize from the faith. See, from the very beginning, from the faith, leaving the faith altogether. That was the very first thing to add to. And it says, and shall follow deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. And that's happening now. And that's actually happening sadly in the churches of God as well. There are people that are following deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. It says, speaking lies and hypocrisy. Their consciences have been cauterized with a hard iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from needs, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, even by those who know the truth. And we know how these scriptures have been misused in the past to say that you can eat everything you want. But for every creature of God, they sign for human consumption because the laws of God don't get abolished anywhere. It doesn't say that. It says, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, even by those who know the truth. For every creature of God, it says, sorry. It says, for every creature of God, designated for human consumption is good and nothing to be refused if it's received with thanksgiving because it is sanctified by the word and prayer. If you are teaching these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, being nourished by the words of the faith and of the good doctrines that you have closely followed. See, it's not just about what you do, but it's what you know. It's the doctrines, the teachings, and that you do according to that. And God said, do not eat certain foods. That's not abolished anywhere. It's still a part of those doctrines because these was just being written. The New Testament was just being written. It didn't exist. And so the only thing that they had as far as doctrine written down was the laws of clean and unclean meat. And it says, but refuse profane and all white fables, another warning similar to the other one, rather exercise yourself unto godliness. It says, for physical exercise is profitable for a short time, but godliness is profitable for everything, having the promise of life, of the life that now is, and of the life that is coming. When you set your sight on the kingdom, our goal, brethren, is to become like God. And that's why godliness is so important. It's absolutely key that we keep our eyes on the goal and that we are focused on godliness and understand what godliness is, that transformation process. And we have to add that to everything else. So the trials and the tribulations, the test and being faithful to the end, to the truth, meaning we are doing the things that God wants us to do. We are having self-control with endurance based on knowledge, which has been added to our virtue and our faith. Doing all of these things, that is what is going to be resulting in godliness, doing that with endurance constantly in everything. That is exactly what God wants. Let's go now to 2 Timothy 3. Actually, let's come back to Acts 3. We're not gonna read the whole account for the sake of time, but in Acts 3, one is when Peter and John go to the temple, right, and they see this man who was lame, and they say, look at us, and they say, silver and gold, I don't have, but what I have I give you. And in the name of Jesus Christ, in Nazarene, then rise up and walk. He says all of that. And then later, the reaction of everybody, they're just looking at him, they're just staring at him. And what it says in verse 12, let's go there, Acts 3, verse 12, because they were all amazed of what they had done. And obviously it was a great miracle because they knew the man, he's always there. And they say, I'm not gonna give you silver and gold, I'm gonna give you something better. I'm gonna get you off your feet. You're gonna be able to walk. And what Peter saw, the amazement of the people, is that he answered to the people, men, Israelites, why are you wondering at this? And why are you looking upon us so intently as if by our own power or godliness, we have made him to walk? Because that godliness is that doing that what is good by nature. But it really is being like God because that's who God is. God is good by nature. His nature is good. If we have human nature, he doesn't. And that's what he's saying, we did not do this ourselves. It's not our own power and it's not our own godliness. The godliness that raised this man up is the godliness of God, it's the goodness of God, it's his mercy, it's his love. And that's what happened. Second Timothy three. Majority of the times the godliness is mentioned in these letters from Paul to Timothy. Instructing him and we see the warnings of what was happening of a lot of false teachers and false doctors that we have today as well. And that's what it says. Here it's talking about these latter times, what is happening right now. And it's the perfect description of our society. It says, know this also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, laggards, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control. Because we know that we are supposed to be adding self-control to knowledge and to virtue and to faith. It's a savage, despisers of those who are good. Those who have godliness or are getting that godliness. Betrayers, reckless, egotistical, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having an outward appearance of godliness. This is important. Why does it say having an outward appearance of godliness? Because there's a lot of people that want to do good. Even the elite, right? They're supposedly philanthropists and they create all these associations and all of these things and send all this money. They have an outward appearance of godliness. But denying the power of true godliness because true godliness is being converted by God and that's not what's happening with these people. They have an outward appearance of godliness but they're not being transformed because the minute that they understand or somebody tells them the truth about what God wants all mankind to do, which is keep his laws and his commandments, his ordinances and have a relationship with God. They say, no, it's too hard. It's too much of a commitment. They're denying the power of true godliness. They say, no, we'll just do it. We'll just do it our way. We'll just do it in a carnal, physical, you know what, how about I just work really hard and give a ton of money, right? That is denying the power of true godliness. That's trying to do what Fred always says to do, not to try to solve spiritual problems through physical means because they can't be solved that way. It says, but as for you, turn away from all of these. Again, it's talking, so he gives several warnings, right, about false teachers, false doctrines, people that are teaching doctrines of demons and all of these other things. But he also gives a warning to draw away, turn away from the people that just have an outward appearance of godliness because godliness is a transformation. It's a transformation. And then after godliness, well, if we come back to 2 Peter 1, what does it say? What is the next thing that we have to add? It says, to endurance we have godliness and to godliness, brotherly love. And I'm going to use, for these last two things that we are to add, because we are to add brotherly love to godliness and to brotherly love the love of God, I wanna use the words in the Greek because I think they define them better and they mean something to us. The brotherly love is Philadelphia. That's what it is, and we know that. We know the Church of Philadelphia, we know that means brotherly love, and that's the word in the Greek is Philadelphia. So we have to add Philadelphia to godliness and obviously to all the other things, to endurance, to self-control, to knowledge, to virtue, to faith. But when we talk about Philadelphia, there's so many things that we can learn. Obviously, this is a message in and of itself. We're just gonna read a few scriptures about Philadelphia, but we're gonna try to understand the connection between all those things. And how is it that we add Philadelphia and agape, which is the love of God, Philadelphia and agape, we add those at the very end, which is interesting when we're reading it this way. Because doesn't it all start with God and God is love? And that's absolutely true, but what we're talking about being partakers of the divine nature, we're adding one thing to the next. And it's almost this, we're getting to the pinnacle of that mountain, we're getting to the top. And at the top, the most majestic things are these two, which are love for the brethren and the love of God. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 to talk about Philadelphia. In verse nine, Paul says, now concerning brotherly love or concerning Philadelphia, you have no need for me to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. It says, and you also practice this, the word on all the brethren who are in all of Macedonia, but we exhort you brethren to abound even more in love. Meaning that you can never love too much, never. You can never love too much. Just abound even more in love. If you think, you know, you have no need because you are taught by God to love one another. And that is the true love, the true Philadelphia love has to come from God. We cannot generate it. It is expressed towards others, but it has to be the love of God in us, expressed toward our brethren. That's the love of the brethren, is the love of God in us. And we express it toward the brethren because that's who we are with first all the time. And then we're gonna see that we add adopted to that. So these two come very connected. Let's go to first John. First John four, because this is where it starts. That's what he just said, right? You are taught by God to love your brother, to love the brethren. And that's what we are also. We are also being taught by God to love the brethren. And in first John four 10, it says in this act is the love. Not that we love God. It doesn't start with us. We cannot produce the kind of love, the Philadelphia love that God wants in us. We cannot do that. We are being encouraged to add it to, it sounds like a contradiction, but it has to come from God. And it has to be when we're doing all the other things, when we're striving for this nature change, this character change, the nature from having human nature to having the divine nature, this transformation. It says in this act is the love. Not that we love God, rather that he loved us and sent his son to be the appreciation for our sins. Why? Because everything came from God, our own lives. It's not that we love God, it's that he loved us and he gave us life. And then he called us into his way of life, and he started working with us, and he continues to work with us, and he's gonna transform us until the resurrection. That is the love. And he loved us, and he sent his son because without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we would not have an opportunity for eternal life. And it says he sent his son to be the appreciation for our sins. Now, beloved, if God so loved us, we are also duty-bound. It's an obligation to love one another. No one has seen God at any time, yet if we love one another, God dwells in us, and his own love is perfected in us. And how beautiful is that love when you are in the same wavelength? Because it's the wavelength of the Holy Spirit. Because you're connected by something greater than words and knowledge. It includes it, but it's something so much greater. Because when we think about virtue, that decides to do what's right, when we talk about godliness, we talk about those two that we're adding, it's a different dimension. It's when you know that people not only wanna do good, but they're becoming good. And they're becoming good because God is making them good, not because we can't. He's making us good. He's transforming us. But when you can see that in others, that brotherly love is something so special. It's something that it cannot, it's not matched by anything else. It's not matched by anything else. It's love that we can have. And it says that we're duty bound to love one another. And it's a condition, it says here, if we love one another, no one has seen God at any time, yet if we love one another, God dwells in us. That's why we are the one body of Christ. And his own love is perfected in us. It's not perfect yet, it starts small, but it grows and it's perfected in us, inside of us. Because if each one of us, and we do, have the Holy Spirit of God, and we come together and we're of the same wavelength, because that's the purpose, that's what we do, that's what we were called to do. Then that is how God is building the body of Christ. He's building his church. His own love is perfected in us. So it doesn't matter that we cannot see him. And it doesn't matter that no one has seen him at any time. And he's obviously talking about God the Father. But if we love one another, he dwells in us, and that love is perfected in us. And if we wanna know, if we wanna know what that standard says, by this standard, if we wanna know how God is dwelling in us, we know that we are dwelling in him and he's dwelling in us because of his own spirit, which he has given to us. And we have seen for ourselves and bear witness that the Father sent the Son as the Savior of the world. How many people understand that the Father sent his Son? How many people understand that they are two beings? There's a lot that believe that they're three. There's a lot that believe that he's one. There's a lot that believe there is all kinds of things. But how many believe the truth, that there is God the Father and God the Son, and that the Holy Spirit is their power? Not many. But it says, whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. Even other groups don't necessarily believe it, don't believe it to the same degree. With Hebrew roots or Messianic Judaism and a lot of these things that are coming now and attracting a lot of the brethren into their teachings, it's like a warning that Paul gave Timothy to be careful with those. But whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. And then he says, and we have known and have believed the love that God has toward us. God is love, and the one who dwells in love is dwelling in him and God in him. And we understand this is the God thing. This is the next one. But they go together because it is really the love of God in us, because we're duty-bound to love one another. And it's the God, the love of God in us, expressed toward the brethren. That's what Philadelphia is. And that's what God wants us to have. Let's go to Romans 12 and verse nine. It is something amazing when we start to see all of these being partakers of the divine nature, from belief and emotion, to knowledge, to actions, to transformation. And the ultimate transformation is into these two types of love, Philadelphia and Agape. That's the ultimate transformation. It starts with godliness. It starts with, you first have to have that nature of God. You have to have that nature that is good. And that nature is being transformed and is changing, and it's not gonna be complete until the day we die. So don't expect absolute perfection or absolute godliness before you love the brethren. That's not what it means. We are to love one another because through that, God is perfecting us as well, through the love of the brethren and through the love of God the Father, Agape. Romans 12 and verse nine. And here, it tells us how love is to be, and we know this is Agape. That's why we know that this is the love of God. It's not our own love. What I wanna make sure that we understand is that this Philadelphia is not our own love toward the brethren and then Agape is something different. No, it's the same one. It's just that Philadelphia is expressed toward the brethren, while Agape is the love of God himself in us, expressed toward us and us back toward God. But it says, let love be without hypocrisy. If we have our own love, we can fall into hypocrisy. It says, but if it's the love of God, if it's Agape, let be without hypocrisy, abhorring that which is evil and cleaving that to which is good. Be kindly affectionate toward one another in brotherly love. In that expression, but it's Agape in you, and that will reflect in kind affections toward one another. Let each esteem the other more highly than himself. And that's a basic principle of Philadelphia, that if we truly love the brethren and love one another, we're going to esteem the other more highly than himself. Just stop and think for a moment what that would look like. If we truly put others first, how many offenses would not even exist? And how many would get resolved very quickly if that would happen? If we will always esteem the other more highly than himself, but we cannot do that unless we understand how short we come of the goodness of God and the glory of God and our godliness. But when we understand that, that's why we ask Philadelphia to it, because when we add godliness and we see how much we need that and how much we need to transform and how powerful we really are in getting that godliness and having that godliness and adding it to everything else, then God can give us that brotherly love because we see our brethren as we see ourselves struggling too. Sometimes we expect perfection from others and know and want mercy for ourselves. When the reality is that we're all struggling because we're all in this race together, because God has called us all. He has given us his spirit to all of us. And we have to extend that mercy and to esteem others more highly than ourselves. But it's really hard because it goes against our nature. And that's how he's changing it. He puts people in our lives that are going to force us to do this. And that's good, because otherwise we're not going to be in the kingdom of God unless this nature is changed. And that's why it's an amazing thing to see brethren that love us and that we love and that it transforms us. And sometimes we disagree and we have problems with it. We have things that we have to work on, but that's part of the developing of that character of God, the divine nature and that godliness. So all of these things go together. Let's go to Hebrews 12. It's an amazing thing when we're adding all these things and we see how we can become partakers of the divine nature and all the things that God adds and how we just, one thing builds on the other and on the other and on the other. That's why he said, act, because then you have a complete package. And if you have that complete package, you have it to a certain degree. But then there's levels and one thing leads to the other. And the process continues. And it's automatic because this is part of how God decided and it's part of his laws. And it's an amazing thing. Hebrews 12 and verse 28, Hebrews 12, 28. It says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, not only from God, but towards the others, through which we may serve God in a pleasing manner with reverence and awe. It says, for God is gracious and merciful and it says, for God is indeed a consuming fire. And let's continue reading Hebrews 13, one. It says, let brotherly love be present among you continually because this is a continuation of what he just said. Brotherly love is to be present among us continually. Why? Because we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken because God has loved us so much as we read because we have this grace that we have received because God has this grace for us. And it's an amazing thing. And God wants this for every single one of us to have, for us to have experience, feel his grace, but not just take it and then treat others according to our carnal nature. No, he wants that grace to flow from him to us, to each other. And if that's happening in every single one of us, just picture that, how beautiful that is when that grace is coming to everybody and he's flowing to everybody else. It's beautiful and it's complete. It's this process of conversion is coming to perfection. Let's go to first Peter one and verse 21. Where Peter says, even for you, and this is that it was manifested, right? He says, that's talking about Jesus Christ was manifesting this last time for your sakes. He says, even for you, who through him, you believe in God, through Jesus Christ, we believe in God. And God the father who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope might be in God. Having purified your lives by obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love. You see how all of these things that we're to be adding, they build on one another? Because it says, having purified your life by obedience to the truth. How are you going to obey the truth unless you know the truth? How are you even going to come to know the truth unless you have a desire to do what's right? And how are you going to have that desire unless you have faith and believe that there's a God that has given us his word? See, you need all of this. You need faith, you need virtue, you need knowledge, you need self-control. That's why he's talking about obedience to the truth. Because that's the self-control is obedience to the truth and only once, many times, that's why it's endurance. So all of this is unto unfeigned brotherly love. That is what it results to. It results in that unfeigned brotherly love through the spirit. He reminds us that it's not from us and not through us. It's through the spirit of God. That's why it's capitalized. Brotherly love through the spirit of God. Love one another fervently with a pure heart. And that's what God wants. That's what God wants. And he tells us why. He says, for you have been begotten again, not from corruptible seed, but from incorruptible seed. That's why we're the children of God. We've begotten already, again, in the spirit. We're not born in the spirit yet, born of the spirit, but we are begotten. He says, by the living word of God, which remains forever. He's meaning Christ in us. That's what it means. But everything, when we purify ourselves, he says, we don't purify ourselves. He says, but when God purifies us, having purified your lives by obedience to the truth, this process of obedience is how God is purifying us unto unfeigned brotherly love, because that's what God wants. God wants that love. And from the heart, sincerely, not in vain. Not just having this exterior appearance of godliness like we saw. Oh, yes, and talking very nice to everybody. No, the truth, what we really feel, and who we really are, and being honest with one another, and sometimes telling ourselves and each other the truth in love, and the truth sometimes is hard. We're incomplete, we're imperfect, we have many flaws. But being unfeigned brotherly love, because brotherly love, and love is not just the nice things and the good things, it's the hard things too. Because when we love our brethren, when we love our brother or our sister, we will tell them the truth in love and humility, we will do that, even if it hurts, because we love him or her, and they're gonna do the same. We should prepare, that's part of brotherly love, is receiving the truth from others as well. That's why brotherly love is so important. And then let's go to the last thing. We know in 2 Peter 1, it talks about what is the last thing, the last thing that he says to us. It says to add to brotherly love, the love of God. Add to Philadelphia, agape. And I submit to you that you cannot have Philadelphia unless you have agape. You see, Philadelphia is agape in you to others. So they go together, and then to that Philadelphia is the love of God, that the love of God would grow in you, not just be in you expressed to others, but it would grow in you, that you would be like God, that you would have not only that nature, but that love, because God is love. That's the completion of the divine nature. If we are to be partakers of the divine nature, we are to be transformed into being love, not just expressing unfeigned love and sincere love to our brethren. Let's go to Luke 11, because this is one of the most important things. This is really the pinnacle of everything that Peter is telling us to add. Luke 11, verse 42. It says, he was telling the Pharisees, what will to you, Pharisees, for you pay tithes of mint and rue and every herb, but you pass over the judgment and the love of God. It is obligatory for you to do these things and not set aside those lesser things. He's saying the love of judgment and the love of God, judgment and agape are the most important things. Don't pass those on. That's why we are to add. When we love our brethren, when we can see it manifest, when we have, it's having that agape love in us and expressing it to our brethren that enables us to see the goodness of God in us. And that is a life-changing thing, because then we understand when we experience that love, giving that love to the brethren, receiving that love from the brethren, that is really a testimony of who God is and what God is. And that's why we add agape to Philadelphia. That's why we add the love of God at the end, because that's becoming love. It's not just becoming good with godliness. That's part of it. But then it's receiving the goodness of God, receiving that love of God, expressing it to others, being one with God and one with one another, and then being transformed in that divine nature. Because if God is love, and we're being partakers of the divine nature and we're actually his children, and we're gonna be born in his family, we're also going to be love. In the kingdom of God, we're not gonna love. We're gonna be love. Everything that we do is gonna be because of that nature. It's gonna be transformed. So as we think, when we go to the Feast of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles and Last Friday, we think about these wonderful news and wonderful, think in the context of we will be love. We will be like God. We will be exactly like he is. Let's go to John five. John five. So it's an amazing chapter with all of these things that Jesus said in here that are so significant. But let's go to verse, John five and verse 33. Where it says, you have sent to John and he has borne witness to the truth. Now, I do not receive witness from men, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining light and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John's for the works that the father gave me to complete. The very works that I am doing that themselves bear witness of me, that the father has sent me. And the father himself who sent me has borne witness to me. You have neither heard his voice nor seen his form at any time. And you do not have his word dwelling in you, for you do not believe him who he has sent. Believe, faith, those are the same thing, right? The one is just in a different form. One is a verb and the other one is a noun. But here you do not have his word dwelling in you for you do not believe in him. So they don't have faith. You don't even have the beginning to believe that he was the son of God. You search the scriptures for, and then you think that you have eternal life and they're the ones that testify of me, but you are willing to come to me that you may have life. And then it says, I do not receive the glory from men because he knew that's not what matters. I'm not come here to rescue this nation. What would have been better, cardinally speaking, to come and to do what he did or to come and just deliver them from the Romans and destroy all the armies and bring them freedom and king being their king and everything. Humanly speaking, that would have been better, but that wasn't going to accomplish what God sent him to do because he knew he didn't want the glory of men. He says, I do not receive glory from men. And he didn't want it anyways because he created men anyways. He says, but I have known you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. Why? Because he didn't even have belief. It starts with belief, but it ends with that agape. It ends with that love of God. It says, I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. But if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. And how many times has this happened even now, even in the churches of God? The people go after these other ones that Paul was warning Timothy about, the teaching of doctrines of demons, worship of demons and heresies and their own things. Why? Because they're not focused on God, on loving God and being transformed and being partakers of the divine nature. They're just concerned with what else can I know that nobody else knows. And that just comes from pride and arrogance. It says, how are you able to believe? You will receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God and glory that comes from God is that ultimately. That's the most amazing thing. And then he tells them that he will not accuse them to the father, that Moses accuses them, even Moses, that they would have believed Moses, they would have believed him, but they cannot, they wouldn't believe his writings. They wouldn't believe what was coming. Let's go to 1 John. But he was telling them, he was telling them that they did not have the love of God because if we're seeking a religion, if we're seeking the glory of man, if we're seeking just knowledge, if we're seeking all these things, that's not seeking what we are supposed to be seeking, the love of God in us. 1 John 2 and verse 3. We know this by memory and by this standard, we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. On the other hand, if anyone is keeping his word and see how it all comes together, we have to have faith, we have to have virtue, we have to have knowledge, we have to have self-control, that's what keeping is, and we have to do it all constantly, that's what endurance is. It says, if anyone's keeping his word, truly in this one, the love of God is being perfected in us. By this means we know that we are in him. How amazing, have you really thought and meditated on what it is that we are in God? We can comprehend that God would be in us through the Holy Spirit, I think this is a process and every time we understand better and it just blows our minds. But if we are in God, when we're doing all of these things, when we're adding these things to be partakers of the divine nature, and that's why he says, anyone who claims to dwell in him is obligating himself also to walk even as he himself walked, to walk, because that's what Jesus did, he was a perfect example of adding all these things, the faith, the virtue, the knowledge that Jesus had, the self-control when he was being tempted in the desert by the devil himself, the devil himself after being famished 40 days and 40 nights. I mean, if that's not self-control, I don't know what is. Endurance to do it until the end, his entire life, being despised, being rejected, being misunderstood, the loneliest man on earth. When you talk about the example of Jesus Christ adding all these things to another is the perfect example of self-control, of endurance, of godliness, out of his good heart, he did the things, he subjected himself to the will of God the Father, he didn't even spoke of himself, he spoke what the Father gave him to speak, he did what the Father gave him to do, that was true godliness, the brotherly love that he had, he loved his disciples to the end, and he gave his life for them and for all of us. He added agape because he had the love of God in him, to the fullest that a human being could ever have it, he's the perfect example of all of that, and that's why we have to walk even as he himself walked, let's go to 1 John 3, 1 John 3 and verse 16, because he's talking about this agape, the love of God, by this very act, we have known the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, he did it, he didn't only say it, he did it, he lived it, he set the example, and we ourselves are to lay down our lives for the brethren, and not just in a physical sense of martyrdom, that's part of it, but in everyday, but how can we lay our down life for the brethren, if we get easily offended, if we're just looking for ourselves, if it's hard to love them, it's hard to meet them where they're at, if we just complain about one another, that's not what we are to do, we're to lay down our lives for the brethren, we're to really deny ourselves, that's what God wants us to do, so that we can do that, to lay down, you see how the brotherly love goes together with the love of God, we know the love of God, because he did that, and we ourselves are to do the same thing, but whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and sheds off his feelings of compassion from him, because God put some compassion in there, how can the love of God be dwelling in him, if we don't love our brethren, if we don't give others what they need and help them, now obviously the other person has also the responsibility to not take advantage of the brother, a true need is one thing, taking advantage is not love either, but that's what God wants us to do, and we're not gonna go there, but first Corinthians 13, whole message right there, but he's talking about agape, and what agape is, we're very familiar with that, all the things, of all the things that agape is, and that's the thing that we have to ask, so we have that love of God, how much are we adding that love of God, because he tells us what the love of God looks like, he's patient and he's kind, and it does not envy and does not brag about itself, and all of these things, does not behave disgracefully, what does that mean? And just one example, so what does this look like, of these adding all these things, we talked about the perfect example of Christ, and we would not have time in many series of sermons to describe all of that or what that entails, of how Christ did all of these things, how he added virtue to his faith and knowledge to his virtue and so on, what all the things, including Philadelphia and agape, the brotherly love and the love of God, but one example, one example that we can learn from, and that we can understand how we add that, is in the Sabbath, let's go to Isaiah, Isaiah 58, because this is one, just one example, because we want to, not only take this example, but then think about all the other things, how we walk with God, and how we add those things, how we can be adding one to the other, Isaiah 58, where it talks about the Sabbath day, at toward the end of the chapter, and then it says in verse 13, Isaiah 58, 13, if you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, from doing your own desires on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, and not pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. How do we apply that? First, we have to faith, that there is a God, and we have the faith that he has given us his word, and we have the faith, and then we'll come back full circle, and the faith that we now have, is very different than the faith that we had at the beginning, but when we were being called, drawn to God, that's what happened, we believe, first believe that there was a God, and that he wrote his word, that's the faith, right? And this is in the very basic stage, is not very different than, probably any other religion, but then to your faith, after your faith virtue, how do you add virtue in context of the Sabbath? You wanna do what's right, you wanna do what's right, there's a lot of people that are out there that do what's right, a lot of people keep Sunday, because they think that's what's right, but they have virtue and they have faith, but you don't have knowledge, and if we have knowledge, and God starts to add the knowledge to us, and opening our eyes, which we cannot do by ourselves, obviously, we know that, God has to call, but once he calls us, and he shows us, yes, I am God, yes, I did write my word, yes, I did give it to man, yes, there's also the Sabbath day, there's the seventh day, where I created holy time, and you are to keep it, then now we're adding knowledge, and then how do we add then, self-control to keep the Sabbath, and we just read how to keep the Sabbath, not doing your own ways, not pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words, simple terms, but hard to do, that's why it requires self-control, because the very first thing that we wanna do is, oh, our mind wanders to this thing about work, or this thing about the movie, or the fun, or whatever, but that's not what God wants us to do, he wants us to have self-control in keeping the Sabbath, not pursuing our own ways, nor our own desires, nor speaking our own words, he wants us to speak his words, to be focused on him and his ways, and there's a promise that then we will delight ourselves in the Lord, and that's, if we do that, if we do that with endurance, if we do that constantly, then you will delight yourself in the Lord, and you see how there's the godliness right there? You delight yourself in the Lord, doing what's good, reverently, with love, out of a good nature, the nature of God in us, that's the godliness, that's how we're adding it, then you shall be to delight yourself in the Lord, and very quickly, let's go as a final scripture, let's go to Psalm 37, because it talks about what happens when you delight yourself in the Lord, and verse 37, that is how you keep the Sabbath, it says in verse four, delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart, how do you delight yourself in the Lord? We just read it in Isaiah 58, then you will delight yourself in the Lord, if you do that, if you keep the Sabbath, and you keep it properly, it's just one example, but you see how it builds from faith, to virtue, to knowledge, down keeping the Sabbath, and understanding that, but also to self-control, and how to keep it properly, and how God said to do that, and then after that, it's with endurance, not only one Sabbath, but every Sabbath, and we're gonna have our ups and downs, we're gonna have Sabbath that are way more enjoyable than others, because we struggle, and we're human, and we're in the process of being converted, we have to have that mercy as well, from God, and to one another, but it says delight yourself in the Lord, if you do those things, if you keep the Sabbath that way, that's godliness, and then that, it says he shall give you the desires of your heart, and then we'll add, in the Sabbath day, when we're all keeping it that way, you know how beautiful that is, with that Philadelphia, that love of God in us, expressed to one another in the Sabbath, encouraging one another, learning with one another, loving one another, it's something unbelievable, it's amazing, and then it comes to the love of God, when we're all being transformed, into being loved, all of us, together, and that's what it means, to be partakers of the divine nature, it means to add all these things, because that's what God desires.
