2 Peter 1:1-11

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 4:25-32

There is a price to pay for our desire to grab at easy answers and that price is "trivialisation". Trivialisation is the acceptance of explanations that ignore the difficult questions of life in order to experience relief from confusion. I have no hesitation in saying that this is a curse of the modern Church. One...

For Reading and Meditation:     Galatians 5:16-26

So important is the point we raised yesterday - the need for selective expression - that we will spend another day considering it. Listen to how the Amplified Bible translates Psalm 73:15: "Had I spoken thus and given expression to my feelings, I would have been untrue...

For Reading and Meditation:     2 Peter 1:1-11

It is one thing to accept the faithfulness of God as a clear biblical truth; it is quite another to act upon it. God has given us many great and precious promises, as our text for today puts it, but do we actually count on them being fulfilled? We have to be careful that we do not hold God to promises He has not given....

Faith is the gift of God. It is the fruit of everlasting love, the effect of grace; we believe through grace. The faith which is the evidence of salvation, includes giving credit to the gospel report, of a free and full salvation for poor, unworthy sinners; an application to Jesus on the throne of grace, founded on that report; and a trusting in the word, work, and death of Jesus, for life and salvation. This always produces love to Jesus, and leads the soul to obey Him out of...

THE promises of Scriptures are the promises of the great God; they are all of free grace; they are confirmed by the blood of Jesus; and are exceeding great and very precious. They are so plain that a child can understand them; and so great that no angel could fulfil them. There is such a variety that they meet every case; and such a fulness that they include every want. They are breasts of consolation for the poor, tried, and distressed believer; and are the strength and support of every...

Put your religion beyond a doubt; let there be no reason to question whether you are sincere or not. Calling separates us from sin, Satan, and the world; to holiness, Christ, and the church.

Election is the root of calling; it is God's choice of us from others - in Christ, by grace, to holiness, for His glory. We know our election of God, by our being led to choose Christ, holiness, and heaven; to choose them freely, heartily, and habitually. If we thus choose them, we shall use every...

"For if these thing be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:8

If we desire to glorify our LORD by fruitfulness, we must have certain things within us; for nothing can come out of us which is not first of all within us. We must begin with faith, which is the groundwork of all the virtues; and then diligently add to it virtue, knowledge,...

To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to become God. That cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature. Between the creature and the Creator there must ever be a gulf fixed in respect of essence; but as the first man Adam was made in the image of God, so we, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, are in a yet diviner sense made in the image of the Most High, and are partakers of the divine nature. We are, by grace, made like God. "God is love";...

If you would know experimentally the preciousness of the promises, and enjoy them in your own heart, meditate much upon them. There are promises which are like grapes in the wine-press; if you will tread them the juice will flow. Thinking over the hallowed words will often be the prelude to their fulfilment. While you are musing upon them, the boon which you are seeking will insensibly come to you. Many a Christian who has thirsted for the promise has found the favour which it ensured...

If thou wouldest enjoy the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith, under the blessed Spirit's influence, and assistance, do what the Scripture tells thee, "Give diligence." Take care that thy faith is of the right kind-that it is not a mere belief of doctrine, but a simple faith, depending on Christ, and on Christ alone. Give diligent heed to thy courage. Plead with God that he would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest, with a consciousness of right, go on boldly. Study...