How about we start out with a couple of impressive promises..from the God who cannot lie, with conditions of course? (Heb. 6:18)

IF...you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and It shall be done for you.” (John 15:7)

“By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” (1 John 2:6). Now by this we know that we know Him, IF we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3)

“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22)

“And this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” (23)

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; AS I HAVE LOVED YOU...that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, IF...you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-45)

Question: How on earth could any of us ever fulfill this command unless...we had the divine nature of Christ working in and through us?

Look what we are told by Peter as he talks of ‘grace and peace being multiplied to us’...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 we MAY BE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE...” (2 Pet. 1:2-4)

This came after his first letter reminding us that we “had purified our souls in OBEYING THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT...having a sincere and fervent love for one another...that came from a pure heart’. (1 Pet. 1:22)...and this only can happen because we have “been born again...through the word of God which lives and abides forever...(incorruptible seed) (23)

‘purified our souls in obeying the truth’.

It’s not enough to just hunger, desire, and long for truth. Nor is it enough to find and then study, memorize, and quote truth.

We must obey truth in order to be purified.

This process of being purified is called ‘sanctification’. Without it, ‘no one will see the Lord’. (Heb. 12:14). Who are the ones that will ‘see God’, according to Jesus? Those who have a ‘pure heart’. (Matt. 5:8)

If...and when we begin to grasps this truth of reality, and are reminded of ‘these promises dear beloved’...as Paul writes in 2 Cor. 7:1..then we would do well to ‘cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’. (Did you catch that ‘fear’ part’?)

“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself...just as He is pure”. (1 John 3:3)

And just ‘how’ do we ‘purify ourselves’? Well, what did Peter just tell us? By ‘obeying the truth’.

If you are inclined now to ask the same question that Pilate asked of Jesus: “What is truth?” (John 18:38), please note that ‘The Truth” was standing right in front of him, and he did not even recognize it...or Him. (John 14:6)

Could that ever happen to you ...or I ...where ‘truth’ is standing right in front of us and we fail to see it? I mean, did this not happen the first time Jesus came to His people? (John 1:11)

You would have to be deceived or blind, to not recognize it, would you not? And how can one end up being deceived? Well, James tells us that if we are simply a hearer of the word, or truth’, and not a ‘doer’ of the word, we end up what, according to James 1:22?

When Jesus wrapped up His sermon on the mount, He closes out with this dramatic illustration describing two men building a house, one is wise and the other is foolish. Do you remember what the difference was between the two and how Jesus compared them? Take a look at Matt. 7:24 and 26 –

“Whoever hears these sayings of Mine...AND DOES THEM...is like the wise man...”

“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and DOES NOT DO THEM...will be like a foolish man...”

What happened to both of these houses that these two men were building? They were both subject to the same flood, the same onslaught of a storm that brought wind and rain and shaking and floodwaters, yet only one house remained intact, firm, and standing. The other one experienced a ‘great collapse’. (Luke 6:48-49)

Please note, that both houses seemed to look fine as they were built and it was not until the storm came that the faulty foundation was exposed. Would you please go read that again?

So what does this storm...and ‘flood’ represent? If you have been reading along with us for any length of time, hopefully you have caught on to this and know exactly what this ‘flood’ represents- it is the ‘wrath of God’. (Luke 17:27-29; Nahum 1:6-8; Hosea 5:10)

It is the same ‘flood of wrath’ that destroyed the world back in the days of Noah. (Gen. 6-7) It is the same ‘flood of wrath’ that the world will experience “at the coming of the Son of Man”....(Matt. 24:37)

And we know who God uses to ‘carry out His wrath’, yes? It is the forces of spiritual wickedness and the powers of darkness, also known as ‘the enemy’ (1 Pet. 5:8), the same ‘enemy’ God has always used to carry out His judgements, even using them to ‘correct us’ with the hopes we ‘come to repentance’. (Ps. 78:49-50; Hab. 1:12; 1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Pet. 3:9)

So Isaiah 59:19 should now make more sense where we read: “When the enemy comes in like a flood...” (notice it did not say ‘if’, but ‘when’?)...and yet “The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against Him.”

I should probably point out that this ‘standard’ or ‘protection’ is not promised to any and all who simply say ‘Lord, Lord’, (Matt. 7:21) but it is to those who are ‘abiding in Him’. (Ps. 91:1-11).

And those who are abiding in Him are bearing ‘much fruit’. (John 15:5). This would be a good time to look at 2 Cor. 13:5 again. 

So what happens to them that are not bearing this kind of fruit? Well, look at vs. 6 there – “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and ‘they’ gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned up”. Would you care to guess who ‘they’ are?  

It would be the same ones who ‘gather up the tares’ we read about in Matt. 13:36-43 where Jesus is talking about how things will be “at the end of the age”. (40). Oh, let’s not forget Paul tells us that we are living at the ‘end of the age’ already. (1 Cor. 10:11). And one other point of interest here – to whom did Jesus ‘explain’ this parable to so they would know what is happening? It was to His disciples. (Matt. 13:36-37). To whom...did Daniel say would understand what is happening during this time? “The wise shall understand but the wicked will not understand...as many shall be purified...made white and refined”. (Dan. 12:10). (Anyone catch that word ‘purified’? )

And what do ‘wise’ people do, according to what we read in Matt. 7:24?

Now we know that Jesus came to ‘save us from the wrath of God’. (Rom. 5:9). But in order for us to be saved from God’s wrath, we must repent...and follow Him...or else? (Luke 13:1-5). And to whom does He become the source of eternal life for? Those who...obey Him? (Heb. 5:9)

So when Jesus says: “Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who DO...the will of My father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21) it sounds like He is directing this to a specific type of person...’doers of the word, and not hearers only’. (James 1:22)

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’, and not DO the things which I tell you?” (Luke 6:46)

Which takes me back to what Peter told us how we are ‘purified’...by ‘obeying the truth’.

I will admit to you hear and now...as I was writing this out...turning from one page to another in my Bible...barely able to keep up...I whispered to the Lord...asking Him...’how can I better communicate this so people will see and understand? I know some will raise an eyebrow of skepticism here when I tell you this, but I know I heard Him respond and remind me: “It’s not your responsibility to make anyone see or understand. That’s what I do. Your job is to simply to declare and write what I have already spoken.”

So friends...that is what I have done here today, have been doing, and will continue to do until I am no longer compelled to do so. My prayer and hope is that you will in turn, study this out for yourself...to see if it is truth. (Acts 17:11)