“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4
Picture with me—we are on the Titanic after she has struck the iceberg. And they are trying to figure out who is to go in the lifeboats. Beyond being a woman or a child—how did they decide who was worthy to go into that lifeboat? It wasn’t important if you had money—plenty of rich people drowned. Nor was it important if you had a high position, good looks, talent—so what was the criteria they used to decide if you were worthy to escape, to get into that lifeboat?
This text tells us of those who have already escaped the corruption in the world through what? Lust. . . . And what is lust? Misplaced desire. Wanting anything or anyone too much. It can be something good that you want, but if you want it too much, then it becomes unbalanced—something that will corrupt and even enslave. Of course, the worldly mindset is to not count yourself worthy to escape, but rather run toward the things of self-indulgence—even embrace them—but what do they cause? Did you catch it? Corruption. And then the whole list is given to us—called Peter’s ladder. Just like climbing the rungs of a ladder to get to a lifeboat, we have to climb this ladder, given to us in 2 Peter, in order to know salvation. What happens if you miss a rung on a ladder? You fall, don’t you?
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things 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 1:5–8
Do you notice how temperance comes before patience? How can you be patient, if you have not learned temperance? If you eat the wrong foods, is it easy to keep your temper? When your stomach is upset?
Looking back at my Christian experience, I have known so many brothers and sisters that have not counted themselves worthy, and when the test came—maybe it was over money, maybe the things of the flesh—they didn’t count themselves worthy. Do you know what I am saying?
And of those who have fallen, hardly any have gotten back up again to the fight. It’s just like it says in Hebrews 6: 4–6: “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [Him] to an open shame.”
A friend of mine’s case is really a miracle. For he is finally making his way back, after being so lost in darkness, unbelief, and asking the wrong kind of questions—he didn’t count himself worthy of escaping. But now he is once again finding his place in the lifeboat—praise God.
You see, the test comes on one point, and maybe we pass that one point, but when the test comes to us on another point, then we fail, and fall off the pathway.
Do you remember what Ellen G. White’s first vision was? I think it has much light to communicate to us on this point. Here it is: “While I was praying at the family altar, the Holy Ghost fell upon me, and I seemed to be rising higher and higher, far above the dark world. I turned to look for the Advent people in the world, but could not find them, when a voice said to me, ‘Look again, and look a little higher.’ At this I raised my eyes, and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the Advent people were traveling to the city, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the beginning of the path, which an angel told me was the midnight cry. This light shone all along the path and gave light for their feet so that they might not stumble. If they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe. But soon some grew weary, and said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before.
“Then Jesus would encourage them by raising His glorious right arm, and from His arm came a light which waved over the Advent band, and they shouted, ‘Alleluia!’ Others rashly denied the light behind them and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind them went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and lost sight of the mark and of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below. Soon we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. The living saints, 144,000 in number, knew and understood the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake. When God spoke the time, He poured upon us the Holy Ghost, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God, as Moses’ did when he came down from Mount Sinai.” –Early Writings, p. 14
In another place, she describes how she and the others on the pathway would hear once in a while from below the dance song, or the war song, and some fell off the pathway because they got too interested in those songs. And here is the conclusion that I have chosen for that whole passage that began in our opening text.
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9. The Apostle Peter is saying, “you don’t have to fall; this is your identity—believe it, because this is our high calling, which Jesus has paid an infinite price for us to obtain.
“God gives men the light, but many are filled with a self-sufficient, masterly spirit; and they strive by carrying out their own ideas to reach a height where they will be as God. They place their mind first, as if God must serve with them. Herein lies the danger in this: Unless God shall in some way make these men understand that He is God, and that they are to serve Him, human inventions will be brought in that will lead away from Bible truth, notwithstanding all the cautions that have been given.
“The Lord Jesus will always have a chosen people to serve Him. When the Jewish people rejected Christ, the Prince of life, He took from them the kingdom of God and gave it unto the Gentiles. God will continue to work on this principle with every branch of His work. When a church proves unfaithful to the word of the Lord, whatever their position may be, however high and sacred their calling, the Lord can no longer work with them. Others are then chosen to bear important responsibilities. But, if these in turn do not purify their lives from every wrong action, if they do not establish pure and holy principles in all their borders, then the Lord will grievously afflict and humble them and, unless they repent, will remove them from their place and make them a reproach. . . .
“God is not ‘worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed any thing’ (Acts 17:25). No magnificence of outward display can please God, when the heart is serving idols and the hands are polluted with iniquity. The Holy Spirit will unite with those in the church who, with contrition of heart, will walk humbly with God. To all who look to Him and walk in the footsteps of Christ, He gives sanctification, comfort, and victory over the world. The people of God, His chosen kingdom, are not as a stagnant pool. They are as a river, constantly flowing, and as it advances becoming deeper and wider, until its life-giving waters are spread over all the earth. Whenever the gospel of God is received, its grace heals the maladies that sin has produced. The Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His beams. Light, strength, and refreshing come from the Lord, and the good fruit borne bears witness to a work of righteousness.” –The Upward Look, p. 131
This same principle works on the level of a whole church, family, individual—whatever—do you see? What is the key principle that we must make sure we take to heart? “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Proverbs 4:18. Light is progressive and we must keep pace with the light. We cannot afford to ever rest on our laurels, for this could be deadly. The moment we stop following the increasing light that is marching on, we start to go backward, even though we may not know it. God’s people are to continually be following and keeping pace with the light, world without end. Even in heaven, the 144,000 will continually be following the light and even be part of the light as they accompany Christ wherever He goes.
“But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” Isaiah 45: 17
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20–21
The righteous will be counted worthy to escape all of the corruption in the world, even to the end of the world. Indeed, Christ has promised to be with His people even to the end of the world—and He will be with the righteous throughout all eternity. Those who have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust will be counted worthy to walk with Him in white.
God’s people are not to be a stagnant pool—how and why? What makes a pool stagnant? The water just sits there, it perhaps has an inlet, but has no outlet. Just like the DEAD Sea. Why is it dead? It only has an inlet, but no outlet. But the Sea of Galilee has an inlet and an outlet—that is why it is a fresh body of water.
Do you remember our original question—what criteria did they use to determine who would get on those lifeboats on the Titanic—what do you think? If you had a good reason to survive—your human relationships (for example, one rich man grabbed a poor, apparently abandoned child and said that she only had him in the world), or if that lifeboat needed you—for example, someone to row, someone to balance out the boat, etc. (though many of the lifeboats were only half-full when they were launched). And how many want to get into the light of the truth? How many empty seats are there out there in your church every Sabbath? Now of course, we cannot use this as an excuse to not witness and not give others the opportunity to respond to truth and righteousness, or say that the people are not coming because of this, when the cause may be something in you or I.
How is the spiritual lifeboat that we have to get into any different? If we have a right relationship with Eternity, with our heavenly Father, then we will have a place in the boat of His choosing. Do you know and feel His love? Do you share that love with others? Those are the questions that He will be asking so that He can tell if you will be counted worthy. Are you helping others into the boat, making sure that you keep the boat balanced, etc.? May you and I be counted worthy to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust, is my prayer.
Jerry Eaton