If you would turn with me in
your Bible this morning to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. We'll begin
in verse 1. While you're turning, let me
remind you that last week we talked a great deal about one
word. You remember what it was? It's a word that very much belongs
to God. in the matter of the sinner's
salvation, and that word was made. M-A-D-E. What God made Christ to be for
me, and what He made me to be in Christ. Christ was made to
be sin, and I was made the righteousness of God in Him. what a marvelous
word made is. It is to a believer. Now this morning, I have another
single word for you. Gave, G-A-V-E. Other forms of the word gave
or give and given, as you know, which also translate, interesting
enough, from the same Greek word pronounced didomi, It means to
impart, it means to pass on. It means to make known, to bestow. It means to freely transfer the
possession of something to someone. It means to freely devote, set
aside, sacrifice for a purpose. It means to cause and allow someone
to have something. We all know what the word give
and gave means. To provide with or supply, to
cause and produce. And the word gave in the past
tense is the verb give. The scripture talks a great,
great deal about what the Lord gave and what the Lord gives. This is important. No, it's crucial. Matter of fact, it's life and
death urgent. The more I study the scriptures,
the more I hear the gospel preached by capable men, I clearly see
that men and women have absolutely nothing to do, contribute, offer,
lend, add, or give in order for God to save them. Nothing. So it shouldn't be any surprise
to us that God gets all the glory. And this is why he does. We did
and do all the sinning and God did and does all the saving. You know, that's could be a cute
little slogan, but it's the gospel is what it is. Salvation was
given to us. For no reason apart from the
fact that God wanted to, that God wanted to save some, He did
so. Matter of fact, the scriptures
are clear. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He. The Lord does what He wants to.
And He wanted to have mercy on some. And He wanted to have compassion
on some. And He wanted to harden some. He has the right to do what He
will with His own, and we all belong to Him. Even the unbeliever
belongs to Him as a matter of creation. Man, the creature,
creation as a whole, deserves no reason for God to explain
His actions to them apart from just that. Let me quote it to
you again. This is what God said concerning
Himself. It's found in Isaiah chapter
14, verse 24. The Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Now what are we gonna
do with that? Let me tell you what we better
do. We better bow to it. It's the only explanation that
the Lord God of heaven and earth gives. And He only gave that
because He was pleased to give it. You're going to hear those
words a lot today. Give and gave. When are men and
women ever going to learn that salvation is of the Lord? And
I don't say that mean-spiritedly. I ask it in
sincerity. There are many who still struggle
with the notion that they themselves have to add something to what
Christ has done in order to be accepted. There's no justification
for that at all in the Scriptures. That's why many today don't have
any confidence or assurance that they're saved. You'd be amazed
how many people who claim to believe and have sat under the
gospel for years still struggle with assurance and confidence
that God has saved them. And why? Because they look within
to find something worthy of salvation within them. You won't find it. You're not going to find it. I tried. Couldn't find it. It only brought more despair.
More unassurance, if that's a word. Lack of assurance. Lack of confidence. You see, we've got to look to
the one who freely gives it. What shall we then say to these
things? If God before us who can be against
us, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Now that wasn't written to the
whole world, that was written to believers. Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."
The psalmist wrote, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto Thy Name give glory. Have you ever stopped to consider
why? He tells us right there in the same verse, for His mercy
and His true sake. All mercy is His to give. All truth is His to reveal. If
God doesn't save us, we won't be saved. Did you hear me? If God doesn't save us by His
mercy and grace, we won't be saved. Now there are two vital
points that are of great interest to believers, to safe sinners,
and that's faith and life. And these two things possess
an intimate connection. They're so intertwined that they
can't be severed and separated. God has joined them together
forever. And it's certain death to seek
one of them without the other. Faith and life. No life. apart from faith, and there's
no faith apart from life. Faith in Christ is the foundation
of life, and life in Christ is given by faith in Christ, and
both faith and life are given in Christ. How are believers
saved? You know. For by grace are you
saved through faith. How do you obtain this faith?
It's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. In other words,
God has to give you the faith and the life through His grace
alone. Now here in our text, 2 Peter
1, verse 1 reads, Simon Peter, A servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ. Who's this written to? To them
that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Now here Peter tells us the origin
of faith. And then he gives us the origin
of everlasting life. They go together. I'll give you
a hint. The origin and the source of
both are the same. They both come from the same
place. They both come from the same One. So, first we have a
description of faith's source. He says here, to them that have
obtained, like precious faith. Faith is something that we obtain.
It's not something we create. It's not something that we dig
down deep inside to find Get it out somehow or another. It's
obtained. Faith does not grow in men and
women's hearts by nature. It's obtained. It's something
acquired. It's something that we come in
possession of. How do we obtain it? How do we
acquire? How do we come in possession
of faith? Well, it didn't come by education. I know a lot of
smart men and women that don't know this. Brilliant. It didn't come by excellent instruction
from our parents. My father gave me some priceless
advice, but he didn't give me this. It's obtained from outside of
us. Something from outside of us.
You know, only evil can be obtained within us. Sin's what we are,
and all that comes forth out of us is sin. Sinful evil. It doesn't come by imitation,
by imitating. It comes by regeneration. It
doesn't come by personal development. It comes by divine conversion. We just quoted it, faith is not
of ourselves. What is it? It's the gift of
God. It has to be given to us by God.
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but that
heart must first of all be renewed by divine grace before it can
ever be capable of the act of saving faith." God's got to give
us life in order to give us faith. And He's got to give us faith
in order to give us life. But which came first? It doesn't
matter. God's got to give it. Faith is God's gift. It's a gift
given. I've said it time and time again.
You don't purchase a gift for yourself. Now you might, but
it would cease to be a gift. And I heard someone say not long
ago, for their birthday, they got themselves a gift. Well, if you did, it wasn't a
gift. It wasn't. I'm not trying to
be funny. It's the truth. A gift is something given willingly
to someone without payment. If you got yourself a gift, you
paid for it. God is the giver of every gift. Christ is the foundation of all
blessings. He's the only Savior of sinners.
Faith is to believe that Christ is more than a great prophet.
Faith is to believe that Christ is more than a great teacher.
True faith is to believe that Jesus Christ is God. He's divine. He's the giver of all good gifts.
Every good and perfect gift falleth from the Father, the Father of
lights, in whom is no variableness or shadow of turning. Christ
is God the Son and the Son of God. He's the brightness of God's
glory. He's the express image of His
person. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. That's who we're talking about
here, the giver. He purged our sins by Himself.
He's Emmanuel, God with us. And listen, no allowance, none,
is going to be given to those who receive someone great but
rejects Him as a just God and Savior. You can say it till you're
blue in the face, Jesus Lord's a great prophet, Jesus Christ
did this, Jesus Christ did that, but if you don't bow to Him as
Lord and God, you're gonna be lost. You must be seen as the
divine one who has the will and ability to save whom He will.
You know, I could tell you, I'm gonna save you. I don't have
any power to save. But He does, so it's His gift
to give. Now He's either divine or He's
a villain. I cannot imagine one so vile
that they would come into this world and cause His followers
to adore Him as God and the Savior if He wasn't. That would be the
deceiver of the worst kind, wouldn't it? trusting in a false savior and
losing life, being condemned. If Jesus Christ is not who he
claims to be, then he's the biggest and the vilest deceiver that's
ever lived. But he is very God, a very God,
the scripture says. How do we know? Because God has
given His people precious faith. And how precious is it? My, it's
so precious that we would believe this. His Spirit bears witness
with our spirit, what? That we are the sons of God.
You know, someone said, how do you know you're a believer? I
just know. His Spirit bears witness with my spirit, Steve, that I'm
a son of God. God has given me precious faith. Look again at verse 1. To them
that have obtained, obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. How
did we obtain it? Through His righteousness. The believer's faith rests in
the righteousness of God through Christ's imputed righteousness
to us. It does not say that our faith
is the teaching of God, our Savior. It does not say that our faith
is in the character of God, our Savior. It doesn't even say that
our faith is in the love of God, our Savior, even though God's
love was the cause of him giving Salvation in Christ. Our text,
however, does say that we've obtained like precious faith
through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Last week, as I said, we saw
that Christ was made sin for us. We saw that Christ made us
righteous before God. That's my acceptance before God.
God's given me the faith to know that that's so. And this faith
that God gives us, it is precious. It deals with precious things.
It promises precious things. It speaks of precious blood. It claims a precious redemption. It concerns a precious person. unto you therefore which believe
He, Christ, is precious. Is He precious to you? Look at
verse two. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. You cannot believe in something
or someone that you don't know. You just can't. You can't trust
in one you don't know. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. You can't know, you can't trust
in one you don't know. But eternal life is knowing the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. And you
know, When it says they're the only true God, that's put there
to distinguish the true God, the only true God, from the God
that so many today preach. Not the same God. Not the same
God. Not long ago, an acquaintance
of ours asked Teresa to come hear her husband preach. And
Teresa said, no, sorry, I can't. She said, well, why can't you?
You know, Teresa, he doesn't preach the same God. That took
boldness. That took boldness. But it's
the truth. He doesn't preach the same God.
I'm not interested in hearing anyone lie on God. Verse 3, according as His divine
power hath given unto us. What things? All things that
pertain unto life and godliness. How? Through the knowledge of
Him that had called you to glory and virtue. Here's the fountain and source
of spiritual life. Not only is faith given, but
eternal life is also given. They go hand in hand. Are you shut up to the mercy
and grace of God? Does God have mercy on whom we
will? Or does God have mercy on whom
He will? You know, most people think that
God has mercy on whom we will. But that's not true. Does our
love for God cause Him to love us? No. We love Him because He first
loved us. Our gospel is simple. It's very
simple. Yet it's profound. You know,
there's a difference between simple and profound. It's simple
to understand. The Gospel is simple to understand,
but it's broad and it's wide and it's great and it's intense.
It's profound. It's easily understood, but it
shows great depth and knowledge and insight. A small child can
understand the principle of substitution, But it can only be believed with
God-given faith, simple yet profound. Simple that God gives us what
we cannot ourselves obtain, and yet God's gift is so profound
that He would give eternal life to one as unworthy as we are.
Isn't that profound? Paul said it's a faithful saying
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came to the world
to save sinners. And then he paused for a second
and said, of whom I am chief. That's profound. And that's why it's so precious.
Only a giving and loving God would give it. And I might add,
only a giving and loving God could give it. the God of the
Bible to the likes of such as you and I. Keeps getting better. Verse four, whereby are given
unto us, unto who? Us. Who did he say us was in
the first? Those that have obtained like
precious faith. It's given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers,
now look at this, of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. How do we obtain these
great and precious promises? How do we escape the corruption
that is in the world and in us by our lust? We gotta be giving it. It's gotta
be given to us. We're giving something. What
are we giving? What do we become partakers of? The divine nature
of God. That's so profound. You tell
me that's not profound. That's profound. What are these
great and precious promises that we're giving? Well, there's too
many for us to cover. But, We're going to consider
some. You know, one day the Lord's
disciples came to Him and asked Him, they said, why speakest
thou unto the multitudes in parables? And the Lord said, because it
is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it's not given. That's so simple and yet so profound. Why would God give it to one
and not another? It's His prerogative. In other
words, only spiritual eyes perceive. And only spiritual ears understand. It's the Lord's prerogative to
give these eyes and ears. So we must deduct that only God
can cause men and women to perceive and understand the gospel. Salvations
of the Lord. John the Baptist's disciples
came to him one day. And they said, Brother John,
this Jesus of Nazareth, which was with you at the Jordan River,
the one that you pointed to and said, Behold the Lamb of God,
He's baptizing everyone that comes to Him. And in other words,
What they were saying was, he's about to put us out of business.
You know, we're in the baptizing business, and he's about to put
us out of business. And John answered and said, a
man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Don't worry about it, disciples. God gave him this. This is his. I was just, I was just brought
into the world to point men to Him. The Lord asked that Samaritan woman
at the well. She just so happened to be there.
She was the only one at that well. It was ordained before the foundation
of the world that day, that hour, At that very moment, she was
going to be at that whale. And that's why the Lord Jesus
said, I must need to go through Samaria. Why? Because there's
a woman sitting at the whale. She, I must bring. She's one
of those sheep that I must bring. And she, the Lord asked her for
a drink of water. And she said, how is it that
thou being a Jew asked this drink of me, which I'm a woman of Samaria,
for the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans, self-righteous,
arrogant Jews. That's what she was saying. And
the Lord said unto her, if you knew the gift of God and who
it is that says unto you, give me a drink, you would have asked
of him and he would have given You living water. None else can give this water
of life. Jesus Christ is the water of
life. And salvation is Him giving Himself
to us. For us and to us. The Lord Jesus
stood one day and declared Himself to be the true bread from heaven.
He said, I am the true bread that came down from heaven. I'm
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger and shall never thirst. But you've seen me and believed
not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. But since you won't come and
since you won't believe, the Father didn't give you to me. He said in another place, you're
not of my sheep. But all that do come to me, I
will in no wise cast out, he said. For this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, now listen, that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. Friends, there's no one in hell for whom Christ died.
I don't know why people can actually believe that Christ died for
everyone and more than the majority of them are going to wind up
in hell anyway. That's ridiculous. No one in hell for whom Christ
died. To say that Christ died for one who can still be lost
and perish is to say that Jesus Christ is the biggest failure
and liar that ever lived. but He's neither. And this is
the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the
Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I
will raise Him up the last day." I'll give unto Him life, and
He'll raise. Definite. Sure. For certain. But many argue, but a man has
to come to be saved, isn't that right? Well, he sure doesn't
have to come to the front He doesn't have to come to the altar.
He's got to come. But the Lord said, Therefore
said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were
given unto him of My Father. What about all the promises our
Lord gave in His high priestly prayer in John 17? Look there
with me. John chapter 17. My, my. You know, I was thinking as I
read through this, A week or two ago, we looked at the them
and the these and all that are found in John 17 to show who
it was that the Lord Jesus prayed for. And I was just thinking
as I read through John 17 again this week, that we could preach
for years out of John 17 and never come close to exhausting
what's in that glorious chapter of the Lord's high priestly prayer.
John 17, verse 2, Christ promised, as thou, speaking of God the
Father, has given Him, speaking of God the Son, given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given Him. It's all about giving. Where
there it doesn't say we give anything. Who's the first cause
of salvation? Don't you say man. God is. Look at verse six. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now don't read over that verse
too quickly. The Lord said I've manifested
your name, Father, to the men, not that you gave to me, but
to the men you gave me to." A big difference. Jesus Christ is God's
gift to us. Right? Isn't that what it says?
Not that you gave to me, but to the men thou gave me to. Look
at verse 8, the Lord said, For I have given unto them the words
which thou gavest Me. This is a chain here. God gives
to Christ, Christ gives to us. God gives to Christ, Christ gives
to us. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest Me, and they have received them, and
they have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send Me. Verse 9. Here the Lord Jesus
is praying. He's not praying for the whole
world. He's praying for those that the Father gave Him. I pray
for them. Them. I pray not for the world,
but for them which Thou hast given Me. For they are Thine. Verse 11. And now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to Thee,
Holy Father, through thine own name, those whom thou hast given
me, that they may be one as we're one." The Lord promised that
we would be kept and that we'd be one with Him. What a promise
that is. To be one with God the Son. My, my. He and His Father are
one, and when we're in Him, we're one with them. What a promise
that is. But these promises don't stop
there. Verse 14, I've given them Thy Word. And the world hath
hated them, because they're not of the world, even as I'm not
of the world. If we are to hear, understand, rejoice in, and believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's going to have to give us His
Word. The reason this word, this Bible, is effectual to you, and
not to someone else that reads it, is that God gave it to you. He gave you to understand. We don't figure it out on our
own. God reveals, God gives it to us. And what a precious promise. Without God giving us His Word,
which is the very means of redemption, none of us would ever be saved. Thank God for the giving of His
Word. Look down at verse 22. And the
glory which thou gavest me, glory, the glory that thou gavest me,
I have given them. that they may be one even as
we are one." Friends, being one with Christ is our glory. We don't have any glory in and
of ourselves. Being in Him, one with Him, is our glory. There's
no glory apart from being in Christ. There's no glory apart
from being one with Him. The child of God is as sure for
Heaven's glory as Christ is already there. That's right. Verse 24, Father, I will that
they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. Have I told you
yet that I love that word give? I love that word gave. I love
that word give. And you know there's another
word that's often attached to each of those words that I love
just as much, and it's that word freely. Oh, I like free. I do, I love it. The word freely
means without a cause. God freely gives His people salvation
without a cause, for no reason other than He wanted to, that
He was pleased. Freely given. Freely gave. It's a free gift. When you don't have anything
to buy with, free is good. People are standing in line for
hours to get something free. That is for everything but salvation. They won't stand in line for
that. Because they desire themselves to do something. Okay, stay with
me, I'm almost done. Now, we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 1 Corinthians 2. It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, and I will give unto him that is athirst the
fountains of the water of life freely. but not as the offense,
so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one, many be dead, much more through the grace of God and
the gift of grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded
unto many." Romans 5.15. For God so loved the world, His
people out of the world, every kind of people in the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What a
promise that is! I once heard that a wise person
values not so much the gift of their lover as the love of the
giver. Let me say that again, because
this is good. A wise person values not so much the gift of their
lover as the love of their giver. But with the child of God, Christ
is the lover, Christ is the giver, and Christ is the gift. Thank God for His unspeakable
gift. It's His to give. And He gave
it to some, and the question is, are you one of those? Your love, worship, and dedication
for Him will in the end prove it to be so or not so. We don't serve God in order to
be saved. We serve God because we are saved.
May God be pleased to make it so.