Thank you, Church. It's been
an honor for me and a delight to be here. As I mentioned the
other night, it's been a long, long time. I count it a privilege and appreciate
you inviting me to come. I've enjoyed these services so
much. The food, ladies, I thank you. I know you ladies did all the
cooking, you men may have helped them carry it in, but that's
about all you did. We just eat it. We just eat it, don't we,
fellas? But I appreciate it so very much. I pastor a little church in Sylacauga,
Alabama. After I had been there a few
months, my pastor, Mr. Fortner, I still consider him
my pastor, he called me. And he said, how's the bishop
of Buzzard's Roost doing? I said, charming, charming. What
are you talking about, Buzzard's Roost? He said, that's what the
word means, Sylacauga. I said, come on, Fortner. He
said, you asked the folks there. He was right. I'd just assume you not spread
that around. Larry Chris sounds pretty good
next to that. But if you're ever in the area,
please come by. We'll have a conference, Lord
willing, the last weekend in September. You're welcome, though,
any time, especially you, brother, but all of you. Will you turn
with me this morning to 2 Peter, chapter one, 2 Peter, chapter
one. And pray for me. As that brother, Brother Neil,
said. Pray that God would be pleased
to bless his word because I can't preach, I can't preach. Without. His blessing in his presence. I'd like to read the first four
verses here in Second Peter. Chapter one. Simon, Peter. a servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith. With us,
through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ,
grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power
hath given us all things that pertain unto life and through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue,
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." In
Peter's two epistles, he speaks of six things as being precious. precious things, that is rare,
of great value. And nothing, nothing in this
world, nothing that this world considers to be of great value
and rare, the riches of the world, the fleeting fame of this world,
they're all wells from which people drink and find, sadly,
too late, many of them, that they thirst again, thirst again. Oh, but these precious things
that Peter mentions, money cannot buy. And how thankful, how thankful
I am that God has been pleased to grant unto his people these
precious things. In chapter one of his first epistle,
Peter speaks in verse seven of the trial of faith being much
more precious than gold. Gold will perish, but true faith
never will, never will. Faith cannot be destroyed, cannot
be destroyed. Trials don't produce faith, but
they reveal faith. Remember what our Lord said to
Peter, the devil have desired to have you, Peter, that he might
sift you as wheat. But I pray for thee that thy
faith fail not." And Peter never quit believing. Yes, he tried
to convince the enemies of the Lord that he didn't know Jesus
Christ. He tried by cursing and swearing
and oaths that he knew not this man. But even in the midst of
all that, Peter never quit believing. He couldn't. He couldn't. Oh,
precious gift. And then in verse 19 of 1 Peter
1, we're told that we were not redeemed with corruptible things
as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Precious blood. True believers
were redeemed with that precious blood. of the spotless Lamb of
God, that blood that redeems them from all iniquity, that
blood that made atonement for our sins, that blood that satisfied
completely forever the eternal justice of our eternal God, satisfied
forever. I used to have a Brother in the
church I pastored for a few years, many years ago in Anstead, West
Virginia, Waldo Arthur. If I would call upon him to pray
as we observed the Lord's Supper, he would say, concerning the
sacrifice of our Lord, he would say, Father, thank you for the
blood of Christ, his sacrifice on the behalf of his people.
We feast on it, he said. And Father, you feast on it and
both are satisfied. Both are satisfied. The precious
blood of Jesus Christ cleansed us from all sin and it was never
shed in vain. It was not wasted. Oh, precious
is the flow. What else can do this? What else? Not the labors of my hands. What
else can do this? Oh, precious is the flow that
makes this center white as snow before God Almighty. Precious, precious blood of Christ. In chapter 2 of 1 Peter, he speaks
of Christ the chief cornerstone in verses 4 and 6, the only foundation
of the church. And then in verse 7 of the same
chapter he says, unto you therefore which believe, you which believe,
he is precious. The word could very well have
been translated, he is the preciousness. He is preciousness itself, is
he not? Is he not? And then in verse
4 of 2 Peter chapter 1, He speaks of all God's promises given to
his people in Christ as precious promises. But that brings us
to our text. In verse 1 of 2 Peter, chapter
1, precious faith. To them that have obtained like
precious faith. That's not everybody. That's
not everybody. Peter's not speaking of everybody. And I know, I know. that the
popular notion in our religious day is that anyone who professes
faith, anyone who professes rather to believe in God is a Christian.
They're a Christian. Doesn't make a difference whether
they're a Mormon or a Baptist or a Catholic. They're all Christians. If you were raised in a church,
you're a Christian we're told. If you had believing parents,
then you're a Christian. If you were sprinkled as a baby
or dedicated, you're a Christian. Not according to God's word.
This must be a strange God indeed that accepts all these various
and contrary things. What a strange God he must be
to accept all that. I remember years ago watching
an episode of the Twilight Zone. And there was one segment that
I watched where there was an alien, alien come to earth. And everyone that saw him didn't
actually see him, but whatever they wanted him to be, that's
what he appeared to be. A father that lost his son looked
at this alien and saw his son. Or a wife, her husband. Whatever they wanted him to be,
so he was. And in this religious day, it
seems like people have the deceived concept that whatever they want
Jesus Christ to be, that's what he is. I want him to heal all
my ailments, that's what he is. And preachers tell them so. I
want a Redeemer, a Savior. that will make me healthy and
wealthy. And men all over our land, all
over this world, are making themselves wealthy by telling that lie,
by making merchandise of poor souls. No, that's not faith. That's not genuine faith. It
doesn't require, as Brother Neal said a moment ago, and Martin, Salvation is a miracle. It's a miracle of our wonder-working
God. A greater miracle. Now think
of this. A greater miracle than when our
God, the great God with whom we had to do, created the heavens
and the earth. In the beginning, what? Smart people today say, in the
beginning, ask them. Ask the wise men, the philosophers,
the scientists. What's your explanation of all
this? Well, eons and eons ago, there
was an organism, something, stuck in the mud, stuck there for millions
of years. And then he did a double back
flip and landed up on dry ground and lay there another billion
years. And then he grew some legs and voila, here we are.
So smart. So intelligent. Oh, no. In the
beginning, God. God. The wonder working. That God that has his will all
the time, everywhere. In the beginning, God created. the heavens and the earth, and
it exists because he created it and maintains it. What a miracle! But a greater
miracle is that wondrous work of his marvelous grace by which
he comes to a sinner, a helpless dead. Dead, you don't get much
more help. And trespasses and sins and says,
live. Live. And Marvin, that dead sinner,
wakes up from his spiritual death. And for the first time in his
life, he says, man, I'm lost. I'm lost. He's made aware, he
has some idea of who he is. The sinner. It's no longer, he no longer says, well, I'm
not as bad as my neighbor. Oh no, he says, I'm worse than
my neighbor. I'm the sinner. And for the first time in his
life, the cry of his heart is, how can I be just with God? What happened to that man? God
came to him. God woke him up. And God doesn't
leave him there, does he? As old Newton wrote, it was grace
that taught my heart to fear. I didn't think it was grace at
the time, did you? This is gracious? I'm lost. I'm undone. I'm going to stand
before a holy God. I can't save myself. If he doesn't
save me, I'm going to go to hell. I'm aware of that, and you tell
me it's grace that's made me thus aware? Absolutely. Oh, but bless his name. As old Newton wrote, he didn't
stop there, did he? It was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace My fears were lifted. Child of God, can you remember
how precious that grace appeared the hour you first believed?
Remember? Remember how precious it was? How glorious He was in your sight
when He came to you and said, which are many, are all forgiven
thee." They're all gone. Oh, precious, precious faith. Multitudes of professing Christians
have experienced no more than walking an aisle, making their
decision, and are told that's faith, if not so. There was a
man, I don't know if he's still around, I hope not, but some
years ago, Jack, Jack Howes, I think he pastored a church
in Hammond, Indiana, the biggest church or one of those mega places.
And he wrote a book entitled, Let's Go Soul Winning. The whole
essence of the book was to show how simple it was to be saved. He'd get on an elevator with
someone, say, are you going up too? Yeah. Well, I'm going up
too. Before they get to the floor
they were going to, as he put it, he got them saved. Did the
same thing coming down. He would sneak up on people's
blind side and get them saved without them even knowing it.
Read the book. I had it. I was in a church that
used it. But it's not so. It's not so. It requires so much more than
that. That salvation by which God raises
a sinner from death to life and keeps him by the power of God
and brings him, as the great shepherd said he does, upon the
shoulders of his omnipotent grace, brings him all the way home. All the way to the Father's house. That requires God's mighty grace. It took a miracle to raise Lazarus
from the dead, did it not? If he who is the resurrection
and the life, the Lord Jesus, hadn't came to Bethany, hadn't
came to the tomb, Lazarus would have never been raised. A sinner
must hear his voice, not the preacher's, but the voice of
the Lord Jesus Christ Only He can give life and bless His name,
He does. He does, does He not? You have
He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Thank God for that salvation,
which is by grace alone. That's the only help there is
for me. What about you? I don't have any other hope if
salvation not be all of grace. The grace of God. There was an
editor in London. a publisher and editor of books.
Soon after Mr. Spurgeon died, just a few months
after the death of Mr. Spurgeon, this man wrote, Mr. Spurgeon always made salvation
a wonderful, supernatural thing. This great and hard-won salvation
was sure. It did not stand in the creature.
It rested absolutely with God. Such was good news, the needy
sinners, and so it is. So it is precious faith, a gift
of God, Peter writes. You obtained like precious faith,
faith of precious gift, consider that, and then the object of
faith, and then the outcome of faith. Peter speaks of faith
as obtained. You who have obtained like precious
faith. How is it obtained? How can faith
be mine? We're told in Ephesians 2, it's
the gift of God's grace. For by grace are ye saved through
faith. Anything more important than
that? This is how sinners come to Christ. Not physically. Not physically. That's why here and in all churches
where the Gospel is preached, They don't have an altar. I was
in a store not long ago in Sylacauga, where I live, and was purchasing
something, and I invited the ladies to church. Where do you
go? And I told her, she said, I went there one time. That's
a strange place. She said, they didn't have an
altar. She said, I never went by. Why don't you have an altar?
I said, we don't sacrifice animals. We don't need an altar. And she
just looked at me like Brother Donny Vail would say. She looked
at me like a calf looking at a new gate. Just didn't have
a clue. Didn't have a clue. No, no. Faith
is not something you'd rather come into Christ. It's not something
you do with your feet. No, it's spiritual. Savingly,
men come to Christ by faith. Remember that multitude that
our Lord fed and then He left and they followed Him across
the sea? They found him, and he began in John 6 to tell them
some things. They said, oh, we don't need
to hear that. We got hungry, and we wanted to be fed again,
but this thing about sovereignty, about sovereignty, no, you're
saying we didn't really come to you? That no man can really
come to you except if we're given him by the Father? We don't need
to hear that, and turned around and walked off. And he looked
at the disciples and said, you want to go with them? Do you
want to go with them? Do you want to go away? Oh, what a blessing. Can you
say with Peter, oh, child of God, I know you can. With Peter,
we can say, Lord, we don't have any place else to go. Don't have any place else to
go. Don't want to go. Can't go. You're the one that
has the words of eternal life, and we are sure. We're convinced. You're the Christ, the Son of
the living God. We come through faith by grace
to Him. Not through the church or the
Lord's Supper or baptism. No. He gives blind sinners sight. He gives them faith. And then
he says, look, look, look unto me and be ye saved. Oh my soul, what a precious,
precious gift. The precious blood of Christ.
How do I know? How can I know that Christ shed
his blood for me? How can I know that? How can
I know that He bore my sins on the cross. How can I know that? And the answer is this. The only
way to know. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll know. You'll know. Believe on Him. Come to Him. Rest everything upon Him. Just
fall down on Him. and thou shalt be saved." The
faith God gives is not in yourself. It doesn't originate with me,
and it's not maintained by me. It's the operation of God himself. Faith is a divine revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ that only God can give. Whom do men
say that I am? He asked his disciples on another
occasion. What's the popular opinion concerning
me? Well, some say you're Elijah,
one of the prophets. Some are saying you're John the
Baptist, risen again from the dead. And our Lord said, enough
of that. Who am I to you? Who am I to you, Cody Henson? Am I more to you than the popular
opinion is? And again, it was Peter. He spoke
for the rest. And he said, You're the Christ,
the Son of the living God. My brothers and sisters in Christ,
you sat here this morning, and God's given you faith in His
Son. He opened your blinded eyes to
behold His Son. You are a blessed individual.
You are a blessed individual. And that's what he told Simon,
didn't he? Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood have not revealed this unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven. And then there is faith's precious
object, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Faith enables sinners. This precious gift of God's grace
enable sinners to behold Him. Nothing is precious as that to
a helpless, needy sinner. Nothing. This rebel standing
before you, a trophy of God's grace, will be forever a debtor
to that precious gift by which He enabled me to behold His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I will sing his praises throughout
eternity for his precious gift. I was watching the evening news
not long ago. I think it was in India. There
were scores and scores, hundreds of people that were suffering
from cataracts, were blinded, and a surgeon from
America went over there. And the news went out that he
was there to perform surgery on these people and they lined
up. It was on the Eden News. They just lined up. It really
didn't take him long, a matter of minutes to perform it. And
these people couldn't speak his language. But when the bandage
was removed and they saw him, they just laughed. and cried
and took his face in their hands. And I knew what they were saying. I didn't understand it all, but
I knew. They were saying, thank you. Thank you. They were blind,
but now we see. They were full of gratitude.
And oh, thank you, God. Thank you, great Father of mercy. That you've opened this sinner's
eyes to behold the greatest wonder this world has never seen. And that's the Son of God, the
only Savior for sinners. I see Him. I know Him. Oh, what a blessing of God's
amazing grace. He's the object of faith. God
the Father entrusted everything into His hands, didn't He? Everything. He committed everything into
the hands of His Son. The keeping and honoring of His
law, into the hands of His Son. The satisfying of justice, into
the hands of His Son. His will, into the hands of His
Son. I come to do Thy will, O God. The very honor and glory of God
Almighty. committed into the hands of God's
Son. God trusted everything to Christ,
His Son. I believe that He's able to keep
whatever I trust Him with, don't you? I believe He's able to keep
me, as Paul said, He will keep me in life and He will keep me
in death and He will stand for me at the judgment. He'll stand for me and with me. Cody knows about this place in
Danville, Kentucky, Danville Country Club golf course. I like
to play golf occasionally or attempt to do it. And this is
a private club. I wasn't a member when I lived
there. I could play the public courses. They let anybody on.
But the private club, I couldn't play. But Lindsey Campbell was
a member. And one time I went with him and a bunch of other
fellas as a part of his family reunion. And someone asked me
when I was there at the clubhouse before we teed off, who are you?
I said, I'm with Lindsey Campbell. I'm with him. I've got a right
to be here. I'm here because he's a member. Marvin, when I stood before the
throne of God Almighty, I will be with Christ. I will
be with Him. And the Scripture says He's given
us a right. He's given us a right to be there. Every redeemed sinner has a right,
is me, is fit to enter in through the gates into the city and stand
before Him. John in Revelation said, Behold,
a lamb stood on the Mount Zion. Oh, in glorious, reigning, sovereign
majesty, a lamb stood on the Mount Zion. And with Him, with
Him, He's not alone. With Him, the 144,000, not one
less, not one more. But that number that represents
all His elect, All that God the Father put in his hands before
he ever created the world, all those he entrusted into the hands
of the great shepherd of the sheep, and he said, Father, in
the fullness of time, I'll go. I'll go. I'll become likened
to my brethren. I'll be made of a woman and made
under your holy law. I will do all that's necessary,
all that you require. I'll do it." And bless His holy
name, He did. And He said, Father, I will bring
them all the way back to You. I will bring them all the way
to Golan. And in that day, the Great Shepherd
of the Sheep shall stand before the Father and say, All the children
that You gave Me, they're all here. All You entrusted unto
Me, they're all here. And my soul, look at them. Look
at them. Cody, there's not a spot or a
blemish. There's no evidence that they
were ever sinners. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What a Savior. Last of all, the
result of this precious faith, it beholds the Lamb of God, this
whole, free, eternal salvation that's ours by faith. would be
pleased to grant this precious gift of faith, this revelation
of Christ to any here this morning that know Him not. Oh, what a
wonder! What a miracle! You'll never
see a sight like it. To behold the Lamb of God. Paul wrote in Romans 10, For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. A fellow told me one time, He
said, you can't preach from that text. I said, excuse me? He said, you can't preach from
that text. I said, well, why not? I intend to. I have before
and I will again. He said, you can't because you
believe election. Oops. It kind of has a way of
slipping out, doesn't it? Yeah. Is that right? I said, I sure do. I confess,
I believe what God does, he does on purpose. And he thought, well,
if you believe one, you can't believe the other. Oh, it's the
very fact. It's not a reason that the promise
is uncertain. It's the reason that the promise
is sure. Because God has purposed to save sinners. God has determined
to have mercy, that whosoever calls upon him shall be saved. And when they do so, they'll
know they were one of God's elect. There's never been one who believed
on Christ who wasn't saved. God's own truth is at stake if
he's not. His throne must be forsaken before
one sinner that ever comes to Christ should be cast out. It
won't happen. It won't happen. It never has
and it never will. Old John Bunyan, when God had
stripped him and he was seeking mercy and thinking, how can he
have mercy on old John Bunyan? This rebel, this sinner, how
can the God of heaven have mercy on me? And John Bunyan said,
so far was he from rejecting me when I came to his son? He said, oh, no. There was rejoicing
in heaven. when John Bunyan came home. And
that's what our Lord said. There's rejoicing in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that repented. Oh, precious, precious faith. Precious faith in a precious,
precious redeemer. Thank God if he's granted it
to you. And if he hasn't, pray. Pray this day. If you're here
and you don't know Christ, he delights to show mercy. He delights
to show mercy. He came in this world to save
sinners, save sinners. All of his people are sinners
saved by grace. Mr. Spurgeon, let me close by
quoting from a message he preached. He told the story about someone
who had given Roland Hill a hundred pounds to give to a poor preacher. But the giver of this gift said,
just send him five pounds at a time. Just mail him, don't
tell him who it's from, but just send it to him five pounds at
a time. And that's what he did. He would mail it to him five
pounds at a time. Mr. Scroggins said, Mr. Hill
forwarded five pounds in a letter with only those words within
the envelope, more to follow, more to follow. In a few days'
time, the good man received another letter. The second message contained
another five pounds with the same words, more to follow. Until the whole sum had been
received, the astonished minister was made familiar with the cheering
words, more to follow. that comes from God is sent with
the same message, more to follow. I forgive you your sin, but there's
more to follow. I justify you in the righteousness
of Christ, but there's more to follow. I give you grace upon
grace, but there's more to follow. I've helped you even to old age,
but there's more to follow. Listen to this, my brothers and
sisters. I will uphold you in the hour
of death, and as you're passing into the world of spirit, my
mercy will continue with you. And when you land in the world
to come, there shall still be more to follow." They, all those who have obtained
like precious shall see his face. What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see and I look into the face of the one who
saved me by his grace. What a day, glorious day that
will be. God bless you. Thank you for your time.