My delight to be back with you
this morning. I've been looking forward to
this morning since last night. I got so excited and carried
away last night when I began, I forgot what I had intended
to tell you. Bring you greetings from your
brethren in Ashland. Everyone sent their love and greetings
to you all. I just got carried away and forgot, so I apologize
for that. If you open your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 1, the title
of the message is do I have saving faith? And what I would like
for each of us to know when we leave here this morning, I want
us to know, do I have saving faith or not? And if you have
saving faith, I want you to leave here comforted and encouraged
in Christ our Savior. And if you find that you do not
have saving faith, I want you to know where that faith is found.
That's what I'd like for us to learn this morning. Now, do I
have saving faith? That's an important question.
Scripture says without faith, it's impossible to please God.
The just should live by faith. I want to read you a few scriptures
about faith. Mark 2, verse 5. When Jesus saw
their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins
be forgiven thee. The forgiveness of sins is tied
to faith. In Luke 18, verse 42, the Lord
told Nicodemus, thy faith has saved thee. Ephesians 2, 8, for
by grace are you saved through faith. Salvation and faith are
tied together. Romans 3, 28, therefore we conclude
that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Justification is tied to faith. Galatians 3.26, for you're all
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. We're made children of
God by faith. Now Hebrews 4 verse 2 says this.
For unto us was the gospel preached. Aren't you thankful? You've had
the gospel preached to you. As well as unto them, as unto
those that do not believe. But the word preached did not
profit them. Why not? It was not mixed with
faith in them that heard it. There's no prophet in you hearing
preaching unless we hear it with faith. God's got to give us faith,
put faith in us so that we hear the gospel with the ear of faith.
Then we can be blessed by it. So faith's an important topic,
isn't it? The word is used over 300 times in the Bible. Yet, faith is very misunderstood
in our day. Paul wrote to Timothy, he wrote
to him of the mystery of faith. And to the natural man, faith
is very mysterious. How can you believe in something
that you can't see and touch and handle? How can you believe
in something that you can't understand? So what is saving faith? And
more importantly, do I have it? Do I have saving faith? But I
can't know if I have saving faith unless I know what saving faith
truly is. Now let me tell you what saving
faith is not. Saving faith is not just some belief that this
historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth, came and lived and died on this
earth about 2,000 years ago. Saving faith is not believing
some truths that you see in the Bible. Saving faith is not believing
some truths that your pastor tells you. Saving faith is a
belief. on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
just believing Him. If you believe Him, your doctrine
will be straight. If you believe Him, you'll understand
the Scripture. You'll believe the Scripture.
Faith is complete and utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ to
do all the saving. That's faith. And saving faith
is confident. You know, we don't have faith
in Christ and then say, well, I hope. I hope. That's not faith. Saving faith is confident. that
Christ will do what he said he'd do. Because he's going to honor
his word. He will do what he said he'd
do. The Apostle Paul said, I know whom I have believed. Very different
from men in our day. You know, everybody likes to
pretend they're a theologian. Everybody wants to write a book.
Everybody wants to argue and debate and show how smart they
are, know what they believe. The Apostle Paul could put every
one of us to shame. But he didn't say, I know what
I believe. He said, I know whom I believe. And because I know
whom I believe, I'm persuaded, I'm confident he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him against that day. I know
whom I believe. So the Apostle Peter here in
this first verse of the second epistle gives us four marks of
saving faith. And the first one is this, saving
faith is a gift of God. Simon Peter, servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us. Saving faith is obtained. Faith isn't earned. Faith isn't
deserved. Faith is not attained after years
of study. Faith is not attained because
I spent years asking for it. Faith is not attained. Faith
is obtained. Saving faith is a gift. Look
into Ephesians chapter 2. Faith is obtained when God gives
us this gift. It's His free gift. The free
gift He gives to all of His elect. Ephesians 2, verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now that's clear, isn't it? Faith
is a gift. Well, why do I have to be given
saving faith? Why does God have to give it
to me as a gift? Because I'm dead. I'm a dead sinner. Faith
is obtained. That means I don't have a nature
that can produce it. God's got to give it to me. I
can't go out and get any faith of my own. So if a sinner like
me is going to have faith, God's got to give it to me as a gift
of His free grace. Now, every one of us are sinners. We're completely dependent upon
God in all things. You can't draw your next breath
unless God gives it to you. We're dependent on Him in all
things. And that certainly includes this gift of faith. The only
way we'll have it is if God gives it. Faith is a gift that God
gives sovereignly. He gives it to whom He will.
The word that Peter uses here in our text means by lot. He
gives it to us by lot. It's a choice of God. God's faith
is God's to give, or God's to withhold. It's His free gift.
He gives it to whom He will, when He will. At Christmas time,
our house has got wrapped presents all through it. And I don't walk
through our house and there's a wrapped present. And I say,
I'm going to decide to let Janet give me that gift. That's pretty. What a fella I am. I've decided
to let her give me that gift. Well, you know what? It may not
be for me. Matter of fact, in our house,
more than likely, it's not. It's for one of our daughters.
I can only receive the gift she gives to me. Now, that's an illustration,
but now faith is the exact same way. We don't just up and decide
one day, well, I'm going to let God give that to me. No, God
gives faith as a gift to His elect, and He gives it when He
will. Now, do you need faith? You do need faith, you know you
need faith. Well, remember this, faith is
a gift of God. If you need faith, you'd be wise
to ask God for it. It's His to give, it's His to
withhold. If you need faith, I'd ask God
for it if I was you, because the only way we'll have it is
if God gives it, because faith is a gift. Second, faith is all
the same faith. Peter says, like precious faith. All saving faith is alike. Clay and I have been talking
about the days before we became a pastor, traveling all over
this country preaching. I've preached in a lot of grace
churches, and this is what I found out. Saving faith is all the
same. I mean, it's obvious from God's
Word, but I see that too. You go all the different places,
people have different cultures, different backgrounds, but faith
is always the same. It has the same DNA. It's the
same. It comes from the same source.
Saving faith always has the same nature. And there's three ways
that saving faith is always alike. Saving faith is always the same
because it has the same source. It all comes from God. It's a
gift from Him. Second, saving faith is always
the same because saving faith always has the same object. Saving
faith wherever you find it is always looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith is in a person. I wish I could always drive this
home. The gospel is a person. Faith is faith in a person. Saving
faith is not believing the right doctrines. Saving faith is not
having a bunch of Scripture memorized and being able to go to some
obscure passage, you know, impress people with your knowledge of
Scripture. It's good for you to know Scripture. I mean, you
ought to know Scripture, but that's not saving faith. Saving
faith is knowing a person. And if you know the Lord Jesus
Christ, you know who He is, you'll naturally put all of your trust
in Him. You just rely completely upon Him. Faith always has the
same source, it always has the same object, and saving faith
is always the same thirdly, because it always has the same result.
Saving faith always results in eternal life and perfect righteousness. If you look at Ephesians chapter
4, every believer throughout the ages always has the same
faith. You know, believers in the Old
Testament weren't saved under the law and then Christ came
and now we're saved through faith. No. We're all saved through faith
in Christ. Ephesians 4, verse 4. There's one body and one spirit
even as you're called in one hope of your calling. One Lord,
one faith, one baptism. Look at verse 12. For the perfecting
of the saints. for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ." There's one message. There's only one
message. It's Christ. So there's only
one faith, faith in Christ. Look at Titus chapter 1. Verse 1, Paul, a servant of God
and apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's
elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.
All of God's elect have the same faith, Peter says, according
to the faith of God's elect. In verse 4, he says to Titus,
mine own son after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace
from God the Father, in our Lord Jesus Christ. Mine own Son, he
says, after the common faith. Now faith is not common like
it's a cheap thing everybody has. Faith is common to all of
God's elect. They all have the same faith.
And that means if you're a believer, you have the same faith as everyone
we read about in Hebrews chapter 11. That hall of faith. You read
about all these things people did by faith. If you believe
in Christ, you have the same faith as every one of them. The
same faith as all the apostles. Look in Romans chapter 1. Peter
says in 2 Peter 1, you've obtained like precious faith with us.
The same faith that the apostle Peter had. In Paul here in Romans
1 verse 11, look what he says. For I long to see you, that I
may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may
be established. That is, that I may be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me." And
we read that and we say, well, I don't have the same faith as
the Apostle Paul. I mean, he's shipwrecked how
many times, beaten within an inch of his life how many times,
faced the lions. I mean, the man gave his life
to preach the gospel. His life's constant danger. Clay,
I haven't faced much danger. I don't have the same faith as
the Apostle Paul. If you believe Christ, Scripture
says you do. Mutual faith. The same faith as all the apostles. Every believer, what do we call
it in Scripture? Children of Abraham. You're a child of Abraham
when you have the same faith that Abraham has. A weak believer
is just as saved and just as secure as the believer who has
strong faith. Because it's not the strength
of our faith that saves, it's the strength of the object of
our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to have strong faith,
but when we don't, this is our comfort. The strength of our
faith is not nearly as important as the strength of the object
of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. And every believer has
the same faith, looking to, depending upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Saving
faith is all the same. has the same source, the same
object, and the same results. Third, saving faith is precious. Peter says, to them who have
obtained like precious faith with us. Peter and first Peter
called faith more precious than gold. And he's right, it is.
Faith is precious because there's no salvation apart from faith.
There's no justification without faith. There's no pleasing God
other than by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So saving faith
is precious. Saving faith lays hold on precious
things. Now something that's rare is
precious. You know, these Honus Wagner,
I think that's who it is, baseball cards. You know, they didn't
make very many of them. They're very rare. And if you can find one in good
condition, you're a rich person because those things are rare.
Well, saving faith is precious, because it's rare. Your weeds
are cheap, because they grow everywhere. I mean, you can't
get rid of them. They grow on the sidewalk, for goodness sakes.
They're so cheap, you can't sell them. You've got to pay somebody
to take them away. But now, if you want to go buy roses for
your wife, you're going to pay good money for that down at the
florist, because everybody can't grow a rose. You can't find those
everywhere. Well, faith is precious. because
everyone does not have saving faith. Look at 2 Thessalonians
3. Everyone does not have saving
faith. Now, everyone, I don't care who you are, everyone believes
in something. But everyone doesn't have saving
faith. And I want you to understand,
it gives me no joy to say that. It bothers me. I hear people
talk And act like they're proud of
the fact, I got something you don't. I got saving faith and
you don't. It gives me no joy to say that. I wish more people had saving
faith. I wish more people would come
to Christ. I wish they would, but they don't. 2 Thessalonians
3, verse 1. Let me get to the right place. Pray for us. That the word of
the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is
with you. And that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men. For all men have not faith. All men have not faith. But the
Lord's faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. Saving faith is precious because
it's rare. Not everybody has saving faith.
If you look at 1 Peter chapter 2, Mostly, saving faith is precious
because Christ is precious, and we receive Christ by faith. 2
Peter 2, verse 6. Wherefore, also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect precious. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. It's interesting. Christ is precious
to the Father. And unto you, therefore, which
believe, He's precious. How many things do you know of
are both precious to the Father and to a sinner? I can't think
of very many. Outside of Christ, there's none.
He's precious to the Father. And unto you, therefore, which
believe, He's precious. Saving faith is precious because
faith believes a precious person. Saving faith is precious because
faith trusts in precious blood to redeem from all of our sin.
Saving faith is precious because faith believes precious promises. I read the precious promises
of God's Word. I believe them. I have no idea
how God's going to bring it to pass, but I believe it. I believe. They're precious promises. And
those who have precious faith, they're going to die a precious
death. The death of a believer is precious. And it's not precious
to those of us who are left behind. We're broken hearted. But it's
precious to a believer. Because that's the moment you
leave this body of sin, this world of sin, and you depart
to be with Christ, which is far better. The death of a believer
is precious. Saving faith is so precious.
A believer wouldn't trade faith for any amount of silver or gold. You ever going to have the option
to trade your faith for gold? No, you're not. Let's shuck right
down to the cob. There's one you don't hear much.
Tom Harding loves that. Let's shuck right down to the cob.
Saving faith is so precious. Let's compare it to something
that's precious to the flesh. How about your works? You willing
to trade saving faith for your works? Now that's where the rubber
meets the road. I'm telling you this, I would
not trade saving faith for my own obedience to the law, even
if I could keep it. I wouldn't do it. Saving faith
is precious. I'd rather be saved by Christ
than my own obedience to the law. I really would. Because
salvation by grace through faith is so much more glorious than
if it was through my law keeping. I'd much rather have Christ get
all the glory and just rely on Him. That's saving faith. Saving faith wouldn't trade your
works. I love salvation by grace through faith. Because that means,
the truth of that means, my sin can't make me lose my salvation.
I'm thankful God's not like me. If God was like me, he'd have
kicked me out a long time ago. His patience would have wore
thin many years ago. But if salvation's by grace,
through faith, my sin can't make me lose my salvation. And those
things that I think are my good deeds, They don't make me more
saved. They don't make me more savable.
Because salvation is accomplished by the obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ and His sacrifice to pay for my sin. Salvation
is given as a gift of God. And we receive that through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now brethren, that's precious.
Saving faith is precious. And fourth, saving faith is received
through the righteousness of Christ. The end of verse one
in our text. Through the righteousness of
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now you're not righteous because
you have faith. You have faith because God made
you righteous. And when I say that, this is
what I mean. You don't get faith by being righteous. You don't
get faith because you're good. You receive both righteousness
and faith as a free gift of God. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Now if you look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, here's how a believer is made righteous. It's through
the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He, God the Father, hath
made Him, God the Son, to be sin for us, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now, Calvary,
I can't explain this. I don't know everything that
happened. in that great transaction, but
I don't have to. At Calvary, Christ was made to
be sin for His people. Now what's that mean? I don't
know. I don't know. But He was made
to be sin. He was made to be what I am. So He'd take my place. It wasn't
He was made like He was sin. He was made to be sin. Literally
and actually made to be sin. Now He never committed sin, we
know that, but He was made to be sin. The Holy One of Israel
was made to be sin. Can you imagine how horrible
that was? For the Holy Son of God to be
made sin. Now, He never committed any sin,
like I said, but God, doing what only God can do, made Christ,
the Holy Son of God, to be sin. So He would become the sacrifice
for the sins of His people. And God's elect are made righteousness. Clay and I were talking about
this last night. He pointed this out. He said, it doesn't say
you're made righteous. You're made the righteousness of God
in Him. God's elect are made righteousness
the exact same way Christ was made to be sin. Because God,
doing what only God can do, made His people to be the righteousness
of Christ Himself. And it's not that we're made
like we're righteousness. We're actually, literally made
to be the righteousness of Christ. Made without sin, because Christ
took that sin away. And not someday. It's not like
you're waiting someday to awaken glory and then I'll be righteous.
No, sir. If you're not righteous here, you don't be righteous
there. God makes his people righteousness right now. And that new man who's
born of God is righteous. And when this body dies, you're
gonna put this flesh in the ground. And by the time you put this
flesh in the ground, the new man is already with the Lord. Righteous, with him. Not someday,
right now. And the righteousness of Christ
is imputed to, is given to, every last one of God's elect. And
the only righteousness that saving faith claims is the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now hold your finger there, turn
back to Psalm 71. The only righteousness saving
faith will ever claim is the righteousness of Christ. Psalm 71, verse 15. My mouth shall show forth thy
righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the
numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of
thine only. Now no one can receive that saving
faith. See, David's saved the same way
you are. He's only making mention of the righteousness of Christ.
But no one can receive that saving faith. No one can believe on
Christ until somebody tells them about Christ. You can't believe
on Him who have you not heard. Look back at verse 20 of 2 Corinthians
5. Now then, we're ambassadors for
Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God. This is why we preach Christ
and Him crucified. Because we know this. How shall
they believe on Him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? God's going to send them a preacher
to tell them about Christ. And how shall they preach except
there be sin? Faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the Word
of God. So that's what we preach. We
preach Christ and Him crucified. And when you know Him, when God
lets you see Him, you'll believe on Him. You won't be able to
help it. And saving faith is confident. You know why saving
faith is so confident? Because it comes through righteousness.
God's never going to take it back. That wouldn't be righteous.
God's righteousness guarantees the fulfillment of everything
saving faith believes. Now, back to our original question.
Do I have saving faith? Peter says he's writing to those
who have obtained like precious faith with us. Well, how do I
know if Peter's writing to me? You can't just take this to yourself
unless he's writing to you. He's writing to those who have
faith. So how can I know if he's writing to me? Now, like I said,
everybody believes in something. So how can I tell if my faith
is saving faith? I'm going to ask you four questions.
You answer these questions and you'll know if you have saving
faith. Question number one, is your faith something you came
up with? Did you just decide one day, I'm going to believe
this? Or is your faith a gift that God gave you? If your faith
is a gift that God gave you because you never could have come up
with it on your own, then you have saving faith. Second, does
your faith believe and look to and trust in the same Savior
that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob looked to? Do you believe the
same Savior as the apostles? And you say, well, I don't know.
How could I know that? I've never met these men. I've
never talked to them. How could I know if I believe the same
Savior they did? Well, I can tell you. When they write in
Scripture of their Savior, does your heart just find, just thrilled?
And, oh, you say, that's a blessing. They're describing my Savior.
Then you have saving faith. Because that's who they wrote
of. They wrote of Christ. Question number three. Is Christ
precious to you? Would you trade faith in Christ
for anything? Like I said, nobody's going to
have the option to trade Christ for anything. So here's a better
question. Here's how you can determine
if Christ is precious to you or not. Can Christ be preached
too high and too glorious for your taste? Can the preacher
just brag on Christ so much, you think, that don't suit me,
that's too much? Well, then you don't have saving
faith. But if your faith is saving faith, you cannot hear Christ
glorified too much, because saving faith looks to Him. Then a second
question. Can you be preached too far down
in the dust? Now, can you? I mean, can a preacher
just call you a low-down, dead-dog sinner and it offends you? Now, wait a minute now. Okay,
I mean, you've said enough. Can you be preached too far down
in the dust? One of our men in Ashland, he
tells me often, thank you for telling me I'm a sinner, that
I have no hope, that I can't do anything good. Thank you for
telling me that. Because when I hear that, I'm
reminded again, all my hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
saving faith. You cannot offend a sinner by
calling him a sinner. You cannot offend a dog by calling
him a dog. We've got these two little dogs,
Yorkie dogs. They're dogs. Janet calls them
boys. I call them dogs. She said, don't
say that to them, you'll offend them. They're a dog. I mean, they don't know they're
a dog. You can't offend a dog who knows he's a dog by calling
him a dog. You can't do it. Because saving
faith says, I like it, I love it, I want some more of it. You
preach Christ as high as you can, you preach me as low as
I can, so I'll look to Him and Him alone. If you have saving
faith, you love hearing that you're nothing and Christ is
everything. Fourth, does your faith claim
any righteousness? other than the righteousness
of Christ alone. Can you do something to make
yourself more saved? Can you do something to make
yourself more savable? Well, I cleaned up my act, you
know. Then I came to Christ and He accepted me. Now, that's not
saving faith. That's doing something to make
yourself more savable. If you can't do anything to make
yourself more saved, if you can't do anything to contribute to
your salvation, then you have saving faith. Because faith comes
through the righteousness of Christ, and a sinner who has
faith knows this. The only way I'll ever be made
righteous is in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
do you have saving faith? I hope you do. If so, give thanks
and worship. All men have not saving faith.
That's a precious gift that God gave you. And if you don't have
saving faith, in your heart you know it. Now you know. You've
heard it from God's Word. If you don't have saving faith,
ask God for it. Ask Him. Beg Him. And keep asking. Don't ask once and say, well,
there's no hope for me. You keep asking. You keep knocking. Todd Nyberg preached a message
here in Mexico on importunity. Keep knocking. Keep knocking.
Well, I don't have a right to come. That leper came to the
Lord. He didn't have a right to come
to the Lord. The law told him to stay away. He came anyway,
didn't he? And what did he do? He worshipped
before the Lord ever did one thing for him. He didn't know
if the Lord would heal him or not. He worshipped him. Come worship
and keep knocking. Keep knocking. Keep knocking.
You got no other hope. Keep begging him for mercy. If
we ever have saving faith, it'll be a gift of God, a gift of his
free grace. And we thank God for it, don't
we? All right, well, Lord bless that.