2 Peter chapter 1. Now, Peter writes, we're just going
to look at this one verse, Peter writes, Simon Peter, a servant
and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God our
Savior Jesus Christ. Now, sinners, now listen to me,
sinners are not saved by anything that we do. We're not saved by
anything we do. One who needs to be saved needs
for another to save them. That's what salvation is. Salvation
is God and our Savior, God our Savior, Jesus Christ Himself
doing the saving. That's what salvation is. It's
God doing the saving in His Son, by His Son. Sinners aren't saved
by anything we do. By nothing we do. Opposite to
us doing something. Opposite to us doing anything
is faith. Believing. It's faith. Sinners are saved by faith. Through faith. Sinners are saved
through faith. Now what does faith do? Faith
hears. Faith is believing. That's what
it is. And faith hears the promises that God makes Well, I hear those
promises that God makes. I hear them right here in this
Word. I hear the promises of God right here in this Word.
Faith hears the promises that God Himself has made. And here's the promise that God
makes. This is just summing up the promise that God makes. It
is this. that God will do everything included
and everything necessary in righteousness, in accordance with His righteousness
to save His people from their sins. That's what God promises
us. And faith hears that promise
and faith believes God, believes His promise, believes His word.
And not only that, but believes He's able also to do everything
He said He would do in His Word. Now that's what faith believes.
Faith lays hold of God. Faith believes God. That's what
faith is. Now look at 2 Peter 1.1 again. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, Now this is the verse, the words
I want to concentrate on. We're going to look at four words
here in verse 1, that the Spirit of God moved Peter to write concerning
faith. Now this is, Peter's writing
this letter, but Peter's not just sitting down and writing
out a letter like you and I write out a letter. He's being moved
by the Spirit of God to write what he writes. Just like every
other word here in this Bible is the inspired word of God written
through men. Now I want you to look at these
four words. I've titled the message, Faith Is. Faith Is. Now here's four words concerning
faith. Now this is not, I won't go ahead
and say this is exhaustive of what faith is, that this is everything
there is to know about faith, but there's four good words about
faith. Faith is, first of all, he says,
to them that have obtained. That's the first word. Faith
is obtained. To them that have obtained faith.
Here's the second word. Faith is like. It's like. To them that have obtained like
faith. Here's the third word. Precious. To them that have obtained like. We've obtained like precious
faith. And here's the fourth word. The
fourth word is through. How does this faith come? How
is it given? To them that have obtained like
precious faith with us. This is how Peter obtained it. Through. the righteousness of
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. That's how it comes. It's through
the righteousness of God our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now we're
going to look at these four words, obtained, like, precious, and
through. Alright, let's look at this first
one. Faith is obtained. Faith is obtained. The word here
means it's appointed, divinely appointed, it's given. In Luke
1.9, the scripture is talking about Zacharias, who was the
father of John the Baptist. And it says, according to the
custom of the priest's office, his lot It's the same word. His appointment, his divine appointment
was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
He was a priest in the priest's office. He was appointed to that
office by God. That was his lot. He was appointed. Of Judas, the betrayer, who betrayed
our Lord, who was an apostle, Judas, Acts 117 says, he was
numbered with us and had obtained part of this ministry. God numbered
Judas with his apostles. Christ Jesus called him and appointed
him this office of apostleship amongst his. apostles. He obtained it, part
of the ministry. That's how we obtain faith. It's
divinely appointed, divinely given. That's how faith is given.
That's how it's obtained. Read it again, 1 Peter 2.1. To
them that have obtained, to them that have been appointed, ordained,
given faith to believe God. That's who Peter's writing to.
Now when something's obtained, think about this. When anything
is obtained, that means we don't have it to start out with. We
don't have it. We didn't have it. If we've obtained
something, we didn't have it. No sinner's born into this world
believing God. We don't believe God. We will
believe anything but God. We're not born in this world
believing God. We're not born in this world with an ability
to believe God. It doesn't change the fact that
we have the responsibility to believe Him, but we don't have
the ability to believe Him. We're dead in trespasses and
in sins. We're unwilling, we're undeserving,
we're self-serving, we're self-righteous as we're born into this world.
Faith comes, is obtained, it's the gift, it's given by the faithful
operation of the grace of God through the Spirit of God. That's
how faith is given. Faith is, we turn into Ephesians
2, Faith is one of those good works that God has ordained that
we walk in before the world began. That's what ordained is a word
that means, which means prepared before. It means appointed before. John
said, we walk by faith. We walk by faith. It's one of
those works we walk in. We walk by faith, not by sight.
Look at Ephesians 2.8. For by grace are ye saved through
faith. And if you read from verse 1
down to verse 8, it's saying you were dead as a doornail.
And you had to be made alive by the mercy and grace, power
of God. By grace are you saved through faith. That thing that's,
that faith that's opposite of working. Not of yourselves. That faith didn't come of yourselves.
It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Now watch. How do we get it?
For we're His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Look over at Acts 13. Well, while you're there, turn
to your right. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. God hath before ordained who
He appointed, who He was going to give this faith, this life. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. But we are bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. That's what's going to have to
happen. The Spirit's going to have to enter in. and sanctify,
separate you in the new birth. Sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. That's what faith is. It's belief
of the truth. He said He did this beforehand.
He chose you beforehand and He through sanctification of the
Spirit, belief of the truth, whereunto He called you to that
truth, to Christ, by our gospel, by the truth, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was appointed before.
Look at one more chap, one more verse. Acts 13, 48. Acts 13,
48. Midweek service is a good time
for us to turn to Scriptures and look them up because we're
all tired and it keeps us awake. It keeps us looking. Acts 13,
48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
when they heard this Gospel set forth, they were glad and glorified
the Word of the Lord. They glorified the Word of the
Lord. They gloried in the word that
was preached to them. And I watch this, and as many
as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Do you see that? They didn't believe and then
become ordained to eternal life. As many as were appointed to
eternal life, they believed. That's what we just read in Ephesians
2 and 2 Thessalonians 2 and here in Acts 13, 48. When you give
a gift to somebody, When you purchase a gift to give to somebody,
do you determine who you're going to give that gift to? Or does
the recipient determine who that gift's going to be given to?
We determine who we're going to give our gifts to, don't we?
We purchase a gift for somebody. We purchase it and we give it
to somebody in particular. And the person doesn't dictate
who's going to get the gift. We give the gift. Well, God chose
to whom He would give faith. And He gives it to them. He chose
them in Christ and He gives it to them in time by His Spirit. And this is what the scripture
says, Galatians 4, 6, And because ye are sons, that's the cause,
Because ye are sons, already before anything has happened
that you are aware that's happened, because ye are sons, God has
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Do you understand that? Before
any, we knew anything. God had already, we were, God's
elect were children and that's the cause why he sent forth his
son into the heart and caused us to cry out, Abba, Father,
Father, Father. See that? So first, faith is
divinely appointed of God, the gift of the operation of God's
irresistible grace. Now, here's the second thing.
Faith is like, our scripture says, to them that have obtained
like faith. Faith is alike in every believer. Now it's not alike in degree. That means it's not, let me,
some have strong faith, some have weak faith. It's not alike
in degree. God didn't give it in the same
degree to everybody. Some have great faith, some have
weak faith. But Paul called it the common
faith. Everybody that has faith, believes
God, has faith. that's been ordained, appointed
of God, and it's like faith. Faith is like faith in that there
is but one faith. I want you to look back at Ephesians
4.4. I meant to tell you to hold your
place in Ephesians. Ephesians 4.4. Ephesians 4.4. There is one body. There is one Spirit, one Holy
Spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling, there is one Lord. There is one faith. There is one baptism. There is
one God and Father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all, in you all that believe. Now this is the case,
every believer in this room, and I want you to think about
this, every believer in this room, right here, right now,
tonight, has the same faith that was the faith of Abel. It's the same faith Abel had.
Same faith Enoch had. Exact same faith that Noah had. Like faith as Abraham. the like
faith of Sarah, of Rahab, like faith of Peter, of Paul, of James,
of John, The like faith that every other believer in this
room has, you have. The like faith of every other
believer on the face of this planet right now is the like
faith of everyone. Why? Why is it like faith? It's because it's given of one
Spirit, of one Lord. of one God and Father. And He's
sovereign to give it. He's sovereign to reveal the
truth in His people. This is what Paul said in Galatians. They which are of faith, the
same are the children of Abraham. It's like faith. It's faith,
it's like faith in that every believer has it from the same
source. That's what, that's what it's
like. From one Lord, one Spirit, one God, Father of all. Called
in one hope of your calling. Faith and hope. You see, called
in one hope of your calling. Calling. Faith and hope are connected.
There's a call going out right now. You hear me preaching. That
is a calling. Everybody here can hear it. Everybody
here can hear it with the natural ear. But only those who are born
and given this like faith can hear it in the heart, believe
this call. And that's the invincible call. That's the powerful call that
comes in and causes us to believe on God. But this faith, this
hope of your calling, you're called in one hope of your calling.
Faith is a substance of things hoped for. When you have faith,
when you have hope and you see what God has promised you afar
off, you have faith and you believe it. And faith is the substance
of the things hoped for, the evidence of the things that are
not seen. The things God's promised us
are not seen. They're unseen things. They're
eternal things. They're not temporal things.
They're not seen. But faith is the substance and the evidence
of things hoped for of things not seen. Faiths like faith in
that all have the same object of faith. Everybody that has
faith has the same object of faith. God, our Savior. That's the object of faith. That's
why it doesn't matter if the faith is great or the faith is
small. Our Lord said if you had faith
the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, be
moved into the sea and it would. Because the mountain mover is
not me and the mountain mover is not my faith. The mountain
mover is the object of my faith. The one who made the mountains.
God and our Savior. And everybody who has true faith
beholds Him by His Spirit and sees Him and walks after Him.
Let's do a test here, just a common sense test. Everybody here, I'm
going to use the D'Armentos because they got the biggest bunch. Everybody
that was born into your family, I bet you they were all born
into your family, weren't they? And everybody that was born into
your family, they all know you, don't they? They all know you,
because you taught them who you are. From the time they could
even talk, you taught them who you are, and they know who you
are. Well, this is God and our Father we're talking about. And
everyone that's born of Him, He teaches them who He is. And
He's so sovereign, He can teach His word so effectually in the
hearts of His people, that there's no mistaking, they're gonna know
who this true and living God is. Everybody has the same object,
our Redeemer, Christ the Lord. All right? Faith is obtained,
it's given, it's appointed of God. Faith is like. It's alike in every believer.
Not in degree, but in its object, in its source, it's like. Like, that one faith. Faith is
precious. Here's the next word in our text.
To them that have obtained like precious faith. Faith is precious. I want you to look back at 1
Peter 1.7. How precious is it? Let me ask you a question. If you had sitting here today,
right here on this table, if you could, say, let's say you
could see faith, and you had sitting on this table right here
a bag full of gold, riches, expensive, rare
jewels. And it's yours for the taking
if you want it. Or you had faith. Which one would you consider
to be most valuable? Which one would you think would
be the most valuable to have? Look at what Peter said, 1 Peter
1, 7. That the trial of your faith being much more precious
than of gold that perishes. That faith is much more precious
than gold that perishes. The gold's gonna perish. The
gold's gonna perish. It's deceitful. It looks like
it will benefit you greatly right now. But this is what's precious,
faith, believing God. Receiving these things that are
freely given of God, believing God is true, that He's true to
His Word, that He's able to do what He said. Believe in God.
Believe in God. Faith is precious for this reason
too. It's precious because not everybody
has it. Not everybody has it. Look at
Matthew 7. Paul said, I tell you what, turn
to 2 Thessalonians first on your way to Matthew. Let's stop at
2 Thessalonians. Read this 2 Thessalonians chapter
3 verse 2. And that we may be, he's saying,
pray for us brethren, that we may be delivered from unreasonable
and wicked men, for all have not faith. But I want you to
see this, that's why I want you to read this. But the Lord is
faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil. And
we have confidence in the Lord touching you that you both do
and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord
directs your hearts into the love of God, into the patient
waiting for Christ. You see, not everybody has faith,
but those that do have it because God's given it and God's directing
our hearts in faith and love. All right, Matthew 7, 14. Not
all have faith. It's precious because not everybody
has it. Matthew 7, look at verse 14. This is the Lord Jesus speaking.
And He said, verse 13, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for
wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat. There are many that
go in that gate, that wide and broad way that leads to destruction. Broad way. Broad way. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it." Few. Look over at Matthew 24, 10.
The Lord is describing the end. Paul told us that times would
get worse and worse. Men would have a form of godliness.
They would deny the power thereof. They would be deceivers, many
false prophets. Matthew 24, verse 10. The Lord said, Then shall many
be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another. And many false prophets shall
rise, and shall deceive many. Because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved." You see, faith is precious because
not everybody has it. Many, many don't. The Lord said,
few there be that find this way. Well, but faith is precious because
when you believe God, when he works this work of grace, and
you find yourself believing these words that you're hearing, these
words you're reading, these words you go home tonight and you start
reading these things, and you find yourself in your heart believing
what God's saying. You find yourself believing God,
believing that the Son of God is the Christ, the righteous
one who is your complete and total salvation. When you find
yourself believing Him, Tell you what'll happen. We'll stop
butting. We'll stop our butting. Well,
I believe salvation is by the electing grace of God, but we'll
stop that. And we'll realize, I'm glad God
chose me. If he hadn't chosen me, I wouldn't
have chosen him. When we hear that salvation is accomplished
by Christ, Jesus who came forth and laid down His life for the
sheep, who gave His life for the sheep and put the sin of
the sheep away. We won't say, well, He died for
the sheep, but we'll say, I'm thankful He died for the sheep.
Let me be one of your sheep. Let me be one. Lord, I want you
to have... I see what you did. I see what
you accomplished by your death. And we hear that salvation is
by the Spirit of God given life in the heart and not by the will
of man and the will of the creature. And we'll stop saying, but... and trying to make God out to
be a little God and man a big man. And we'll come down. And we'll come down. And we'll
find out then that We'll stop that gnashing on Christ with
our teeth. Gritting our teeth when we hear
the gospel preached. We'll stop gnashing on brethren
who preach Christ. We hear them preach Christ and
just grit our teeth at it. We'll stop gnashing on brethren
who believe Christ and trust Christ when we hear the gospel
in our heart. And this is what happens when
that happens. Look back at 1 Peter. 1 Peter. Chapter 2. This is what begins
to happen. 1 Peter 2.7. Unto you therefore which believe. He is precious. He becomes precious. Get the order there? Unto you
which believe. He's not going to become precious
to you until you believe. He's not going to become precious
to you until you stop fighting against God, put down your guns
and all your ammunition and all your wisdom and all your strength
and power and might and everything that you think you are, and just
start listening to God say who He is and how He's saved. Then
you'll start finding God to be precious. He'll be precious.
You'll find out then that everything that you thought was worth something
is worth nothing. Look at 1 Peter 1.18. You'll know this, you were not
redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. You might not think right now,
you might think, you know, I've never half thought I was redeemed
by somebody going out paying so much money for me to be redeemed. But you thought salvation was
in that. You thought salvation was in
security and well-being is in having stuff. And when you believe
this Word, you find out that's not all it's cracked up to be. You weren't redeemed with those
things. Those things are actually useless. But, verse 19, with
the precious blood of Christ. That's what we find out when
we believe. And then when we find that out, We begin to love
our brother. Verse 22, seeing ye have purified
your souls in obeying the truth. That's another word of saying
believing. That light comes in through faith. Light just purifies everything
that's dark. It comes in there to where it
was just dark before, where there was no light at all. And light
and dark can't coexist the same in the same man. There is an
old man that's nothing but darkness, but that new man, he is all light. And he comes in there and it's
light. And you've purified your souls in believing the truth,
obeying the truth through the Spirit. It's not of yourself,
it's through the Spirit. And here's what it's up to. Unfeigned
love of the brethren. You know what I cannot stand?
I cannot stand double talk. And I know it when I'm hearing
it. I don't always know it, but I know it usually when I'm hearing
it. I cannot stand double talk. I cannot stand somebody to be
sugary sweet and trying to pat me with one hand and trying to
stab me in the back with the other one. Legislators, that's
all they are. On Capitol Hill, trying to pass
one law and package in about 15 other ones in there that you
can't see in the deal. Listen, be swift to hear, slow
to speak, slow to write, read the fine print. Let it settle
down and think about it and let it settle. Breathe the breath
and love one another with unfeigned love. I got no agenda but the
glory of Christ and you're good. That's it. That's all. Unfeigned
love. Well, that's what happens when
we begin to believe and that makes this, this faith becomes
precious because of who it is we believe. And that's what makes
it precious. And then look back at 2 Peter.
I want you to see this too. And it becomes precious because
through this faith, look at 2 Peter 1.4, whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises. that by these you might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that's in the world through lust." Having escaped it. We're going
to look at that second half of that a little more in detail
later, the divine nature, escaping the corruptions in the world
through lust. We're going to look at this later in another message,
but Lord willing. But what I want you to see here
is through faith we're given these exceeding great and precious
promises. How did I start this message?
I said faith is believing, it's hearing the promises of God.
And it's believing God's able to perform those promises. What
promises? Promises to completely, thoroughly
present you to himself, holy and without blame. promise to
keep you in the midst of this world like somebody carrying
a candle across one of these ocean bays over here in the middle
of a hurricane and keeping it from going out, keeping it lit
as He carries you across this stormy life. Faithful to do it. Faithful to keep you. Faithful
to bring you to Himself. Faithful to give you an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled. Great and precious promises.
I'll be a father to you and you'll be my child. Faithful promises
come when we're made one with Christ, made a partaker of the
divine nature with Him. So first of all, what is faith?
Faith is obtained. It's appointed. It's given of
God. Faith is alike, it's like faith. And all that have it,
it's the same source, same object. And faith is precious, very precious,
because of Him who is precious. Now here's the last question.
How are God's elect given this faith? How are you given this faith?
How are we going to come into this faith? Now, I said to you
before, if we had a bag of gold sitting up here and you had faith
up here and you could choose which one of them you want. You
want to know God and believe God and trust God or you want
the bag of gold? The natural heart is going to
say, I want the bag of gold. I want what I can get right now.
I need a bowl of stew right now, my belly's aching, I'm hungry.
I don't care about tomorrow. I'm a pig, I'm in slop, that's
all I want. I don't care about tomorrow. That's what the natural
man is. How are we going to hear this
good news? How are we going to rejoice and get this faith and
have this faith? How can we be sure this faith
is going to come to all of God's elect? How can we be sure this
faith is going to be given by the Spirit, that the truth is
going to come by sovereign grace to everyone of God's elect? In
truth, to everyone of God's elect. And God's going to rebirth them. How do we know that's going to
happen? How do we know that's going to happen? Because faith,
look here at verse 1, is through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. That's how we know. It's through
the righteousness of God, our Savior Jesus Christ. Christ is
God. You realize that? Christ is God.
He is the Son of God. He is God the Son. That man,
Christ Jesus, is God. He's not a God, He is God. He
is God come down in human flesh. And He is our Savior. His name
is Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He is
our Savior. If we're going to be saved, this
is who's going to save us. God, our Savior. That's who's
going to save us. If we're saved, that's who's
going to do the saving. All of it. A to Z. Beginning
to end. Every bit of it. And it's going
to come. What is righteousness? You've
got to answer that question. What is righteousness? Righteousness
is that which is right. It's that which is exactly square
with God's holy law. That which is square with God
himself. That which is just with God. It is to be made right. It is to be justified with God.
It is to be brought into a perfect, complete, righteous, to be made
righteous with God. How are we going to get that?
I want you to see something. Romans 3.25. Now hold your place
there in 2 Peter. I want you to reference that
back, but I'm going to get you to look at something. Now let
me show you something about this righteousness first. Romans 3.25. Well, let's look at verse 23.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, that's
what sin is. It's coming short of the glory
of God. What do I have to do to come
to God? I cannot come short of the very
glory of God. That's what I've got to have.
Anything less is sin. Verse 24. Being justified freely
by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Redemption
accomplished in Christ Jesus. Now watch this. Whom God hath
set forth, foreordained, appointed, brought forth to be a propitiation. through faith in His blood. That
word propitiation and blood go together because it has reference
to the mercy seat where the blood was put on the mercy seat in
that Old Testament tabernacle. Once a year on the day of atonement,
blood was put on that mercy seat. And that blood is Christ's blood. It's His life. That propitiation
is expiation of sin. It's putting away sin. It's satisfying the justice of
God by the sacrifice of Himself, by His own blood. Propitiation,
God set him forth for that purpose to be a propitiation, expiation,
satisfaction of sin through faith in His blood. This is what we're
going to believe. We're going to believe His blood. His blood. His blood. His blood. And He
did this to declare His righteousness. Do you see that? To declare His
righteousness. His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past. through the forbearance of God,
to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness." What does
that mean? Do you understand that He might
be just? He's just. He's done it in a
way that's just. He has not passed by one sin. not one sin. He has not passed
it by. He has made satisfaction for
all the sins of all His people. God is just. He has punished
His Son in the place of His people and He will never, ever punish
ever pour out wrath on one child for whom Christ died. Ever. That would be unjust. And he's
just. He's just. He's done this in
a just way. And because he is God providing
himself a lamb, he is the justifier. He's the one that did the justifying.
He's just and he is the justifier. of him which believeth in Jesus."
So there's no boasting in us. It's excluded by the law of faith,
by faith itself. Now, here's what I want you to
notice. I said to you, how are we going to be sure that this
faith comes in? How are we going to be sure that
a believer, an elective child of God, is going to get this
faith? That he's going to be born of
the Spirit of God. Christ is going to be formed in him and
he be made one in Christ and partaker of the divine nature.
How do we know that's going to happen? Hader said, because it's
through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
I want you to see something. Romans 4, Romans 4, 1. He said it's through the righteousness
of God and our Savior. Look at Romans 4, 1. What shall
we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the
flesh, hath found? What did Abraham find out? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he would have whereof
to glory. But nobody is going to glory before God. It's not
going to happen. Now to him that worked but for
what saith the scripture, now watch this, Abraham believed
God as faith. Abraham believed God. And it
was counted unto him for righteousness. It was imputed to him for righteousness. He believed God. He didn't do
anything. He believed God. And the righteousness of Christ
was imputed to him. Now how was it, if Abraham was
dead, like we said, how was it this work came about to Abraham? How was this work sure to come
about to Abraham? Because he said it's through
the righteousness of God our Savior Jesus Christ. You see, the reason a delict child of
God is given faith is because he has a justifying righteousness
provided for him before he ever knows anything about it. It's
through the righteousness of God. and through the righteousness
of God. God came to Abraham, and God
worked the work of grace in Abraham's heart, not by works Abraham had
done, because he had appointed Abraham to believe, because he
gave Abraham the same faith he gives all of his children, because
he made Christ precious in Abraham's eyes. He did this through his
righteousness, because before the world began in Christ, Abraham
had a righteousness already. in His surety, Christ Jesus the
Lord. And through the righteousness
of that surety, this faith came to Abraham. When as yet Christ
hadn't even come into the earth yet and laid down His life. Why? Because He's the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Abraham had a righteousness before
the world began. And so does every elect child
of God. And it's brought to them through the righteousness of
God. And when they believe the righteousness of Christ, is imputed
to them. They're made to be brought into
this union to see, ah, all the work's done. I have the righteousness
God requires. I've been made the righteousness
of God because He made Him sin in my room instead, and He made
me the righteousness of God in Him. It's through the righteousness
of God that we believe, and the righteousness of God is we're
robed in it. Do you see that? Before the righteousness
precedes faith. Faith given, we believe, and
we're brought into this living, vital union robed in the righteousness
of Christ. So that God gets all the glory.
That's what he says here, verse 4. Now to him that worketh is
the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If you work for
something, you get paid. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth, worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth, on him
that justifieth. That's who we believe on. You
see there verse 5? But to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
As David described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. You know what
you're going to find out if God comes to you, William Geller?
If He comes to you and He speaks into your heart, you know what
you're going to find out? You know what God's going to say?
He's going to say, I will not impute iniquity to you. You're full of it. That's all
you are, is iniquity. But from before I've made anything
that's made, I determine in my Son, putting you in my Son, I
would not impute your iniquity to you. And you'll find out all
your sins are covered, and you'll find out what it is to be a happy,
happy, blessed man. Man, you'll dance a step you
never danced before. You'll dance a jig you have never
danced before then. You mean God will not remember
my iniquity and He will not charge me with sin, but He's given me
the very righteousness of Christ. Christ, my righteousness is mine. Oh, He won't block me out of
the Lamb's book of life. No, He won't. Not ever. Not ever. He didn't put your name in it
because of anything of you and He won't blot your name out of
it because of anything of you. That's what you'll find out.
Alright, let's look at these last things and we'll wind it
up. Be looking at 1 John 5. I have
one more question for you. One more question. Now faith is, it's obtained We
don't start out with it. We don't have it in ourselves.
By our power, our will, our might, it's divinely appointed by God. Faith is like faith. There's
one Lord, one faith. Faith's precious. To you who
believe, He is precious. Faith is through the righteousness
of God our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now here's the last question
I have for you. How am I gonna know if I have this faith? How
am I going to know if I have this faith? This is deep now. This is real. Hang on. You ready? Hang on. Look at 1
John 5.4. This is how you're going to know. Whosoever is born of God overcometh
the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world. our faith, even our faith. Who
is he that overcometh the world? How am I going to know I have
this faith? How am I going to know I've been given this gift? This is the victory. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Surely there's something else
I've got to know. Salvation's not in something.
Salvation is in someone. Salvation is someone. We have to know and we have to
believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That means I believe
He's all my salvation. He's all of it. What else? What
else is there for you to do? I'm not doing anything. I'm believing.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He's exactly
who God says He is. He is the promise God made. He
is the fulfillment of all the promises God has made to me. All the promises of God are yes
and amen in Him. It's settled. It's settled between
me and God. It's settled. How do I know if
I believe Him? You believe Him. You believe
Him. Verse 11, this is the record
that God has given to us, eternal life. This life is in His Son.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. Faith is the proof. How would
I know? I need some proof. Do you believe
it? Do you believe it? I believe
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, all my righteousness. Amen.